LAX to San Pedro

[garyc20]

Arrive at 1:56 pm at LAX for a 6:00 pm Embarkation….A little nervous with Oceania policy if you are not at initial embarkation you can not get on at a later port.   Thoughts…….

[Jancruz]

4 minutes ago, garyc20 said:

Arrive at 1:56 pm at LAX for a 6:00 pm Embarkation….A little nervous with Oceania policy if you are not at initial embarkation you can not get on at a later port.   Thoughts…….

Shouldnt be a problem..BUT if your flight is late or luggage gets hung up..accident on freeway..

I would not make it that close..

Jancruz1

[LHT28]

what time does the ship Depart?

You need to be onboard 90 mins prior to sailaway time

 

That  is close   but probably doable if all the stars align

We flew into NYC  with  same time frame...  I would not do it again 😲

[TakingFlight]

Lived in the LA area for years and frequently drive down there now to fly out of LAX.  No way would I be comfortable with that schedule. Sometimes everything goes well but when it doesn’t, oh boy are you in trouble. It brings to mind the time we drove to LAX the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The direct route was blocked by an overturned haz mat semi. The alternate routes were like a parking lot.  It was my worst nightmare. I would either arrive mid-morning or better yet the evening beforehand. You don’t want to miss your departure 

[Flatbush Flyer]

59 minutes ago, garyc20 said:

Arrive at 1:56 pm at LAX for a 6:00 pm Embarkation….A little nervous with Oceania policy if you are not at initial embarkation you can not get on at a later port.   Thoughts…….

Please don’t tell us it’s a weekday! 
Oh - never mind. Weekends can be equally  bad.

Seriously, that’s a very close cut. Very little room for more than one issue to slow you down considerably: Late arrival, delayed luggage (hopefully you’re a FF on whatever airline you’re using in order to get priority treatment of your luggage) traffic and/or, God forbid, freeway accident (not you but rather on the freeway in front of you). Gotta ask why you didn’t plan on at least one night at LAX or in Long Beach?

Hopefully, you’re on an airline like United with no change fees (since you may seriously want to consider a schedule change sooner than later).

 

[Hawaiidan]

you will be fine.... take the surface streets its fast...  ative at 2   figure you will be out by 3-:330    40 min tops  be there by  4:15     worst case.

[Flatbush Flyer]

5 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said:

you will be fine.... take the surface streets its fast...  ative at 2   figure you will be out by 3-:330    40 min tops  be there by  4:15     worst case.

S/he’s flying in and doubtful that s/he’s renting a car just to have it sit in a parking lot somwhere at/near the port. Super Shuttle or most other private car services - even Uber- will almost always use freeways rather than suggestions from an out-of-towner.

[alcpa1]

Gary,

I think you mean departure at 6. Normally embarkation refers to boarding not departing.

You are cutting it awfully close.

BTW, It's really not the cruise lines edict that if you miss the initial departure you cannot rejoin the ship. It is an edict of an archaic maritime US law to which all passenger vessels must comply.

[curmudgeon98]

My understanding is that if you order "Uber Black" at LAX, you can be picked up by your terminal.  For ordinary uber/lyft or taxis you have to take a shuttle from the terminal over to a separate facility to then get your ride.  Given the hassle with bags and the extra time,  I might be inclined to spring for the extra $50 or so in this case.

 

To my mind, this is one of those cases that will work fine 9 times out of 10.  I like to have more margin, myself.

[davencl]

We're doing something similar this weekend on a Norwegian cruise.  I'll report here how it went.  Didn't have an option in this case.   It is very high risk and if something goes wrong I am accepting the fact it's a loss on my part.

[hamrag]

3 hours ago, garyc20 said:

Arrive at 1:56 pm at LAX for a 6:00 pm Embarkation….A little nervous with Oceania policy if you are not at initial embarkation you can not get on at a later port.   Thoughts…….

 

My first, and only thought....significant potential for 'disaster'. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

2 hours ago, curmudgeon98 said:

My understanding is that if you order "Uber Black" at LAX, you can be picked up by your terminal.  For ordinary uber/lyft or taxis you have to take a shuttle from the terminal over to a separate facility to then get your ride.  Given the hassle with bags and the extra time,  I might be inclined to spring for the extra $50 or so in this case.

 

To my mind, this is one of those cases that will work fine 9 times out of 10.  I like to have more margin, myself.

Personally, I would never trust Uber for a time critical ride pickup. 
I’m pretty sure Execucar (division of Super Shuttle) still operates from LAX. I’ve used it over the years for business and pleasure.

[HiFi43]

I have used Uber very successfully from LAX and using back streets rather than the freeway it is avery easy transfer. Saying this, I will tell you we are doing a San Pedro sailing in September and, as we’ve done other times, we are flying in the night before as a safety precaution having had enough mechanical delays to make us more cautious. We will take an Uber down the night prior to the sailing and stay at the Doubletree San Pedro right at the port. It is a nice Hilton managed hotel with a free shuttle to the port the day of the sailing.

[BenMurphy]

Hi

We flew in from London Heathrow to LAX some years ago,our flight was on time,but baggage collection and customs/passport control was a nightmare!

We were picked up by Sun Transfers https://www.suntransfers.com/los-angeles-airport   €116.20 

Who had monitored our flight and were waiting with cold water to speed us on our way to our hotel for an overnight stay.  Double Tree by Hilton , San Pedro. who also has a shuttle bus to the cruise port.

Have a lovely cruise

best wishes

Josie (and Brian)

 

[Rob the Cruiser]

You're nervous now. Think about how that dreadful feeing will intensify as your departure date approaches. Arrive the day before your cruise and enjoy the anticipation of a wonderful trip.

[CptBoatface]

We're near Seattle and will actually risk a flight the same day to LA. However, we make sure we are on the ground there no later than 10 if possible. This is a no stop with carry on only. Margins are really tight for you.  Recommend more time

[rljan]

Take Southwest to Long Beach Airport.  Easy Uber or Lyft to the cruise port.  Avoid LAX if at all possible or come in the day before.

Edited March 31, 2022 by rljan

[Jancruz]

14 hours ago, Hawaiidan said:

you will be fine.... take the surface streets its fast...  ative at 2   figure you will be out by 3-:330    40 min tops  be there by  4:15     worst case.

and if the flight is late??

[Silver Sweethearts]

16 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Please don’t tell us it’s a weekday! 
Oh - never mind. Weekends can be equally  bad.

Seriously, that’s a very close cut. Very little room for more than one issue to slow you down considerably: Late arrival, delayed luggage (hopefully you’re a FF on whatever airline you’re using in order to get priority treatment of your luggage)...

 

...And don't forget to mention your plane having to taxi around -  sometimes for the better part of an hour - before a gate opens up for you.

[ronrick1943]

One can never relay on the airlines—-if your flight is canceled, then what?  It’s just better to arrive at lease one day early.  Have time to relax before getting on the ship—-why worry…….

On one flight someone go it sick on the flight—-ended up in PHX for 4 hours before we took off again.  Which is why we always fly out two to three days early and enjoy the city we leave from.

[LHT28]

Our tale of woe

We had a flight from YYZ to LGA  1.5 hr flight ..what could go wrong 

There are several flights a day if we were to miss the late morning flight

 All was well until the morning of the flight  first they cancelled the larger plane & put us on a small plane  then they cancelled the flight before us & moved them to our flight ..ok

We still got on the plane

As we were backing away from the jetway Captain had to go back as one of the seat backs was not functioning so the PAX could not stay in the seat  full plane no extra seats

They announced  it would be a couple of hours  to fix it ..we were already landing at 2pm  not much wiggle room

Fortunately a lady had her child in a seat & offer for him to travel as a lap child so delayed 25 min while they got permission  etc

off we went

they made it to LGA only 10 mins later than scheduled  WHEW

We made it to the ship with time to spare but I was so stressed  out

I will fly in  the day before from not on no matter how short the flight is

YMMV

[DENIE]

We have flown from Phoenix to San Diego on embarkation day with no problem - once.  We were on the first flight of the morning, and back then service between PHX and SAN was like a shuttle "every hour on the hour" by 2 airlines.  That level of service is not quite back yet. Consequently, if a flight is cancelled and you must be accomodated on another flight, you could miss the sailaway.  Our rule of thumb is if departing from a US port, we fly a day early.  Internationally, we fly 2-3 days early.

 

 

[ORV]

5 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Our tale of woe

We had a flight from YYZ to LGA  1.5 hr flight ..what could go wrong 

There are several flights a day if we were to miss the late morning flight

 All was well until the morning of the flight  first they cancelled the larger plane & put us on a small plane  then they cancelled the flight before us & moved them to our flight ..ok

We still got on the plane

As we were backing away from the jetway Captain had to go back as one of the seat backs was not functioning so the PAX could not stay in the seat  full plane no extra seats

They announced  it would be a couple of hours  to fix it ..we were already landing at 2pm  not much wiggle room

Fortunately a lady had her child in a seat & offer for him to travel as a lap child so delayed 25 min while they got permission  etc

off we went

they made it to LGA only 10 mins later than scheduled  WHEW

We made it to the ship with time to spare but I was so stressed  out

I will fly in  the day before from not on no matter how short the flight is

YMMV

I have a related story to that. Leaving on a flight and I notice my seat will not stay in the upright locked position. I mention this to the attendant thinking she will just move me to another seat(which she did) but they had to delay the flight while waiting on a maintenance man to come check it out. He messed around with it a few minutes then said, yep, needs repaired. They put tape on it and then we finally shoved off. This was only on a short puddle jump to DFW which is about a 55 minute flight. Had I know it would delay things I'd just have kept my mouth shut. Now I know.  Fortunately we had plenty of time for our connection, so it wasn't a catastrophe. 

[sunlover12]

9 hours ago, ORV said:

I have a related story to that. Leaving on a flight and I notice my seat will not stay in the upright locked position. I mention this to the attendant thinking she will just move me to another seat(which she did) but they had to delay the flight while waiting on a maintenance man to come check it out. He messed around with it a few minutes then said, yep, needs repaired. They put tape on it and then we finally shoved off. This was only on a short puddle jump to DFW which is about a 55 minute flight. Had I know it would delay things I'd just have kept my mouth shut. Now I know.  Fortunately we had plenty of time for our connection, so it wasn't a catastrophe. 

I was on a flight where the flight attendant’s jump seat by the exit door wasn’t working. They had to move a man from first class (Seat 1C) to economy. He wasn’t happy about it so the captain came out and talked to him. The rule is that the flight attendant always has to have a visual of the exit door, which Seat 1C provides. 
It delayed the flight by 30-40 minutes.  That said, there are many reasons why a flight can be delayed. We always try to factor that in. To the OP, I would try to find an earlier flight. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

Once was headed from Albany NY to SFO starting with short flight to IAD. That first plane had a flat tire. Five+ hour delay(!) since both tire and mechanic had to ride on next flight into Albany from IAD. Never would’ve made the connection to SFO (despite always planning at least a 90 minute domestic layover and 3 hour intercontinental layover).

Fortunately, I was a United 1K FF and was auto rebooked on next best itinerary that day. Without that 1K priority booking, it could’ve meant, at least, a one day delay.

If anyone else on that original “puddle jumper” was headed to a cruise (from even just the east coast) on embarkation day, all the probability stats saying it’s a rare occurrence wouldn’t matter. When you fly, either it works or it doesn’t and that’s why one should never fly into an embarkation port on day of departure.