Who is familar with the LA area? Pre-cruise hotel stay in LA ....what area should we stay in?

[queenL]

Next month we will be flying into Los Angeles Friday before our Sunday departure on the Joy.  We leave out of the port in San Pedro.  We plan to rent a car for at least part of the time because we want to take a day trip to Joshua Tree Nat Park. I'm trying to figure out where we should stay.  The LAX hotels have expensive parking.  Slim pickings for hotels in San Pedro.  Now I'm considering Long Beach or Torrence.  However, we don't want to be too far from the pier, in case we return the rental before Sunday.  We'd prefer a hotel within walking distance of restaurants/shops JIC.

[Northumberland]

I guess it depends on your budget. We are sailing from the same port near the end of March and chose to stay at the Best Western in San Pedro. The have a full breakfast and offer long term parking and a free shuttle to the port.  They are also 4 blocks from what Trip advisor rate as the #1 italian restaurant in LA.

[princeton123211]

8 hours ago, queenL said:

We plan to rent a car for at least part of the time because we want to take a day trip to Joshua Tree Nat Park. I'm trying to figure out where we should stay.

How many nights are you staying in the LA area? If you plan on going out to Joshua Tree, and have a couple nights planned, why not spend a night in Palm Springs as part of it? Plenty of options and depending on the time of year, there are 5 and 4 star hotels that go for many hundreds of dollars a night during the high season but are extremely affordable in the off season. 

[riffatsea]

Hi,

Since LA is such a large spread out city the usual advice is to think about what you wish to see/do there and then pick a hotel convenient to those activities.

Since you want to drive to Joshua Tree for a day you cannot be in a convenient spot for that and also be close to the pier. They are in 2 opposite directions.

If you are flying in on Friday,depending on what time you arrive, you could drive out to Palm Springs and stay the night to be in a good spot to visit Joshua Tree on Saturday.

OR you could just explore the Indian Canyons right in Palm Springs for your desert experience.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

2 hours ago, Northumberland said:

I guess it depends on your budget. We are sailing from the same port near the end of March and chose to stay at the Best Western in San Pedro. The have a full breakfast and offer long term parking and a free shuttle to the port.  They are also 4 blocks from what Trip advisor rate as the #1 italian restaurant in LA.

 

Northumberland, the BW San Pedro is nice enough, but don't get your hopes up on Raffaello Ristorante being "the #1 Italian restaurant in LA." It isn't. Not even close.TripAdvisor uses very weird algorithms to come up with their ratings, and they are "ratings" not rankings. Raffaello Ristorante is nice neighborhood Italian restaurant and all the neighbors love it so it gets high marks for customer satisfaction.

 

For the OP, just the western edge of JTNP is over two hours from LAX, three hours is more realistic. I would spend your first night in Palm Springs/Palm Desert, go to JTNP the next day, then move to the San Pedro area for Saturday night.

[Bruin Steve]

Agreeing with most everyone else here...

 

It looks like you plan on arriving at LAX on a Friday prior to a Sunday cruise out of San Pedro...depending on what time you arrive, you don't really have a long time in SoCal...and Joshua Tree is a LONG distance out of LAX (about 150 miles to the park entrance) and a LONG distance from San Pedro...AND, depending on arrival time on a Friday, you may hit a bit of traffic on that drive.

 

One way to avoid some of that would be to fly into Ontario instead (about 92 miles from the park)...or, perhaps, fly to Palm Springs (43 miles from the park entrance)--though there aren't many flights into Palm Springs and you likely have to connect at LAX.

 

Yes, even Palm Springs is a little bit of a drive from the park entrances--which are in Yucca Valley and in 29 Palms...

But, it does make sense to spend Friday night in Palm Springs--which is a very famous and very nice resort town (Another alternative, if you want a location closer to LA but about the same distance from Joshua Tree--but with a lot less to do--would be to stay at the Morongo Casino and Resort in Banning).  There are also several small motels in Yucca Valley near the park entrance--with very little to do there other than the park itself.

And, yes, after your visit to the park, best thing to do is just drive to San Pedro and check into a hotel there.  We stayed at the Doubletree in San Pedro last month before our Royal Princess cruise...VERY nice hotel.  Second option in San Pedro is the Crowne Plaza.  Note, also, that it will be hard to return a rental car in San Pedro Saturday afternoon/evening or Sunday as Hertz and Enterprise--the only agencies with locations in San Pedro, are closed from noon Saturday through all day Sunday.

 

You can return a car in Downtown Long Beach, stay there and catch an Uber to the port Sunday morning.  There are several nice hotels in the tourist area of Long Beach that have attractions and restaurants nearby--but, by the time you get done at Joshua Tree and make the long drive back, you might not have much time to enjoy much of it...

[Gardyloo]

Actually Delta has a nonstop from Atlanta to Ontario, and a one-way rental car for two days - pick up at Ontario, drop off at Long Beach airport (then taxi to the cruise terminal) would cost around $125.  Don't know if that plan works for the OP, but it would certainly make the whole thing a lot easier than schlepping from LAX to Palm Springs on a Friday evening or Saturday morning.

[queenL]

On 2/9/2020 at 9:07 AM, princeton123211 said:

How many nights are you staying in the LA area? If you plan on going out to Joshua Tree, and have a couple nights planned, why not spend a night in Palm Springs as part of it? Plenty of options and depending on the time of year, there are 5 and 4 star hotels that go for many hundreds of dollars a night during the high season but are extremely affordable in the off season. 

At least 2 nights maybe 3.  I didn't look at Palm Springs hotels.  I think I might try that.

[queenL]

Thanks, I'll look into these suggestions.  We've been to LA many times, so we have already done Melrose, Hollywood, Rodeo Dr etc.  I'd actually like to see more of the areas outside of LA.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

15 hours ago, queenL said:

Thanks, I'll look into these suggestions.  We've been to LA many times, so we have already done Melrose, Hollywood, Rodeo Dr etc.  I'd actually like to see more of the areas outside of LA.

 

How much time have you spent in Orange County (Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, etc)? Or Pasadena?

 

You don't need to go all the way to JTNP to experience areas outside of LA.