Would you do this ?

[Moon Orchid]

Hi everyone, we have an upcoming cruise on Navigator May 30th. Our original plan was to fly from Denver to Long Beach airport and stay at Crowne Plaza in San Pedro the night before. But I saw that Southwest have a flight arrive LAX at 7:25 am. Would we be okay if we're flying into LAX that early? I keep reading that LAX airport is complicated. We had always flying in a day or two before so a little nervous if we take this flight. Thank you.

Edited April 3, 2022 by Moon Orchid

[Bruin Steve]

The problem I'd have with it isn't that LAX is somehow "complicated"...it's really not.  When arriving there, all you are doing is walking down the hallway to baggage claim, then out the door...The only real complication is that, in order to get an Uber, Lyft or Taxi, you need to catch a very short shuttle ride to a specific pick-up lot...and those shuttles come around every few minutes...

 

The real issue with a flight arrival at 7:25 am the day of the cruise is that you are arriving at 7:25 the day of the cruise!!  This means you are leaving your home in the Denver area at some time in the middle of the night.  You are going to be stressed and tired when you get to the ship.  You might get delayed which could impact your timing...but you probably have enough leeway...but, face it, you will have been up virtually all night--especially if you are trying to catch some Zs in a Southwest coach seat, then spending the morning grabbing your luggage, catching an Uber and riding to the pier, then waiting to check in...

 

OTOH, if you fly in the day before at a reasonable time--whether to LAX or LGB--you are going to be able to relax getting to the CP with no pressure.  You can get a great dinner in San Pedro, get a great night's sleep, take your time waking up, checking out and getting to the pier...and be ready for a great embarkation day and night on the ship. 

[Moon Orchid]

7 hours ago, Bruin Steve said:

The problem I'd have with it isn't that LAX is somehow "complicated"...it's really not.  When arriving there, all you are doing is walking down the hallway to baggage claim, then out the door...The only real complication is that, in order to get an Uber, Lyft or Taxi, you need to catch a very short shuttle ride to a specific pick-up lot...and those shuttles come around every few minutes...

 

The real issue with a flight arrival at 7:25 am the day of the cruise is that you are arriving at 7:25 the day of the cruise!!  This means you are leaving your home in the Denver area at some time in the middle of the night.  You are going to be stressed and tired when you get to the ship.  You might get delayed which could impact your timing...but you probably have enough leeway...but, face it, you will have been up virtually all night--especially if you are trying to catch some Zs in a Southwest coach seat, then spending the morning grabbing your luggage, catching an Uber and riding to the pier, then waiting to check in...

 

OTOH, if you fly in the day before at a reasonable time--whether to LAX or LGB--you are going to be able to relax getting to the CP with no pressure.  You can get a great dinner in San Pedro, get a great night's sleep, take your time waking up, checking out and getting to the pier...and be ready for a great embarkation day and night on the ship. 

Steve, thank you so much for your detailed response .We will fly in the day before 😊

[coastcat]

14 hours ago, Moon Orchid said:

Hi everyone, we have an upcoming cruise on Navigator May 30th. Our original plan was to fly from Denver to Long Beach airport and stay at Crowne Plaza in San Pedro the night before. But I saw that Southwest have a flight arrive LAX at 7:25 am. Would we be okay if we're flying into LAX that early? I keep reading that LAX airport is complicated. We had always flying in a day or two before so a little nervous if we take this flight. Thank you.

LAX is under construction. It always is. It's annoying and I'd rather avoid it, yet I keep booking flights to LAX even though I swear I'll fly into SNA... But it's more annoying than complicated. Kinda like cleaning a litter box.

 

LAX has an excellent website with tons of useful info including the ground transportation situation: https://www.flylax.com/

 

If you're flying Southwest, you'll be at Terminal 1. It's the terminal closest to the LAXit lot so you can walk instead of taking the LAXit shuttle (walking will likely be faster unless you have a lot of stuff to haul). 

 

Drop your bags at the hotel and then go play tourist! The Red Trolley is operating if you want to explore San Pedro (https://www.discoversanpedro.org/visit/getting-here-and-around, scroll down to the link). If you'd rather walk around downtown Long Beach, the LADOT Commuter Express route 142 bus bounces between downtown San Pedro and downtown Long Beach (https://www.ladottransit.com/comexp/routes/142/142.html), with a stop conveniently located next to the Crowne Plaza. It's $1.50 each way.

[Moon Orchid]

1 hour ago, coastcat said:

LAX is under construction. It always is. It's annoying and I'd rather avoid it, yet I keep booking flights to LAX even though I swear I'll fly into SNA... But it's more annoying than complicated. Kinda like cleaning a litter box.

 

LAX has an excellent website with tons of useful info including the ground transportation situation: https://www.flylax.com/

 

If you're flying Southwest, you'll be at Terminal 1. It's the terminal closest to the LAXit lot so you can walk instead of taking the LAXit shuttle (walking will likely be faster unless you have a lot of stuff to haul). 

 

Drop your bags at the hotel and then go play tourist! The Red Trolley is operating if you want to explore San Pedro (https://www.discoversanpedro.org/visit/getting-here-and-around, scroll down to the link). If you'd rather walk around downtown Long Beach, the LADOT Commuter Express route 142 bus bounces between downtown San Pedro and downtown Long Beach (https://www.ladottransit.com/comexp/routes/142/142.html), with a stop conveniently located next to the Crowne Plaza. It's $1.50 each way.

Thank you for the tips! We decided to cancel Crowne Plaza and switched to Hampton Inn Airport Long Beach instead. We will be flying into LGB early the day before so we can enjoy the rest of the day there, then Uber to San Pedro for cruising day. Any suggestions on where to eat and what to do in the Long Beach area? Crowne Plaza sure is closer to the port, but my husband likes Hampton Inn & Suite in Miami Brickell, so he wants to try the Hampton in Long Beach. Maybe it's not the same, but oh well just only for one night 😊

Edited April 3, 2022 by Moon Orchid

[KeepCalmBearOn]

The area around LGB isn't as nice as Brickell. The area is very industrial.

 

That said, parts of the former McDonnell Douglas property have been redeveloped into something called the Long Beach Exchange (LBX for short). I LOVE "The Hanger", it is an old hanger and is a very upscale food court. With places like Marinate Korean BBQ, The Kroft, Bottlecraft, Plaid Sheep GCB (Grilled Cheese Bar), Jay Bird's Nashville Hot and Amorcito, you don't lack for choices.

[Moon Orchid]

2 hours ago, scottca075 said:

The area around LGB isn't as nice as Brickell. The area is very industrial.

 

That said, parts of the former McDonnell Douglas property have been redeveloped into something called the Long Beach Exchange (LBX for short). I LOVE "The Hanger", it is an old hanger and is a very upscale food court. With places like Marinate Korean BBQ, The Kroft, Bottlecraft, Plaid Sheep GCB (Grilled Cheese Bar), Jay Bird's Nashville Hot and Amorcito, you don't lack for choices.

Thank you, Hanger is sounds nice . We will check it out for sure😀

[Bruin Steve]

You have to realize that Long Beach is, in and of itself, a large city of over half a million population...It is miles across.  The LGB Airport area is on the northern edge of the city...the tourist area of Long Beach is in the Southwest corner of the city...it's about 7 miles away via surface streets or over 10 miles by freeway...So, yes, LGB is in a largely industrial area, nowhere near the port...

 

The tourist area of Long Beach is actually slightly closer to San Pedro than it is to LGB...

 

If I were staying in Long Beach, I would prefer to stay at one of the two Hyatts (Regency and Centric at the Pike) or at the Renaissance, maybe the Westin or the Hilton...(or the Maya Doubletree or the Residence Inn Downtown if I was leaving on a Carnival cruise in order to be near the dock)...Those hotels are in the tourist area--close to the Aquarium, the Queen Mary and lots of shopping and restaurants.  There really isn't much to see or do near LGB--maybe good only if you have a late flight and just need a bed for the night.

[csm5986142]

We do this frequently.  We have a direct flight that lands at 9:30 am (LAX) the morning of our cruise.  You can either walk (even my 81 year old Mom chose this option last time) or shuttle to the Uber/Lyft lot.  It's just a few blocks (but I suppose it depends on how much luggage you have - we travel light).  So far we have never experienced any issues or delays (knock on wood...as we are booked again in June).

 

But if at all possible I use LGB instead (much prefer it over LAX).

[KeepCalmBearOn]

4 hours ago, csm5986142 said:

So far we have never experienced any issues or delays (knock on wood...as we are booked again in June).

 

You don't say where you are from and that might matter.

 

I fly "professionally", meaning that rare is the week I am not stepping on an airplane to someplace and I've been doing this for 30+ years now. Flight cancellations aren't frequent, but I'd had plenty of "mechanicals" that delayed flights 30 minutes to 5 hours. I have had many weather delays and cancellations and times where my plane couldn't get to where I was because it was grounded by weather someplace else

 

Even if my cruise were leaving from San Francisco and there is a 99.9% chance I'd make my ship flying in the same day from So Cal, when that 00.1% happens, it just stinks.

[WindinmySails]

I live in Denver as well.  I did take early morning flights out of Denver for LAX.  I haven't had an issue, but sounds like you made a plan that works for you.  With the time change that was also a factor for me.  I figure I have 7+ hours to get it right if there is a hang up.Given the time of year that you are going weather shouldn't be an issue.  If it was in January, I may leave a day early.   Now going east from Denver is a whole different  story, I always go the day ahead.  Have fun on your cruise!

 

Edited April 15, 2022 by WindinmySails
addition

[jsn55]

On 4/2/2022 at 11:04 PM, Bruin Steve said:

The problem I'd have with it isn't that LAX is somehow "complicated"...it's really not.  When arriving there, all you are doing is walking down the hallway to baggage claim, then out the door...The only real complication is that, in order to get an Uber, Lyft or Taxi, you need to catch a very short shuttle ride to a specific pick-up lot...and those shuttles come around every few minutes...

 

The real issue with a flight arrival at 7:25 am the day of the cruise is that you are arriving at 7:25 the day of the cruise!!  This means you are leaving your home in the Denver area at some time in the middle of the night.  You are going to be stressed and tired when you get to the ship.  You might get delayed which could impact your timing...but you probably have enough leeway...but, face it, you will have been up virtually all night--especially if you are trying to catch some Zs in a Southwest coach seat, then spending the morning grabbing your luggage, catching an Uber and riding to the pier, then waiting to check in...

 

OTOH, if you fly in the day before at a reasonable time--whether to LAX or LGB--you are going to be able to relax getting to the CP with no pressure.  You can get a great dinner in San Pedro, get a great night's sleep, take your time waking up, checking out and getting to the pier...and be ready for a great embarkation day and night on the ship. 

I so agree - NEVER fly in the day of a cruise.  We did it once, flying into Houston and taking a car to Galveston.  I was a nervous wreck ... the 'boarding photo' is hilarious.  I look like my face has been frozen for 2 hours.

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

We live 90 minutes from San Francisco and I wouldn't even drive over day of a cruise.