la cruise terminal to union station

[Smokeyone]

Hello

We have a LA to LA cruise booked for March - I was thinking of taking the train to San Francisco afterwards (it actually goes to Emeryville) - the ship docks at 7am and I know you can leave the ship early and carry your own luggage. Do you think this will all work out okay for a 09.50 train.

Thanks

[waltd]

I would say no.   There is no guarantee the ship will dock early.    Traffic can be a nightmare.   The train station is not close.    

[cr8tiv1]

The train originates at Union Station so it is ready to leave at 9:50 AM.  Another thread asked the same question.  OP finally decided to overnight in LA.  There is no direct non-stop public transportation.  If it is a weekday, you will encounter work traffic that could really slow you down.

[cruisingrob21]

It's doable, but you may be sweating bullets and if you miss it you'll probably be put on a bus to Bakersfield to catch the San Joaquin train - much less scenic IMO.

 

As waltd mentioned, traffic could be awful.  I've taken the Silver Line from San Pedro to transfer to the Green Line and airport.  The Silver Line is a pretty nice and efficient bus service (with its own lanes for part of the ride) and will get you to downtown and drop you right at Union Station.  Assuming its as fast as driving in normal traffic since it has some dedicated lanes, and you catch the 8:04am weekday bus from the nearby park and ride (5-10 min walk from cruise terminal doors), you won't get downtown until just past 9am, but it does drop you right at Union Station.  That's cutting it tight.

 

Link to schedule https://cdn.beta.metro.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/17153140/910-950_TT_12-19-21.pdf

 

[nini]

California is a VERY long state. It is twice the size of England and Scotland together. LA port (San Pedro) to Union Station is a good 45 minute drive on a good day. If you left the ship right at 7:00 am then you could get an Uber and probably make it.

[Smokeyone]

Thank you all very much for the advice - I really appreciate it - as a Plan B rather than staying overnight would taking a later train be a better idea - I think there is a 11.00 train but with a change in Bakersfield.

Also would anyone know of an alternative station to Emeryville for San Francisco woth considering where there might be a larger choice of direct trains from LA ..

 

Many thanks

[Lido deck main]

6 hours ago, cruisingrob21 said:

It's doable, but you may be sweating bullets and if you miss it you'll probably be put on a bus to Bakersfield to catch the San Joaquin train - much less scenic IMO.

 

As waltd mentioned, traffic could be awful.  I've taken the Silver Line from San Pedro to transfer to the Green Line and airport.  The Silver Line is a pretty nice and efficient bus service (with its own lanes for part of the ride) and will get you to downtown and drop you right at Union Station.  Assuming its as fast as driving in normal traffic since it has some dedicated lanes, and you catch the 8:04am weekday bus from the nearby park and ride (5-10 min walk from cruise terminal doors), you won't get downtown until just past 9am, but it does drop you right at Union Station.  That's cutting it tight.

 

Link to schedule https://cdn.beta.metro.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/17153140/910-950_TT_12-19-21.pdf

 

We love the Silver Line.  This bus has it's own dedicated lane and is faster than taking a car.  We saw cars gridlock and we when flying by.  When we port in L.A., have done this twice now, and just for the day and back to the ship.  First time went to see the hands prints at Chinese Theatre, went to the old town, then went to see space shuttle endeavor and with the movie, made it back to the ship with 2 or 3 hours to spare.  Second time we were in L.A. we went on bus to Union Station and transferred to Santa Monica Pier, we were with first time guest to L.A. so went also  back to the hand prints at the theatre and went back to old town.  We were at the Theatre when the ships tour arrived.  That bus is awesome.

[disneyochem]

5 hours ago, Smokeyone said:

Thank you all very much for the advice - I really appreciate it - as a Plan B rather than staying overnight would taking a later train be a better idea - I think there is a 11.00 train but with a change in Bakersfield.

Also would anyone know of an alternative station to Emeryville for San Francisco woth considering where there might be a larger choice of direct trains from LA ..

 

Many thanks

There are two paths using Amtrak from LA to SF.  Both paths use Emeryville as a transfer station to SF.  You get off at Emeryville (either from the Coast Starlight or the San Joaquin) and get on a bus that takes you to the Sales Force Transit Terminal in SF.  There is no Amtrak train that goes into SF.

 

You can take other public transportation that will get you into SF—BART, ferries, etc—that you can catch from other Amtrak stops.  The most direct way though is using Amtrak.  We take Amtrak into SF all the time (it’s our home port).  Easy, peasy!  We then walk to the port, or walk a couple of blocks for public transportation (BART, Muni).

[startedwithamouse]

5 hours ago, Smokeyone said:

Thank you all very much for the advice - I really appreciate it - as a Plan B rather than staying overnight would taking a later train be a better idea - I think there is a 11.00 train but with a change in Bakersfield.

Also would anyone know of an alternative station to Emeryville for San Francisco woth considering where there might be a larger choice of direct trains from LA ..

 

Many thanks

Be careful.  A lot of times the train is changed over to a bus, meaning one leg of your trip is actually an Amtrak bus. I would definitely check on flights perhaps from Long Beach or even LAX up to San Jose, San Francisco or Oakland. 

[Smokeyone]

Many thanks for all the advice but my wife would still rather take the train than yet another flight -

Just to clarify it would be better to go for a 10.50 train allowing for a 09.50 Union Station check in time - Thanks

[CruiserBruce]

6 minutes ago, Smokeyone said:

Many thanks for all the advice but my wife would still rather take the train than yet another flight -

Just to clarify it would be better to go for a 10.50 train allowing for a 09.50 Union Station check in time - Thanks

You want the Coastal train, not the San Joaquin....the scenery is far superior.

[IRMO12HD]

11 hours ago, Lido deck main said:

We love the Silver Line.  This bus has it's own dedicated lane and is faster than taking a car.  We saw cars gridlock and we when flying by.  When we port in L.A., have done this twice now, and just for the day and back to the ship.  First time went to see the hands prints at Chinese Theatre, went to the old town, then went to see space shuttle endeavor and with the movie, made it back to the ship with 2 or 3 hours to spare.  Second time we were in L.A. we went on bus to Union Station and transferred to Santa Monica Pier, we were with first time guest to L.A. so went also  back to the hand prints at the theatre and went back to old town.  We were at the Theatre when the ships tour arrived.  That bus is awesome.

@Lido deck mainThanks for posting!  Do you think (remember :-)) if there was any place for a (small carry-on) suitcase aboard the bus?  I like using public transportation and am considering using the Green Line/Silver Line to get from LAX to the San Pedro Cruise Port (actually, the Crowne Plaza in San Pedro).  I'll be arriving at LAX about 2-ish on a Thursday.

[Lido deck main]

15 hours ago, IRMO12HD said:

@Lido deck mainThanks for posting!  Do you think (remember :-)) if there was any place for a (small carry-on) suitcase aboard the bus?  I like using public transportation and am considering using the Green Line/Silver Line to get from LAX to the San Pedro Cruise Port (actually, the Crowne Plaza in San Pedro).  I'll be arriving at LAX about 2-ish on a Thursday.

@IRMO12HD  Can't remember is there is that place just opposite the driver next to where the wheelchair assessible seats are if they have that platform where luggage can be kept.  We often take the bus locally to the cruise ship, we often travel light, such as one carry on each, we are so risk adverse that we keep our luggage with us rather than leaving on the platform.  We usually take the local bus with the many stops.  Sometimes the driver advises us to leave the luggage on the platform, so we keep a keen eye on it.  Hope you have a great cruise. 

[KeepCalmBearOn]

This is a very bad idea, all the way around, Californians don't use trains between as a means of travel very much, we fly. Get a plane to SFO or OAK out of LAX, LGB or SNA.

 

Southwest Airlines has flights out of LAX to OAK pretty much every hour all through the day. They have another dozen flights to SFO. They have 4 or 5 non-stops to OAK from LGB.

 

I would not waste a whole day of vacation going through the middle of CA on a train. It is more boring than you can ever imagine.

[IRMO12HD]

1 hour ago, Lido deck main said:

@IRMO12HD  Can't remember is there is that place just opposite the driver next to where the wheelchair assessible seats are if they have that platform where luggage can be kept.  We often take the bus locally to the cruise ship, we often travel light, such as one carry on each, we are so risk adverse that we keep our luggage with us rather than leaving on the platform.  We usually take the local bus with the many stops.  Sometimes the driver advises us to leave the luggage on the platform, so we keep a keen eye on it.  Hope you have a great cruise. 

Thank you, @Lido deck main.  I agree that I'd much rather keep the suitcase with me; if the bus looks crowded, I may just go to Plan B (Uber). I think I'll call the Metro # and ask.  When you mentioned taking the bus locally, do you mean in Vancouver (BC)?

[CruiserBruce]

2 hours ago, scottca075 said:

This is a very bad idea, all the way around, Californians don't use trains between as a means of travel very much, we fly. Get a plane to SFO or OAK out of LAX, LGB or SNA.

 

Southwest Airlines has flights out of LAX to OAK pretty much every hour all through the day. They have another dozen flights to SFO. They have 4 or 5 non-stops to OAK from LGB.

 

I would not waste a whole day of vacation going through the middle of CA on a train. It is more boring than you can ever imagine.

Its not a bad idea, just one you wouldn't do. I have, and it can be very interesting, particularly along the coast route. This Californian (family here since the 1830s) does like it, and I have flown, drove, trained and even backpacked all over California.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

19 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Its not a bad idea, just one you wouldn't do. I have, and it can be very interesting, particularly along the coast route. This Californian (family here since the 1830s) does like it, and I have flown, drove, trained and even backpacked all over California.

 

The "coast route" ends after Santa Barbara and turns inland.

 

The annual total of train passengers between LA & SF is 216,000 passengers. The annual total of plane passengers between LA & SF is 2,200,000 passengers. So I guess I am not the only one who thinks the train is a bad idea.

 

The OP is coming from the UK where intercity train travel is common, the London to Edinburgh train ride is only 4 hours. Flying would take almost as long when you add in check-in time etc. LA to SF is more than 12 hours and 10 of the 12 hours are eye bleeding boring.

 

My office is in San Francisco. I fly between SF and So Cal every 10 days or so. When we lived in SB, I drove because it was easier than flying and much faster than the train. I have used the train as a novelty, but the novelty wears off quickly.

 

For visitors, given a choice between spending a minimum of 12 hours on a train between LA and SF or having an additional 9 hours or so to see SF; I'd always recommend the extra 9 hours in SF.

 

That you would recommend a different choice puts you in the minority.

 

Now if the OP wanted to rent a car and drive the coast via Highway 1 and spend two days doing it to actually see the spectacular coast in CA (which they will not see on the train), then I might say okay to that vs flying.

[seagunthera]

On 1/17/2022 at 10:08 PM, Smokeyone said:

Hello

We have a LA to LA cruise booked for March - I was thinking of taking the train to San Francisco afterwards (it actually goes to Emeryville) - the ship docks at 7am and I know you can leave the ship early and carry your own luggage. Do you think this will all work out okay for a 09.50 train.

Thanks

LA native here: which day of the week? If you're off the ship and in a cab/uber by 7:30, you could be at Union Station by 8:30 (on a Saturday or Sunday) no problem.  Once at Union Station, you'll need 15-20 min to navigate the moderate walk to the trains.