That moment when they call your boarding number is, perhaps, the most exciting part of a cruise. All the countless hours, and in some cases years, of saving, researching, booking, planning, reading reviews hastily penned by a certain mediocre cruise blogger with poor spelling, packing, repacking, hiring a 12,000 pound trunked resident of your local zoo to sit on your suitcase to compress it shut, culminating in this moment.
It’s really happening. Assuming you don’t get trampled by all the others who also arrived at the terminal early in an attempt to snag “group 1.” “I should have asked Dumbo how to survive a stampede.”
Stand your ground and you could be the first person to break through the golden crust on the peach cobbler at the Lido buffet. To watch the hot steam escape and breathe in the glorious scent of unlimited dessert. I have that filed under my #cruisegoals right after “board in group 1” and just before “seduce the captain.” I hope he likes peach cobbler.
If this is your first cruise out of Los Angeles, you may be wondering how the embarkation process works. Well having just returned from my first cruise from Los Angeles, allow me to run you through it. And I came ready to run, with speakers and only a light backpack to allow for maximum speed. Your mileage may vary some, of course, but this should give you a pretty good sense of what to expect.
Before we proceed, it’s critical that you determine which cruise ship terminal you’re sailing out of – there are two in the Los Angeles area – so you don’t pitch your tent in front of the door at the World Cruise Center in San Pedro when you’re actually sailing out of Long Beach. “Ma’am, there is a rescue mission not far from here if you need a warm meal and place to sleep tonight.” “Oh, no thank you. I’m fine with this half eaten burrito I dug out of the trash if it means I’m first in line for my cruise tomorrow.”
To determine which terminal you’re sailing out of, check your itinerary or ticket. If it says:
Los Angeles (US LAX), you need to show up at the World Cruise Center in San Pedro:
100 Swinford Street
San Pedro, CA 90731
If it says:
Long Beach (US LGB), you need to show up at the Long Beach Cruise Terminal in Long Beach:
231 Windsor Place
Long Beach, CA 90802
Because Carnival owns the Long Beach terminal, if you’re sailing on Carnival you’ll nearly always sail out of Long Beach. If you’re on any other line, you’ll nearly always sail out of San Pedro. But be sure to double check here.
My 2019 cruise on the Golden Princess sailed out of San Pedro, so my experience will be based on that specific terminal.
The World Cruise Terminal in San Pedro is located 20 miles from the Los Angeles airport. Door to door and in light traffic, it takes approximately 30 minutes.
While there are a number of different options available to get you from the airport in Los Angeles to the cruise terminal – taxis, private cars, ride shares, and vans – I elected to take the Super Shuttle, a shared van service, because it was inexpensive and my flight arrived very early into Los Angeles, so I wasn’t in a huge rush.
Cost: $34 excluding tip
Booking procedure: I booked in advance through the Super Shuttle website. There was also a stand where you could book in person once you arrived at the airport.
Logistics: As soon as I landed I received a text message form Super Shuttle with instructions for how to check in online and where to meet my shuttle. I had also received a prior e-mail with the same directions to the Super Shuttle stand at the curb where I could check in with someone in person (in case you don’t have a access to a cell phone).
At 8:45am, I checked in with a surly Super Shuttle employee at a desk like the one pictured above and she begrudgingly informed me, without looking at anything that could have provided her with this information, that my van would be there in approximately 30 minutes. I wish I could have taken her on the cruise with me – she looked like she needed some rest and relaxation and would probably be more of a conversationalist after a few free drinks at the Captain’s Welcome Aboard party.
I sat down on my built in bum cushion to wait and decided to check in with the tracking link I’d been provided in the earlier text from Super Shuttle. To my joyful surprise, I saw my van was already at the airport and was pulling around to my location. I could practically taste the peach cobbler and started humming the wedding song as I hoisted myself up to a standing position.
At the sight of the blue van, I started waving vigorously, ignoring the eye rolls from Miss Crabby and, so happy I was incapable of sarcasm, said, “you have a wonderful day now!” as I boarded my van 20 minutes sooner than her estimated time.
I guess Super Shuttle doesn’t train their employees to be ill-tempered and erroneous because my affable driver helped me with my bag, made appropriate small talk, and kept me informed on what was going to happen next: “I have one more group of passengers to pick up and then we’ll be on our way.”
Loaded to capacity with cruisers, the mood in our van was something akin to the state of Nebraska following a Cornhuskers championship victory. The elderly lady sitting next to me actually tried to light our bench seat on fire in riotous celebration.
About a half hour later we arrived at the World Cruise Terminal, dropping off a couple at the Royal Princess before pulling around to the Golden Princess where our driver unloaded all the luggage and wished us a great trip.
No. You may have been given a check-in time on your cruise documents. Feel free to ignore it like I’ve done every single time I’ve cruised – it’s just a suggestion from the cruise line in an attempt to space out check-in and avoid long lines at certain times.
On this day, I arrived at around 9:30am. The building was open and, after showing my ticket and passport to a woman at the entrance door, I was ushered inside and greeted warmly by another woman who directed me to an escalator that would take me up to the check-in area.
I ran up the escalator to find that I was the first person there! Victory! But upon learning that check-in wouldn’t begin until 10:30am, I settled into the seat closest to the line entrance while chanting in my head, “group 1, group 1, group 1.”
At 10:30am an announcement was made welcoming Elite and Platinum level cruisers which was followed by another announcement welcoming those sailing in a suite. By this point I was in a crouched four-point starting position at the entrance to the snaking crowd control posts and belts. Once the last VIP sneered at me as they excused themselves to go around my odd display of eagerness, they called for “all other guests” and I sprinted, knocking over three stanchion posts, before reaching the first position in line.
I hurled my passport and ticket at the startled Princess employee who processed my check-in with nervous efficiency and handed me a pocket map of the ship, a list of dining venues open for lunch, and my blue room key card. Wait, blue? I’m supposed to be gold! Oh well, I didn’t have time to worry about loyalty right now, I mean, I’d already abandoned my husband and kid for this trip, and I still hadn’t collected my boarding group 1 card at security. So I did two quick quad stretches and resumed my sprint.
Perhaps sprinting toward security like it’s the finish line at Churchill Downs as you abandon your forbidden “open liquids” into a nearby trash bin without slowing, to the gasps of those behind you who will now have a helluva story to tell their table mates in the MDR tonight about the wet spots in their embarkation photo: “I thought for sure she was on fire with the way she was running, balls to the wall, and flailing water about.”
I abruptly and forcefully applied my brakes just before collecting my coveted “group 1” boarding card from the employee positioned just before the line for security. I let out a dramatic sigh of relief and proceeded to collapse in a heap like I do at the end of every race, regardless of the distance or effort exerted:
If this is your first cruise, the “boarding groups” indicate the order in which passengers will board. Elite, Platinum, and suite passengers will always board first, followed by general boarding by group number. If you arrive later in the afternoon, you will not receive a boarding group number, as the boarding process will have already begun and you will board directly after check-in and security.
While all other passengers were politely ushered into one of three lines to have their carry on bags scanned and walk through metal detectors, I was greeted with this:
To which I replied, “I’m sorry for any confusion and trouble I’ve caused. But I’ve been living on 1200 calories a day for the past month in anticipation of this cruise and I’m about to board a ship currently being loaded with all you can eat dessert. I’m just really, really, hungry!”
All open liquids including water must be (carefully) discarded prior to going through security. If you’re sailing on Princess, you’re allowed to carry on one bottle of wine per person of drinking age and unopened bottles of water or cans of soda. No liquor or beer is allowed. If you’re on a different cruise line, be sure to verify their policy prior to your sailing.
Yes! As verified by my Instagram followers who received the photos within this post a full week before you did. And then proceeded to unfollow me after they grew resentful at my captions, “bet you wish you were here, suckers!”
At 10:45am, once I was deemed eccentric and excitable and possibly hypoglycemic but not dangerous by security, I was guided to the appropriate waiting area for general boarding. There was a separate roped off area for VIP’s and their upturned noses kept pace with me as I passed by, so perfectly timed and choreographed that it reminded me of a Rockettes kick line.
I took the closest seat to the boarding door and, since I was traveling solo, identified the nicest looking person in my vicinity as my BFF for the length of the cruise. I’m like that smelly, annoying kid in high school who’s impossible to shake loose and she was like the studious girl too polite to tell me to buzz off but who would run in the other direction hoping I hadn’t seen her: “wait, I saved you a seat for Bingo!”
At a tick past 11:30am, after a series of false alarms, “we’ll be starting the boarding process soon, but in the meantime have a seat in the waiting area,” the boarding announcement finally came! I glared at and cussed out under my breath the Elites, Platinums, and Suites – like they’d just grabbed the last TV at Walmart on Black Friday – as they were called up to board in small groups: Platinum group A, B, etc.
When they finally called for general boarding group 1 at 11:40, I ditched my new friend, “stalk you later,” flashed my ship card and headed up the embarkation ramp where my photo was taken, my card was scanned for the first time, ding, and I crossed the threshold.
I stayed hot on the heals of the last suite guests hoping they’d invite me in to tour their cabin but lost them when they headed in the opposite direction of the food.
By 11:50 I was ordering lunch in the Donatello Dining Room:
Then I hit the buffet for three peach cobblers, one (the largest) for myself, one for my BFF, and one for the Captain. And by 12:45pm, my stateroom was ready. Go here for a full review of my balcony cabin.
Overall, the boarding process in Los Angeles was quick and efficient, although there is a good deal of tortured waiting when you’re the first person to arrive at the terminal. No mind, I was on and ready for a fabulous trip at sea aboard the Golden Princess.
Sadly, I didn’t return home to Seattle betrothed to a cruise ship captain (I accidentally ate his peach cobbler), but I did bring home an extra 5 pounds. And I’m already counting down the days until my next embarkation at the Port of Vancouver to board the Celebrity Millennium. Stay tuned!
Class dismissed.
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