Embarkation at Port of Los Angeles

We have read a number of reviews about the horrors of embarkation in Los Angeles. My wife and I have never sailed from Los Angeles but from Florida a number of times. We plan to have someone drop us off the day of sailing. Does anyone know if you can drop your main luggage off with a porter before you go thru security or do you have to keep all your bags with you until you get checked in and ready to board the ship? Your feedback is appreciated. Beachgator :confused:

You can drop your before you board.

The embarkation is not so bad, the debarkation is the pits.

I can only speak for San Pedro - you drop off your luggage - when we sailed it was chaos!

Embarking was terrible and really so unnecessary. It was much easier when we returned. Of course we had a shuttle waiting for us - still chaos. Florida handles this much better than San Pedro. When talking to the Celebrity reps they also said they did not like that particular port.

Hi Beachgator,

We have sailed out of the World Cruise Center, in Los Angeles, seven or eight times, and have never had a problem with embarkation. There have been several occurances that led to chaos in the terminal, but these are very rare. In one case the portable passenger gangway broke down, and the returning passengers could not get off the ship, while at the same time the embarking passengers continued to arrive. I believe it took some four hours to get things sorted out. In another case there was a delay in arrival of the Vision of the Seas, and the early arriving passengers were delayed in boarding, resulting in a terminal crowding and subsequent delays.

As you enter the cruise center the roadway takes you on a loop to the left that passes directly in front of the terminal. If you have your baggage tags on your checked bags you will find a porter right there to take your bags. Your driver then just continues on out of the terminal area, and you enter the terminal. There are two terminal buildings, and on mondays and fridays there may be as many as three ships in port, but normally you should have no problems in boarding. Fill out your on-line check in, and have your express pass when you check in and you should not have any problems.

The cruise ships usually complete the debarkation about 10:30A, and begin boarding about 11:30A, so if you arrive around noon you should have a minimum of delay before boarding.

petert

Usually embarkation is a breeze. As you drive up security people will tell you where you can pull up to unload your luggage. Porters are there to take your luggage. The porters I've seen there have been very helpful and great. If there is a problem (and this happened to us only once) it's rare. We were waiting to get on the Summit and the other ship had major debarkation problems and repair problems. The porters were still at the other ship as everyone arrived for the Summit. When the porters arrived for Summit embarkation they were very professional and did a great job in helping deal with what had become a difficult situation. Robin :)