Port of Los Angeles/San Pedro Questions

[skarletohara]

Hi. My husband and I have decided to drive down to LA for our forthcoming
cruise in February. We're driving down from Northern CA and would like some
questions answered, please.

Question 1: How safe is San Pedro area for staying at a hotel/motel AND
leaving our car in the hotel's parking lot. (we've had a car stolen before, so
don't wish to experience that again.)

Question 2: How easy is parking at the Port in San Pedro? I've heard it's
relatively simple, and $12 per day.

Question 3: Do you think our car would be safer parked at the Port since it's
gated as opposed to a hotel's park & stay lot, which might not be gated?

Question 4: ARE there any hotels around there that have gated parking lots??

Question 5: If we stay at one of those local hotel/motels, the ones with shuttle service, even if we do park at their hotel, how do we get back to
their hotel after our cruise is over? Are we supposed to pay for a taxi back to the hotel to get our car or do we call one of their shuttle buses?

Question 6: Do you think it's a good plan to, say, get a Priceline price for
a hotel in the area, and then just simply drive on over to the port and pay
the $12 a day there, as it seems that some ofthe park&sail programs are around
$155 or $125 anyway?

Question 7: Would it be too much hassle for us to stay at a Long Beach hotel when we're departing from San Pedro?

Question 8: If we decide to stay somewhere outside the area such as
Hermosa Beach or Redondo, would the traffic going to the pier be horrible
on that Saturday at around noon due to people trying to get in to pick up
those that are disembarking?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks a lot

[GloriaF]

I do not have personal experience -- having visited Long Beach/San Pedro only once in April 2004.

But here are my experiences with hotels:
We found LGB to be nicer and felt safer than San Pedro.
Pre-cruise we stayed at LGB Hilton (priceline $55), but it required a $30 taxi ride to the port. It was located in a lovely area & within walking distance of the Rainbow Harbor where there are shops & restaurants. It is also across from the Aquarium, I think. It was a very nice room.

Post-cruise we stayed at the Sheraton San Pedro. (called direct, $75) They had a shuttle from the pier to the hotel, or vice-versa if you are there pre-cruise. The area is OK during daylight hours, we walked to the harbor for lunch at a Mex Rest, then watched the cruise ships leave again later that day. After dark, you don't want to be walking, IMHO, in San Pedro. The hotel room was OK, but not as nice as the pre-cruise one in LGB.

We flew in & out of LGB airport, and have no or very little experience or knowledge with parking and driving in LA. Hope my views have helped somewhat, I'm sure you will receive many more expert answers.

[dosi]

Their parking is underground and secured...the rooms are very nice....they will drive you to the port and pick you up when you get back....the staff are all very accomodating.....the hotel is within safe walking distance to several good restaurants. There is also a market nearby but I probably would only walk there in the day time. We (self, DH and 3 yr old DS) walked to the Ports of Call Village (I think that is what it is called) twice in the early evening for dinner. I did not feel the slightest bit unsafe in the area. Like I said the area located in the other direction seemed a bit rough but as long as you walk with someone and stick to daylight hours ( and don't stroll around with $100 bills sticking out of your pockets :D ) I believe you would be just fine.

[momthecruisedirector]

We stayed at the Long Beach Coast Hotel this past summer, pre cruise. A beautiful hotel, but not secured parking. Visiting the Ports of Call Village is a great experience if you are staying in San Pedro. The Sheraton has good reviews and would be in walking distance.

[bearette]

As a southen california resident I don't now much about the hotels since I never stay there but I can help you with some of you other questions.
1)Long Beach is a nicer place than San Pedro. I don't think you need to worry about having your car stolen from either area, but anything can happen.
2) The parking in San perdro is $12 a day and you pay when you leave. I don't remember if they take a credit card or a check because we payed in cash.
5) If you stay at a hotel with a shuttle and leave you car there you might have to take a taxi to get your car back unless you are spending the night there again. If who drops you off is also working when you come back you may see if a tip will get them to pick you up again. (I have done that before and it usually isn't a problem since they usually have to pick up someone for a prenight stay anyway.)
6) You probably would do good with price line and just parking at the pier. Cut the hassel out of picking the hotel. Just bid for a higher quality hotel to avoid the bad spots of the area.
7) You should be alright just plan on traffic. (See #8)
8)In LA the traffic is always bad. It doen't matter what time of day it is it will always take two to three times longer than you think to get where you have to go.

If you want my opinion, by the questions you asked I would recommend you get a nice hotel in Long Beach and just drive yourself to the port and leave your car there. No matter what you do you will have a great time! Happy Cruising!

[1cruiselvr]

We just got off the Diamond Princess on Saturday. We parked at the Sheraton San Pedro and it's a nice safe lot. They let you park for free if you spend the night. Their shuttle will take you to the port and also will pick you up at the end of the cruise to pick up your car. I think it's the easiest way to do the stay over night/park thing. BTW I live in So Ca and I disagree with the poster that said LB is nicer than San Pedro. [color=magenta][i][b]Happy Sailing![/b][/i][/color]

[BJS]

We also stayed at the Sheraton San Pedro and left an expensive new car in their garage for 10 days without a worry. They have packages just for those that drive and cruise and are very accomodating. If you should get a package which includes a bottle of wine be persistant about getting the wine. That is the only negative we have to say about the experience.

[elliair]

For the past several years, we have stayed at the Best Western Sunrise in San Pedro. We are also driving from Northern California in January for a cruise. We have always left our vehicle at the Best Western Sunrise and we've NEVER had any trouble with theft, breakin, or damage to our car. We did stay one time at the Holiday Inn in Long Beach a few years back, and I worried about our vehicle. The parking was underground, and in a not-so-nice neighborhood. If our battery went dead or we needed a tow, there was no way a tow truck could help us out. Heck your car could be stolen anywhere and at anytime. At the Best Western Sunrise, the parking lot is well lit. The price of our room includes the 7-day parking and free shuttle to and from the ship.

[Sandy R]

As far as the outdoor parking area at the San Pedro port... we live in L.A. and have taken the Mexican Riviera cruise more time than I'd like to admit because it's easy - only a 40 minute drive for us to San Pedro. We've always left our car (Lexus SUV) in the outdoor parking area and have never had a problem except for a rather dirty car that required a car wash when we returned. You park your car and take your keys and the parking area is monitored day and night and the only way out is through a manned kiosk.

[skarletohara]

thanks everyone for the great replies!

I really appreciate all the advice.


skarlet

[skarletohara]

Hi everyone. I decided to try Priceline for the first time and ended up
with the Hyatt Long Beach! Woo-hoo. Newly renovated too! First bid $50
then rejected; followed by adding a free rebid zone and upping the ante
$10 -- then accepted. Going rate is $200 on most of the web sites Supposedly it's a 4 star, but most people say it's
really a 3 star property. At any rate, I felt like it was a good deal, to say the
least.

We'll just park at the pier for $12 a day.

once again, thank you for all of your help.

[GloriaF]

Congrats!!

I think that is where we stayed instead of the Hilton. (I just got mixed up, both start with H, but when you wrote Hyatt Regency, I knew that was the name of our hotel too). You'll love it!! The Rainbow Harbor is a fun place for dinner, and is a safe and pleasant walk.

[cynbar]

Thanks for all the above tips --- but what do you advise if we are flying into LA (it's a long drive from Boston) ?? Should we rent a car, then return it near the pier ---- is this even possible ?? How would a taxi work out ?? We try to avoid the ship transfers as they always seem so crowded and slow, but would this be the time to make an exception?? Do we need a car in either San Pedro or Long Beach if we only stay 1 night, and would there be enough to see if we stayed another day?? Any help will be much appreciated---

[skarletohara]

Cynbar,

I think I read somewhere that it's approx. $20 or so to take a cab from
Hyatt Long Beach to San Pedro pier area. check out [url]www.visitlongbeach.com[/url]
Maybe that will have some answers for you (sorry -- I don't know how
to cut and paste a link for you)

[nho9504]

We will be on Diamond 12/04 sailing. We will fly into LAX the day before, and rent a car from Hertz. (We will stay at Hyatt Huntington Beach Resort on an award, otherwise, Hyatt Long Beach would be our choice, or any good hotels at Long Beach.)

Hertz has a city office at Long Beach, where we will return our rental the following day. Hertz will reimburse $10 cab fare for you to go to San Pedro Pier if you rent at LAX and return it at Long Beach city office. It is on our reservation.

We had an Enterprise reservation, supposedly if you show your cruise document at LAX, they would waive the $25 drop off charge at San Pedro. However, we cannot get them to send us written reservation confirmation, and the reservation number they gave us cannot be pulled up on Enterpriase site. After several telephone back and forth, we dicide it is not worth it to deal with Enterprise. Also someome posted on the board about they were charged $25 drop off fee despite they showed their cruise doc when they picked up the car at LAX.

Long Beach has a lot more amenities than San Pedro, where is nothing more than a port, very little attraction nearby. Long Beach has Queen Mary museum, and Acquarium which is only a few years old. Lots of exhibits to see, we particularly like the exhibits of Jelly fishes (many unusual kinds, displayed in a dark room, very dramatic), live corals, sea dragons (amazing creature, they have a large collection). And of course the other usual fishes and animals one found in most acquariums. AAA member has nice discount, I believe is $3.00 off for adult and $2.00 off for kid. Both attractions are within walking distance from Hyatt Regency which is adjacent to the Long Beach Convention Center.

Long Beach also has a free shuttle travelling between downtown and various attractions.

I strongly recommend renting a car if you arrive a day early. You have the transportation for the whole duration, for an amount even less than the cost of just a single cab ride from LAX to either Long Beach or San Pedro. Our rental is less than $25 including tax. It is a very easy, straight forward drive from LAX down to Long Beach, and along the coastal to beaches further down ... (Venice, Huntington, Newport, etc even to Dana Point or further down to San Diego ... if you happen to arrive LAX late morning and you are a venturous type.)

[cynbar]

Thanks, scarlet and nho ---- that's exactly the info we were looking for. We live on the east coast and have cruised the Caribbean several times out of San Juan and Florida, so we have been looking for something a little different. Until now, we've been hung up on the pre-cruise arrangements, but Long Beach sounds like just the right place!

[momthecruisedirector]

If you are staying post cruise: We rented a car from Enterprise (made arrangements before we left), they picked us up at the pier, drove to their office in San Pedro and gave us the car. You can drop it off at the airport and they will provide a shuttle. It was great service, inexpensive compared to Hertz and Budget, people were polite.

We stayed at the Doubletree (just blocks north of the airport), so we were able to 'do Hollywood', hit the beaches (Santa Monica, Venice, Hermosa), window shopped on Rodeo Drive. It was a great way to end a cruise!!!

[randyat1001]

Cynbar, If you have not booked flights you may look at jetblue which flies into long beach

[mrscruisequeen]

[quote name='skarletohara']Hi. My husband and I have decided to drive down to LA for our forthcoming
cruise in February. We're driving down from Northern CA and would like some
questions answered, please.

Question 1: How safe is San Pedro area for staying at a hotel/motel AND
leaving our car in the hotel's parking lot. (we've had a car stolen before, so
don't wish to experience that again.)

Question 2: How easy is parking at the Port in San Pedro? I've heard it's
relatively simple, and $12 per day.

Question 3: Do you think our car would be safer parked at the Port since it's
gated as opposed to a hotel's park & stay lot, which might not be gated?

Question 4: ARE there any hotels around there that have gated parking lots??

Question 5: If we stay at one of those local hotel/motels, the ones with shuttle service, even if we do park at their hotel, how do we get back to
their hotel after our cruise is over? Are we supposed to pay for a taxi back to the hotel to get our car or do we call one of their shuttle buses?

Question 6: Do you think it's a good plan to, say, get a Priceline price for
a hotel in the area, and then just simply drive on over to the port and pay
the $12 a day there, as it seems that some ofthe park&sail programs are around
$155 or $125 anyway?

Question 7: Would it be too much hassle for us to stay at a Long Beach hotel when we're departing from San Pedro?

Question 8: If we decide to stay somewhere outside the area such as
Hermosa Beach or Redondo, would the traffic going to the pier be horrible
on that Saturday at around noon due to people trying to get in to pick up
those that are disembarking?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks a lot[/QUOTE]
We also live in Northern California, Grass Valley. We have cruised out of San Pedro several times, the last in March or April this year.

This is what we did this last time, and wiil do in the future since it worked so well.
We made it a leisurly drive on Friday and spent the night in Santa Clarita, Ca. It is about 40 miles or so to San Pedro. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, a very new and VERY NICE property....and I'm very picky!!) It's near Six Flags, but in a quite area on the other side of the freeway. There are many resturants nearby and also some shopping areas.
We left for the port at 9am on Saturday, not much traffic, and were at the port by 10am. Everyone had told us to allow 1 1/2 hours, but we made it very quickly. Parked at the port....$11/day at that time...CASH only on checkout. The parking lot is right next to the pier. I just dropped hubby off with all the luggage, went and parked and was back in 10 minutes or less.
The reason I would suggest staying in Santa Clarita is for traffic. It is a ZOO on Friday afternoon the farther south you go(on just about anytime on the weekdays) You will miss all of that and can have a relaxing evening and a nice drive to the port in the morning.
Hope this helps......gotta run....we are leaving on the Sapphire Princess out of San Francisco tomorrow.
Jeanne

[pkdof]

The San Pedro website says that the parking lot accepts cash, travelers checks and major credit cards.

[nhcruiser]

[size=2]I agree with all of the advice that has been posted. I would like to add that Avis also offers LAX car rental and drop off in Long Beach where they also pay to send you to the pier by taxi.

The last several times that we have sailed from the Port of LA we have opted to stay in San Pedro at the Sheraton. A very good clean business hotel but by no means a four star luxury establishment.

The question that comes to my mind is when will Princes be changing over to the new Carnival pier in Long Beach? I was under the impression that this change over was taking place late this year or early next year.

For what it is worth.

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