Another LGB question...Help Please...

[motraveller]

Hi, I am finally taking a cruise again.  Its been a while and I'm feeling a little out of touch.  AND its my first cruise out of California.  I have the option to fly into Long Beach arriving at 11:45am for a Carnival Radiance cruise or arriving at 9:45am into LAX.  Flying out the night before is not an option.  My party consists of 3 teenagers so the LGB flight is MUCH more appealing (leaving for the airport at 5am instead of 3am). 

 

Does a  11:45 arrival time provide enough time to get luggage, catch an uber and get to the cruise port?  I understand the risk by not flying in the night before...but its hard to carve out 5 days for the family to take a cruise as it is. 

Thanks for all advice!   

[Ashland]

Take the Long Beach flight.

[CruiserBruce]

Agree. Take the LGB flight. Don't overthink this.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

You don't say where you are from.

 

Normally I'd say use LGB, but in these times with so many cancellations, I'd say choose LAX, because if something happens to your flight, LAX has many, many more flights you can choose and choosing an earlier flight leaves you with more options. If a flight scheduled to arrive at 11:45AM is cancelled or significantly delayed, you could paint yourself into a corner.

[CruiserBruce]

24 minutes ago, scottca075 said:

You don't say where you are from.

 

Normally I'd say use LGB, but in these times with so many cancellations, I'd say choose LAX, because if something happens to your flight, LAX has many, many more flights you can choose and choosing an earlier flight leaves you with more options. If a flight scheduled to arrive at 11:45AM is cancelled or significantly delayed, you could paint yourself into a corner.

The OP has already painted themselves into a corner by insisting they can only fly in the day of their cruise. 

[Ashland]

2 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

The OP has already painted themselves into a corner by insisting they can only fly in the day of their cruise. 

Life situations happen. Not everyone has the option to fly in a day or more pre-cruise.

[CruiserBruce]

7 hours ago, Ashland said:

Life situations happen. Not everyone has the option to fly in a day or more pre-cruise.

Totally get that. But how life situations are handled cause options to be severely limited sometimes. 

[KeepCalmBearOn]

7 hours ago, Ashland said:

Life situations happen. Not everyone has the option to fly in a day or more pre-cruise.

 

33 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Totally get that. But how life situations are handled cause options to be severely limited sometimes. 

 

Life situations happen, but if you cannot fly in the day before, you schedule the earliest flight you can and fly into the place with the most flights available.

 

The OP is focused on "can I get my luggage off a flight landing at 11:45am flight" and the focus should be, "if that flight is cancelled, when is the next one to LGB from here".

 

We don't know where the OP is flying from, but regardless of where they are, their airport will have many more flights available to get LAX and if a flight scheduled to arrive at 9:45am cancels you have more time to reroute.

 

With flight delays running about 20% right now, an 11:45am landing would make me nervous.

 

 

[Ashland]

9 hours ago, scottca075 said:

 

 

Life situations happen, but if you cannot fly in the day before, you schedule the earliest flight you can and fly into the place with the most flights available.

 

The OP is focused on "can I get my luggage off a flight landing at 11:45am flight" and the focus should be, "if that flight is cancelled, when is the next one to LGB from here".

 

We don't know where the OP is flying from, but regardless of where they are, their airport will have many more flights available to get LAX and if a flight scheduled to arrive at 9:45am cancels you have more time to reroute.

 

With flight delays running about 20% right now, an 11:45am landing would make me nervous.

 

 

I get what you're saying.

[Bruin Steve]

Lots of flights get canceled nowadays...and, even more so, lots of flights are DELAYED.

Look at this another way:  Let's say your cruise departs at 5:00 pm.  They probably require you to be onboard by 3:00 or 3:30.   Let's assume the absolute best case--Your plane touches down at 11:45 am.  Guess what?  You are NOT getting off the plane at 11:45.  First, they'll take some time to taxi to where they unload.  Then it takes time to "prepare" the plane--to bring the ramp or stairway to the plane's door and secure it before opening the doors...Figure a likely 15 minutes whie you sit there with the crew announcing "the pilot has not yet turned off the seat belt sign".  Then, I'll assume you and your family are not up in first class.  You are maybe back in row 20-something at best.  Which means, once they open the door, you are going to wait for 100+ people ahead of you to each slowly get up and slowly take their crry-ons out of the overhead bin.  Figure another 15 minutes.  Then you will get off the plane and, even in the smallest airport, take some time to locate the baggage claim area and walk to it...while member of your family need to stop at the restrooms.  Then, you may have to wait a little for your luggage.  Okay, so, even with an "on time" 11:45 touchdown, you've finally retrieved your luggage and made it to the curbby 1:00-1:15.  Now you summon an Uber.  They'll be there in 15 minutes.  You still have a drive on LA Freeways or maybe, LGB to Carnival, on surface streets.  If it's not rush hour and there are no accidents or construction, it's still going to take a half an hour.

 

So, you've made it to the Carnival Terminal by 2:00 pm...no problem, you have an hour to check in and get on the ship.  Now, however, consider what happens if the plane is delayted one hour.  Or, if the airlines temporarily misplaced your luggage. Or there's some inexplicable traffic on the freeway.

 

An extra two hours would have been nice.

 

OTOH, both of these options have some other issues.  It doesn't natter much if you leave home at 3:00 am or  5:00 am...It means either you're not going to sleep or you're going to set that alarm for the middle of the night. Either way, everyone in your family is going to get to the cruise exhausted. Really hard to enjoy that first day when you are travel weary, jet lagged and overtired.  Anyway you could find a flight for the evening before?  Get in with enough time to check into a Long Beaach hotel, get a decent night's sleep and have a stress-free embarkation morning...and get to the ship ready to enjoy the cruise?  Not recommending you get in way early if you just don't have the days...but this would be the difference between the night prior and the wee hours of embarkation morning...

[motraveller]

Good news.  I found a flight that is a compromise and we have to leave the house by 4 and gets in to LAX at 9:50 am.  Potential bad news is that it stops in Denver (in January).  Lets hope for no weather delays.  We fly out of Long Beach on the return so hoping that is a little less stressful.  Thanks for all your input!

[Ashland]

34 minutes ago, motraveller said:

Good news.  I found a flight that is a compromise and we have to leave the house by 4 and gets in to LAX at 9:50 am.  Potential bad news is that it stops in Denver (in January).  Lets hope for no weather delays.  We fly out of Long Beach on the return so hoping that is a little less stressful.  Thanks for all your input!

Best of luck....Denver can be delayed due to weather. We fly in/out of there when visiting family several times a year. January will be our next trip.