West Coast Questions: Navigator Cabo Sailing

[tonyfsu21]

We are planning to take the kids on the trek to the West Coast for spring break next March and I’m trying to do some pre planning. Can anyone please assist with the following?:

1. Flying into LAX the day before the sailing with wife & 2 younger kids. Thinking about renting a car at LAX and then returning it the next day at the port. Is this an easy process to return at port or should we keep the car and just spend the money to pay for parking to make sure we have a car for the couple days of sightseeing we planned after the 5 night sailing? 
 

2. Thinking about staying at the Beverly Hilton and heading to the port Friday March 17th. How bad is the LA traffic on a Friday mid morning? I’m thinking we will most likely get an 11-12pm boarding time. 
 

3. Any recommendations for a Hilton resort to stay at before we take the kids to Disneyland after the cruise? 
 

Any advice helps, thank you.

[Ryan79]

Friday morning is actually the best day for weekday morning traffic. You will be long gone before the horrible Friday afternoon traffic kicks in. Don’t rent a car for one day. We have tons of Ubers and Lyft drivers here that it won’t make sense. You won’t enjoy driving around on a weekday, if you aren’t from here. With that said, please know that this sailing will be a party cruise. There will be a lot of college aged people who will be drinking a lot as this is a very popular spring break option here in So Cal. While RC is no Carnival, this will not be a relaxing cruise.

[tonyfsu21]

3 hours ago, Ryan79 said:

Friday morning is actually the best day for weekday traffic. You will be long gone before the horrible Friday afternoon traffic kicks in. Don’t rent a car for one day. We have tons of Ubers and Lyft drivers here that it won’t make sense. You won’t enjoy driving around on a weekday, if you aren’t from here. With that said, please know that this sailing will be a party cruise. There will be a lot of college aged people who will be drinking a lot as this is a very popular spring break option here in So Cal. While RC is no Carnival, this will not be a relaxing cruise.

Thanks for the info. We are Fort Lauderdale locals “the spring break Capitol of the world” so the party kids will be just more of the same. I expected this to be the case on this sailing. Looking forward to it. 

[Ryan79]

In that case, have a good time! It’s certainly going to be more calm on the ship, than home. I’m actually headed to Ft Lauderdale on my next cruise and looking forward to it as well. If you want any tips about the LA area, let me know. I’ve lived here my whole life, 40+ years and glad to help out.

[tonyfsu21]

14 minutes ago, Ryan79 said:

In that case, have a good time! It’s certainly going to be more calm on the ship, than home. I’m actually headed to Ft Lauderdale on my next cruise and looking forward to it as well. If you want any tips about the LA area, let me know. I’ve lived here my whole life, 40+ years and glad to help out.

Awesome thank you. I may take you up on that. Same goes here, I have lived in Fort Lauderdale my entire 40+ years so if you have any questions let me know. 

[Cactus527]

On 9/5/2022 at 8:30 AM, tonyfsu21 said:

We are planning to take the kids on the trek to the West Coast for spring break next March and I’m trying to do some pre planning. Can anyone please assist with the following?:

1. Flying into LAX the day before the sailing with wife & 2 younger kids. Thinking about renting a car at LAX and then returning it the next day at the port. Is this an easy process to return at port or should we keep the car and just spend the money to pay for parking to make sure we have a car for the couple days of sightseeing we planned after the 5 night sailing? 
 

2. Thinking about staying at the Beverly Hilton and heading to the port Friday March 17th. How bad is the LA traffic on a Friday mid morning? I’m thinking we will most likely get an 11-12pm boarding time. 
 

3. Any recommendations for a Hilton resort to stay at before we take the kids to Disneyland after the cruise? 
 

Any advice helps, thank you.

1. Don't drive in LA - if you're not used to California driving, you'll be shocked and overwhelmed. It's just not worth it to do so for a day either. I agree with tonyfsu21 - just Uber/Lyft it. I think I priced LAX to the cruise port at around $70 one way in October for our trip.

3. Suncoast Park Hotel is part of Hilton's Tapestry collection. While it doesn't have breakfast included (something I enjoy), it does have rooms you can get that have a Disney fireworks view. Looks like there is still availability after your March 17th cruise is finished. https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/snascup-suncoast-park-hotel-anaheim/hotel-info/

Hope this helps!