The Adventure That Wasn't: Making the Best of It When Travel Plans Go Awry

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By Edward Gates

 

Our recent excursion to check out the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California was derailed by a power outage. It was a stark reminder that travel plans don't always go the way we intend them to.

 

The Trip on Paper

Originally, the four of us here at Cruise Planners Getaway Gang, Paul, Stephanie, Suzanne and myself, had planned on a simple one-night stay on the Queen Mary in Long Beach. We would arrive early Sunday to attend the highly-touted Champagne Sunday Brunch, check into the hotel, explore the different parts of the ship for most of the day, have a great dinner at another onboard restaurant, and finally cap the evening off with the Paranormal Ship Walking Tour. We were all looking forward to an action-packed day!

 

Little did we know that there were forces beyond our control at work that day. In addition to a record heat wave pushing temperatures close to the 100-degree mark in Long Beach, we came to find out when we arrived that there was a power outage affecting the Queen Mary. They told us that they wouldn’t be able to let people back on until after 4pm.

 

Bye Bye, Queen Mary…

As we scrambled to decide where we would go for brunch (We were starving since we were saving our appetite to go nuts at the buffet!), Paul and I discussed whether we wanted to cancel our stay onboard the Queen Mary, since a good chunk of our planned day aboard would be gone. We were a bit stunned, frankly, and didn't know what to do. We had just driven for nearly an hour, and we had all our things packed for an overnight stay.

 

After a bit of deliberation, we decided it would be best to cancel our entire stay and try again some other weekend. So, we moved on and focused on the more pertinent issue at hand, FOOD! (Did I mention we were starving?) We agreed to try a place across the harbor for lunch, which was also nearby a shopping area Suzanne had suggested and spent time at when she was younger, Long Beach’s SHORELINE VILLAGE.

 

Hello, Shoreline Village

We began our Shoreline Village adventure at a restaurant called PARKERS’ LIGHTHOUSE. Parkers’ Lighthouse, famous for its mesquite grilled fresh seafood, innovative Southern California seafood dishes and creative sushi and sashimi, is built right on the edge of Shoreline Village and offers spectacular views of the surrounding marinas. We walked in and were seated immediately. We ordered drinks, and Stephanie and I decided to try the Ultimate Bloody Mary, which was garnished with a whole stalk of celery, bacon salt, a huge jumbo shrimp wrapped around my new favorite thing – a tomolive, garlic-stuffed olives, lemon, lime, and a MEAT STRAW – literally a hollowed-out pepperoni stick.

 

The menu was so appetizing we all had trouble narrowing down what we wanted. Quick tip: request a LOUNGE MENU. We ordered Garlic Cheese bread as an appetizer, but Stephanie had noticed online that there was a “Crabby Garlic Cheese Bread” highly reviewed. Turns out it is available on the Lounge Menu, along with many other small plates that weren’t on the lunch or dinner menus, such as Lobster Sliders (definitely going back for those!). We went ahead and ordered Crabby Garlic Cheese Bread halfway through our meal anyway, and we were not disappointed.

 

Our food was amazing. I ordered the Jambalaya, which I couldn’t finish, and a bowl of the best darned Clam Chowder I’ve ever had in California (yes, that includes Disneyland). Everyone else highly enjoyed their meals as well. Overall, the service was great, the food was top notch, and, minus the cocktails, we really didn’t spend much more than we had planned on spending for the Queen Mary Champagne Brunch. After lunch we decided to explore the rest of Shoreline Village.

 

Shoreline Village is a delightful collection of restaurants, cafés, stands and shops located between Shoreline Marina and Rainbow Harbor Marina, directly across from the Queen Mary. We did our best to explore everything on our full stomachs with the mercury steadily climbing. There was music everywhere. I counted at least 2 venues with live music, and a third event started in one of the open areas while we were there.

 

We wandered through a hat shop, a candy store, and several t-shirt and souvenir stores. Be sure to check out the sock store that literally has walls of unique graphic socks. We ducked into the indoor carousel and surrounding arcade for a moment, but by then the heat had started to get the best of us and we decided to keep moving.

 

Our last stop was THE FUNNEL HOUSE, a funnel cake and ice cream shop. Funnel cakes are always delicious, but when topped with your favorite ice cream and toppings they become epic. It was a welcome cool treat on a hot day, and a nice end to our unexpected adventure.

 

Calling It a Day

When we finally decided to go home, we were all very grateful that we decided to postpone the Queen Mary. The heat was just relentless, and we realized we wouldn’t have had much fun toughing it out on board. The few hours we spent exploring Shoreline Village was a pleasant substitute, and we were looking forward to heading home and enjoying some cold ones in the air conditioning.

 

It just goes to show that even though sometimes things don’t go as expected when traveling, there is always an opportunity to make the best out of a bad situation. Unexpected events, bad weather, nature’s fury, and many other circumstances could cause your vacation to go off track. If you ever need suggestions for a backup plan while travelling, contact the Cruise Planners Getaway Gang! We are always here to help!

 

Do you have an interesting story about when your vacations plans had to be changed last minute? Please comment below with your tale!

 

- Ed