LAX or an alternative Airport?

[WinnieinWA]

Yes, I did a search and got nothing.:confused:

 

2 friends and myself are flying into LAX to board Golden in October. I just talked to the Crowne Plaza hotel at LA Airport where we were thinking of staying prior to the cruise and they told me it will cost $90 to get to the port.

 

Do any of you well traveled people have an alternative agenda for us that may be better?

 

My friends are flying in from Chicago and I am flying in from Seattle. We all arrive about 2:30 pm. To LAX but we do not have our reservations yet. We currently are coming in on American Airlines.

 

Should we consider flying into San Pedro? This is confusing to me as I only have one airport to choose from and it seems there are several in the LA area. I would really appreciate any help anyone can give me.

Thanks so very much!

[jpgriffy]

We are flying into to LAX, but you can also check, Long Beach, John Wayne Airport, those are about the same distance from the port. We are staying at double tree. great rate

[jfv379]

Long beach is the closest, neighboring San Pedro. John Wayne is further away.

 

There is a Crown Plaza in San Pedro.

[GrandBistro]

If you haven't already purchased your airline tickets, I have a perfect solution for you. Fly JetBlue and come to Long Beach. A quaint, stuck in the 50's feel of an airport, but get in their wide, all leather seats with tons of legroom and a persoronal video viewer, free flowing soft drinks and all the snacks you can eat. I've flown to both Seattle and O'Hare and it's a lot less hassle in and out than you'd run into at LAX. From the Long Beach airport to the cruise center inSan Pedro, on a Saturday morning is about twenty five minutes.

[cactusrose]

I just checked Prime Time Shuttle and the fare from the Crown Plaza LAX to the cruise terminal is $60 for three adults.

 

Since you are coming in fairly early you might want to check into staying at a hotel closer to the port. Double Tree is fairly reasonable and they have a free shuttle to the port.

[Let'sGo!]

Read a little into this forum - BruinSteve does a great explanation about the alternative airports. Yes, there are several of them, but none are directly in San Pedro.

 

Also - if your goal is to stay closer to the port, then check the Crowne Plaza in San Pedro, rather than the one at LAX. You can usually get it on Priceline for $65 per night. It offers a free shuttle to the pier on embarkation day.

 

Good luck!

Ann

[PatriciaF]

I think the $90 is a worse case estimate for a cab stuck in rush hour traffic. PrimeTime Shuttle or SuperShuttle would be much cheaper, in fact, Super Shuttle offers an executive car service for $55; the shared van would be $51 for the 3 of you to San Pedro from the airport

 

The supershuttle to San Pedro from Long Beach Airport is $45. While Jetblue is great and the itty bitty Long Beach airport is less stress and hassle than LAX, it is unlikely you would be able to all arrive around the same time. Long Beach only has 41 flights a day.

 

John Wayne is further south--the rate for a shared van from SuperShuttle is $68 and my guess, it would be at least 20 minutes longer commute than LAX.

 

Unless you have a reason you want to stay near the Airport, I would book preferably in San Pedro or alternatively in Long Beach to spend the night. The area around LAX is pretty desolate, not much to do except in a hotel, few dining choices unless you eat in a hotel. San Pedro and downtown Long Beach offer more restaurant choices and a walkable area.

[KCcruisin07]

The Jet Blue flight sounds great to me, and the Long Beach airport is small compared to LAX. (LAX is so crowded!) As someone mentioned, it would be harder to coordinate arrival and departure schedules at LB, but I would definitely try to go there. I also like John Wayne Airport for travel, so you might look for flights there if LB doesn't work for you.

[kenish]

There are excellent fares from SEA down to Long Beach (LGB) and Orange County (SNA) on Alaska, JetBlue, Virgin America, and Southwest. They are competing fiercely for SEA-So Cal passengers.

 

From Chicago there are nonstops to SNA from ORD on AA and UA, and from MDW on Southwest. Sometimes I see very good fares, other times SNA can be quite a bit higher than LAX so you just gotta check.

 

Even though it's my local airport, I do agree that SNA is a slightly longer travel time by shuttle than LAX. If you're renting a car it's way faster at SNA and that more than makes up for the drive time difference.