Port of Los Angels questions...help

[Susanpensacola]

My DH and I will take a cruise this fall out of Los Angeles. Any tips on which airport to fly into and any tips on a hotel for the night. We will return on Sunday and need to fly out asap. It is a long way back to Florida with the time change and have to go back to work the next day. How early should I get a flight out? How long will it take us to get to the airport on a Sunday morning?
Thanks for any help.

 

[Sereina]

We flew into Long Beach and stayed at Holiday Inn, which was only a couple of minutes from the airport. They also picked us up from the airport and took us to the hotel for free. It's only a 15-20 minute ride to the terminal from the hotel.

 

[LKFan]

There are a couple of very good threads with a lot of information about traveling in/out of LA.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2752784

and

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2833820

 

[betsy918]

You will probably find it least expensive to fly into LAX. A shared shuttle from the airport to San Pedro will run about $16 per person, and take anywhere from 30-45 minutes depending upon traffic. I've stayed at the San Pedro Inn and Suites (great place to stay, will run about $100 on hotels.com) and the Vagabond (about $80, also with a free shuttle, not as nice, but very clean.) Both are about 5 minutes from the port, and they both begin free shuttle service at 10:00 am, and run every 20-30 minutes until noon.

You'll debark at the latest at 9:30, but if you're carrying your own luggage off, the ship is usually cleared by customs by 7:30, and you can leave right away. Any flights before 12:30 are considered "early flights" and you'll let them know on the ship so you can be in the first luggage group to be called, which if I remember correctly is around 8:15-8:30. (If you're carrying your own luggage off, you don't have to wait for a luggage group, and you don't have to put your luggage out in the hall way the night before for them to collect and take through customs for you.)

I would budget a minimum of 3 hours between your debarkation and flight. If using a shared van or disney transfers, where you're waiting for the rest of the ride to fill, 4 hours would be preferable.

 

[trimix]

I haven't flown into Long Beach so I can't comment on the passenger terminal there. But I would suggest pricing flights into Los Angeles (LAX), Long Beach (LGB), and Orange County (SNA). LAX is closer to the port than SNA, about a 15 minute shorter drive, but if SNA has cheaper flights it might be a better bet. And I found SNA more relaxing because it isn't as crowded as LAX, and the terminal is decorated more pleasantly.

If you are flying in before your cruise, I had a few pleasant nights at the Doubletree in San Pedro, which was less than a five minute drive from the port. Just be sure to schedule your shuttle appointment when you check in - they run shuttles regularly, but if a shuttle is full of people who reserved seats and you didn't then you get to wait.

 

[carkeetj1]

We flew in and out of LAX. We had a 12:10 flight home Sunday. We reserved a private van from Prime Time. It was $75 which was only a little more than the shared ride cost for 4. We were the first group (Ariel luggage tag) off due to early flights. We got off the ship earlier than we expected - we were completely out by 8:30. The Prime Time guy called on his radio and we were picked up within 5 minutes ( even though our reservation wasn't until 8:40). We were at the airport by 9:20. It went really smoothly.

 

[Fanmanwdw]

My DH and I will take a cruise this fall out of Los Angeles. Any tips on which airport to fly into and any tips on a hotel for the night. We will return on Sunday and need to fly out asap. It is a long way back to Florida with the time change and have to go back to work the next day. How early should I get a flight out? How long will it take us to get to the airport on a Sunday morning?
Thanks for any help.

We sailed out of LA last April on the repro to Vancouver. We flew into Orange County. It was cheeper than LAX for SW. We used the Supershuttle to get to the hotel. We stayed at the Crown Plaza in San Pedro. They have a shuttle to take you across the street to the port. We would do the same thing again if we were sailing out of LA.

 

[sas_mk]

We flew into LGB and stayed at the Best Western of Long Beach the night before out cruise.

The hotel was nice, it had a good continental breakfast in the morning. Also, as a bonus, they have a free shuttle from the airport and also a free shuttle in the morning to drive you to the port. That saved our family a lot of $$ in shuttle costs.

 

[towels]

I'd look at airline and fares first before settling on an airport.
I've had bad experiences with LAX so I'm glad my preferred options are elsewhere.
JetBlue has great rates, frequent sales, comfy seats, unlimited snacks and flies out of Long Beach. Alaska flies out of Orange County (SNA) and is also pretty good for specials and service.