First Cruise - where to stay pre-curise

[kolas]

I'm taking my mom on our first cruise to celebrate her 75 birthday.   We'll flying in from Vancouver for a 7 day Mexico cruise from San Pedro.   Would love some suggestions for the following: 

• We are coming in from Vancouver B.C. Canada.  Can we fly in same day of cruise or should we arrive a day prior? 
• If we arrive prior should we stay in San Pedro, Long beach or elsewhere? 
• If we stay in Long beach what is the best way to get from LAX to the Hotel and then from the Hotel to cruise port in San Pedro.  We've never used Uber or Lift and I'm not entirely comfortable trying it for the first time (too many firsts lol) 
• If we are best to arrive the day before what are some things that are a must see in LA?

[Flatbush Flyer]

2 hours ago, kolas said:

I'm taking my mom on our first cruise to celebrate her 75 birthday.   We'll flying in from Vancouver for a 7 day Mexico cruise from San Pedro.   Would love some suggestions for the following: 

• We are coming in from Vancouver B.C. Canada.  Can we fly in same day of cruise or should we arrive a day prior? 
• If we arrive prior should we stay in San Pedro, Long beach or elsewhere? 
• If we stay in Long beach what is the best way to get from LAX to the Hotel and then from the Hotel to cruise port in San Pedro.  We've never used Uber or Lift and I'm not entirely comfortable trying it for the first time (too many firsts lol) 
• If we are best to arrive the day before what are some things that are a must see in LA?

For a cruise embarkation, flying in the same day is never a good idea for all of the obvious reasons. 

 

LAX is about 25 miles to Long Beach. Any major chain hotel (Hilton, Marriott, etc) at LAX is fine as are the same chain hotels in Long Beach. 

Staying at LAX (hotels have shuttles) would require only one transfer- the next morning to the port. Staying in Long Beach would mean LAX transfer to hotel and taxi/Uber to port the next day. 

 

Note that Los Angeles is huge with attractions spread out over great distances. In that respect, LAX is not the ideal "base" for land tourists.

 

If we were headed to San Pedro/Long Beach for a cruise, we'd fly in from SF the prior afternoon, stay at LAX and take a private car service (like ExecuCar) to the port the next day. 

 

If we wanted to "visit" L.A. as tourists, it would be for several days at least.

[hallux]

5 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Staying at LAX (hotels have shuttles) would require only one transfer- the next morning to the port. Staying in Long Beach would mean LAX transfer to hotel and taxi/Uber to port the next day. 

 

And this is the option I'm taking for my trip in April.  My hotel is practically walking-distance from the Southwest terminal (I'm flying in on Southwest) at LAX.  The cruise line will have transfers you can book from the airport to the port, just need to take the hotel's free shuttle back to the airport to grab it (usually $35 I believe).

 

5 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Note that Los Angeles is huge with attractions spread out over great distances

 

Should add that those great distances are accompanied by insane traffic.  I was considering a Dodger's game the night before my cruise but at 2 hours each way from LAX to the stadium it just isn't worth it.

 

[Heidi13]

14 hours ago, kolas said:

I'm taking my mom on our first cruise to celebrate her 75 birthday.   We'll flying in from Vancouver for a 7 day Mexico cruise from San Pedro.   Would love some suggestions for the following: 

• We are coming in from Vancouver B.C. Canada.  Can we fly in same day of cruise or should we arrive a day prior? 
• If we arrive prior should we stay in San Pedro, Long beach or elsewhere? 
• If we stay in Long beach what is the best way to get from LAX to the Hotel and then from the Hotel to cruise port in San Pedro.  We've never used Uber or Lift and I'm not entirely comfortable trying it for the first time (too many firsts lol) 
• If we are best to arrive the day before what are some things that are a must see in LA?

We are embarking a cruise in San Pedro in Jan 2020. 

 

Our current plans are to fly out of Vancouver 2-days before the cruise - YVR to LAX. We never fly on day of cruise, even for short flights. On arrival LAX, we will most likely schedule a limo service, probably same one mentioned by Flatbush Flyer. However, Super Shuttle (they also have other shared providers) & Uber are cheaper options.

 

If boarding at San Pedro World Cruise Centre or Outer Harbour/Berth # 46, my preference is to stay closer to the port, which is San Pedro. At San Pedro, we are staying at the Crowne Plaza, which is about 1 block from the waterfront and has a good selection of restaurants and pubs/brewery within walking distance. The Best Western is cheaper, but some reports I read noted it isn't such a nice area. You also have the Doubletree down by the breakwater, but it is fairly isolated.

 

The Crowne Plaza & Doubletree provide shuttles to the cruise port. Not sure about Best Western.

 

If arriving in LA a day early, suggest staying local, as the local motorways are chaos. Travel distances are also extensive. From where we winter in Palm Springs area it is about 130 miles to Long Beach. In San Pedro, the walk along the waterfront is pleasant and they have a battleship and maritime museum. The Queen Mary is less than 10 miles and is an interesting visit.

[kolas]

On 2/3/2019 at 11:44 PM, Flatbush Flyer said:

For a cruise embarkation, flying in the same day is never a good idea for all of the obvious reasons. 

 

LAX is about 25 miles to Long Beach. Any major chain hotel (Hilton, Marriott, etc) at LAX is fine as are the same chain hotels in Long Beach. 

Staying at LAX (hotels have shuttles) would require only one transfer- the next morning to the port. Staying in Long Beach would mean LAX transfer to hotel and taxi/Uber to port the next day. 

 

Note that Los Angeles is huge with attractions spread out over great distances. In that respect, LAX is not the ideal "base" for land tourists.

 

If we were headed to San Pedro/Long Beach for a cruise, we'd fly in from SF the prior afternoon, stay at LAX and take a private car service (like ExecuCar) to the port the next day. 

 

If we wanted to "visit" L.A. as tourists, it would be for several days at least.

 Thank you  for the response 🙂

[kolas]

Thank you for your suggestions 

[KmomChicago]

I have to agree to do whatever you can to minimize driving between the airport, your hotel, and the port.  I have only been to LA once, almost 20 years ago, and it is the most sprawling city, with the craziest massive road system I have ever experienced.  And I come from Chicagoland which sprawls almost from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, across northern Indiana and into the edge of Michigan.  Getting from Disneyland to Long Beach to visit the Queen Mary was more time consuming than we expected.

 

There used to be a skit on a late night comedy show about "Californians."  Among other running jokes, they always peppered their conversations with details about how they drove from any one place to any other place along a complicated highway route - "I took the 105 to the 258 to the 101."  Trying to deal with it is apparently so ingrained in their daily survival that it comes up a lot and I can certainly believe it.

Edited February 7, 2019 by KmomChicago

[CoW mAn]

On 2/3/2019 at 8:54 PM, kolas said:

I'm taking my mom on our first cruise to celebrate her 75 birthday.   We'll flying in from Vancouver for a 7 day Mexico cruise from San Pedro.   Would love some suggestions for the following: 

• We are coming in from Vancouver B.C. Canada.  Can we fly in same day of cruise or should we arrive a day prior? 
• If we arrive prior should we stay in San Pedro, Long beach or elsewhere? 
• If we stay in Long beach what is the best way to get from LAX to the Hotel and then from the Hotel to cruise port in San Pedro.  We've never used Uber or Lift and I'm not entirely comfortable trying it for the first time (too many firsts lol) 
• If we are best to arrive the day before what are some things that are a must see in LA?

You CAN fly in the day of but I wouldn't recommend it, especially if it's in a winter month where there could be snow delays at YVR

 

Long Beach is lovely, very walkable, and has some nice sit down restaurants but staying near LAX would be cheaper and will have more fast food options - depends on what you're looking for.

[Flatbush Flyer]

On 2/7/2019 at 6:17 AM, KmomChicago said:

There used to be a skit on a late night comedy show about "Californians."  Among other running jokes, they always peppered their conversations with details about how they drove from any one place to any other place along a complicated highway route - "I took the 105 to the 258 to the 101." 

Let's be clear about one thing:

Only a southern Californian would ever preface the number of a highway with "the" (e.g., head south on "the" 405). In the north, we would just use the number alone (e.g., drive south on 101).

[KmomChicago]

4 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Let's be clear about one thing:

Only a southern Californian would ever preface the number of a highway with "the" (e.g., head south on "the" 405). In the north, we would just use the number alone (e.g., drive south on 101).

 

Fair enough!  My knowledge of this topic is limited to the skit on the show as presented, which was specific to the LA area since it was an exaggerated form of Valleyspeak, and they were always taking "the" roads to neighborhoods and suburbs in that locale.  Here in the vicinity of Windy we don't use "the" either, which might be why that kind of wording stuck with me.  It's probably not fair that northern CA gets stuck with the cultural stereotypes of the south.  Regardless of what they call the roads, traffic was among the most challenging I've ever encountered.