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Los Angeles before Panama Canal cruise

Krteczech

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We will be taking Panama Canal cruise from LA to NY in November. Flying to LA on Friday, spending all day Saturday with our friend, departing on Sunday afternoon. Can you suggest general area for our hotel with public transportation to DT and the port? Our friend lives in LA proper and doesn’t drive. Also any suggestions regarding Panama Canal cruise are appreciated.
 

Ken555

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Not easy... lots of options to stay but difficult for public transit. You may want to look into the metro blue line to Long Beach if you intend to go downtown one day but want to stay closer to the port. There’s probably a better solution than Long Beach...hmm...I just don’t know our city public transit well at all. LA is simply still made for cars.

Also, keep in mind downtown is very far away from the port. Why are you going there?


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pedro47

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Suggestion Only. Please check Cruise Critics website for this information. Please check CC, roll call for your specific cruise ship, plus the date of your cruise and for the information on the LA area. All your questions can be found and answered on Cruises Critics website . You can also asked your own specific questions on CC. Membership is free.

Cruise Critics is the website dedicated to cruising and to cruises ship Information.

Enjoy your Panama cruise it is going to be awesome.

Sounds liked you are doing a Holland America Panama cruise ( 20 days + cruises).
 
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Passepartout

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We will be taking Panama Canal cruise from LA to NY in November. Flying to LA on Friday, spending all day Saturday with our friend, departing on Sunday afternoon. Can you suggest general area for our hotel with public transportation to DT and the port? Our friend lives in LA proper and doesn’t drive. Also any suggestions regarding Panama Canal cruise are appreciated.
Second the suggestion to join the www.cruisecritic.com 'Roll Call' for your specific cruise. There, you'll 'meet' others that will be on your cruise. There will be independent shore excursions, there will be 'meet & greet' events onboard, you might make some new friends to share a meal or have a drink with. There will certainly be a 'sail away' party on departure day. Join up and get into the mood.

As to the transit of the Canal. You'll want to station yourself high on the ship and toward the front as you approach the canal. Then you can get a good feel for the locks from your balcony. As thee ship rises and lowers inside the locks, you should go to one of the lower decks with large windows to see the walls of the canal with their crabs and other life scampering on the 100 year old concrete. There is a visitor center near the Caribbean end on the new, expanded canal. you should take that excursion to see it. There will be engineers and naturalists keeping up a pretty steady informative chatter throughout the transit. It will be broadcast throughout the ship. Enjoy!

Jim

As to your other question, you might pose it to your friend in Los Angeles. If they get along on public transit, they might have some pointers on how you can make the best of your visit. L.A. is a giant, sprawling metropolis of some 80 cities that was built for cars. To use publicly accessible transportation will be both inconvenient and expensive. I would think that UBER and Lyft will be your friends.
 
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Krteczech

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I will research Cruise critics suggestions, we are going on 21 days Norwegian Bliss cruise. I’ll join roll call. Why DT location? My friend doesn’t drive and he lives in that area. He is not a traveler by any means and I am trying to make I easy on him.
Any book “ before you go “ recommendations?
 

SmithOp

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I have a recommendation for NCL. Once you have made final payment, at 120 days before sailing you can make reservations on the web site. Book your shows and specialty meals online. It sure beats waiting in line after boarding, and finding only leftover reservation times or even being sold out. Bliss is a large ship with 4000 passengers, a lot of competition for the popular shows.

When you get on board head to one of the main dining rooms for a nice lunch, don't even think of trying the buffet, it will be a zoo.

If you are flying in to LAX maybe stay near the airport, lots of transit options from there, then Uber to the port.

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Krteczech

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Jim, I understand from your previous posts, you have taken Panama Canal as well as TA. We took TA 16 days on Norwegian Epic in Spring and enjoyed it a lot. How do these two differ?
 

pedro47

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To the OP & traveling friend: Do not package your cruise ship documents, credit cards and passports in your luggage that with will be loaded onto the cruise ship.
You must show these documents to the NCL representatives when you check-in to board the ship.

We have done the Panama Canal cruise from Florida to California and two (2) TA from Florida to Europe on Celebrity Cruise Line.

We enjoyed the many cruising sea days.
 

Talent312

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Two things to do in LA if you have time & mobility:
1. Warner Bros Studio Tour (Bubank) - book ahead
B. Getty Museum - book parking or use public transit.
.
 

Passepartout

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Jim, I understand from your previous posts, you have taken Panama Canal as well as TA. We took TA 16 days on Norwegian Epic in Spring and enjoyed it a lot. How do these two differ?
Well, not to overstate the obvious, on a TA, you have about 6 consecutive sea days, whereas on a Panama transit, the sea days are broken down into segments of a day here and two days there. I didn't look a your cruise (I have only taken one NCl and that was enough), but you'll have a couple of stops in Mexico- likely Cabo and PV. Many TUGgers have visited those ports. November should be nice in those ports. Panama City is a big city with high rises, etc. Colon, on the Caribbean end is the grittier city. Either port will have excursions to rain forests etc. if you feel like a break from shipboard life. we aren't big Caribbean fans, (to us they're all variations on the same theme) so I'm no big help there. One of my very favorite cruises was the Florida to Valparaiso Chile trans-canal on Celebrity Infiniti. I just thought it was the right mix of sea days, port calls at interesting ports. I'm confident you'll have a great time on your trans-canal and it will generate wonderful memories. Have fun!

Jim
 

clifffaith

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We will be taking Panama Canal cruise from LA to NY in November. Flying to LA on Friday, spending all day Saturday with our friend, departing on Sunday afternoon. Can you suggest general area for our hotel with public transportation to DT and the port? Our friend lives in LA proper and doesn’t drive. Also any suggestions regarding Panama Canal cruise are appreciated.

Does your cruise leave out of the Port of Los Angeles (our home town of San Pedro) or out of Long Beach?
 

Ken555

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Two things to do in LA if you have time & mobility:
1. Warner Bros Studio Tour (Bubank) - book ahead
B. Getty Museum - book parking or use public transit.
.

Note there are two Getty Museums with different exhibits and features, both of which are worthwhile.


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clifffaith

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If you are wanting to stay overnight close to the ship Saturday night, I'd suggest either the Crowne Plaza with walking to dinner in the older section of San Pedro, or the Doubletree in the marina with warm cookies and walking to 22nd Street Landing for dinner. Both have shuttles to the cruise terminal. As far as arriving on a Friday, getting to your friend, and then getting to the port area either Saturday night or Sunday morning you might try Enterprise. I know in Houston we were able to pick up at the airport and then return in a suburb -- and they made it sound like "why of course you can do that with no additional charges". There is an Enterprise agency near-ish to the port. Our public transportation is pretty much non- existent on this side of town. Other option is Uber or Lyft.
 

clifffaith

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While asking where people would recommend on San Pedro Facebook I got this reply: Hi Faith! I am actually a Sales Manager here at the Crowne Plaza. Feel free to reach out to me at my work email address amanda.wood@cplaharborhotel.com or via messenger. I would be happy to help you with a great rate!
 

isisdave

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It would make sense to stay the night before near the cruise port, as you may be able to board as early as 11:30.

Beyond that, you'll have to tell us more specifically where your friend lives. Los Angeles city covers 503 square miles, and the area generally considered "LA" is probably three times that.

You might look at Rome2Rio.com for suggestions, but you'll get good ones here if there are any involving public transit. If you don't want to drive, consider Uber or Lyft too.
 
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