la hotels

[vision]

travelling with husband and three kids need two nights before cruise any suggestions on hotels that will fit us all in one room or suite. kids to small to seperate. thanx

[LMCAT123]

Do you mean Los Angeles (LA) ? hopefully not Louisiana (LA) at this time. For large rooms/suites look into the Embassy Suite chain, they are all 2-room suites. You can also find "family rooms/suites" at Comfort Inns, Quality Inns, Residence Inns, and many more of the chains. It really all depends on what you want to pay. I'd say Embassy Suites were on the high end of the "suite" hotels while Comfort Inns is probably on the lower end. Just do some web searches on these. If you are talking about Los Angeles there are two Embassy Suites right at LAX (north location and south location). I believe both also charge for parking (are you renting a car ? ). There are many more locations as well but remember Los Angeles is a huge area so you need to be specific in where you are interested in staying (i.e., beach, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, airport, etc)

[vision]

thank you very much will look into embassy suites tried the hilton long beach, (we are staying in san diego hilton resort before los angeles, so I thought that chain might fit us in but no) we are hiring a car when we arrive on 17th and it will go back on 23rd do you no if my husband can drop us at LA cruise terminal and take car back to LAX then its just him in the cab back. do I make any sense, bit of a panic never cruised before. Thanks anyway

[LMCAT123]

Frankly I do not think it is very practical for your husband to drop you and the kids and ride all the way back to LAX (in traffic) to return the car. You would probably be better off returning the car and all of you taking a taxi to the pier. The absolute worst thing about cruising out of LA (San Pedro/Long Beach) is that there are virtually no car rental places close by except Enterprise. You can return cars from Hertz, Avis, Budget at Long Beach airport but if you rented at LAX there will be a drop off fee. Honestly there is no good way to do this, we too have faced this dilema and we know the LA area having lived there for many years :-(

 

You might look into Super Shuttle to get back to the pier I know people on this forum recommend it, but in order to do that I think you would need to return the car and then take the car rental shuttle back into LAX and then get Super Shuttle to the pier. With kids all this becomes a major chore I'm afraid.

 

I believe taxi costs would be about $60 from LAX and abou $25-$30 from LB but with the price of gas increasing daily I imagine taxi rates are also going up.

 

I wish I could be more help -- sorry.

[critterchick]

Once you book your hotel (and I highly recommed Long Beach because there is lots to do there, especially for the kids), ask them how to rent a car locally. Take SuperShuttle from LAX to your hotel, then pick up the car once you're there. Then return the car the morning of your cruise and take a taxi to the pier. No drop charge and your family won't be faced with traffic to/from LAX.

 

Things to do in Long Beach include the Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach Symphony and Pops, Ice Dogs (minor league team of the Montreal Canadiens, I think), the original Queen Mary (now a hotel), lots of fun restaurants & shopping.

[vision]

thanks for info only problem is we arrive 17 dec collect car lax then off down to san diego first, so problem is we will already have car, oh god this is a pain. thanks anyway

[critterchick]

OK, wait a minute! There are two Embassy Suites hotels right by LAX. Not the greatest of neighborhoods, but both are freeway convenient and (getting back to your original question) would meet your need to have the family all together. You could stay there, and maybe spend your 2 days in LA exploring. You could then:

 

(1) all go to the rental car company with your luggage, drop off the car, get a ride on the courtesy shuttle to the airport & pick up Super Shuttle or Prime Time Shuttle to the pier OR arrange to have Sky Limo (800) 359-1800 or Execu-Car (800-413-4020) pick you up at the rental car counter to take you to the pier (I'm guessing it would cost about $60-70 with tip to take all 5 of you in a nice private town car, maybe less)

 

(2) have your husband drop off the car & cab it back to the hotel where either Super Shuttle or Prime Time might be willing to pick you up (or one of the car companies), or

 

(3) find some variation on one of those themes.

 

If you think you want to stay in Long Beach, you could return from San Diego to LAX, drop off the car, use one of the above ways to get to your hotel and use it as a base. You could probably hire a car at or near the hotel for a day of driving around. You could also do a day or so without a car and then take a cab to the pier.

 

See? not so hard!:D

[vision]

thanks for your help on this, think i will book hotel in long beach mike can return car on 21 and we will cab it anywhere we want to go. thanks again for all your help:)

[critterchick]

You are welcome! Enjoy your trip!