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Emerald docking location in Los Angeles


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We'll be on a California coastal cruise next May, 2018, embarking on the Emerald in Los Angeles. We plan to arrive a couple days early and would like to know where the ship might dock. Any suggestions for a hotel to stay in? We'd like to see Hollywood and any other fun touristy things to do. ;p

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We'll be on a California coastal cruise next May, 2018, embarking on the Emerald in Los Angeles. We plan to arrive a couple days early and would like to know where the ship might dock. Any suggestions for a hotel to stay in? We'd like to see Hollywood and any other fun touristy things to do. ;p

Well, Princess typically uses San Pedro for "Los Angeles" cruises.

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Well, Princess typically uses San Pedro for "Los Angeles" cruises.
Considering San Pedro is in Los Angeles, that’s a correct description. :)

 

The World Cruise Center in the Port Of Los Angeles, San Pedro is relatively small. Any hotel in San Pedro such as the DoubleTree or Crowne Plaza is near the port. The Crowne Plaza is one of the hotels closest to the piers.

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We are booked into Crowne Plaza tomorrow night. We sail the next day. We stayed there last time we sailed out of San Pedro as well. Book through Priceline and it costs a lot less than booking directly with the hotel.

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LAX-Hollywood-San Pedro...think three points on a triangle. No public transportation from either spot. Decide on what "touristy" things you would like to do. Decide really how many days you are planning to book. Day 1 and Last day don't count because they are transition days.

 

Southern California is huge without a car. With a car, you have to deal with traffic. I would suggest prioritizing your activities. Each activity will probably take you at least a half a day or more.

 

There is very little "sight-seeing" in San Pedro besides the terrific USS Iowa that will take you all of 2 hours to see.

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We are booked into Crowne Plaza tomorrow night. We sail the next day. We stayed there last time we sailed out of San Pedro as well. Book through Priceline and it costs a lot less than booking directly with the hotel.

 

Interesting .. I have never seen a Priceline or other consolidator beat a hotel price. Most hotels have some sort of guarantee that you don't beat the price on their own website. Yes, lower if pay in advance and no cancellation allowed - but the hotels usually have such offer as well.

 

Now if bidding on a room that is different, but then no guarantee to get your choice. I have had it work okay doing that on Priceline, but I have been stuck with stinkers too that have a rating above what they deserve.

 

So, I am just wondering what I am missing and how to have Priceline beat the hotel. Not doubting it happen, but I can usually find the same price among the hotel offerings as Travelocity and others.

 

Thanks and have a great cruise - I know you have been looking forward to it for a while now.

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We'll be on a California coastal cruise next May, 2018, embarking on the Emerald in Los Angeles. We plan to arrive a couple days early and would like to know where the ship might dock. Any suggestions for a hotel to stay in? We'd like to see Hollywood and any other fun touristy things to do. ;p

In San Pedro, plenty of hotels near by.

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LAX-Hollywood-San Pedro...think three points on a triangle. No public transportation from either spot. Decide on what "touristy" things you would like to do. Decide really how many days you are planning to book. Day 1 and Last day don't count because they are transition days.

 

Southern California is huge without a car. With a car, you have to deal with traffic. I would suggest prioritizing your activities. Each activity will probably take you at least a half a day or more.

 

There is very little "sight-seeing" in San Pedro besides the terrific USS Iowa that will take you all of 2 hours to see.

 

 

 

You can get to all three by public transportation but it’ll take almost all day to do so.

 

Decide what you want to see. Guidebooks or online will help you figure it out. We have it all here, somewhere. The Greater Los Angeles area is huge, looking almost two hours, without traffic, to get from one side to another. Without a car, even longer.

 

Many will stay in Santa Monica or Long Beach.

 

LA is an expensive hotel city. Be wary of cheap hotels.

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Doubletree San Pedro is a fantastic place to stay if you are driving to the port as they include parking and a shuttle to / from the port. We stayed there a week ago Saturday prior to our October 1st cruise on the Emerald. We arrived back today and they quickly came to the port to take us back to our car at the Doubletree. We will definitely stay there again.

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We'll be on a California coastal cruise next May, 2018, embarking on the Emerald in Los Angeles. We plan to arrive a couple days early and would like to know where the ship might dock. Any suggestions for a hotel to stay in? We'd like to see Hollywood and any other fun touristy things to do. ;p

 

Highly likely this will be the pier:

 

World Cruise Center

93 BERTH

SAN PEDRO,California

90731

 

https://www.google.com/maps/search/93+BERTH+SAN+PEDRO,California+90731/@33.7323274,-118.293511,14z

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I would recommend the Doubletree. We stayed at Crown Plaza last week and it was horrible.

 

Please be specific! The word "horrible" is too vague. How can anyone make a decision based on that?? Please give examples of all the "horrible" things that you experienced.

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Interesting .. I have never seen a Priceline or other consolidator beat a hotel price. Most hotels have some sort of guarantee that you don't beat the price on their own website. Yes, lower if pay in advance and no cancellation allowed - but the hotels usually have such offer as well.

 

Now if bidding on a room that is different, but then no guarantee to get your choice. I have had it work okay doing that on Priceline, but I have been stuck with stinkers too that have a rating above what they deserve.

 

So, I am just wondering what I am missing and how to have Priceline beat the hotel. Not doubting it happen, but I can usually find the same price among the hotel offerings as Travelocity and others.

 

Thanks and have a great cruise - I know you have been looking forward to it for a while now.

it is possible you are not using the discount sites to their full capability, or you are trying to book on a weekend that has extenuating factors like a convention in town. i have very often beaten a hotel's price on hotwire or priceline. for my last cruise out of long beach, i was able to get the hyat centric for total $125, the next next price i saw was $250 on the hotel's site or any travel site. if you search, there are resources devoted to sussing out the hotels obscured on priceline and hotwire. i also had success getting a better price than even the group price for a wedding on booking.

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to the op's question, my parents have a ton of points, so we have a free night in long beach at the courtyard downtown. they are coming in 2 days early. so we will explore long beach and then take a lyft or taxi to san pedro. since the hotel was "free" with points the cost of the lyft won't hurt too bad, and there i a more to do in downtown long beach than san pedro. san pedro is cute, but be prepared that the city literally rolls up and closes at 4 or 5pm. there will be a small smattering of bars/restaurants open but the pickings will be slim. the nice thing about long beach is the free bus that goes in a loop downtown can take you to many hotels and also the shopping areas, restaurants, and and queen mary.

 

honestly, if you are arriving a few days early, you might want to book a hotel where you want to site see and then the night before cruise move to san pedro. the crown was just fine when i stayed there last time. very quiet, comfy beds. even though i didn't prebook the shuttle to the cruise, they let me buy one in the morning and got us to the shop super early, we were on the first shuttle going from hotel to port to pick up people getting off. we weren't even the first people checked in, the check in lounge was packed. i found check in at both long beach and san pedro was run very efficiently.

 

i do 100% recommend moving to san pedro the night before because morning traffic on the freeways is dreadful. i live near pasadena, and we always just get a hotel the night before near port so we don't have to stress. we wake up where we need to be, get breakfast and mosey to port. if we stayed at home we would have to wake up earlier, probably not have a relaxing breakfast, and then get stuck on the parking lot that is the 110.

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Princess docks at the World Cruise Center in San Pedro. I live in LA and for getting around, you need a car in LA or you are toast. This is the town that invented "drive-in". The freeways go everywhere...IF they are moving. There is an Enterprise Car Rental near the port with a shuttle from the port. Book early, it is a small establishment. You will need a GPS either in the car or on your phone. When we cruise from San Pedro, friends drop us off and I rent a one-way car to go home, still cheaper than a week's parking at the port. The draw back to a car is trying to find a place to park. Only in the movies can you drive up to a place and find parking in front, especially in LA

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If you want to do touristy stuff, do you mean a tour? There's some companies that will take you around to the various places and you won't have to worry about finding a parking space at each one. The downside is that you're on the tour bus schedule. The number one tourism site, unless it's changed in the past few years is Farmers Market, which is at 3rd and Fairfax. Not kidding. Then the Hollywood Walk at Fame (it's fun to look at the various stars on the sidewalk and see if you recognize all the names -- depending on your age, there may be some that you don't). You would just need to get to a pick up spot to catch the tour.

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  • 1 month later...
Try Long Beach for any pre or post cruise stays. It is a MUCH NICER place than San Pedro, trust me! Most hotels in Long Beach are a 15 minute cab or UBER ride to the port over the scenic bridges. http://www.visitlongbeach.com/

 

I agree. San Pedro is not really geared toward tourists. Long Beach has a lot more to do.

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LAX-Hollywood-San Pedro...think three points on a triangle. No public transportation from either spot. Decide on what "touristy" things you would like to do. Decide really how many days you are planning to book. Day 1 and Last day don't count because they are transition days.

 

Southern California is huge without a car. With a car, you have to deal with traffic. I would suggest prioritizing your activities. Each activity will probably take you at least a half a day or more.

 

There is very little "sight-seeing" in San Pedro besides the terrific USS Iowa that will take you all of 2 hours to see.

 

A little longer now that they've added an engineering tour to the mix.:D

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