Pride - What time can I book return flight home?

[kajohn]

We are considering taking a Carnival cruise, and I need to make sure I can book frequent flyer tickets before I book my cruise. I'm used to flying to Florida for Carribean cruises, so this is very different trying to get to the west coast.

 

I can get a 10:55 am departure from LAX, would we be able to make that? If not, I will have to stay another day and then fly home on Monday. I always fly in a day early, so I was hoping to fly home the day we got off the ship.

 

Any advise would be appreciated! What are Carnival's departures like? Do you have to wait for your color to be called, or can you get off whenever you want?

[HumbleCruisers]

We were on the Pride in March and the ship was back in port on schedule. However, it may be a stretch to get to LAX and on your flight should traffic delay you at all.

 

Have you looked into flights arriving/departing from Long Beach, Burbank or Orange County airports? We booked our flight into Long Beach airport from Seattle because of the different scheduled flight times.

[yrlycruzer]

We returned to Cleveland from our cruise on June 5. Flew out of LAX. Departures before 1:00 pm were considered to be an early flight, so we were in the first group off the ship (approx. 8:30 am.). You have to go through custom's before claiming your luggage. We took Carnival's ground transportation (bus) to LAX from pier (took about 40 minutes in good traffic). We were at our gate by 10:30 am. Depending on time of year, have heard fog can be a real issue and delay ship from getting into port on time. Would not recommend a flight earlier than 12:30 pm.

[Cotton]

First, let me tell you I missed a flight out of LAX this pastWednesday morning.:o I was there in plenty of time, but the lines were SO LONG, and there seemed to be mass confusion - going thru security was very, very slow. (I was there at 8:00 for a 9:30 Delta flight.) So, what I'm saying is don't think that leaving LAX is a breeze.

 

You need to give yourself more time that what you have planned. One thing - Carnival suggests booking outbound flights no earlier than 1pm. Your ship might be delayed in reaching the port, there could be a custom's hangup, or any other unknown reasons you can't leave the ship on time.

 

Even if you get VIP debarkation, it's a LONG way to LAX from the port, and that traffic is just unimaginable on the freeway! If at all possible, I would strongly suggest you stay overnight in L.A.