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Best way to get from LAX to cruise terminal

joaniedee72

By joaniedee72,
in West Coast Departures

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joaniedee72

joaniedee72

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We will be arriving at LAX at 10:46 am for our Mexican Riviera cruise on the Miracle in February. What would be the best way to get to the cruise port? Would a taxi be more expensive than the airport shuttle through Carnival?

 

Thanks!

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Kamloops50

Kamloops50

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We will be arriving at LAX at 10:46 am for our Mexican Riviera cruise on the Miracle in February. What would be the best way to get to the cruise port? Would a taxi be more expensive than the airport shuttle through Carnival?

 

Thanks!

 

Taxi is about $85 USD plus tip. If the shuttle from Carnival is less go for it. Keep in mind that you will have to wait until the Carnival shuttle to fill up.

You can take a shared for about $15 USD per person.

Supershuttle and Primetime have shared vans to the ports. Only issue is you might not go direct to the port unless everyone is going there.

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TomAceEsq

TomAceEsq

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Wife and I cruise out of Long Beach most of the time. We always get Uber. Ask nicely, and they'll even stop at a liquor store on the way so you can pick up your bottles of wine or champagne. :)

 

It's always been under $40.

Edited by TomAceEsq
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Jeff in Torrance

Jeff in Torrance

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If "by far cheapest" is part of the "best" definition, the cheapest BY FAR is taking the airport "C" shuttle bus to "Lot C," walk a short distance to the Metro station adjacent, get on the "232 bus," which will take you to the end of that line in downtown Long Beach. The city's FREE shuttle will drop you off at the Queen Mary, which is a very short walk (next door) to the Carnival Cruise Terminal. I don't know the current fare on the Metro 232 bus, but it's probably less than $2 per person.

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SadieN

SadieN

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If "by far cheapest" is part of the "best" definition, the cheapest BY FAR is taking the airport "C" shuttle bus to "Lot C," walk a short distance to the Metro station adjacent, get on the "232 bus," which will take you to the end of that line in downtown Long Beach. The city's FREE shuttle will drop you off at the Queen Mary, which is a very short walk (next door) to the Carnival Cruise Terminal. I don't know the current fare on the Metro 232 bus, but it's probably less than $2 per person.

 

 

 

Could take the Metro shuttle to the Green Line, transferring to the Blue Line to the Long Beach transit station. ($1.75/2 hours + $1/TAP card, senior rates with Metro senior card).

Slightly more expensive ($8pp) is to take the Flyaway Bus to Long Beach transit station transferring to the free Long Beach Passport bus.

 

FWIW we've taken the Blue Line/Passport bus to Long Beach many times.

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Thrak

Thrak

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We have used SuperShuttle in the past, and the price seems to be comparable to the Carnival shuttle. We didn't have to wait long for it at all. Maybe we'll try that.

 

Thank you for all your replies.:)

 

I just spent a few minutes checking reviews of Super Shuttle and there are an incredible amount of bad reviews from people who had terrible experiences with them. I was kind of hoping to use that service but I'm pretty unsure about it at this point after all of the horrible reviews.

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Bruin Steve

Bruin Steve

Posted
Posted (edited)
If "by far cheapest" is part of the "best" definition, the cheapest BY FAR is taking the airport "C" shuttle bus to "Lot C," walk a short distance to the Metro station adjacent, get on the "232 bus," which will take you to the end of that line in downtown Long Beach. The city's FREE shuttle will drop you off at the Queen Mary, which is a very short walk (next door) to the Carnival Cruise Terminal. I don't know the current fare on the Metro 232 bus, but it's probably less than $2 per person.

 

NOPE!

The "cheapest" way to get there is.......to walk.

It may take you about 10-12 hours...you'll probably miss your ship...but, heck, it IS the "cheapest"... it's free!

 

But, seriously, the OP has a flight SCHEDULED to arrive at LAX at 10:46 am on the day of the cruise. Even if the plane is on time (and so few of them seem to be), by the time they taxi to the gate, slowly unload everyone, the OP makes the long walk through the terminal to baggage claim, the baggage actually comes down the chute...and the OP makes it out to the curb to catch some sort of transportation, they will be LUCKY to be on their way to the port by NOON...

 

If they took some of those convoluted public transportation options, they might be looking at 2 to 2.5 hours just to get to the terminal...provided they don't get on the wrong bus somewhere or otherwise get lost.

 

So...the "cheapest" way is usually NOT the best way.

 

The shuttle companies are really not a bad way to go...They are relatively cheap...about $17 plus tip per person...and service is door-to-door. OTOH, there can be delays. They often cruise around the airport a couple of times waiting to fill the van...and they might make other stops on the way. But, even with those delays, it's likely still way quicker and more efficient than public transportation...and you get picked up right outside baggage claim and get dropped off right in front of the cruise terminal.

 

With any worry about time, I'd go with either Uber or Super Shuttle's Execucar.

Uber is the best deal--provided you don't get caught by "surge pricing". Execucar should be about $55 plus tip...and, it's a FIXED price...so no worries about traffic or delays boosting your cost. Taxis tend to be expensive and there's no control over that meter continuing to run while you are in traffic.

 

Good luck.

Edited by Bruin Steve
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SadieN

SadieN

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Posted
I just spent a few minutes checking reviews of Super Shuttle and there are an incredible amount of bad reviews from people who had terrible experiences with them. I was kind of hoping to use that service but I'm pretty unsure about it at this point after all of the horrible reviews.

 

 

They all get bad reviews.

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Bruin Steve

Bruin Steve

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Posted (edited)
I just spent a few minutes checking reviews of Super Shuttle and there are an incredible amount of bad reviews from people who had terrible experiences with them. I was kind of hoping to use that service but I'm pretty unsure about it at this point after all of the horrible reviews.

 

They all get bad reviews.

 

There are reasons you will see a lot of negative reviews.

 

First of all, realize that these shuttle companies serve thousands of passengers a day. With those volumes, the law of averages says some of the trips will not go well for one reason or another. Also realize that it is typically the disgruntled customers who bother to write reviews. Most of the satisfied customers don't think twice about it after the trip.

 

Now, many of those complaints are legitimate. Sometimes, they screw up a reservation and don't send a van. Sometimes you get a driver with poor people skills. Sometimes they mess up a bill or a credit card charge. Again, laws of probability. Lots of rides, most go off as planned, a few don't.

 

OTOH, sometimes the complaints are just unrealistic expectations: People don't like that the van spent too long in the airport before taking them to their destination...or that the drove all over dropping off others before them. Those issues can be irritating, but they are part of the deal. The economics of the business demand that you travel with full or near-full vans. They also don't necessarily find 8 passengers all arriving on the same plane all heading for the same destination. Again, if you want to avoid those hassles, take an Uber or a dedicated car service...Of course, it will cost a little more money. There is a price versus personal service trade-off.

 

I travel a lot...and I've taken a lot of shuttle services (in my case, usually Roadrunner or Supershuttle). I have had one or two I'd complain about...but dozens that were perfectly fine. And, if I am pressed for time, I go with a car service instead. Of late, I'm also using Uber a bit more.

 

But the negative reviews don't bother me that much...because I understand the business. Oh, by the way, you can have a negative experience with a taxi, an Uber or a car service as well. Once we had a nightmare with a limo company sending the wrong size limo for our party of seven plus luggage heading for the cruise port. Another time, in Houston/Galveston, we had a limo company try to charge us additional money to the prepaid full fare--including tip...and then had the driver claiming we needed to tip him--even though I had emails between the limo company owner and myself showing a 15% tip had been added to the fare and prepaid! IOW, there is no guarantee of avoiding problems with any method of transport used.

Edited by Bruin Steve
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daffodiliaz

daffodiliaz

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We used Super Shuttle from LAX back in April. Didn't have any issues other than we probably waited for our van for around 1/2 hour. The SS rep was very easy to locate curbside and gave us our van #. Everyone else in the van was going to the cruise terminals (a few to San Pedro, another to Long Beach). When you make a SS reservation they ask for your destination which I'm sure they use for dispatch.

 

That said, we were sitting next to a group on our flight that was also on our cruise. They used Uber and were at the cruise terminal all checked in and waiting to board by the time we arrived to the terminal.

 

I'd be less concerned using SS from LAX than from the cruise terminal, a hotel, residence, etc.

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joaniedee72

joaniedee72

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We used Super Shuttle from LAX back in April. Didn't have any issues other than we probably waited for our van for around 1/2 hour. The SS rep was very easy to locate curbside and gave us our van #. Everyone else in the van was going to the cruise terminals (a few to San Pedro, another to Long Beach). When you make a SS reservation they ask for your destination which I'm sure they use for dispatch.

 

That said, we were sitting next to a group on our flight that was also on our cruise. They used Uber and were at the cruise terminal all checked in and waiting to board by the time we arrived to the terminal.

 

I'd be less concerned using SS from LAX than from the cruise terminal, a hotel, residence, etc.

 

Yes, we used them the last time we cruised from LAX, only we were going to our hotel rather than the port. That time we cruised NCL from San Pedro, this time will be with Carnival from Long Beach terminal. As I recall, we didn't wait long at the airport, and we went right to our hotel.

 

We chose a check-in time of 12:30 to 1 pm with Carnival. I understand you can't check-in earlier than this, but I think I read you can check-in later. So I am not concerned if we don't get the shuttle until 12 noon after getting our luggage, etc.

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joaniedee72

joaniedee72

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I wouldn't call it comparable. Carnival's shuttle is $30 pp, while SuperShuttle is only $17.

 

Oh! I looked it up and saw $34.00, and I assumed that meant per person. Is it for both of us? I guess it must be as I did put in 2 passengers. Great!

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