Guesthouse International Hotel in Long Beach

We are planning a precuise stay in October and would appreciate any information, good or bad, on this hotel.

Do they have a shuttle from the Long Beach Airport to the hotel? Shuttle to the cruiseport? Continental breakfast? Places to eat or shop within walking distance?

Thanks for any and all help.

Happy2cruise: Hi , I live here in the Long Beach area. The hotel you are talking about is near Cal State Long Beach and the Veteran Adm. Hospital , it is across the street from Recreation Park golf coarse, the street is some what busy and not really very convenient to things. If you are coming in the LB airport (Good choice) you might want to check out some other hotels that would have better access to dining etc. The Guesthouse hotel is just sort of out there by itself nearer to residential, business etc, not really a tourist area if you know what I mean. If you just need a one night pre cruise , then there is a Marriott 1 1/2 blocks from the LB airport and a (older) Holiday inn about 2 blocks or so from the airport. If you have more than just the one night and want to see something of LB(Aquarium, New Pike area,Queen Mary,etc) then you probably want to stay more near the port area, Ocean Blvd. or Queensway dr. , There are some other threads on this board if you check that give you quite a bit of information. There is a web site for Long beach, I think it is visitlongbeach.com , that might help you as well.

Cori

Thanks Cori for your repsonse. I did some searching and reviews on the Tripadvisor site that were not very good concerning this hotel. I think we will stay in San Pedro like we did the last time at either the Sheraton or Best Western Sunrise. We stayed at the Sheraton the last time. By any chance do you know anything about the BW Sunrise hotel? Thanks again.

Sorry no I don't know anything about the BW Sunrise in SP, I am assuming that your cruise leaves out of San Pedro and not Long Beach, right. There are cruise terminals at both places. If you are going out of SP then of coarse you would want to stay there, and LB you would want to stay in that area. So you need to just check and be sure where you are sailing from. As you have already been to SP before,you know that the area right around the cruise terminal is all port and fishing area. There are a couple nice restaurants right up the street on the water. But the Ports of Call area has gone downhill and is in a state of disrepair (such a shame it use to be such a nice area to spend the day). Hope you have a nice time and a good cruise.

Cori

One more little thing, have you traveled thru our Long Beach Airport before ? It is a small retro design airport, that is great alternative to LAX. However be advised that at this airport you walk out to the planes on the tarmac and board the planes by walking up steps, the same in comeing into the airport you must go down steps then across the tarmac, unlike most airports where you board thru a tunnel directly on to the plane. So if anyone in your party has difficulty walking or climbing steps or is using a wheelchair , you need to advise the airline prior to your flite so they will have the appropriate help available to you. : )

Cori

Thanks again Cori for all your help. Yes, we flew into Long Beach for our last cruise and that is the only way we will go from now on...no more LAX. We are sailing out of San Pedro, but thought we might try someplace in LB as it's so close to SP. I think we will just stay in SP again because we want to go the Mexican resturant not far from the Sheraton that is by the water. Can't rememer the name, but the best Mexican food!!

Cori- You seem to be our Long Beach expert so I am going to pick your brain.

We are flying into LAX (much cheaper than LGB for us) and staying in Venice Beach. We cruise out of San Pedro the next day. I need to rent a car at LAX and return it near the port. I am wondering which companies are closest to that pier. I am not finding anything for San Pedro but there are a few in Long Beach. Would that be the closest city? They also list Huntington Beach and a few others when I search San Pedro.

Thanks in advance for your help!

For our 01/22 cruise, we're staying at the BW Worldport, got a rate of $60, and we're renting a car thru Hertz with an AAA rate of $17, then returning the car at the Lomita office; they'll deduct the cost of a taxi from your rental charge, up to $15

Happy2cruise

I noticed that you mentioned BW Sunrise in San Pedro. Have you stayed there or have any knowledge of it. If so I would appreciate any info you can give me. I have that booked for precruise 1/15/04 but I am very leary about hotels in that area. Some years ago we made reservation in Long Beach prior to spending the weekend at Catalina and I was most unhappy with it. We got there at 10:00 P.M. and didn't know anything else in the area. It was not in a good area. I didn't sleep that night. I am not too fussy but I want to feel comfortable where I stay. Thanks for any help you can give me.

Carol

Hi Cruiserx6,

No we haven't stayed at the BW Sunrise. For our cruise last October we stayed at the Sheraton which is about a block diagonally away from the BW.

We thought the area was nice and did not feel unsafe. It is by the waterfont and we walked a few blocks from the hotel to a mexican restaurant on the waterfront and had a nice relaxing meal there on the patio overlooking the habor. We didn't go out after dark so I can't say how safe that would be.

I honestly don't think you have anything to worry about. If you remember, can you let me know how your stay was and what you thought of the Best Western. Hope you have a good precruise stay and a fantastic cruise!!

Hello... everyone on this post seems so knowledgeable of the Long Beach area so I'd like to see if I could get advice. For our 10 year anniversary my husband booked us a cruise out of port in Long Beach. I'm very excited but I'd also like to arrive in California 2 days early to experience some beach nights. We'd like to know if anyone has suggestions for hotel either on beach or near beach that would be also close enough to the Long Beach port to shuttle there. Any suggestions would be great!! Thanks in advance.

Happy2cruise

Thanks for your response. I was just trying to find some reassurance that it is not in a really bad area. Seems like it will be OK. We probably won't be going out at night. We may be meeting others from the cruise for dinner and they are at the Sheraton. We can always take a Taxi if necessary if it gets late. I will let you know when we get back how the BW is. I was reading Tripadvisor but there isn't alot of responses on the BW. Anyway Thanks again and I will get back to you after we return. I wish I was smart enough to book our flight into Long Beach and not LAX. It sounds like it would be alot easier. We also have an extra day in CA post cruise and I haven't decided yet what we will do. Maybe stay again at San Pedro or I have been trying to find a Car Rental Place that will let me rent a car in San Pedro and return it to LAX. No luck so far. Someone recommended Enterprise but they are not open on Sunday.

Carol

Hi all, As for the car rental I also think Enterprise gives you the best deal out here. But there is a web site I will check on it again and post it on this thread that lists all the transportation companies including car rentals in San Pedro. I know the Mexican Restaurant you are talking about, nice place not too fancy but good food. And it is right on the waterway and it is nice to see the ships coming and going while dining. I really think you should be ok at the BW near the Sheraton. I do understand however that you might have expericenced a hotel in a not so nice area of Long Beach. There are some areas in the city that are not nice and not safe, it is a large city quite spread out and like all large cities it has some unsavory areas. I will check on that web site and post it on this thread for you.

As for Venice Beach , you will have an interesting time there, you see just about every kind of person there on the beach walk, it even makes me gasp at times and I grew up here and have lived here all my life, but just watch and enjoy. As for Huntington Beach that is quite a way down the coast road from SP about 40 to 45 minutes on PCH (less on freeway) and a good 30 minutes from LB on PCH also. Unless there is something specific you want to do there (the beach is one of our best for surfing) you might want to look at something more central. It can be cool and cold here at the beaches during the winter months ,I know we are Southern California but we have fog and cool weather here also. Just keep that in mind a little.

'Hope this helps.

Cori

Hi I'm back. I have that website for San Pedro Cruise terminal and San Pedro information. I think this will help you guys.

http://www.sanpedro.com/spcom/crusshp.htm

I think this should give you some good information.

Also there is a site for Long Beach, in case you want to check out the car rental agencys there it is

http://www.visitlongbeach.com

Good Luck and I hope you have a wonderful cruise and a good time visiting us in Southern California

Cori

Does anyone know if I can get a Taxi at the San Pedro Cruise Terminal?

I can't find a rental car in San Pedro open on Sunday that will let me return the car to LAX. I can get one at Hertz at the Long Beach Airport but I have to take a taxi and the will reimburse me some money. I am just worried that I won't be able to get a taxi. Cori do you know how far it is to the Long Beach Airport? Any info will be appreicaited.

Carol

Hi, SP terminal is about 20 minutes from LB airport, in miles I am not sure , but it doesn't take me very long at all. I live about 5 miles from LB airport myself. That might be your best bet. And yes you can get a taxi at the terminal. It can get kind of crazy there when there are more than two ships disembarking at the same time.There are usually people there directing the traffic flow , have one of them hail you a cab . Sorry I am not much help with this, but when ever we go out of SP we just have our kids drop us off and pick us up. So I don't have a lot of info on the whole car rental thing. But I think you should be fine, also there are a couple of shuttle companies that go there as well. I think they are Prime Shuttle and Super Shuttle or Shuttle Express. Are you sure you can't find a rental car return there, I will check it out on this end and if I find anything I will post on this thread. If you don't see a post I didn't find anything.

Cori

Hi , its me again. I did some research and could not find a car rental agency any nearer than Torrance or Long Beach to the SP cruise terminal , other than Enterprise in San Pedro that is closed on Sunday. But I sure could be wrong. SO I sent an email to the information desk for the San Pedro area asking them about the car rentals and also shuttle services in the area, explaining the difficulties that visitors are having getting that information. Now I don't know if this will help or if they will answer my questions but it was worth a try. So I will let you know if I find out anything. It is hard to believe that a city the size of San Pedro and busy with port traffic and all doesn't have more rental agencys. So if I find anything out I will post here. Sorry I am not more help.

Cori

Hi , I did some more research and found a web site with all the ground transportation listed for LB airport, names phone # etc. I think this might just help you guys. Anyway here it is.

http://www.longbeach.gov/airport/airline_travelers/ground

give this a try and let me know if that helps.

Cori