Departure port guide
Group cruises from Long Beach
Carnival’s West Coast base, in a geodesic dome beside the Queen Mary, running short Baja sailings year-round.
What sails from Long Beach
Cruise lines
Carnival
Voyage lengths
3 and 4 nights to Ensenada and Catalina; 5, 6 and 7-night sailings to Cabo and the Mexican Riviera
How often
Departures several times a week year-round, weighted to short weekend sailings
Which ships are based here changes from season to season, so treat this as the shape of the deployment rather than a schedule. We do not publish sailing dates or fares — they go out of date faster than a page can be maintained, and we confirm live availability and pricing for your group's dates directly with the line.
Getting to the ship
Nearest airport
Long Beach (LGB) — About 10 km north, 15 minutes
Terminals
A single terminal housed in the dome built in 1983 for Howard Hughes’s Spruce Goose, next to the permanently moored Queen Mary. One ship, one building — the simplest embarkation of any major West Coast port.
Parking
A large lot sits directly beside the terminal at a flat daily rate. It is among the easiest port arrivals in the country for a group driving in several cars.
Sails to
Mexican Riviera
Sailing from Long Beach
Long Beach is Carnival’s West Coast base and it operates from one of the more unusual cruise terminals anywhere: the geodesic dome built in 1983 to house the Spruce Goose, Howard Hughes’s wooden flying boat, with the Queen Mary moored permanently alongside.
The product here is short sailings. Three and four-night trips to Ensenada and Catalina run most weeks year-round, which makes this the easiest place in the western United States to get a large group onto a ship without anyone taking a week off work.
For a group arriving by car, the logistics are as simple as US cruising gets — one terminal, one ship, a parking lot you can see from check-in, and none of the freeway exposure that San Pedro carries from LAX.
The trade-off is choice. Only Carnival sails from here, so if the group has strong feelings about the line or wants a newer or larger ship, San Pedro forty minutes north has the wider fleet.
Moving a group through the port
Airport transfers
Long Beach is a small, calm airport 15 minutes from the terminal, which makes it much less stressful than LAX for a group — though it has far fewer routes. LAX is about 30 km away and subject to the usual LA traffic.
Embarkation day
One ship, one terminal, adjacent parking. This is the simplest embarkation on the West Coast and a group of thirty moves through without much queueing.
The night before
Downtown Long Beach and the waterfront are minutes from the terminal, and the Queen Mary herself operates as a hotel next door — a genuinely novel option for a group the night before sailing.
Driving distance
- Los Angeles — 40 minutes
- San Diego — 1.5 hours
- Las Vegas — 4 hours
- Phoenix — 5.5 hours
- Bakersfield — 2.5 hours
Terminal assignments, parking rates and transfer times change, and embarkation windows are set by the cruise line for each sailing. Treat these as the shape of the day rather than a schedule, and confirm the detail once your sailing is booked.
What to weigh up
Starting here as a group
- Short 3 and 4-night sailings year-round — the lowest-commitment cruise on the West Coast
- Single terminal with adjacent parking; the easiest West Coast arrival for a group
- Carnival only, so the ship choice is narrow compared with San Pedro
- The Queen Mary next door is a workable and memorable pre-cruise hotel
Where you can sail
Other departure ports
Seattle
The busiest Alaska homeport, running round-trip Inside Passage weeks from a city most of the west coast can reach without a connecting flight.
Vancouver
A downtown cruise terminal under a landmark roof, and the only practical starting point for one-way Gulf of Alaska sailings.
Barcelona
The Mediterranean’s busiest turnaround port, with wide flight connections and a city worth arriving early for.
Civitavecchia
Rome’s turnaround port, about 80 km from the city — the busiest Italian homeport and the one where transfer planning matters most.
Piraeus
The starting point for Greek island itineraries, putting a group among the Cyclades from the first morning rather than after a day at sea.
Los Angeles
The West Coast’s largest cruise homeport, at San Pedro, running Mexican Riviera weeks in winter and repositioning to Alaska for the summer.
San Diego
A downtown cruise terminal about 5 km from its own airport — the shortest airport transfer of any West Coast homeport.
Miami
PortMiami calls itself the cruise capital of the world, with seven terminals on a single island and the widest choice of ships and itineraries anywhere.
Fort Lauderdale
Port Everglades sits three kilometres from its own airport — the shortest airport-to-ship transfer of any major homeport, which is why groups flying in favour it.
Port Canaveral
Florida’s Space Coast homeport, an hour from Orlando — the obvious choice for a group pairing a cruise with the theme parks.
Galveston
The Gulf Coast’s main homeport, on a barrier island an hour from Houston — the drive-to port for groups across Texas and the central US.
Tampa
A Gulf-side Florida homeport with terminals in the middle of the city, and a height restriction that keeps the largest ships out.
New Orleans
A Mississippi River homeport a short walk from the French Quarter — the one US cruise port where the city itself is the reason to sail from there.
San Juan
The Caribbean’s own homeport — sailing from here removes the two-day crossing and adds two or three extra ports to the same week.
Bridgetown
The Southern Caribbean’s own turnaround port, reaching the Windwards and the ABC islands without a crossing.
Cape Liberty
The New York area’s main cruise terminal, on a former military ocean terminal in Bayonne, with a Statue of Liberty sail-past on the way out.
Baltimore
A Mid-Atlantic drive-to homeport with a single terminal, free of the flight costs a Florida departure adds for a group from the region.
Jacksonville
North Florida’s small homeport on the St. Johns River, running short Bahamas sailings with the easiest embarkation in the state.
Sailing a group out of Long Beach
We hold five cabins or more together as one block, quote it once, and let each household book and pay separately. Tell us roughly when and how many.