??? For Frequent San Pedro Cruisers

We have only dealt with the terminal in San Pedro twice. The first time we had to wait an extremely long time to board and people were still boarding at 4:00 PM when the ship was supposed to sail. Muster was delayed, etc.

The second time we were sailing SF to FLL through the Panama Canal and the ship stopped in San Pedro to pick up more passengers. A few people managed to get ashore early but most of the other passengers who had plans to meet folks for lunch, etc. never made it off the ship. They waited hours but didn't make it off. Those who had gotten off early ended up waiting hours to get back on the ship.

Is this the norm? I'm trying to book a flight out of LAX in October and the only one that seems to work for us is at 12:05 PM. I'm wondering if this is an unrealistic flight time given what we have encountered at the port the last two time. The ship is supposed to dock at 7:00 AM. That "seems" like plenty of time even given LA traffic (the flight will be on a Sunday so hopefully a bit less traffic) but I'm concerned about hangups at the port. We will likely use Super Shuttle or Uber for transportation from the port to LAX and it looks like the Delta terminal is where we need to go.

I know that many of you cruise frequently and must make this trip from the ship to LAX so I'm hoping for good info from you.

Sorry, Thrak, there's no way to know in advance.

IF the port gods are smiling...that would be enough time. Early walk off would do it.

If the port gods are angry...

One of our debarkations, some fool in CBP decided to move the passport check from upstairs (where the computers and 4 or 5 booths are located) to downstairs and AFTER luggage claim. What a mess!!!!

We were doing a B2B, so we didn't get off the ship until everyone else. When we got downstairs, there they were...waiting to go through passport check. Almost all of the passengers who got off before us. It took at least 45 minutes for us to get to the 2 desks that they had set up. I'm sure there were some missed flights that day.

When we came back from our B2B, it was back to normal and we walked off the ship before 8.

Maybe, use Princess transfer so you'll have some kind of guarantee??

Your first two experiences at San Pedro were very much out of the ordinary. You should easily make your 12:05 flight. Delays can happen but they are much more likely to involve embarkations than debarkations.

We have only dealt with the terminal in San Pedro twice. The first time we had to wait an extremely long time to board and people were still boarding at 4:00 PM when the ship was supposed to sail. Muster was delayed, etc.

 

The second time we were sailing SF to FLL through the Panama Canal and the ship stopped in San Pedro to pick up more passengers. A few people managed to get ashore early but most of the other passengers who had plans to meet folks for lunch, etc. never made it off the ship. They waited hours but didn't make it off. Those who had gotten off early ended up waiting hours to get back on the ship.

 

Is this the norm? I'm trying to book a flight out of LAX in October and the only one that seems to work for us is at 12:05 PM. I'm wondering if this is an unrealistic flight time given what we have encountered at the port the last two time. The ship is supposed to dock at 7:00 AM. That "seems" like plenty of time even given LA traffic (the flight will be on a Sunday so hopefully a bit less traffic) but I'm concerned about hangups at the port. We will likely use Super Shuttle or Uber for transportation from the port to LAX and it looks like the Delta terminal is where we need to go.

 

I know that many of you cruise frequently and must make this trip from the ship to LAX so I'm hoping for good info from you.

That cruise (which we were on of course) was not the norm because San Pedro was a "stop" during the cruise and Princess embarked passengers. For sure not the norm and does not happen very often at all.

IMO......You cannot compare this with a cruise that departs and returns to San Pedro. It was for sure a mess that day!!

We always use a 10:30 flight from LAX when returning/ending in San Pedro. We would not use Super Shuttle when pressed for time. We would do self disembarkation and get Uber/Cab.

We have only dealt with the terminal in San Pedro twice. The first time we had to wait an extremely long time to board and people were still boarding at 4:00 PM when the ship was supposed to sail. Muster was delayed, etc.

 

The second time we were sailing SF to FLL through the Panama Canal and the ship stopped in San Pedro to pick up more passengers. A few people managed to get ashore early but most of the other passengers who had plans to meet folks for lunch, etc. never made it off the ship. They waited hours but didn't make it off. Those who had gotten off early ended up waiting hours to get back on the ship.

 

Is this the norm? I'm trying to book a flight out of LAX in October and the only one that seems to work for us is at 12:05 PM. I'm wondering if this is an unrealistic flight time given what we have encountered at the port the last two time. The ship is supposed to dock at 7:00 AM. That "seems" like plenty of time even given LA traffic (the flight will be on a Sunday so hopefully a bit less traffic) but I'm concerned about hangups at the port. We will likely use Super Shuttle or Uber for transportation from the port to LAX and it looks like the Delta terminal is where we need to go.

 

I know that many of you cruise frequently and must make this trip from the ship to LAX so I'm hoping for good info from you.

Definitely not the norm. I've been able to walk off the ship early and be at work by 10am... :)

Definitely not the norm. I've been able to walk off the ship early and be at work by 10am... :)

Ugh... How depressing!

We have only dealt with the terminal in San Pedro twice. The first time we had to wait an extremely long time to board and people were still boarding at 4:00 PM when the ship was supposed to sail. Muster was delayed, etc.

 

The second time we were sailing SF to FLL through the Panama Canal and the ship stopped in San Pedro to pick up more passengers. A few people managed to get ashore early but most of the other passengers who had plans to meet folks for lunch, etc. never made it off the ship. They waited hours but didn't make it off. Those who had gotten off early ended up waiting hours to get back on the ship.

 

Is this the norm? I'm trying to book a flight out of LAX in October and the only one that seems to work for us is at 12:05 PM. I'm wondering if this is an unrealistic flight time given what we have encountered at the port the last two time. The ship is supposed to dock at 7:00 AM. That "seems" like plenty of time even given LA traffic (the flight will be on a Sunday so hopefully a bit less traffic) but I'm concerned about hangups at the port. We will likely use Super Shuttle or Uber for transportation from the port to LAX and it looks like the Delta terminal is where we need to go.

 

I know that many of you cruise frequently and must make this trip from the ship to LAX so I'm hoping for good info from you.

What you have experienced is NOT the norm. At least IME. We've sailed out of, or into, LA at least 19 times and only twice have we been delayed and that was quite a few years ago.

On a Sunday, you should be just fine with a 12:05pm flight out of LAX. I think CalTrans tends to not work on Sundays if at all possible due to having to pay their workers more but if they do happen to be working on the 405, they should be done with it by 8am I would think. You should be good to go. Edited to add: I agree with Keith. This is one time you don't want to use PrimeTime Shuttle to get to the airport. Use a cab or Uber.

Have never experienced any delays and we've sailed out of there at least 10 times

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Have never experienced any delays and we've sailed out of there at least 10 times

That cruise stop in LA picking up passengers mid cruise was a rare occurrence.

We have only dealt with the terminal in San Pedro twice. The first time we had to wait an extremely long time to board and people were still boarding at 4:00 PM when the ship was supposed to sail. Muster was delayed, etc.

 

The second time we were sailing SF to FLL through the Panama Canal and the ship stopped in San Pedro to pick up more passengers. A few people managed to get ashore early but most of the other passengers who had plans to meet folks for lunch, etc. never made it off the ship. They waited hours but didn't make it off. Those who had gotten off early ended up waiting hours to get back on the ship.

 

Is this the norm? I'm trying to book a flight out of LAX in October and the only one that seems to work for us is at 12:05 PM. I'm wondering if this is an unrealistic flight time given what we have encountered at the port the last two time. The ship is supposed to dock at 7:00 AM. That "seems" like plenty of time even given LA traffic (the flight will be on a Sunday so hopefully a bit less traffic) but I'm concerned about hangups at the port. We will likely use Super Shuttle or Uber for transportation from the port to LAX and it looks like the Delta terminal is where we need to go.

 

I know that many of you cruise frequently and must make this trip from the ship to LAX so I'm hoping for good info from you.

Thrak

You have me confused..........are you talking about flying in to LAX or leaving from LAX??

I think this is the 28 day cruise out of LA on Oct 8, 2017?? returning Nov 5, 2017 ?? ( we are on that cruise)

WE did the 15 day Hawaii cruise last year and had a 12:15 flight out of LAX. We did the earliest walk off and retrieved luggage ....took an Uber to airport ( took almost an hour) checked in and through security and still had time for lunch before boarding.

Hope this helps.

We have never had a problem so far. Five boarding and disembarking cruises and one disembarking cruise. The disembarking cruise was a full transit Panama Canal from Ft. Lauderdale to either LA or Vancouver if you wanted to stay on board for the extra 3 days. We disembarked in San Pedro and found one couple who were going on to Vancouver down in the baggage area ahead of us. This was about 8:30 am, and they had planned to do a brief excursion with another couple during the stop over. I'm thinking you hit the exception to the rule twice. Just bad luck.

San Pedro was the easiest debarkation we have experienced to date. We had a 9am pickup which we planned for and got an early group. We were off the ship, through immigration, had our luggage and were out at the pickup point a little after 8:15am on our recent 15 day Hawaii cruise on the Star.

That cruise stop in LA picking up passengers mid cruise was a rare occurrence.

I wonder if that stop was to pick up passengers who had missed the sailing time at San Francisco and had Princess insurance. If so, the stop to pick them up, depending on how many there were, was probably cheaper than flying them to the first regular port of call! Just a guess on my part.

Tom

You should be fine. There is always a slight chance something may go wrong. I live 45 minutes from the port. I've done 10 or so cruises out of San Pedro and I'm usually home by 10 am hugging my cat.

I wonder if that stop was to pick up passengers who had missed the sailing time at San Francisco and had Princess insurance. If so, the stop to pick them up, depending on how many there were, was probably cheaper than flying them to the first regular port of call! Just a guess on my part.

 

 

Tom

No it was a 3 day repo from Vancouver to LA. (Sept 2015) End of Alaska season and the start of a 15 day Panama cruise from LA. We were on the 15 day from LA so the ship stopped there to pick up roughly 900 passengers if I remember correctly. We tried to add the 3 additional days from Vancouver but it was sold out. We had this cruise booked for 18 plus months ahead of time.

So most of the 3 day cruisers stayed on for the Panama cruise.

The second time we were sailing SF to FLL through the Panama Canal and the ship stopped in San Pedro to pick up more passengers. A few people managed to get ashore early but most of the other passengers who had plans to meet folks for lunch, etc. never made it off the ship. They waited hours but didn't make it off. Those who had gotten off early ended up waiting hours to get back on the ship.

 

Any idea why? Did immigration/customs hold things up?

Any idea why? Did immigration/customs hold things up?

They may have had immigration/customs etc issues. Who knows.

The terminal was a mess and jammed packed. Boarding did not commence until 12:30.

I think they just have not experienced 1100 passengers getting off for a stop and not actually disembarking anyone.

Not to mention the 800-900 getting on at the same time. We sat in the terminal from 9:30 and it was really disorganized. Security was opening every bottle of soda/water that was brought on. They were over examining wine, finding alcohol etc. There were passengers with 2 wheel dollies stacked 4-5 ft high with drinks.

I'm trying to book a flight out of LAX in October and the only one that seems to work for us is at 12:05 PM. I'm wondering if this is an unrealistic flight time given what we have encountered at the port the last two time. The ship is supposed to dock at 7:00 AM. That "seems" like plenty of time even given LA traffic (the flight will be on a Sunday so hopefully a bit less traffic) but I'm concerned about hangups at the port. We will likely use Super Shuttle or Uber for transportation from the port to LAX and it looks like the Delta terminal is where we need to go.

We just got off the RUBY in San Pedro on Saturday. Could not have been easier or quicker!

We carried off our bags shortly after 8:00, through Customs in a breeze, called UBER, and were at the airport at 9:05AM for our 11:45 flight!

GOOD LUCK!!

Anybody had experience with flying into and out of Long Beach Airport? I'm thinking about doing that rather than LAX. SWA does it with only a change in Oakland and BAGS FLY FREE (lol). However, on disembarkation, the last flight of the day is 11:25 a.m. Any problems getting that flight?

Any information will be appreciated.

Long Beach is even closer than LAX; if you do the earliest walk-off and take a cab or Uber you will be there in plenty of time.

Thrak

 

You have me confused..........are you talking about flying in to LAX or leaving from LAX??

 

I think this is the 28 day cruise out of LA on Oct 8, 2017?? returning Nov 5, 2017 ?? ( we are on that cruise)

 

WE did the 15 day Hawaii cruise last year and had a 12:15 flight out of LAX. We did the earliest walk off and retrieved luggage ....took an Uber to airport ( took almost an hour) checked in and through security and still had time for lunch before boarding.

 

Hope this helps.

Yes. The 28 day arriving back in LA on November 5. Arriving is not an issue as we are flying in the previous day. Just booked the Crowne Plaza yesterday so that is covered. :)

Anybody had experience with flying into and out of Long Beach Airport? I'm thinking about doing that rather than LAX. SWA does it with only a change in Oakland and BAGS FLY FREE (lol). However, on disembarkation, the last flight of the day is 11:25 a.m. Any problems getting that flight?

 

Any information will be appreciated.

No it's about a 20 minute ride to LGB.

Many thanks to all who replied. We are feeling much better about the 12:05 flight time now.

Now we just have the 2 month land trip to do before the cruise. Retirement is turning out to be sooooooooooooooo tough. :cool:

We just got off the RUBY in San Pedro on Saturday. Could not have been easier or quicker!

We carried off our bags shortly after 8:00, through Customs in a breeze, called UBER, and were at the airport at 9:05AM for our 11:45 flight!

GOOD LUCK!!

Where did UBER pick you up at the San Pedro terminal?

Tom😎

At the kerb just outside the door from baggage claim.