Hello Gale and welcome to TA:

You did not say your reasons for staying in Long Beach. It would be helpdul to know a bit of your plans while in Long Beach.

I cannot address the hotel itself as I haven't been by that particular Holiday Inn. However, in looking at the HI website it appears that particular Holiday Inn is one of the older ones. In looking at the picture of the Holiday Inn Downtown Long Beach on the HI website it appears to have the old HI logo on the front of the hotel.

That said, the area immediately surrounding the hotel is not the most lively or interesting. That said, it's not that far from Long Beach atractions such as the Queen Mary, The Aquarium of the Pacific and restaurants along Pine Ave and the Pike.

If you won't have transportation, you can take any the 60 series buses that run along Atlantic and it will take you to the Long Beach Transit Mall, which is right next to Pine Ave where there are many restaurants. Near the Transit mall you can also get a free shuttle bus to the Queen Mary, Shorline Village, The Aquarium of the Pacific and other Long Beach sites.

I hope this helps,

LRH

Hi,

Thanks for the information. We will be arriving in Long Beach fairly late on March 20th and leaving on a Carnival cruise through the Panama Canal to Miami on the 22nd.

We will basically have one day to see sights in (and around) Long Beach. We will not have a vehicle.

We are coming in the 20th because we will be driving from Upper Michigan to Minneapolis and then flying from Minneapolis. Since weather--even late in March--can be a big factor, we want to allow plenty of time.

I am not concerned about the hotel being old--as long as it is clean and not in a real run down area.

Thanks again for your info.

Gale

Here's a map of some of the hotels of downtown LB as well as the Carnival Port so you can see where everything is located.

visitlongbeach.com/maps/downtownlongbeach.htm

The Carnival Cruise port is at the bottom of the map, just south of the Queen Mary. (You can take the free Passport C bus from downtown to the Queen Mary and walk to the Carnival ship.

Schedule is here:

www.lbtransit.com/Schedules/Default.aspx…

On the downtown map, above, the circled numbers are popular hotels. Their names are in the box in the lower right corner of the page.

Hi Hop, Skip, and Jump,

Thank you so much for the information--especially the map.It does look like the hotel we've booked Holiday Inn Donwntown is rather far from most things.

Do you know if a bus runs right near it?

Also, I see the Comfort Inn and Suites has a much higher rank on trip advisor,but I don't seet that one on the map. Can you tell me where it is?

We don't want to pay top dollar, so of course we are not going to get the best hotel.

Thanks,

Gale

The comfort inn is north of downtown, 8 miles north of the port.. (You can use mapquest.com or some other mapping site to find the hotel's location. Use QUEEN MARY, LONG BEACH, CA as the ship's address).

You can use the Passport C bus to transfer from the HI to the port but you'll need to walk (or take a taxi) .6 miles into downtown to catch it. A taxi from the HI to the port will be about $13.

Have you looked at the Coast Long Beach Hotel?

I second the recommendation of The Coast Hotel. It's very near where the cruise ship docks and is in a nicer location. I would go for that one over the HI if you can get a room at The Coast for a similar price as at the HI.

Yes, I looked on line and called the Coast Long Beach. It is booked full.

Thanks,

Gale

I don't think the Holiday Inn is in a safe location. I would not stay there if I was relying on public transportation and walking.

Have you tried Priceline?