Cheapo Dad's Trip Report on the Navigator of the Seas (Maybe with few pictures added)...

harryfat1 · September 16, 2023

For those of you who have an extra $1M USD sitting around the house not doing much, maybe you can look into buying a used boat here. A steal at $950K as the display window showed various used boats for sale.

Back home they have used cars lots. On Avalon, they have used boat ads.

harryfat1 · September 16, 2023

In case you don't know what country you are in, the flags on the top provide a reminder as more opportunities to visit the uncle in prison

Entrance area to the pier that we will see on the way back

harryfat1 · September 16, 2023

View of the ship in the background as well as the casino as we slowly make our way out there

bobmacliberty · September 16, 2023

This is the first time in a VERY long time that someone has posted about a port that I've neither been to in person nor read about previously on Cruise Critic. I don't recall ever reading about Catalina/Avalon here. I knew about it, and have wanted to visit, but it just hasn't made it to the top of the list when we visit the west coast. Too many other things to do and never enough time. Looks like an interesting place that would be fun for a long weekend.

harryfat1 · September 17, 2023

23 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

This is the first time in a VERY long time that someone has posted about a port that I've neither been to in person nor read about previously on Cruise Critic. I don't recall ever reading about Catalina/Avalon here. I knew about it, and have wanted to visit, but it just hasn't made it to the top of the list when we visit the west coast. Too many other things to do and never enough time. Looks like an interesting place that would be fun for a long weekend.

I’m not surprised as I figured many people on the forum are not familiar with Avalon/Catalina Island. I haven’t been there in almost 18 years so I tried to do some research on the RCI forum but couldn’t find recent info posted by other cruisers.

Most of the RCI cruise reports were for Caribbean sailings followed by Europe and maybe Alaska. Of the few Mexico cruise reports, they are for the longer 7-day cruises that do not stop at Catalina.

The only cruises that stop here are the 4-day sailings and not many trip reports talk about short cruises.

Although my first ever cruise back in the 90s was with my parents on Carnival on the same itinerary and the following year was my first RCI cruise on the same ports of Catalina and Ensenada.

Catalina is the classic case of “so close yet so far” syndrome. People only cruise to Cataline if they live close by if anyone comes out west for a cruise from afar, it’s either Alaska or the longer 7-day Mexican Riviera itinerary.

Yeah, if you want to stay here overnight or two, you saw the pictures of hotels along the main walk that you can just drag your luggage to after the ferry drops you off. You will notice a lot of people have luggage waiting at the dock to go back to LA on the ferry.

I would suggest people arrive on the days the cruise ships are not in town as the main street isn’t that wide and the infrastructure can be pushed to the limit with 3 thousand plus passengers roaming around. The place is probably more mellow on the non-cruise ship days.

For people who prefer to cruise only, you can also see Catalina on a B2B if you package it with the 7-night itinerary on the Navigator on the once or twice-a-month schedule when she switches to classic Mexican Riviera so it’ll be a 7 + 4 days cruise.

harryfat1 · September 17, 2023

More people visiting their relatives in prison. We typically buy magnets or Christmas ornaments at each new port

harryfat1 · September 17, 2023

The majority of the folks in town rent the gold carts to get around as parking and cars are sparse

harryfat1 · September 17, 2023

harryfat1 · September 17, 2023

So we made it to the “Casino” – now this isn’t the classic Las Vegas type of gambling casino as Catalina is part of California and regular casinos are not allowed (not counting the various Indian casinos). Instead, this was supposed to have been translated from the Italian word which it supposed to mean the gathering place with a dance hall instead.

The structure is easily the biggest structure on the island. Nowadays it’s just a regular movie theater

NHProud · September 17, 2023

It’s a nice getaway from Los Angeles. We stayed at the Pavilion Hotel which is steps away from the pier . No cars allowed except for a trolley and I see a minibus in your photo. The other town of Two Harbors is smaller.

harryfat1 · September 17, 2023

harryfat1 · September 17, 2023

Walking past the theater is the private club beach area where you can pay a fee to use their beach area

harryfat1 · September 17, 2023

You can use their beach facilities at the club for a day fee or grab a drink or lunch here

harryfat1 · September 17, 2023

Going past the club you see the grassy area where they were doing the Catalina Falconry excursion.

Water break as this is the furthest you can walk to this side of the Avalon as the paved waterfront path ends here. After a bit of rest, it’ll be time to walk back

harryfat1 · September 17, 2023

23 minutes ago, NHProud said:

It’s a nice getaway from Los Angeles. We stayed at the Pavilion Hotel which is steps away from the pier . No cars allowed except for a trolley and I see a minibus in your photo. The other town of Two Harbors is smaller.

Yeah, you see golf carts all over Avalon as many visitor rent them to get around town

Sea Dog · September 17, 2023

Nice pictures. I think I may want to go there as it looks very nice.

3yorkies · September 17, 2023

On 9/14/2023 at 7:45 PM, The Fun Researcher said:

That’s Fair. Just curious what are your favorites on the Caribbean night? The bao buns have been either excellent or terrible for us. I do like the lentil soup. I can make the shrimp or steak entree work. So not a terrible menu but not high on the list for me

I do agree the Italian night is pretty lackluster too.

The jerk pork chop! My favorite entree!

3yorkies · September 17, 2023

September 26, 2005
CA

Author

#596

Posted yesterday at 10:57 AM

So we made it to the city of Avalon, the primary town on the island. The island is about 25 miles long, but other than the main town of Avalon, the rest is barely inhabited.

As far as I know of the major North American cruise itineraries, this is the only cruise stop that involves a US island.

Key West, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, and St. John are all US islands visited by Royal, also at least 4 of the Hawaiian Islands.

Edited September 17, 2023 by 3yorkies

harryfat1 · September 18, 2023

8 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Nice pictures. I think I may want to go there as it looks very nice.

Thanks. Catalina is a picturesque place.

They rent golf carts in 2-hour segments so you can rent one for a spin to go to the top of the hill to get some really nice scenery pictures

harryfat1 · September 18, 2023

7 hours ago, 3yorkies said:

September 26, 2005

CA

Author

#596

Posted yesterday at 10:57 AM

So we made it to the city of Avalon, the primary town on the island. The island is about 25 miles long, but other than the main town of Avalon, the rest is barely inhabited.

As far as I know of the major North American cruise itineraries, this is the only cruise stop that involves a US island.

Key West, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, and St. John are all US islands visited by Royal, also at least 4 of the Hawaiian Islands.

Good point on the US Virgin Islands & Puerto Rico as I forgot to take them into account. I thought about Key West but I was thinking of islands with no driving access.

Let me revise my statement to – Catalina Island is the rare US island cruise port visit that is not connected to the US Mainland via bridge or highway (this excludes Key West) and is visited weekly on a 4-night cruise (this excludes repo cruises to/from Hawaii and NCL's Pride of America) by major cruise lines and the residents of the island participate in US Presidential election process (this excludes US territories & PR) and is less than 30 miles away from US Mainland (excludes everyone else)…

harryfat1 · September 18, 2023

This is the “backside” of the Casino building away from the ship and main tourist area. It’s used for divers.

Didn’t realize scuba diving was such a big business on the island as you see major equipment in the vans as well as the big shop at the back side of the casino