We flew in a couple of days early so we could see the sites in Cali! We had a early flight from Hobby Houston to LAX and arrived on time, caught the Avis shuttle and picked up our rental car 45 minutes early! Everything was flowing so smooth. I had not made a firm plan as to what we would do first so we decided that we would just make our way toward our Hotel and see how easy it would be to locate with the LA traffic. Easy! Arrived about 11 a.m. LA time which was 1 p.m. our time. The Best Western Plus Redondo Beach (located one mile from the beach) was the best. We explained we were very early to check in but wanted to see if we could check in early. YES we could! Very nice hotel and great rates with free parking! That is a miracle in itself! Breakfast included in our package and it was very good!

Great time visiting the beaches for the next 2 1/2 days and finding Rodeo Drive for some shopping, SUR,PUMP, the Chinese Theater, the Sunset Strip, Hollywood sign and stopping at every beach from Malibu to Torrance/Redondo beach.

I had read many reviews and was worried about Embarkation at Long Beach since most reviews were not that favorable. We left our hotel at 9 a.m. and drove to Long Beach and located the shipping terminal and looked around. Found the Avis Rental car place downtown off of Ocean Ave. and turned our car in and caught a cab for $10 back to the shipping Terminal. We arrived around 12 and we were on the ship and in our room by 1:30. No priority boarding or FTTF for us! Side note for those people just 15 minutes behind us the line got extremely long very quick! Read more