Long Beach, CA Question

[JRGAPI]

Hi Mates

I need information for the Long Beach port.

We are flying into LAX on 11/10/06 for our

cruise on the Carnival Pride on 11/12/06.

The Carnival web states that the Pride is based

at the Long Beach port.

I know November is still some time away, but I

like to plan my trips early.

We are planning on doing some sightseeing before

the cruise. Any suggestions?

I am planning on bidding on Priceline for a pre cruise

hotel. Which zone should I bid for, the Long Beach

Zone or the Long Beach Airport Zone? We usually bid

for a 4 or 3 star hotel. We have always had great luck

on Priceline in the Fla. area on all of our pre cruise hotels.

What is best way to get to these zones, taxi or shuttle,

and what is the normal price?

If anyone has any suggestions for me on a pre cruise

hotel, please let me know.

 

JR

[Splinter]

There is nothing around Long Beach airport...it is an industrial and residential area primarily. I would plan to stay near downtown Long Beach. The Hyatt Regency is in a good location, but is at the convention center, so may book up if there are big conventions going on. The Sheraton is also in a good location.

 

From LAX, http://www.Supershuttle.com is probably your best deal esp. if you have a large group. A taxi will be comparable, but will charge more if there is heavy traffic. Supershuttle is a flat rate regardless of the time it takes.

 

You can tour the Queen Mary (right near the cruise port pier). The Aquarium in Long Beach is worth a half day or so. If you want to go over to San Pedro (cab), the Maritime Museum there is also very good, and the Cabrillo Museum is also interesting.

 

Disneyland is about a 30-45 minute drive from Long Beach, as is Knott's Berry Farm (at non-rush hour times) if you are interested in something like that.

[JohnL1935]

In January we came in a day early for our Hawaiian cruise out of San Pedro. We stayed at Long Beach Hilton which is probably on opposite side from Hyatt. Hilton seems to be very "business" orientated and is connected to a World Trade Center. They had a "cafe" type restaurant which is where we had lunch and dinner. There weren't any other restaurants within walking distance. In front of the hotel is a stop for a free shuttle bus service that will take you all around the downtown area and even out to the Queen Mary. You do have to get on/off different routes to get you to your destination. We did go to the Queen Mary but we both were disappointed in the ship. It was rundown and not kept up as the cruise ships are. It costs $28/pp to take the tour. We were somewhat tired from arriving that morning so it may have influenced our excitement for the QM. I can't help you with Priceline zones because we used Hilton Honors points at no cost. The hotel is quite nice and we were glad we stayed there vs. the QM which I also considered.

The downtown area is quite modern and clean. To take in many of the local sites will require more than more day since you will be suffering some jet lag from the east coast. If you want to save some $$ you might want to check out hotels with a free shuttle to the pier in the morning. Hilton did not have a shuttle that I noticed. We took a cab to San Pedro.

 

John L.