Anaheim, Hollywood, Long Beach and RCI Mariner trip report –

[carolynn38]

Cast:
Carolynn (me) – late 30’s and has OCD where planning is concerned.
Tony (partner) – mid 30’s and knows its best to go along with my plans.

This trip had been booked as a mix of DIY together with Virgin Holidays. Thanks to Mr Tesco we had managed to book the flights and accommodation through Virgin Holidays (paying taxes and fees only).

We were originally looking to spend one week in LA, and then maybe onto Hawaii (or even San Diego/San Francisco) for a 2nd week, but Tony found a great deal on RCI Mariner of the Seas, sailing out of San Pedro and doing the Mexican Riviera Itinerary for a week.





To be honest, the itinerary didn’t appeal to either of us, but after having spend a great week on RCI Freedom a few years back, we really fancied trying Mariner, and the cost was really great.

A few weeks prior to leaving, we noticed that the sailing was still quite empty and hoped that the prices would drop, so we would get an even better deal, or hopefully manage to upgrade. Luckily for us we managed to upgrade from a balcony cabin to a Grand Suite so I was really excited as I knew a GS carried lots of extra new perks.



Anyway, as this trip report is likely to be quite long, and some people may only be interested in certain parts, I will try and segment it as much as possible.

So the itinerary was:-

Travelling Sept 26th from Manchester to London Heathrow with BMI. 3 hour layover then Virgin Atlantic to Los Angeles.

Car was booked through USRentacar / Budget (Intermediate with Full-size upgrade) and we filled in the ‘fastbreak’ details before we left.

Drive to Anaheim and spend 4 nights at the Sheraton park Hotel.



We had bought 3 day Disney hopper tickets via Virgin.

Then it was 3 nights in Hollywood, staying at the Renaissance Hotel.



Again we were planning to go to Universal Studios and had bought a 1 day (1 day free) ticket via Virgin. We had also booked online a walking/tasting tour of the Farmers Market.



Final night on land was at Long Beach (Hyatt Regency) where we planned to visit the Queen Mary and drop off the hire car.



Then it was a 20min taxi to San Pedro to join the Mariner of the Seas for 7 nights. We were going to visit Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. No tours were planned (except for a post-cruise back to airport) as we figured we would be so knackered from the first week it would be nice to have a rest onboard and just enjoy the ship.

Next Thread (Traveling)
http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=353266

[carolynn38]

Just realised this has been posted in pre trip reports and not actual trip reports - could a lovely moderator move this for me please... Thanks