Making the most of Los Angeles
Use these notes to shape a realistic day ashore, then confirm any time-sensitive information for the date of your call.
Arriving at the port
Most cruise lines use San Pedro's World Cruise Center. Carnival Corp. ships use Long Beach's Cruise Terminal, a vast white hemisphere with an elevated gangway to the ship. The former Queen Mary, now a hotel and museum, is beside the terminal. Carnival Cruise Line has completed a multimillion-dollar renovation of the Long Beach Cruise Terminal to handle larger ships and improve operations.
Each terminal lies more than 20 miles south of the airport.
Xpress Shuttle and Supershuttle run buses to and from all three airports. For two or more travellers, a taxi is usually the same price or cheaper.
Los Angeles is vast, with distances that are nearly beyond a taxi's limits; that is why most airline passengers hire cars.
For GPS use, the addresses are:
World Cruise Center GPS: 100 Swinford St, San Pedro, CA 90731; phone (310) 519-2342.
Flying to LAX is not essential: Long Beach Airport is only a few miles from the cruise port. UBER from Long Beach Airport usually costs about $25, and there is no shuttle.
Long Beach Cruise Terminal address: 231 Windsor Way, Long Beach, California 90802.
Hotels are available in San Pedro.
Hotels are available in Longbeach.
Bring a printable map with you.
See San Pedro's cruise calendar.
See Long Beach's cruise calendar.
LA's west side has relatively few tangible sights and museums, yet remains a tourist honey pot for an obvious reason: its Pacific location, where it seems perpetually summer and life is generally easy. Liberal, likeable Santa Monica is at the centre, with a bright, busy beach pier of food stalls and games arcades, plus Santa Monica Place mall and Third Street Promenade within easy walking distance. Venice, a little farther down the coast, is livelier, both along its famously oddball beach and among the cultured, arty shops and galleries of Abbot Kinney Boulevard. Surf dogs, meanwhile…
Food and shopping
From coast to desert and city to suburbs, malls dominate Los Angeles shopping. Well-known examples include Santa Monica Place at Colorado Avenue & Fourth Avenue and the huge Beverly Center on Beverly Hills' edge at 8500 Beverly Boulevard, CA 90048, though neither offers many surprises. Newer malls have more character: try the glossy Hollywood & Highland complex at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard, or the open-air Grove at 189 The Grove Drive.
Fashion lovers with money to spend head to Rodeo Drive and nearby Beverly Hills streets for haute couture. Robertson Boulevard, between Beverly Boulevard and W 3rd Street, has designer stores with somewhat more appeal. At the other end of the market, Downtown's Fashion District is packed with shops selling budget clothing, designer knock-offs and every sort of accessory.
Money
The official United States currency is the U.S. dollar (symbol: $), and ATMs are everywhere.
Visa and MasterCard, along with other major credit cards, are widely accepted even for purchases worth only a few dollars, and can sometimes be the only payment option. Overseas visitors should remember that goods and services can look cheaper than they are because taxes and gratuities are seldom included.
Most states levy sales tax, from 2.9% to nearly 10% of the retail price, with 4-6% typical. It is almost never included in displayed prices, except for gasoline and, in most states, alcoholic drinks consumed on premises; instead it is calculated and added when you pay.
Tipping is common and expected in America. Americans may debate who to tip and at what level, but these are generally accepted standard rates:
- Full-service restaurants: 15-20%. This is often wait staff's only income. Leave a cash tip or add it to the credit-card slip; few restaurants apply an automatic service charge, and if they do, decide how much extra to leave. Check your bill.
- Taxi drivers, hairdressers and other personal services: 10-15%.
- Bartenders: leave 15% on the total, or $1 for a low-cost drink.
- Bellhops: $1-2 per bag, with a $3-5 minimum regardless.
- Hotel doorman: $1 per bag when helping, plus $1 if they call a cab.
- Tour guides: according to tour length, size and overall quality; for half-day tours or less, $5-10 per person, and for longer tours, $10-20 per person.
- Private car and limousine drivers: 15-20%.
- Hotel housekeeping: $1-2 each day for long stays, or $5 minimum for very short stays; this is optional.
- Food delivery, such as pizza: $2-5, and possibly more when the order is very large.
Staying connected
The U.S. has no official federal language, though English is overwhelmingly used day to day. Several states have made English their official state language. Spanish is also official and widely spoken in New Mexico; French is official in Louisiana and Hawaiian is official in Hawaii, although neither comes close to English in use and their official status is mainly historical.
Emergency number: 911.
Opening Hours and
In major metropolitan areas such as New York and Los Angeles, many drugstores and supermarkets operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Department stores, shopping centres and most other major retailers are usually open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Saturday, with shorter Sunday hours, generally 11 a.m. or noon to 5 or 6 p.m. They tend to stay open on holidays, except major holidays including Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, when stores are generally shut.