Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Creative Overload

The Carnival Splendor Cruise

We searched the internet for a great buy, saved for a long time and finally we cruised! We are back and I am trying to sort out the overload of fun we packed into ten days. This is the first of several posts I will devote to our fun trip.
We took the Amtrak Coast Starlight from Emeryville to Los Angeles. It is an inexpensive, fun and scenic way to travel. We travel often by train and have honed some of the logistics involved in traveling. It is a twelve hour train ride so we pack food, books and videos for entertainment on board. Food is available for purchase on the train but often we grab a Subway Sandwich and have the toppings packed in a separate plastic bag so it stays fresh. We bring an insulated bag that folds flat and cool it with ice cubes in a zip top bag. We bring re-sealable drinks from home and snack items like apples, nuts, and dry jack cheese. Amtrak does not allow coach passengers to bring adult beverages, so at cocktail time we buy wine and enjoy the view.
Amtrak Clouds
Clouds near Paso Robles seen from Coast Starlight

When we arrive in Los Angeles I have a local car service ( Go Sedan) pick us up and take us to Long Beach about forty minutes away. I know it sounds fancy but after a couple of scary cab rides, I found this service. The price is about ten dollars more than a cab ride but the cars are clean, safe and the drivers are great. We stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn on Queensway in Long Beach. On this trip we added an extra day before the cruise just in case there was a delay or problem. Long Beach is a great place to spend a day!
Marriott Residence Inn Queensway Long Beach, Ca.



Long Beach Harbor

Our Cruise begins!

5 comments:

Zoomie said...

Oh, man! I'm looking forward to reading all about it!

Greg said...

Zoomie-Thank you! It was so fun.

Chilebrown said...

We took Amtrack to Reno and brought lots of Adult beverages.The Amtrack employee turned a blind eye.
Looking forward to the rest of your trip.

Greg said...

Chilebrown- There is one conductor on this train that makes multiple announcements about booze. There was a lot of college kids on board so I think he over does it.
I just have to get off my vacation mode and produce some more blogs!

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