Los Angeles has two cruise ports, and neither is close to Ventura County. The Long Beach Cruise Terminal — home port for Carnival — sits beside the Queen Mary; the World Cruise Center in San Pedro handles Princess, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Celebrity and most other lines. From Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks or Camarillo, either one is a 60-to-80-mile drive through the heart of LA on the morning your vacation is supposed to begin. This guide covers the timing, the cost and the practical details of getting a family and its luggage to the ship without stress.
Which port is your ship using?
- Long Beach Cruise Terminal (231 Windsor Way, Long Beach) — Carnival Cruise Line sailings to Mexico and Hawaii. The dome next to the Queen Mary.
- World Cruise Center (Berths 91–93, San Pedro) — Princess, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Celebrity, Holland America, Cunard and others, on the west side of the Vincent Thomas Bridge.
Check your cruise documents; the two are about 15 minutes apart, and arriving at the wrong one on embarkation morning is a mistake nobody wants to make twice.
Drive times from Ventura County
Off-peak, with the weekday-morning worst case in parentheses:
- Simi Valley → Long Beach / San Pedro — 1 h 15 min (up to 2 h 15 min)
- Thousand Oaks / Westlake Village — 1 h 20 min (up to 2 h 20 min)
- Moorpark — 1 h 25 min (up to 2 h 20 min)
- Camarillo — 1 h 30 min (up to 2 h 30 min)
- Oxnard / Ventura — 1 h 40 min (up to 2 h 45 min)
Most embarkations open late morning and close early afternoon, which puts the drive squarely in weekday morning traffic on the 405 and 110 or 710. Your chauffeur will typically use the 118 or 101 to the 405 South, then the 110 to San Pedro or the 710 to Long Beach — and will pick between them on the day.
What time to leave
Cruise lines assign a check-in window and usually ask you to arrive within it, with all-aboard an hour or two before sailing. Our rule for the 805: leave three hours before your check-in window opens for a weekday sailing, and 2 h 30 min for a weekend one. That builds in the traffic worst case plus a buffer for luggage drop-off. On disembarkation day the reverse applies — ships clear early, so a 9:30 a.m. pickup from the port usually means home in Simi Valley by 11:00 a.m.
The ship will not wait. A confirmed chauffeur who leaves early is the cheapest travel insurance you'll buy on the whole trip.
Luggage: what fits
A week-long cruise for a family means big bags. A full-size luxury black SUV carries up to five passengers and five large suitcases plus carry-ons; for a family of five with more luggage than that, or a group of six or more, we run two vehicles and keep them together. Your chauffeur loads and unloads at both ends and drops you at the porter station, so bags go from your driveway to the ship without you lifting them.
Why not drive and park at the port?
Port parking is convenient until you do the math: a week of parking at either terminal typically costs more than $150, plus gas, plus a two-hour drive at each end that starts and ends your vacation with LA traffic. Rideshare avoids the parking fee but struggles with a 70-mile one-way trip at 7 a.m. from Ventura County and with luggage capacity. A private SUV is door-to-porter, tracked, and quoted before you book; RideYeah's LAX ⇄ Long Beach route is a fixed $185.67 as a reference point, and cruise-port transfers from Ventura County are quoted instantly in the booking search.
Combining a flight and a cruise
Visitors flying into LAX for a Long Beach or San Pedro sailing have a simpler trip — about 30 minutes to either port — and we meet them at the arrivals curb with flight tracking and complimentary wait time. Many arrive the day before, stay in Long Beach or on the Palos Verdes coast, and take a short transfer to the terminal in the morning. Our LAX ⇄ Long Beach page has the fixed fare and details; local trips are covered on the Long Beach chauffeur service page.
Disembarkation day
Book your return pickup when you book the outbound trip and give us your ship's scheduled arrival time. Ships often dock before dawn and release passengers in groups; text your chauffeur when you're through customs and they'll pull up to the curb. No app, no lot, no waiting with luggage on a Sunday morning in San Pedro.
Booking a cruise transfer from the 805
Enter your home address, the terminal and your check-in time for an instant quote. Chauffeur and vehicle are confirmed in advance; the fare is fixed regardless of traffic. Questions about a large group? Call (805) 660-6439.