Tours from LA

[OhioJourneys]

We are disembarking on our ship in LA and our flights are red-eye that night. We are looking for a tour that we could do from the port. The cruise line options do not look interesting. We are told we are an hour from downtown LA and that taxi is quite expensive and then we'd still have to pay for a tour and worry about our luggage. Does anyone know a tour company that will pick up at the port?

[Clarea]

We are disembarking on our ship in LA and our flights are red-eye that night. We are looking for a tour that we could do from the port. The cruise line options do not look interesting. We are told we are an hour from downtown LA and that taxi is quite expensive and then we'd still have to pay for a tour and worry about our luggage. Does anyone know a tour company that will pick up at the port?

I would check your list of ship excursions. Many times, they will have an excursion that does some touring and ends up at the airport. They would take care of luggage in this case.

 

Also check the Departures forum:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=413

[SuiteTraveler]

http://www.sunseekertours.us

 

Otherwise, you should rent a car for the day or hire a town car/limo.

 

http://www.reservelimo.com/lax-limo/?gclid=CM2dooqSk8sCFQIcaQodPDQAIg

[jmf123]

http://www.sunseekertours.us

 

Otherwise, you should rent a car for the day or hire a town car/limo.

 

http://www.reservelimo.com/lax-limo/?gclid=CM2dooqSk8sCFQIcaQodPDQAIg

 

Sunseekertours is exactly the one I would recommend. :)

[slidergirl]

Los Angeles is a HUGE metropolis. Just curious why you want to visit downtown. I can't think of anything worth spending time on that is downtown. What "sites" are you thinking of? If we have a better idea of what you want to do and see, we can offer good suggestions.

Me? I'd rent a car. Pick some places I've heard about and am interested in seeing - Malibu, Venice, The Getty Museum, Natural History Museum to the north, Disneyland, Laguna Beach to the south. The port is kind of in between "LA" and "The OC"...

[Keith1010]

Bob the original poster already said that the tours sponsored by the ship do not look interesting.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

I would recommend posting this on the West Coast Departures Board to get ideas for tours.

 

Keith

[Hlitner]

We will tell you how we handled a similar situation. We simply rented a car (from an agency near the port) with our drop at LAX (no extra for the one-way). We locked our luggage in the trunk (boot for you Brits) and drove to the "Getty" where we spent a good part of the day. Later in the afternoon we drove towards LAX and stopped for a decent dinner at a Cheesecake Factory located not far from LAX (one could choose any nearby restaurant). After an early dinner we drove over to LAX, dropped our car, and flew off into the night. The rental car was actually cheaper than a transfer from the port to LAX, gave us a place to store our luggage, and we had total flexibility to do as we pleased for the day.

 

Hank

[SuiteTraveler]

Sunseeker is pretty much the ONLY tour company option from Long Beach. Otherwise, it is better to hire a limo or rent a car for the day. There is an Enterprise car rental close to the port.

 

Alternatively, the Queen Mary (the ship that the original Poseidon Adventure was filmed on) is docked in Long Beach - just 6 miles from the Port they will disembark at. There is currently an exhibition of Princess Diana's clothes as well as many other things going on onboard - you can even have Sunday Brunch by reservation:

http://www.queenmary.com/tours-exhibits/diana-legacy-of-a-princess/

 

Here is detailed information for both cruise terminals:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g32655-c69906/Los-Angeles:California:Cruise.Ship.Ports.html

 

Being from the LA area, I'd rent a car and go see whatever I wanted for the day and drop the car at LAX. If you don't have a GPS on your phone, then rent one from Enterprise and that will make navigation very easy.

[OhioJourneys]

Thanks for all the response! Our port with Princess is in San Pedro, not Long Beach. I think we are going to rent a car & do our own thing. We already looked at touring The Queen Mary, and will probably go to the beach(es). Plan to stay near airport and fly home from SNA, not LAX. We never planned to go downtown LA unless it was to meet up with a tour group. Love that I can post any questions on these boards and get such great feedback!

[Clarea]

Thanks for all the response! Our port with Princess is in San Pedro, not Long Beach. I think we are going to rent a car & do our own thing. We already looked at touring The Queen Mary, and will probably go to the beach(es). Plan to stay near airport and fly home from SNA, not LAX. We never planned to go downtown LA unless it was to meet up with a tour group. Love that I can post any questions on these boards and get such great feedback!

I believe the closest rental agency to the cruise port at San Pedro is Enterprise. We've done one-way rentals from LAX with them before, and when we did it, they had a free shuttle to the cruise terminal. I'd confirm this with them by calling them on their local (not 800) phone number.

[Californiacruizers]

I live in LA. I agree that renting a car would be your best option. No need to rush from one place to the next. There so many great places you can see on your own.