Los Angeles or Long Beach Airports ??

[Thumper69]

Hi.

 

I have booked a cruise on Sapphire departing Jan 17. I'm now looking at which airport to arrive at, Long Beach or Los Angeles. I have never cruised from LA.

 

Thanks

Anthony

[PaddleAddict]

Long Beach airport is sooooo much easier than LAX, but it's small and so you can't always find the best deals or best variety of flights. If you can find the flight you want at a decent price I'd go to Long Beach in a heartbeat. I do anything I can to stay away from LAX!

[Bruin Steve]

Quite simply, LAX is one of the world's largest, busiest airports...so it's a good news/bad news thing...

 

Good news is that you can get flights in and out from anywhere and at all times of day and night...bad news is that lines for check-in and security can be long and the place can be intimidating to some...

 

Long Beach Airport, OTOH, is dinky...It's real easy to get around and there are seldom any waits for anything...Bad news is that there are very few airlines that fly there and very few flights from very few places...

 

LAX is 20 miles from the pier in Pedro, LGB is 15 miles...not really much difference there...

 

If you can actually find flights to and from LGB that work for you and don't come at a hefty premium in price, by all means go for it...

 

If not, there's really nothing all that bad about LAX...

[Cruisin' Chick]

Just make sure that you tell your taxi or shuttle driver that you need to go to the World Cruise Center in San Pedro (that's the Port of LA)...not the Port of Long Beach (only Carnival leaves from there).

 

Hopefully, you'll be coming in at least a day early. Even though L.A. has decent weather (even though you'll be coming during our rainy season), bad weather elsewhere can affect flights in to here.

[WinnieinWA]

Yes to what CruisinChick said!

 

I fly into LAX from Seattle and it's quite easy to catch the bus transfer from Airport to Cruise ship.

 

Have fun!

[Thumper69]

Thanks for the advice. I booked Jet Blue from SFO to LGB it was very well priced only $20 p/person more than LAX. I'm looking forward to a small quite airport.

 

Anthony

[Teetype]

Hi.

 

I have booked a cruise on Sapphire departing Jan 17. I'm now looking at which airport to arrive at, Long Beach or Los Angeles. I have never cruised from LA.

 

Thanks

Anthony

 

Hi Anthony:

 

I live in southern California and have taken advantage of having many, many airports available. I can tell you that the smaller ones such as Palm Springs, Long Beach, Santa Barbara, and a few others are almost always higher, prohibitively so. However, occasionally, there will be a great deal for them.

 

The best way is to price it out completely -- the tickets round trip using both airports AND the transportation you intend to use in each and do whatever seems the best price. It will almost always be LAX, but you may get lucky.

 

Cheers!

Tee

[prose]

Thanks for the advice. I booked Jet Blue from SFO to LGB it was very well priced only $20 p/person more than LAX. I'm looking forward to a small quite airport.

 

Anthony

Anthony, you'll love LGB. We were off the plane, picked up luggage (outside), in the shuttle, and at San Pedro in less than an hour. Don't think you could do that flying into LAX. Good choice!

[Colo Cruiser]

Super Shuttle works well. :)

[PaddleAddict]

Thanks for the advice. I booked Jet Blue from SFO to LGB it was very well priced only $20 p/person more than LAX. I'm looking forward to a small quite airport.

 

Anthony

 

Lucky you! JetBlue is my favorite airline, and at only $20 more pp, it's definitely worth it to skip the hassle of LAX. YOu will love flying in and out of Long Beach.

[jetwet1]

Don't forget about Orange county.

[PunkiC]

Our first choice of airports is always LGB. It is kind of like stepping back into the '50s. ;)

 

Very fast and easy in and out, and I believe it is closest to the terminal. We also have family in Seal Beach who are often willing to pick us up at the airport, go out to lunch, and then take us to the ship.

 

For our next cruise, which is a 7-day New Years Mexican Riviera cruise, however, we are flying in the night before. That time of year we have a lot of fog in Seattle in the morning and I don't want to take any chances.

 

Maybe they will pick us up and go out for a Christmas libation and then take us to our San Pedro hotel. Our hotel has a free shuttle to the ship

[DrivesLikeMario]

Another reason you might chose LGB over LAX is that it tends to have less bomb scares. Can't tell you how many times the whole terminal is cleared out because someone has left a backpack sitting around! :rolleyes:

[Seal]

Love Jet Blue--and Long Beach Airport--Living close by--we use LGB as often as possible--unfortunately most of the time we need LAX--

 

Living in the area by LGB airport is great--parking is just a few feet away--just walk across the street and your in the airport

 

If it's raining in Long Beach they'll give you an umbrella to carry to the plane--yes--out the door and up the stairs of the airplane--usually board both front and rear at the same time

 

Nancy:D

[jnc411]

Good Choice and worth the extra $20. We live a few minutes from Long Beach airport , and it is our first choice always. As a earlier poster said , just be sure you tell your shuttle or taxi which cruise port you need to go to. Long Beach for Carnival or San Pedro for Princess , RCL, Celebrity. You just coming from SFO so that should be just a 45 min. flight. Have a great trip

Cori

[sammiedawg]

I love Jet Blue but our city lost the service. Have not used Long Beach but our shuttle stopped there on the way to one of the other airports. We have used John Wayne in Orange Co and LAX. I go for price and schedule. The John wayne airport was using Frequent flyer miles, it is the furthest away but managable. We made an 11:30 am flight home.