Need help with LA Hotel, Restaurants, Port PLEASE!!

[MizzouMary]

Hi. We are cruising out of LA in Jan. on the Sapphire Princess. We need advice on where to stay. We are actually going to Vegas for several days prior to flying to LA. We also have no idea as to which port we will be sailing out of and where it is exactly. Are there any nice hotels near the port? How about restaurants? Can anyone recommend some reasonably priced restaurants near the port area? Also, those who know LA well, could you please give us an idea as to which areas to stay away from.

 

Thanks so much for your help!

 

Mary in KC

[KAYEF]

Just call your cruise line and they will tell you where you are actually sailing from. Last year we had a HAL cruise "out of LA" and it was actually out of Long Beach!

Your motel would probably be cheaper in Long Beach...........;)

[joric]

On the site www.shoppingnowonline.com you may see

the informations about restaurants and hotels near the port.

[AkSusan]

The Sapphire sails out of the World Cruise Center at the LA Port or also termed San Pedro.

 

Not much choice in the San Pedro area so we opted to stay in Long Beach. Got Coast Long Beach for $66 on Priceline. Planning on using Primetime Shuttle which is $30 from LAX to hotel and $32 (all before tip) from the ship back to LAX. They say a cab from Coast to ship should be in the $25-$30 vicinity. Long Beach looks like they have a great transit system including some free that can get us from the Coast to Downtown Long Beach. Big plce there called Shoreline Village where we are planning to meet friends for drinks at Parker's Lighthouse.

 

Susan :)

[jnc411]

The Sapphire sails out of the World Cruise Center at the LA Port or also termed San Pedro.

 

Not much choice in the San Pedro area so we opted to stay in Long Beach. Got Coast Long Beach for $66 on Priceline. Planning on using Primetime Shuttle which is $30 from LAX to hotel and $32 (all before tip) from the ship back to LAX. They say a cab from Coast to ship should be in the $25-$30 vicinity. Long Beach looks like they have a great transit system including some free that can get us from the Coast to Downtown Long Beach. Big plce there called Shoreline Village where we are planning to meet friends for drinks at Parker's Lighthouse.

 

Susan :)

 

Hi, I live here in the Long Beach area (Lakewood) and the above poster is correct. If you are on the Sapphire it will be San Pedro, which is about a 10 to 15 minute drive from downtown Long Beach. The Coast hotel is fine and the transtportation system you referred to is the Passport bus, it will get you around where you need to go, except to the San Pedro port, that will be a taxi should cost about $ 20 to 25. The Shoreline village is nice, but the new Pike area is alot of fun to right by the big Long Beach Aquarium and Convention Center. A lot of nice restaurants in the immediate area.

One comment would be if you haven't gotten you airfare yet, you might check into flying into and out of Long Beach Airport, much easier and nicer than LAX , LB airport is a small airport with limited flights( American airlines, Jet Blue , American West, all go here) but if you can make the connection it is really worth it. Hope you have a great time in Vegas also.

Cori

[maren91]

On Shoreline drive: PF Changs has some of the best chinese food anywhere (can be a bit pricy though) and the Yard House is very good as well!! Have fun!

[little britain]

Hi, I live here in the Long Beach area

Cori - wondered if you had any opinions on the Holiday Inn Downtown Long Beach please? We fly in from London and having read these threads we have decided not to stay in San Pedro but somewhere close and a bit nicer! We will only have the morning before our cruise to sightsee and get acclimitised. From these threads I can see a lot of mention of the Coral but on Trip Advisor that only seems to be 2* and we wanted something a bit better than that! If the Holiday Inn is not recommended then appreciate any other suggestions! Holiday Inn is coming in at around $100 pn. Thanks!

[jnc411]

Cori - wondered if you had any opinions on the Holiday Inn Downtown Long Beach please? We fly in from London and having read these threads we have decided not to stay in San Pedro but somewhere close and a bit nicer! We will only have the morning before our cruise to sightsee and get acclimitised. From these threads I can see a lot of mention of the Coral but on Trip Advisor that only seems to be 2* and we wanted something a bit better than that! If the Holiday Inn is not recommended then appreciate any other suggestions! Holiday Inn is coming in at around $100 pn. Thanks!

 

 

Hi, I would not recommend the downtown Holiday Inn , there are much better places , in a better area. Down near the port downtown area of Long Beach is nice, BUT there are some other areas , not so nice. So stay close to the Ocean Blvd. Pike, Shoreline Village area. First choice for your price range would be the Coast Long Beach Hotel, then a little higher in price, the Hyatt Regency, Hilton Long Beach, Renaissance Long Beach, The Westin Long Beach. All of these would be fine in good area with lots of things to walk to and easy to get around. But I would first try the Coast Long Beach. Good Luck hope you find something nice you will enjoy and have a great time out here in Southern California. :)

Cori

[little britain]

But I would first try the Coast Long Beach.

thanks for your super fast reply and I think we will go with the Coast - seem to be quite good rates on old Travelocity..!

[jnc411]

Glad I was able to help. Hope you enjoy your stay here in Long Beach. Be sure to check out the new Pike area in Long Beach , also Shoreline Village, couple restaurants would be Parkers Lighthouse and Yard House, and there are several nice place to eat at the Pike area and on Ocean Blvd. The little bus that will take you around the area is called the Passport (red) that should be of some help. When you board the ship in San Pedro look down the canal toward the bridge and you will see an old restored victory ship(small compared to the large cruise ships) that has been in 3 wars, it is docked right there at the port, it is called the Lane Victory, we were down there a couple weeks ago , was neat to see. Hope you enjoy your trip.

Cori

[ronrythm]

Here's a link to LB transit:

http://www.lbtransit.com/index.html

For a fun cheap, water front tour, try one of the water taxis. also check out www.shorelinevillage.com. Fun place.

Ron

[little britain]

Glad I was able to help. Hope you enjoy your stay here in Long Beach. Be sure to check out the new Pike area in Long Beach , also Shoreline Village, couple restaurants would be Parkers Lighthouse and Yard House, and there are several nice place to eat at the Pike area and on Ocean Blvd.

Cori - sorry to trouble you again ;) but wondered if any of these restaurants you mentioned were within walking distance of the Coast Hotel? After getting off an 11 hr flight I don't think we can cope with buses on that first evening! If not, are there any good restaurants up near the QM that we could walk to? Also - after eating and drinking our way across 'the pond' I don't think we would be looking for any really upmarket restaurants! The first think I usually grab when arriving state-side is a Caesar salad! Thanks a lot!

[little britain]

Glad I was able to help. Hope you enjoy your stay here in Long Beach. Be sure to check out the new Pike area in Long Beach , also Shoreline Village, couple restaurants would be Parkers Lighthouse and Yard House, and there are several nice place to eat at the Pike area and on Ocean Blvd.

Cori - sorry to trouble you again ;) but wondered if any of these restaurants you mentioned were within walking distance of the Coast Hotel? After getting off an 11 hr flight I don't think we can cope with buses on that first evening! If not, are there any good restaurants up near the QM that we could walk to? Also - after eating and drinking our way across 'the pond' I don't think we would be looking for any really upmarket restaurants! The first think I usually grab when arriving state-side is a Caesar salad! Thanks a lot!

[little britain]

Doesn't seem to have registered my comments and pushed this one back to the top .....so trying again!

[jnc411]

little britian: Going to check that out for you, will get back to you asap. :)

Cori

[jnc411]

Cori - sorry to trouble you again ;) but wondered if any of these restaurants you mentioned were within walking distance of the Coast Hotel? After getting off an 11 hr flight I don't think we can cope with buses on that first evening! If not, are there any good restaurants up near the QM that we could walk to? Also - after eating and drinking our way across 'the pond' I don't think we would be looking for any really upmarket restaurants! The first think I usually grab when arriving state-side is a Caesar salad! Thanks a lot!

 

 

Hi , I'm baaaacck , I just made a quick phone call to check about the hours of the Coast Hotels Restaurant, it is open daily from 6 am to 10 pm, so that is always an option.Also the Reef restaurant is just a hop and skip from the hotel and it has nice dinners (we go there occasionally our selves) Also if a short walk is not out of the question , you can just go across the bridge and there are a lot of dining establishments. I also checked on the Passport Bus schedule and it goes right out of the Coast Parking lot about every 15 to 20 minutes and it is very convienent. While I was on the phone I checked anyway to see how much a taxi to the San Pedro Port is and they quoted me about 20 to 25 dollars, which is what I thought it would be. I hope this helps. Have a good day. :)

Cori

[little britain]

Thanks so much Cori - you are obviously a 'wanna-be' travel agent! Thank you so much for your help! Can you find out what colour the bed spreads are in the Coast.........only joking!!!!!!

[jnc411]

Thanks so much Cori - you are obviously a 'wanna-be' travel agent! Thank you so much for your help! Can you find out what colour the bed spreads are in the Coast.........only joking!!!!!!

 

HA.... good one. No don't want to be a travel agent, although I do help a lot of family and friends with their plans. I am a research freak :) Just like to help. That is what is so great about these boards , everyone helps everyone else. How good is that. ;)

Have a good day.

Cori

[kayred]

Cori,

I want to take a moment to say thank you. I am booked for the coast hotel on there Park n Sail program. I have been thinking that maybe I should cancel and either pay more for downtown Long Beach or less for San Pedro Holiday Inn. YOur posts have really helped me make the decision to stay where I am. Thanks for all the info, it really helps...:)

[emmilu]

AKSusan,

I have a couple of questions if you could help me. We are leaving out of the San Pedro port on the Island Princess in February. I would like to stay at the Coast, but it appears they don't have transportation to the pier in San Pedro. Do they have a shuttle that goes to Shoreline Village? We would like to eat at Parkers Lighthouse and won't have a car. Also, how did you bid and get such a great rate for the Coast? Is it considered a 4-star?

Thanks for the help?

[jnc411]

Cori,

I want to take a moment to say thank you. I am booked for the coast hotel on there Park n Sail program. I have been thinking that maybe I should cancel and either pay more for downtown Long Beach or less for San Pedro Holiday Inn. YOur posts have really helped me make the decision to stay where I am. Thanks for all the info, it really helps...:)

 

 

Kayred: Hi, your welcome, hope you enjoy your stay here in the Long Beach area.

Cori

[Nanatravel]

Thanks Cori for confirming that the Coast Hotel is still a good choice for a precruise from Long Beach. We are planning to take the free bus into downtown and eating in the Shoreline Village. I love lighthouses, so Parker's may be where we enjoy a meal. Sure hope the weather will be mild. The temp. in NH is going into the 30's as we have had our first frost!

Next week this time, we will be in CA.

[jnc411]

Thanks Cori for confirming that the Coast Hotel is still a good choice for a precruise from Long Beach. We are planning to take the free bus into downtown and eating in the Shoreline Village. I love lighthouses, so Parker's may be where we enjoy a meal. Sure hope the weather will be mild. The temp. in NH is going into the 30's as we have had our first frost!

Next week this time, we will be in CA.

 

 

Hi, the Passport free bus is a good choice and is frequent, so it is easy to use. Just one little note, Parkers Lighthouse is not a real lighthouse, just a restaurant built to look like one in part only and is part of a small boutique shopping marina and dining area there. Just don't want you to be dissappointed if you are expecting a real lighthouse from the past :) like the ones in New England or on our coast up north, but it still is nice. You would enjoy dinner there , or there are plenty of choices for a nice dinner in the area. Be sure to take along a light jacket or wrap for early mornings and evening out here, we get what is called the "marine layer" a fine misty fog on many mornings and evenings ,even if the day is warm . Hope you enjoy your trip.

Cori

[maggie27]

I used Priceline and got Hyatt Regency Long Beach for 70.00. How is that hotel? Do you know anything about Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant?

[fozzyfoz]

We've been to the Bubba Gump restaurant in Long Beach and also Miami. Very touristy, obviously a theme restaurant but fun to go to. Lots of seafood on the menu but other things as well. Good sized portions but in the $16/entree range for most things. The wait staff will quiz you on knowledge of the movie and they have a souvenier shop as well.

 

http://www.bubbagump.com/ has menu and locations and info.