To the OP: I live in Los Angeles and unless I am leaving first thing in the morning (I mean around 5am) I HATE LAX, it is poorly run, traffic is horrible and if there is ANY backup you will be late! Since I live here and have the luxury of driving to an airport I always search SNA (john Wayne), Burbank, Ontario (which I love, one of the easiest into and out of!), Palm Springs (have found some great deals from there) and I even drove to Las Vegas once or twice! If you are renting a car I would suggest checking those out, if not, I would see about flying into SNA and getting a hotel close to port or checking to see if any of the hotels near SNA has a shuttle taking you to the port. Also, depending on how many of you are traveling check into a private car to pick you up and drive you to either the port or hotel from airport (if traveling from one other than LAX), I did this Florida going from Ft. Lauderdale to Maimi and it was only $60.00 but that was pre covid.