Driving to Long Beach

[chadci]

In October we're doing a westward road trip from Indiana. We have stops planned in or around Moab, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, the cruise. On the way home we won't have as much time, but hope to make a few stops ( Joshua Tree and Hoover Dam to name a few). 

 

The reason for the post: our Cruise is a Saturday - Saturday out of Long Beach. For those that know the area, Would we be better off driving in to Long Beach Friday evening, staying somehwere local then heading to the port Saturday morning OR staying an hour or so away and then driving in that morning?  Is the port parking pretty easy to navigate? We're platinuim and usually arrive as early as possible, so hopefully no issue finding a parking space in their lot / garage. In Miami we usually stay at a hotel with a Park / Sleep package. It's been a few years though, so I'm not sure if that exists anymore. I know the price was getting pretty high and making it more cost effective to stay somewhere less expensive and park at the port. I think Long Beach is around $25 a day?

 

Thoughts? other options? I just want to make it as relaxing as we possibly can, which I know it will be wild in and around Los Angeles. 

 

 

[CruiserBruce]

Depending on exactly where you are coming from and route, traffic will be much better on Saturday morning, as opposed to Friday night.

[chadci]

That's what I had assumed. We'll likely be coming down 5 from the Fresno area. Then either stay on 5 or take the 405. The only reason I see that I'd WANT to take the 405 is Santa Monica Pier, my wife's never been.

[travelin.sisters]

just to be sure, you are cruising Carnival? They are the only ones that sail out of LB. I haven't sailed out of there in quite a while so am not sure about crowding/pricing in their garage but unless you find a park/sleep package that is a better deal, you should be able to stay out a bit further on Friday night & not have trouble getting in on Saturday AM.

[njhorseman]

39 minutes ago, travelin.sisters said:

just to be sure, you are cruising Carnival?

If you look in the OP's signature area you'll see the following: "Panorama 10/28/2023", so yes, they're cruising Carnival.

Edited February 20, 2023 by njhorseman

[CruiserBruce]

32 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

If you look in the OP's signature area you'll see the following: "Panorama 10/28/2023", so yes, they're cruising Carnival.

Signatures can be turned off...not everyone can see them.

[njhorseman]

24 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Signatures can be turned off...not everyone can see them.

 

The poster to whom I was replying uses their signature area to identify their past and future cruises so I thought it was safe to assume they would not  have signatures turned off. In fact they tagged my post with the "Thanks"  emoji, so it looks as though my assumption was correct.

[Mrgoodbar]

If you are driving in for a cruise this weekend watch the weather thru the grapevine and have an alternate route just in case!  The weather is looking wicked!

[KeepCalmBearOn]

5 hours ago, Mrgoodbar said:

If you are driving in for a cruise this weekend watch the weather thru the grapevine and have an alternate route just in case!  The weather is looking wicked!

 

The OP is coming in late October, 2023.

[Squirreladd]

 

9 hours ago, Mrgoodbar said:

If you are driving in for a cruise this weekend watch the weather thru the grapevine and have an alternate route just in case!  The weather is looking wicked!

Just curious. What constitutes bad weather in the grapevine? I live in northern Nevada and frequently cross the Sierra Nevadas in the winter during blizzards. Do they shut down the pass or do chain control? 

[IsanTom]

We're cruising on NCL on  Sunday and spending the night at Westin. How far is the cruise port

from the Westin Hotel LB? Plan on taking UBER to the ship!

[CruiserBruce]

23 minutes ago, IsanTom said:

We're cruising on NCL on  Sunday and spending the night at Westin. How far is the cruise port

from the Westin Hotel LB? Plan on taking UBER to the ship!

A quick look at Google maps shows it to be about 7 miles.

[CruiserBruce]

3 hours ago, Squirreladd said:

 

Just curious. What constitutes bad weather in the grapevine? I live in northern Nevada and frequently cross the Sierra Nevadas in the winter during blizzards. Do they shut down the pass or do chain control? 

There is a blizzard warning for the Grapevine for Thursday and Friday. That hasn't happened in over 20 years.

 

A little...like 2-4 inches of snow, usually will close the Grapevine, at least for a little while.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

5 hours ago, Squirreladd said:

 

Just curious. What constitutes bad weather in the grapevine? I live in northern Nevada and frequently cross the Sierra Nevadas in the winter during blizzards. Do they shut down the pass or do chain control? 

 

"Bad weather" on the Grapevine can be as bad as Donner Summit; 6-10" of snow with much less equipment to remove than I-80 gets because the Grapevine doesn't get hit as frequently.

 

The pass can close for hours at a time and CHP does a lot of escorting through the pass.

[travelin.sisters]

11 hours ago, Squirreladd said:

 

Just curious. What constitutes bad weather in the grapevine? I live in northern Nevada and frequently cross the Sierra Nevadas in the winter during blizzards. Do they shut down the pass or do chain control? 

it is not like places where the assumption is that people regularly drive in snow & are prepared...the grapevine can be closed for quite a while with snowfall that you might not think is significant

[PacificMountain2012]

The time you enter the LA Area, that would be Sylmar coming south on the 5, will determine how bad it is for you traffic wise. Obviously the earlier the better. Anytime late afternoon on and you will run into your basic LA freeway gridlock. It won't really matter what freeway you're on or what direction you're are going. If you really want to go to the Santa Monica Pier, you can bite the bullet (you never know maybe no traffic!) and head straight there on the 405 (to the 10 west) and then plan to stay in Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey or the Airport area for the night. Lot's of hotels and restaurants. In the morning get up early and head down the 405 to the 710, traffic should be fairly light, just don't wait too late in the morning. If you can live without Santa Monica, I would stay on the 5 south and stay in the Glendale area, lots of hotels and eating options, not much sight seeing however. Then in the morning you'd have a 45 minute or so drive down to Long Beach (you'll hit some traffic going through downtown LA but that should be it). Sounds like a great car trip you have planned! Hope that helps