CaseyJr

Our cruise ends in San Pedro at 8 am. We are considering paying for luggage express service and spending the day on Catalina Island since a midnight flight out of LAX is currently very cheap. I have a few questions...

 

*Can we walk off the cruise ship at San Pedro and walk to the Catalina Express area??

 

*Is the super shuttle the best way to get from San Pedro to LAX later that evening?

Yes and yes :)

We were in SP Jan 1, and the trolley cars were no longer running.

It looks like they run Fri, Sat and Sun from noon - 9 pm. http://www.railwaypreservation.com/page8.html My guess is that they were closed for the holiday.

I am Chinese and live in the area. There are no great Chinese places in the South Bay. You have to go to Chinatown or the San Gabriel Valley for those. But, here are my favorites.

 

PV Palace (also in Lomita across from Szechuan) is great for dim sum or family dinner. This is a Cantonese style restaurant with all the typical dishes. Dim sum is served daily until 3pm I think.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/pv-palace-lomita

 

Shanghai Palace (in the same lot as the Ramada Inn) is a northern Chinese place where I go for my xiao lung bao fix. These are delicious steamed pork dumplings. http://www.yelp.com/biz/shanghai-palace-restaurant-torrance

Thanks for the recommendations. As locals, we'll check them out.

The areas you've mentioned are safe during the hours you will off the ship. You can take the trolley to Ports O'Call but many of the shops have limited hours so I'm not sure what will be open while you are there.

There is a nice promenade along Harbor Blvd. If you want to stretch your feet, you can walk towards the bridge (near the Catalina Express terminal) and get a nice view of your ship.

Just ouside the terminal is a pool/fountain with water shows. I believe the shows were done by the same person who did the Belagio water shows. The shows are every half hour from 10-6 and every 10 minutes from 12 pm - 1 pm. Here is a link with more info: http://www.sanpedro.com/media/San_Pedro_Fanfare.htm

The closest area to San Pedro with a Chinese population--an area where you may find some good Chinese food--is the Torrance area...wihin a few miles North/Northwest of San Pedro...but you'll be looking at a taxi ride in each direction...So, I am not really sure it makes the most sense to eat Chinese food while staying the night in San Pedro

Torrance has more Japanese and Koreans than Chinese. The Chinese restaurants are pretty generic but not as "westernized" as PF Changs.

For good Japanese food in Torrance, I would recommend Yuzu. http://www.yelp.com/biz/yuzu-torrance

Someone else on these boards mentioned Gonpachi but I think their restaurant in Torrance is just so-so. http://www.yelp.com/biz/gonpachi-torrance

If you are looking for good Mexican food, La Capilla is also located in "Olde Torrance" http://www.yelp.com/biz/la-capilla-mexican-restaurant-torrance

Another option for Chinese food is Sea Empress in Gardena. http://www.yelp.com/biz/sea-empress-seafood-restaurant-gardena