First Time to LA

[gbcruise]

My family & I will be flying into LAX 3 days precruise, cruise is out of San Pedro terminal. We will want to see various spots in LA, possibly Disneyland. Will spend one day on the bus tour. Would love to have personal recommendations of hotels, say 3 stars or above. Can we see enough without having to rent a car? Any recommendations on a limo service from airport to hotel, then to cruise terminal. Would love to surprise the rest of my family. Thank you in advance.

[PatriciaF]

Here's a link to a similar thread--http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1201906

 

Most people sailing out of San Pedro stay at the Crowne Plaza or the DoubleTree. But if you have 3 pre-cruise days you may want to stay somewhere else.

 

LA is very difficult to get around without a rental car. Public transportation is limited and you may wait a long time to take a bus from one place to another.

 

Search for bruin steve's posts--he is a font of information about Los Angeles and environs.

 

Sorry--if I am not driving and parking, I take supershuttle. NO limos for me.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Especially if you would like to go to Disneyland. It's down in Orange County. Not exactly a value to take taxi or limo there.

[gbcruise]

Thanks for the replies. Short of a lengthly explanation I need to make this a unbelieveable trip as it will be the only trip for one of the members of our family. Trying to make it as special as possible.

[Bruin Steve]

My family & I will be flying into LAX 3 days precruise, cruise is out of San Pedro terminal. We will want to see various spots in LA, possibly Disneyland. Will spend one day on the bus tour. Would love to have personal recommendations of hotels, say 3 stars or above. Can we see enough without having to rent a car? Any recommendations on a limo service from airport to hotel, then to cruise terminal. Would love to surprise the rest of my family. Thank you in advance.

 

A number of questions:

 

How many of you are there...and what ages are the kids (I am assuming there are kids)?

This may make a difference in that different things appeal to different aged people.

 

What sort of budget do you have?

Hotels can be expensive in some parts of LA and really nice hotels can be VERY expensive...If your budget is really high, I can recommend some incredible places to stay (My favorite is that one time I was in the Santa Monica Suite at the Loews--$2000 per night but the view of the Santa Monica Pier from that vantage point is incredible! Of course, for around $300, depending on the dates, you can get a similar view from a lower floor)...

 

Also, a little hard to cover too much without a rental car...LA's public transportation system is not that great...and Disney is in Anaheim--which is completely in the other direction from most LA tourist sites...

 

When you say "three days" is it three "full" days? Or more like flying in one day, spending three nights in hotels and heading the fourth day for the pier? With the latter schedule, if you did a "bus tour" one day and Disney the other, that would pretty much be it...and the question would be where to stay for that itinerary and no car...For that, you might consider staying in San Pedro (Crowne Plaza or Doubletree) and arranging a shuttle or limo LAX to hotel, hotel to Disney and back and arranging your Hollywood/LA tour through Sunseeker Tours--they are the only ones who do tour pickups in San Pedro/Long Beach...

 

Your alternative is to stay in either Santa Monica, Hollywood/Universal or other places on the West Side...I am not sure how one gets to Disney from there without a car, but I am sure someone knows...

 

All of the tour companies pick up from most hotels in these areas and there are some hotels on the route of the "hop-on-hop-off" bus tour if you'd like to try that method of seeing LA...

 

The advantages to staying in Santa Monica are:

1) The weather is the best in LA...especially in the hot summer months...

2) There is quite a lot within walking distance of the prime Santa Monica hotel area: Third Street Promenade with shops, restaurants and nightlife, Santa Monica Pier with rides and attractions, Palisades Park with great ocean views and, of course, the beach...and Venice Beach and its weird and wild boardwalk is very close...

3) Tours will pick up from there...

4) LOTS of great restaurants...

 

OTOH, a really nice hotel in Santa Monica can be pricey (see Loews, Le Merigot, Shutters or the Fairmont Miramar)...Of course, there are lesser, more reasonable hotels...but not quite as much of a "splash" as those with "on the beach" locations...

 

Hollywood is far more urban, a little scuzzy in parts...but, if you wanted to make a splash with a nice hotel in the very heart of Hollywood, go for the Renaissance at Hollywood and Highland...It's in the same complex with Grauman's Chinese and the Kodak theater...The Walk of Fame runs right along in front of the complex and you can see the Hollywood sign from there...

 

Just over the Cahuenga Pass is Universal City--there is a Hilton and a Sheraton right on the property...walk to the Studios, to "CityWalk" or take the Metro into Hollywood...Tours will also pick you up here...

 

Of course, there are lots of other choices as well...

 

Tell us more and we'll try to help more...

[zephyr17]

Thanks for the replies. Short of a lengthly explanation I need to make this a unbelieveable trip as it will be the only trip for one of the members of our family. Trying to make it as special as possible.

Then you should rent a car. In Southern California you are completely hamstringing yourself without a car. If you need to make it special, you NEED one.

 

BTW - completely concur with Bruin Steve's Santa Monica analysis/recommendation.

[Cruisin' Chick]

If you have the budget, Santa Monica is a nice place to spend some time. You can go on a city tour for one day (get one that takes you to Farmers Market, Hollywood Walk of Fame --the stars on the sidewalk, maybe some of the star's homes). If you have a car rental, you'll have more flexibility for the rest of your stay.

 

Is Disneyland a requirement?

[RoadTripFanatic]

My family & I will be flying into LAX 3 days precruise, cruise is out of San Pedro terminal. We will want to see various spots in LA, possibly Disneyland. Will spend one day on the bus tour. Would love to have personal recommendations of hotels, say 3 stars or above. Can we see enough without having to rent a car? Any recommendations on a limo service from airport to hotel, then to cruise terminal. Would love to surprise the rest of my family. Thank you in advance.

 

 

We stayed at the Ayres Hotel close to Manhattan Beach. It was a great location because it was right off of the interstate and close to the airport. http://www.ayreshotels.com/hawthorne/

[gbcruise]

I am so grateful to everyone for your replies. Their is alot to think about regarding where to stay. Having specific hotel names given helps to weed out ones that we were considering that are not on the mentioned lists. Clean & in a great neighborhood are my first requirements, the next being price, nothing more than $300 nightly which is a splurge to us.

 

The reason I mentioned not renting a car is that I tend to become nervous if I become lost in a city unknown to me. I also wondered about the return of the rental car and then getting to the pier.

 

We land at LAX at 9:30 on Thurs morn & do not board Marnier until noon Sunday. We also return on Sunday and do not fly out until 5:30 pm. I am allowing 2-3 hours airport time once landing & before flying out. Not sure what we will do with our luggage if we were to plan a few hours to entertain ourselves on Sunday before we fly out on Southwest.

 

Disneyland is not a must but something we are considering. Will probably do a day of starline tours. It didnt seem reasonable for us to stay in San Pedro pre cruise as the activities we are looking at are a minimum of 20-30 miles away. We will have a 17 & 18 year old with us, one adventureous, one not.

[Bruin Steve]

The hotels I mentioned in Santa Monica all tend to be a bit on the pricey side...but those are the 4 and 5 star hotels--the ones right on the beach with 5 star amenities...There are other choices...

 

Do some searches on this board on posts by my compadre, Curt Jerome Wild...he knows LA area hotels better than anyone...In Santa Monica, consider some of the smaller hotels along Ocean Avenue--some still nice hotels with a little lower cost on the "inland" side of Ocean...also, I know Curt likes the CalMar:

 

http://www.calmarhotel.com/

 

Sort of a funky 50s style garden apartment turned hotel only a block off the third street promenade...

 

There's a Holiday Inn very close to the Promenade and to the Santa Monica Pier...but, beware, you'd want a room on the side AWAY from the Freeway...this hotel fronts right on the Freeway...

 

http://www.hisantamonicahotel.com/

 

The Doubletree and the Sheraton Delfina are liked by some...but are not the best of locations...sort of a longer walk to attractions on the "other" side of the freeway and a few blocks inland...

 

http://doubletree1.hilton.com/en_US/dt/hotel/SMOPCDT-Doubletree-Guest-Suites-Santa-Monica-California/index.do

 

http://www.sheratondelfina.com/?cmpid=GL_DSM

 

Sort of a cool place to stay just to the south of Santa Monica is Venice Beach. I can't really vouch, firsthand, for any of these, other than for their location, so do a little research on these:

 

http://jdvhotels.com/hotels/venicebeach/erwin/

 

http://www.venicebeachsuites.com/

 

http://www.innatvenicebeach.com/

 

Venice Beach is sort of really interesting...it's a fairly long walk into Santa Monica proper...but there is also a very good local bus syster...the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus...that has regular buses between Venice and Santa Monica:

 

http://www.bigbluebus.com/systemmap/basic.asp#

 

Also check out my post, #4, here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1208642&highlight=

 

...about staying at Universal without a car...

[Cruisin' Chick]

We stayed at the Ayres Hotel close to Manhattan Beach. It was a great location because it was right off of the interstate and close to the airport. http://www.ayreshotels.com/hawthorne/

 

Probably not a priority for the OP as he/she wants an experience for the family. They don't need to be close to the airport; in fact, with their desire to see the sights, they should stay away from the airport.

[Duck Duck Cruise]

My family & I will be flying into LAX 3 days precruise, cruise is out of San Pedro terminal. We will want to see various spots in LA, possibly Disneyland. Will spend one day on the bus tour. Would love to have personal recommendations of hotels, say 3 stars or above. Can we see enough without having to rent a car? Any recommendations on a limo service from airport to hotel, then to cruise terminal. Would love to surprise the rest of my family. Thank you in advance.

 

 

If you have not already left............we used http://www.execucar.com from LAX to San Pedro, Feb 2010 was $95.00 and still shows that price through 2012. The car was SO WONDERFUL, buttery leather comfortable seats are great to slide your rear into after an uncomfortable air plane ride.

 

We always take a town car because we want to be pampered and consider this to be part of our vacation experience.

 

Have fun,

Lin