Well it all depends what you what to see or do as you say,You Could stop at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and on your Free day its right on the walk of fame you could explore those,Kodak threate home of the oscars,Take a Tour of the Stars homes from there with starline all within walking distance,and if you have time mid afternoon take a short taxi ride to the farmers market and Grove shopping complex....or santa ana for some bargains....

LA is a massive place to get round it all depends what you what to see on your free day,because after the flight and getting to your hotel you wont want to do too much your first afternoon there...

Looks a nice hotel but out of our budget I'm afraid. Need something a bit cheap and cheerful. As long as it is clean I'm not worried about the frills.

Hi Maureen we stayed 2 nights on The Queen Mary[now a hotel] in Long beach,stayed there 2yrs ago
they had some good offers then.
annx

We've now been offered this by our TA at a good price. Is it okay and is it easy to sightsee somewhere from there?

We only had one full day in Long beach,enjoyed the tour of the Queen Mary just had a drive around
the area before leaving for Palm Springs, quite a few shop within walking distance ,super evening meal
on board,our room was huge with television coffee machine ect.
annx

Are you cruising from Long Beach or San Pedro?

Husband tells me it is from San Pedro. We arrive approx 2pm on Friday and sail around 4pm on Sunday. Not sure what we want to see so we are open to all suggestions. Hotel we were first offered was in Downtown but husband decided he didn't fancy that so we asked to be changed. Can book Queen Mary through the TA or have some money back and find our own hotel, but where should we start????

When you say downtown- do you mean San Pedro or downtown LA?
A lot of cruisers stay at the Doubletree, San Pedro- here http://doubletree1.hilton.com/en_US/dt/hotel/LGBSPDT-Doubletree-Hotel-San-Pedro-California/index.do.
There is enough to keep you busy for a day there, but not much more.
They will shuttle you to the port for your cruise.

But if you want to stay in Los Angeles, skip Hollywood (seedy) take a look at somewhere in Santa Monica, there is enough to do for days, you wouldn't need to get a car if you stay at the beach and you can take one of the Redline Tours of Hollywood if you want to see stars' homes etc.
Hotels in Santa Monica- luxury- http://www.loewshotels.com/en/Hotels/Santa-Monica-Beach-Hotel/Overview.aspx

Or somewhere more moderate like this- http://www.hotelca.com/losangeles/ which comes highly recommended by cruisers. You can spend hours walking, people watching from here http://www.thirdstreetpromenade.org/dining/index.html

Taxi to the pier ( about an hour trip) for your cruise or book a car service.

BTW- what time of year are you going?

Hotel first offered was in downtown LA and reviews of the area on trip advisor were not good. Have now changed to Queen Mary for 2 nights. It will be a unique experience if nothing else. We are going in October.Thanks for all the advice, Now we have to decide what we want to do in LA.

Maureen you won,t be sorry you booked the Queen Mary it was good to see what the cruiser,s all those years
ago had, you can imagine what the ballroom must have been like with all the ball gowns the ladies wore in those
days ,we both loved the experience
annx

Yes, I think you will like that one (QM).
Take a tour of LA- try one of the Redline Tours, they are the best.

Just to bring this up to date. We did stay on the old Queen Mary for two nights and it was great. We did the tour of the ship and saw lots of exhibits and old photos. She must have been quite something in her heyday. Our room was quite comfortable but old fashioned. We had a sitting room with sofa beds as well as our double bed. Not sure if when we booked for four they assumed we were a family rather than two couples. I say this because our friends were given a room on the opposite side of the ship and their room wasn't half as big as ours. My only complaint was that I could only get a cup of tea at breakfast time and that was never hot. Any other time there was only coffee on offer and I don't drink coffee. On the Saturday we booked a tour with Sunseeker tours. They picked us up on the quayside in a minibus and it was great.