Princess Cruise Terminal

Going to Panama Canal with Princess would like to spend a couple pre days in are. Any recc. on hotels or must see or do?

It would REALLY help if you mentioned what port you're leaving from:D Princess canal cruises leave from FLL or LAX as well as sometimes from SFO, SEA and YVR... Since this is the west coast departures board I assume you're talking about one of the latter ports, but which one?

Going to Panama Canal with Princess would like to spend a couple pre days in are. Any recc. on hotels or must see or do?

Since most of Princess' Panama Canal cruises originating on the West Coast are out of Los Angeles, until told otherwise, I will assume that to be the case.

That said, a whole lot depends on:

1) How many days you are spending here (To give you a clue, just one night pre-cruise is really not enough to see or do much of anything. By the time you make your way out of LAX and get checked into a hotel, you've not got much time left.)

2) Have you visited before or is this your first visit?

3) What would you like to see and do? (LA is a BIG place and there is a lot to see and do--but different things for different people. Are you interested in amusement parks, movie studios, standard tacky tourist sites or just soaking in local culture, for example).

4) How do you plan on getting around town (renting a car, public transportation, ?)?

Where you stay depends on a lot of that.

If you are just getting in one night pre-cruise, I recommend you just concentrate on getting to the port and staying in a hotel near there. The port is in San Pedro...about 20 miles South of LAX and nowhere near most of the typical tourist sites. There are two hotels I would recommend there: The Crowne Plaza or the Doubletree. The selection goes down fast from there.

If you are staying multiple days pre-cruise, I would stay elsewhere. My best recommendation, especially if you won't have a car, is Santa Monica...specifically the area near the Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica Pier, Palisades Park. Nice, upscale area, best weather, lots of shopping, nightlife and restaurants...and all of the tour companies pick up there--including the HOHO bus--which uses it as a hub. After that, I would recommend Marina Del Rey/Venice Beach. Some people want to concentrate on movie studios and the Hollywood tourist spots--If that is you, know that most of Old Hollywood is pretty seedy...Stick to the Loews at Hollywood and Highland or the stately old Roosevelt...or stay just a couple of stops up the Metro line at Universal City...

Those are some basics...Give us a little more of an idea as to what you want and we can give you more.