Where to fly into for a LA Cruise

[smoothdancer]

We are going on a cruise, out of LA. What airport should we fly into?

 

We are staying one night before the cruise at the Queen Mary Hotel in Long Beach. How far is Long Beach from LA? Anyone in the know, should we fly into Long Beach or LAX? After the cruise our flight out is at 12:30 so I am thinking we will have the time to get back to Long Beach.

[murphysmum]

Hello...

 

LA is so large that it can be a confusing place. Long Beach is actually a lovely town IN greater LA County. Cruise lines either dock at Port of Long Beach or San Pedro (also in LA).

 

LA Aiport is a large congested airport, although I fly out of LAX all of the time from necessity. Long Beach Airport is smaller and easier to navigate; if you can get flights in and out of there, I would highly suggest it.

 

You will then be IN Long Beach; the Queen Mary (as well as a lot of other things to see) is in Long Beach and your port will be in or very near Long Beach. I don't know what ship you're taking, but you may find that your ship is docked across from the Queen Mary.

 

Enjoy yourselves!

 

murphysmum (California native);)

[Cruisin' Chick]

if you're going on the Carnival Pride or Paradise, you will be sailing from Long Beach; if on just about any other cruiseline, you will be sailing from San Pedro (the Port of LA). The two are too far apart from each other. Some people who are leaving from SP will stay in Long Beach because the hotels tend to be nicer and there's some nice attractions near the port (the Queen Mary, Shoreline Village, the Aquarium of the Pacific).

[Bruin Steve]

We are going on a cruise, out of LA. What airport should we fly into?

 

We are staying one night before the cruise at the Queen Mary Hotel in Long Beach. How far is Long Beach from LA? Anyone in the know, should we fly into Long Beach or LAX? After the cruise our flight out is at 12:30 so I am thinking we will have the time to get back to Long Beach.

 

smooth,

I seem to have picked up elsewhere that you're going to Hawaii on Princess, correct? So, you are actually sailing out of SAN PEDRO...

 

The Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor is HUGE...It is, depending on where you get your statistics, it is BY FAR the largest port in the Western Hemisphere (Yeah, been through it before on these boards...There are some listings out there that go by number of ship visits and claim places on the Mississippi River are larger...but they are counting every ferry crossing, rowboat and dinghy...If you go by gross tonnage and dollar value of cargo, over 40 % of all goods that enter the United States from overseas come through the Port of LA/Long Beach)...

 

So, picture this, the Harbor area straddles two Cities--San Pedro (actually once a separate City, but for the past 85+ years a section of Los Angeles) and Long Beach...It covers miles and miles and miles...

 

But, unlike Miami, the prime business of the Port of LA is BUSINESS...Cruise ships are just a small part of the equation...

 

There are two distinct Cruise Ship Pier facilities...and they are approximately 6 miles apart--one on the Long Beach side of the harbor, right next to the Queen Mary...and the other in San Pedro...The Long Beach facility is where Carnival goes in and out of...The other lines all use the San Pedro facility...

 

Okay, here's the drill on airports:

 

First, Long Beach is a BIG City...Los Angeles is an even bigger City...But, really, Los Angeles, Long Beach, about another hundred incorporated cities and a couple hundred more unincorporated cities and neighborhoods all sort of run together to make one large megalopolis known as Los Angeles...

 

Long Beach, in and of itself is a city of over half a million people...You can drive for miles and still be in Long Beach...You can drive for hours and still be in Los Angeles...

 

So, we'll simplify things...

 

Los Angeles is served by several major airports, ranging from the mega-airport LAX to medium-sized airports like John Wayne and Ontario to smaller airports like Burbank and Long Beach...plus a variety of more outlying airports like Palm Springs and Santa Barbara and others to several private plane airports...

 

But, for travel to a cruise, 99% of passengers will fly into LAX or Long Beach--with an overwhelming majority of them flying into LAX...

 

Why? Simply because LAX has far more flights to and from far more places than just about any airport you'll find anywhere...It also has the longest lines for check-in and security and the biggest messes for traffic and logistics, etc.

 

Long Beach is much smaller, but also hs far fewer flights to and from far fewer places...

 

LAX is 20 miles from the Pier in Pedro and about 22.3 miles from the Queen Mary (You go a slightly different route, using the 710 rather than the 110 to Pedro).

 

Long Beach Airport is 11.6 miles to the Queen Mary (by freeway...slightly shorter by surface street, but lots of lights) and 15 miles to the San Pedro Pier...

 

But, the big advantage to Long Beach Airport over LAX is not the distance in miles, but the ease of getting in and out of the airport, checking in, security , etc. So, IF you can find suitable flights into LGB, take them...

 

Otherwise, just learn to live with LAX--most of us do...

 

Most cruise ships will let you out early enough to catch a 12:30 pm flight out of either airport...

 

Good luck...

[Bruin Steve]

Whoops...the dreaded "double post"...Sorry...