Ideas on where to stay w/ shuttles, decent price.

[Diane5583]

For my Cruise out of Long Beach I will be arriving the day before... and want to find a hotel the night before the cruise that is closer to the terminal  with shuttle to the Cruise terminal but walking distance to the metro so we can explore.

For the day of disembarkation I am wondering if there is a hotel near the same area with a shuttle to Long beach airport. (found the holiday inn near the airport which will work if there is not,) but not much to explore there and we will have all day and the next morning to explore.

 

What is  reasonable transportation from the Long beach airport to the area close to the the terminal where hopefully my hotel will be the day we get in. Any idea on what to expect to pay for this trip.  I am guessing there is not a shuttle from the airport to that area of long beach.... Wondering how expensive an Uber would be for that kind of distance?

[Trueblueky]

Hi, this question fits better under Home ports West Coast. You could scan previous answers or ask there.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/315-west-coast-departures/

[Diane5583]

thanks

[leen50]

24 minutes ago, Diane5583 said:

thanks

Several years ago, we stayed at the Best Western Golden Sails. Long Beach Airport P/U & Cruise Shuttle included. Free breakfast & walkable to supermarket. Now it's just "Golden Sails" & since there are no more cruises yet, don't know what they will provide.

[dbrucern]

We usually stay right at the port, Stayed at the Queen Mary (interesting - mid priced), Maya (expensive) and Residence Inn,  The Queen Mary staff took our luggage over for us just across the parking lot.  Hotels are much cheaper if you stay on the other side of the bay.  There is a free bus service that comes frequently and takes you over. We had to take cabs to and from the airport

 

Edited March 4, 2021 by dbrucern

[vwrestler171]

Hotel Maya meets your list.  Just use code P41 when booking and it lowers the rice and adds the shuttle to the port.

[Saint Greg]

I believe the Queen Mary is closed...maybe permanently.

 

I heard good things about Hotel Maya and I believe it was second closest to the port after the QM.

 

I didn't have a good experience with the free bus. I had to sit on it for awhile (15-20mins?) and wait because the driver was on a smoke break and socializing. It didn't stop exactly where I wanted to go so I had to walk a few blocks to get there. In the end I just took a Lyft back because I didn't want to deal with walking to the stop, waiting for the bus, and and sitting through the whole route just to get back.

 

If I did it over again and wanted to spend time in long beach I would stay downtown and take an uber/lyft to the port.

 

Edited March 4, 2021 by Saint Greg

[Bruin Steve]

Okay, Diane...I'm a "local" and I'm trying to get a fix on your question...

When you say you are flying in the day before, a big question is what time you are getting in...You may not have a lot of time to "explore"--assuming you mean exploring outside of the local Long Beach area and into other parts of "LA"...I assume when you bring up being close to the Metro, that was what you intended...

Problem is that the megalopolis we know as "LA" is HUGE...the distances between sights are quite large...as is the travel time needed.  The "Metro"--our much maligned "rapid transit system"--is not really a great system to use as a tourist--even though it CAN/ get you from, say, Long Beach to Hollywood or Long Beach to Santa Monica...Those routes require you to travel through some of the worst parts of the city, then change lines in Downtown LA or in Watts/Willowbrook. Long Beach to Santa Monica, for example, requires around two and a quarter hours each way with a change at Willowbrook... Long Beach to Hollywood about two hours each way with a change Downtown.

 

With just the one partial arrival day, better to stay in the Long Beach area...You could visit the Queen Mary or the Aquarium of the Pacific...or just wander the Convention Center area--Shoreline Village, the Pike, etc.

 

I would recommend staying in the heart of the Convention Center area--The hotels I generally recommend are:  The Hyatt Regency, the Hyatt Centric at the Pike, the Renaissance and the Westin--those are clearly the "A" List...Puts you in the best tourist area--near restaurants, shopping and the Aquarium...And it's a short ride, one I would do by Uber, to the port (assuming you are doing Carnival, correct?)...And I'd also take an Uber from the Airport...You are flying into LGB???

 

There is also a free city shuttle bus-called the "Passport" which does a circuit around this area and also takes you over the bridge to the Queen Mary--which stop, theoretically, could be used to reach the pier--but it is not really set up for luggage...So, take Uber...

 

If you want to stay on the pier side of the channel, there are two hotels I would look at--the Doubletree Maya and the Residence Inn Downtown...and then you could use the Passport to head across the bridge to Downtown to find restaurants and such...

 

And, aside from the LGB Airport area, you are not going to find hotels that provide airport shuttles--but it is no big deal, Uber is cheap enough and the hotels would only blend their costs into the room rates anyway...I wouldn't stay near the LGB airport unless I had an unreasonably early morning flight out--there is really not much there--it's a desolate industrial area for the most part...

 

Good luck...

[KeepCalmBearOn]

On 3/8/2021 at 7:50 PM, Bruin Steve said:

I wouldn't stay near the LGB airport unless I had an unreasonably early morning flight out--there is really not much there--it's a desolate industrial area for the most part...

 

In general I agree with Steve in that I'd choose DTLB, but I do want to speak up a little for the Long Beach Airport area, which has improved greatly in the last two years.

 

There is a new development on the old McDonald Douglas site called the Long Beach Exchange (LBX) and it has new hotels including a Homewood Suites, Hampton Inn and Courtyard. At the LBX is an upscale food court called "The Hanger" that is in an old hanger and has foodie stalls like Portola Coffee Co, The Kroft, Bite Mi, Amorcito, Bottlecraft and more.

 

Point is, LGB is not the dreary location it was just a few years ago. While I'd still opt for DTLB in most cases, if you have to stay at LGB, it isn't terrible.