Long Beach/LA/San Pedro?? California Coastal

[cpcanuck]

(I know I could have posted this on the California/Pacifc Board - There's very little activity on that board. I thought I might get better results here.)

 

I am in the process of trying to decide what I want to do on my upcoming California Coastal cruise - 10 Day roundtrip from Vancouver April 2015.

 

One of the ports is at "Los Angeles (Long Beach)". When I do a search I get conflicting information that is confusing me.

 

Can anyone tell me where exactly the Grand Princess will dock in April of 2015 - is it at a pier at Long Beach? At Los Angeles? Or is it San Pedro? I've seen all three as possibilities. Are they the same place or am I missing something?

 

I just want to know exactly where we will be getting off the ship and where we will be in relation to possible excursions, knowing that distance, traffic, etc will be an issue.

 

Thanks for any help you can offer! :)

[critterchick]

Princess uses the Port of Los Angeles World Cruise Center in San Pedro, which is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles. Long Beach is a separate incorporated city. As far as I know, only Carnival ships dock there.

[Princess Patches]

Actually, your cruise docks in Long Beach. The Queen Mary is right there if you want to tour her. Princess uses San Pedro for most their ships, but some of the California Coastals out of San Francisco and Vancouver have been docking in Long Beach instead of San Pedro.

Edited October 28, 2014 by Princess Patches

[cpcanuck]

Actually, your cruise docks in Long Beach. The Queen Mary is right there if you want to tour her. Princess uses San Pedro for most their ships, but some of the California Coastals out of San Francisco and Vancouver have been docking in Long Beach instead of San Pedro.

 

I see where I am getting my confusion! Thanks so much!

[Mingus]

We were on the Sept., 2014 California Coastal (10 days, Vancouver round-trip).

The Princess itinerary stated both Long Beach and "Los Angeles".

This was confusing because these are very different ports.

However, the Port of Los Angeles (San Pedro) cruise ship schedule showed us docking there, which was where we ended up.

Long Beach would have been better, with more activities close by.

San Pedro had the USS Iowa (which was quite interesting) and Port O' Call Village (not so interesting).

 

Since you're planning activities for your ports, don't plan too tight for San Francisco.

I had read a lot about delays getting off there........and it happened to us.

The stated arrival into SF was 8am. We didn't arrive until noon, due to rough seas en route.

Then US immigration delays :(

Some people (with the last debark number) weren't able to get off until about 4pm.......lot of upset people.

We were lucky (with #5) and were off by 1:45pm.....just in time for our 2:10pm Alcatraz reservation.

That was too close for comfort (and I originally thought it would be lots of time).

[Cruisin' Chick]

Here is the cruise line calendar for the Port of Los Angeles (which is in the community -- not separate city -- of San Pedro) for April 2015:

 

http://www.sanpedrocalendar.com/scripts/calcium40.pl?Op=ShowIt&CalendarName=sanpedrocruiseship&Op=ShowIt&Amount=Month&NavType=Absolute&Type=Block&Date=2015/4/1

 

Here is the calendar for the Port of Long Beach for April 2015:

 

http://www.sanpedrocalendar.com/scripts/calcium40.pl?Op=ShowIt&CalendarName=longbeachcruiseship&Op=ShowIt&Amount=Month&NavType=Absolute&Type=Block&Date=2015/4/1

 

I did see the Crown Princess listed for April 18 docking in San Pedro. And only Carnival ships listed for Long Beach (and as someone said, rarely does any non-Carnival ships dock there at the ONE berth, but from time to time, there's an exception).

 

It could be that the Grand Princess dockings haven't been listed yet. If your paperwork from Princess says "Long Beach," then most likely you'll be there (it's just about six or so miles away from the other port, I think).

 

If you booked through a TA, just keep bugging until you get a definitive answer (they can call their sources at Princess and explain you're trying to pin down what you're doing in port). You can call Princess, but the CSRs can give different answers so I would take that info with a grain of salt (if they're in Santa Clarita, they may or may not know there's a difference between the two ports).

 

If you're going to be in Long Beach, and don't want to go too far from port (Los Angeles is very widespread!), you can go to the excellent Aquarium of the Pacific. There's a free shuttle that goes along the waterfront so hopefully it's easy to use from where the berth is. It will take you to the Aquarium. Also Shoreline Village which is a quaint looking shopping village that has some great restaurants.

 

For Los Angeles, you can see if the ship offers a LA tour (probably to Hollywood, Farmers Market -- which can be considered the number two tourist stop after the Hollywood walk of Fame, maybe Santa Monica).

[cpcanuck]

We were on the Sept., 2014 California Coastal (10 days, Vancouver round-trip).

The Princess itinerary stated both Long Beach and "Los Angeles".

This was confusing because these are very different ports.

However, the Port of Los Angeles (San Pedro) cruise ship schedule showed us docking there, which was where we ended up.

Long Beach would have been better, with more activities close by.

San Pedro had the USS Iowa (which was quite interesting) and Port O' Call Village (not so interesting).

 

Since you're planning activities for your ports, don't plan too tight for San Francisco.

I had read a lot about delays getting off there........and it happened to us.

The stated arrival into SF was 8am. We didn't arrive until noon, due to rough seas en route.

Then US immigration delays :(

Some people (with the last debark number) weren't able to get off until about 4pm.......lot of upset people.

We were lucky (with #5) and were off by 1:45pm.....just in time for our 2:10pm Alcatraz reservation.

That was too close for comfort (and I originally thought it would be lots of time).

 

Thanks for the heads up about San Francisco. I had heard that as well, but thought maybe it was because of the launch of the new port and the glitches that often come with that. I guess there are never any guarantees about when you will dock or when you can disembark - probably one of the reasons why folks book ship excursions.

[cpcanuck]

Here is the cruise line calendar for the Port of Los Angeles (which is in the community -- not separate city -- of San Pedro) for April 2015:

 

http://www.sanpedrocalendar.com/scripts/calcium40.pl?Op=ShowIt&CalendarName=sanpedrocruiseship&Op=ShowIt&Amount=Month&NavType=Absolute&Type=Block&Date=2015/4/1

 

Here is the calendar for the Port of Long Beach for April 2015:

 

http://www.sanpedrocalendar.com/scripts/calcium40.pl?Op=ShowIt&CalendarName=longbeachcruiseship&Op=ShowIt&Amount=Month&NavType=Absolute&Type=Block&Date=2015/4/1

 

I did see the Crown Princess listed for April 18 docking in San Pedro. And only Carnival ships listed for Long Beach (and as someone said' date=' rarely does any non-Carnival ships dock there at the ONE berth, but from time to time, there's an exception).

 

It could be that the Grand Princess dockings haven't been listed yet. If your paperwork from Princess says "Long Beach," then most likely you'll be there (it's just about six or so miles away from the other port, I think).

 

If you booked through a TA, just keep bugging until you get a definitive answer (they can call their sources at Princess and explain you're trying to pin down what you're doing in port). You can call Princess, but the CSRs can give different answers so I would take that info with a grain of salt (if they're in Santa Clarita, they may or may not know there's a difference between the two ports).

 

If you're going to be in Long Beach, and don't want to go too far from port (Los Angeles is very widespread!), you can go to the excellent Aquarium of the Pacific. There's a free shuttle that goes along the waterfront so hopefully it's easy to use from where the berth is. It will take you to the Aquarium. Also Shoreline Village which is a quaint looking shopping village that has some great restaurants.

 

For Los Angeles, you can see if the ship offers a LA tour (probably to Hollywood, Farmers Market -- which can be considered the number two tourist stop after the Hollywood walk of Fame, maybe Santa Monica).[/quote']

 

Thank you so much for these great ideas and for the explanation about the different ports. I think I will go back to my TA and get her to figure out exactly where we will be docking.

[Pam in CA]

In general, Princess uses the Port of Los Angeles World Cruise Center (San Pedro) to embark and disembark cruises. When embarking from SF or Vancouver, Long Beach can be used as an itinerary port. On this particular itinerary, you will dock in Long Beach.

[akins58442]

Everyone is on the right track. If its not a embarkation port they have used Long Beach instead. It also depends on port space. I've seen a day with Carnival in port in Long Beach. Celebrity, Two Princess, Costa, and another Carnival all in port in San Pedro with one of them tied up at Cabrillo Beach. It's helpful just to look at cruise calendars but this far out it may not actually be set in stone to be honest.

Edited October 28, 2014 by akins58442

[goodie2shoes]

What I find really interesting is our Mexico cruise on the Golden, sailing April 6, 2015 is not on the schedule at all. I think this is not a complete schedule, especially for San Pedro.

[Bruin Steve]

Those schedules sometimes lag a bit and can be subject to change...

 

The Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach (It is one huge harbor area spreading into parts of three communities--The towns of San Pedro and Wilmington--both long ago incorporated into the City of Los Angeles--and the City of Long Beach). It is the third busiest commercial port in the world. There are two cruise ship facilities: The main facility is the "World Cruise Center" in San Pedro--on the Western edge of the harbor and the Carnival Terminal in Long Beach--on the Eastern Edge of the Harbor. It is over 6 miles between the two. To get from the terminal in San Pedro, one would cross the Vincent Thomas Bridge, spanning the Western mouth of the harbor, then drive the length of Terminal Island, a long barrier island that fronts the mouth of the harbor, to the Carnival Terminal at the far Eastern end of Terminal Island...Downtown Long Beach is across yet another bridge from there, taking you back onto the mainland.

 

The port, in general, is quite distant from most of the typical tourist spots in the Los Angeles area. Santa Monica and Hollywood are both around thirty miles or more from either pier, Hollywood to the North, Santa Monica to the Northwest. Beverly Hills is in between Santa Monica and Hollywood. If you want to go into Los Angeles to see the attractions there--Hollywood Walk of Fame, Grauman's Chinese Theater, Hollywood Sign, movie studios, Rodeo Drive, Getty Center Museum, Getty Villa, Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica Third Street Promenade, Venice Beach Boardwalk, etc.--best to have some sort of tour arranged--either through the cruise line or, perhaps better, with Sunseeker Tours. Sunseeker is the only major tour company that does tours with pick-up/drop-off in Long Peach and San Pedro. They are based out of Long Beach.

 

If you just want to have a relaxing day staying in the area, the prime attractions in Long Beach are the Aquarium of the Pacific and the Queen Mary, both very easily accessible from the cruise terminal--the Queen Mary is berthed at the very next pier and there are free shuttles to the Aquarium and other stops in Downtown Long Beach--including Shoreline Village-a little tourist shopping area on the water and to the Pike--a restaurant/entertainment/shopping complex.

 

Yes, 99% of the time, the Long Beach pier is used by Carnival exclusively . But there are rare exceptions. It has to be a day when no Carnival ship is scheduled to be in port since there is only one cruise ship berth in Long Beach...But the exceptions, in my memory, have always been either Cunard or Princess--since Carnival owns a stake in both...And they rarely start or end a cruise there...

 

But, when just a port stop, as in this case, it makes some perfect sense...