Long Beach - Port to LGB for 11:45am flight

[ober134]

We live in Pennsylvania, so flights from Ca to East coast are rough. We've never sailed from California but really want to sail on Firenze later this year. We have SW points and companion pass. But the latest flights on SW are 11:45. Is this doable? Otherwise LAX is an option but arrival home is soooo late. I know, 1st world problems. TIA

[mkkao924]

LGB is a lovely small airport, especially if you have TSA pre-check, the whole process starting from curb to gate should be less than 30 minutes, including luggage drop off.

 

That being said, our last cruise on Carnival Panorama did not disembark until 1pm due to rough sea / strong headwind all the way from Cabo San Lucas to Long Beach. With that in mind, SW has super lenient refund policy (if you book with points). Maybe you can book both 11:45 LGB AND later LAX flight, and cancel one (at least 10 minutes before take off time) based on your schedule?

Edited February 21 by mkkao924
typo

[KeepCalmBearOn]

In ordinary circumstances, 11:45 would be fine.

[hbsprite]

Agreed.  We don't have precheck and fly out of LGB multiple times per year.  We have NEVER waited more than 10 minutes for security.  I find the busiest time at LGB is early in the morning.  There are lots of flights leaving between 7AM and 9AM but it really slows down after that.

We've flown out of LGB dozens of times and its never been more than 30 minutes from us getting dropped off to being at our gate - even with the sometimes long Southwest baggage check lines. 

 

The drive from the cruise port to LGB should not take more than 30 minutes - even with bad traffic. 

[jsglow]

To follow-up on what others have said, the only risk you have with any 7 day Carnival Mex Riv cruise is the fact that it's 1000 nautical miles from Cabo to Long Beach and they do it with one sea day. It can and does happen that docking in Long Beach can be delayed up to a few hours because of weather. That happened to us about a year ago. And it's not a 1/100 chance; maybe more like 1/25. Those same rules apply for Firenze if your planning on taking her that same 7 nighter when she's subbing for Panorama this Fall.

 

Now IF your planned Firenze cruise is a standard 5 nighter that's a horse of a different color. On those cruises her last day is spent at Ensenada, an easy overnight commute back to an always 'on time' arrival at the Long Beach terminal.

 

Here's one advantage. You will certainly know 24 hours ahead of time if you will be delayed because of weather as you bash waves coming up the Baja. Half our passengers last year were online with Southwest changing their flights! That day, we docked about 11am.

[jcc1025]

We live about 5 minutes from LBX and about 25 minutes from the port. The number of delays due to fog in Long Beach is very small. I work down near the port, can see the ship from where I work. Delays due to other ites, like customes or passenger issues can come up. I never use the highway to get downtown to avoide that traffic and use surface streets regardless of the time of day and it is never more than about 30 minutes to the airport from the port so an 11:45 flight should be easy.