Precious Memories: Catalina Island

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Catalina Island

Catalina Island--Day 2 on the Carnival Inspiration

The last time we were here on Catalina Island was 20 years ago when we were on the NCL Southward, our very first cruise. I was really looking forward to visiting here again after all these years.

Catalina Island is a tender port and I have read that the line for the tender can be ridiculously long so we were prepared for an early start. It was around 8:30 when we went down to the gangway on deck 3. No lines, no crowds and we got on the tender easily. Carnival had the local tendering boats while Princess, also in port on the same day, used their own life boats transporting guests.

gangway on deck 3

After getting off the tender, we purchased our tickets for the tour of the casino for $10pp from the booth at the pier. They had 3 tours that day and we got our tickets for the 11:00 tour. I have always wondered what's inside that building and this is the chance to check it out.

the Casino -- not really a casino, but a gathering place

walking along the shore on Cresecnt Avenue

It was early so the town is barely waking up.

We wandered around for a while up and down the streets as we waited for our tour.

The town turned pretty busy after a while as two ships were stopping there that morning.

artists at work

walking towards the casino

Tour of the Casino and Theater

We arrived at the box office of the Theater at 10:50 as instructed. People already gathered there and they were also selling tickets right on the spot. Promptly at 11:00, our 30-minute introductory tour started.

Exterior of the Theater, just beautiful!

The starry ceiling in the legendary art deco Avalon Theater.

The acoustic of the theater is amazing. We could hear clearly of our guide wherever he stood, without a microphone.

colorful murals on the wall

The classic 1929 pipe organ on the left.

Above the stage

Next, we were taken upstairs to the circular ballroom where they used to have thousands of people dancing and having a good time there. It also served as the home court for the Avalon High school basketball team, we were told.

beautiful wood flooring

out on the balcony

Looking down from the balcony

So, this is not a casino like what we imagined it to be but instead "casino" means a gathering place. This short tour of the casino was worth every penny of the ticket price. Such a beautiful place that is filled with history. They also have a longer, 1.5 hour behind the scenes tour but we figured this one was good enough for us.

There is another beach on the other side of the casino, I think it's called the Descanso Beach, but we did not walk over there. It looked really nice though.