For two, Uber; for four, the drop charge decides
For two of you, Uber’s average wins, about $53 against about $71 for a one-way car before the drop charge lands. Four or more of you change the picture: a one-way car can undercut the $140 Carnival charges for the seats — provided your quote’s drop charge stays small. Keeping the car all week is the costly version: about $675 for two at our assumptions, against $106 for two on Uber both ways.
Rent one way if
- Four or more of you are sharing the car
- The drop charge on your quote is modest
- A branch near the ship is open when you land
- A stop on the way, the Getty for one, is part of the plan
Uber or the transfer is the better bet if
- It’s one or two of you
- The drop charge would eat the seats you’d save
- The rental was going to sit in terminal parking all week
The drop charge nobody publishes
Here is the one number we can’t give you.
No company or agency publishes what it charges to leave a car in San Pedro or Long Beach after picking it up at LAX, LGB or Santa Ana. We won’t invent a figure, and the calculator has a box for yours.
Per Enterprise the fee is “disclosed at the time of reservation”, while Discover Cars puts it inside the total. Either way it’s a line on a quote, not a rate anyone posts — so it only turns up for your dates.
Get it in writing before you book the flight, not after.
The other half of a one-way is where it ends. San Pedro’s two branches are closed Sundays, and downtown Long Beach’s three take returns in office hours — only Sixt has a documented garage for the hours after.
Two of you, then four
| Plan | For two | For four | What bites |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uber or the transfer both ways, no car | $106 | $280 | Nothing to return; Uber’s average is per car, Carnival’s $34.99 is per seat each way |
| One-way car in, Uber home | $124 | $188 | A drop charge, plus an Uber from the branch to the ship |
| One-way car in and out | $141 | $164 | Two drop charges, and the branch’s hours at both ends |
| The car kept and parked for 7 nights | $675 | $767 | Eight rental days and a week of terminal parking at $23 |
Base rates are $50, or $60 for a party of four that needs a larger car, with LAX’s charges, the 3.5% assessment and fuel included. The kept car also pays $23 a day of terminal parking for 7 days. The no-car row is Uber’s $53 average for two and Carnival’s $34.99 a seat each way for four. None of the rows carries a drop charge; nobody publishes it. Illustrative
The crossover is about group size, not the daily rate.
Uber charges per car, not per head, while Carnival charges per seat — so the transfer climbs with every person you add, and a rental barely notices.
At two, Uber wins — before any drop charge is even added.
At four, Carnival’s seats come to $280 against $164 for a one-way car in each direction — and Uber for four may need two cars. That narrows the gap, and whatever room is left is what two drop charges have to fit inside.
Keeping the car is a different bet — eight rental days and a week of terminal parking buy you a car that sits in a lot while you’re at sea.
Return it, and rent again afterward if you’re driving on.
Put your own quotes in
Four of you, seven nights, LAX both ways — every box is editable, and the drop-charge box is waiting for the one number nobody publishes.
The rental, line by line
Illustration only, and no quote. Four people need the bigger car, so the base rate is $60, our assumption. On Sept 27, 2026, Discover Cars’ pages showed LAX from $38 a day and Long Beach Airport from $47, though they call those prices approximate, so treat ours as a placeholder for the rate on your quote. LAX adds the customer facility charge, $9 per rental day up to five, and an 11% concession fee we assumed because nobody publishes one for 2026. The tax line covers California’s 3.5% tourism assessment and no more. Sources disagree about sales tax, so if your quote lists one, it belongs in the fee box. Fuel runs at 30 mpg and $6.41 a gallon, AAA’s Los Angeles–Long Beach average for Sept 28, 2026, and the routes are toll-free as long as you keep out of the express lanes. The kept-car row covers eight rental days for a 7-night sailing, plus round-trip fuel and $23 a day of terminal parking on seven of them. Uber’s average covers one car, and four people with bags may need two. Your one-way quotes go in the second row.
The second row decides it — two one-way quotes with their drop charges in, held against Uber for your group.
Everything else on this page only gets you there.
Which branch is open when you land?
| Return to | Open | From there |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise, 235 W 6th St, San Pedro | Weekdays 8–5:30, Saturday 9–1; shut Sundays, and no after-hours returns | About 0.9 miles to the World Cruise Center. The Port of LA promises free rides, but the branch’s own page says it doesn’t serve the port |
| Hertz, 222 W 6th St, San Pedro | Mon–Fri 8–5, Sat 9–noon, no Sunday hours | About 0.9 miles to the World Cruise Center |
| Avis and Budget, 249 E Ocean Blvd, Long Beach | Mon–Fri 8–5; weekends 9–2 | About 1.8 miles to the Long Beach terminal |
| Sixt, 100 Pacific Ave, Long Beach | Weekdays 8–4, weekends 9–2; return garage after hours | About 1.7 miles to the Long Beach terminal |
| Back at LAX or Long Beach Airport | LAX: Avis, Budget and Hertz 24 hours. LGB: roughly 7 AM to 10 PM | Then Uber or the transfer to the ship |
Each company’s own location page and the two airports gave the hours, read Sept 28, 2026, while the mileages are our estimates. Checked Sept 28, 2026
A Sunday landing changes the plan, not just the schedule, because both San Pedro branches are closed.
Take the car back at the airport, or pick a Long Beach branch that’s open, and pay for an Uber the last mile or two — cheap next to a rental you can’t return.
After hours, the Long Beach Airport drop box and Sixt’s garage are the only places that take a car back — Enterprise’s San Pedro and downtown Long Beach branches take none.
What Uber, Carnival and the shuttles charge
| Ride | What it costs | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Carnival’s LAX transfer | From $34.99 a person | About an hour to the Long Beach terminal; land by 12 noon, or by 12:30 at Long Beach Airport |
| Uber from LAX | $53 to the World Cruise Terminal, $48 to the Long Beach terminal | Averages from Uber’s route pages, not quotes |
| Uber from LGB | $33 to the Long Beach terminal, $46 to San Pedro | Same caveat |
| Long Beach Yellow Cab | $50 flat from Long Beach Airport to the San Pedro ships; $75 to LAX | For LAX runs to Long Beach or San Pedro, the city of Los Angeles posts no flat fare |
| Prime Time Shuttle | Express rides from LAX to San Pedro start at $39 | It isn’t stated whether that means each rider or each vehicle, so treat it as a floor |
Each company’s own page, read Sept 28, 2026. Checked Sept 28, 2026
SuperShuttle stopped serving LAX after 2019 even though the LA Waterfront FAQ still lists it, and the FlyAway bus goes only to Van Nuys and Union Station.
Royal Caribbean, Princess, Norwegian and Virgin sell airport transfers, but none published a Los Angeles price where we looked. The nearest airports to the ports lists every ride from both airports and when to land.
Long Beach is closer; LAX has the flights
| LAX | Long Beach Airport (LGB) | |
|---|---|---|
| To San Pedro’s terminal | 18 miles, 24 min | 15 miles, 23 min |
| To the Long Beach terminal | 20 miles, 26 min | 11 miles, 17 min |
| Rental cars | The Rental Car Center (5251 W 98th St), all twelve brands, free shuttle from the terminals | Desks in the Historic Terminal; the cars wait in the lot opposite |
| Airlines | A much longer list of airlines | Southwest, Alaska, Hawaiian and Delta |
| A one-way car to San Pedro | $71 before any drop charge | $71 before any drop charge, with placeholder airport charges |
Distances are our route estimates with no traffic. The one-way totals use our assumed $50 base rate, each airport’s charges (a placeholder at Long Beach, which publishes none), California’s 3.5% assessment and fuel. Illustrative
Long Beach Airport saves you about 3 miles each way to San Pedro and 9 to the Carnival terminal.
Its rental counters stay open until about 10 — and LAX’s Avis, Budget and Hertz desks run 24 hours.
The LAX drive runs longer — though our estimates leave traffic out of both.
The center itself is new — all twelve brands moved there in March 2026, and the shuttle is the only way in. The people mover meant to reach it is delayed to early January 2027, LAWA and local news say.
Where a toll could still find you
Neither port drive has a toll. The trap is a lane: Los Angeles County’s I-10 and I-110 have express lanes, and SR-91 and I-15 inland have their own, behind double white lines.
A rental in the wrong lane comes with a bill, not a warning.
Enterprise’s TollPass, which National and Alamo share, stops short of Southern California’s express lanes, and Hertz and Avis follow rules of their own, so stay in the general lanes.
A toll that does get charged is passed through by each company’s own program:
| Company | Charge | Cap |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise, National, Alamo | $4.95 a toll day | $34.65 |
| Avis, Budget | $6.95 | $34.95 |
| Hertz PlatePass | $5.95 a day | None |
Per the Golden Gate Bridge district’s rental-vehicle list, Sept 28, 2026. Checked Sept 28, 2026
Two searches, one subtraction
Search LAX or Long Beach Airport with a Long Beach branch as the return — then run the same car as a round trip.
The gap between the two totals is the drop charge — the number to hold against Uber and the transfer for your group.
- Pick-up: LAX
- Drop-off: a Long Beach branch, or the airport again
- Taxes and fees itemized before you pay
- Cancel free until 48 hrs before pickup
Landing at Long Beach instead? Compare Long Beach Airport rentals. Our one-way guide explains how these drop fees reach a bill.
If the drop charge comes back bigger than what the seats would cost, book the transfer instead.
Renting at LAX or Long Beach Airport for a cruise: questions
Can you take a rental from LAX and return it in San Pedro or Long Beach?
Discover Cars lists Hertz on West 6th Street and a downtown Long Beach branch, though not Enterprise’s San Pedro branch, and we didn’t test a one-way price. What you can’t find is the drop charge, which no company publishes, so it has to come from your own quote. Enterprise’s own page says its San Pedro office doesn’t serve the port, and both San Pedro branches are closed Sundays.
Does a family of four save money with a one-way rental from LAX instead of an Uber?
Sometimes. Carnival’s transfer is $140 for four each way, Uber may need two cars, and a one-way car for four from LAX comes to about $82 at $60 a day, our assumption, before any drop charge. The car can win when the drop charge on your quote is smaller than that gap, and the Uber or cab from the branch to the ship narrows it.
Is it worth keeping the rental parked during a Los Angeles cruise?
Rarely. For a 7-night cruise you’d pay for eight rental days plus $23 a day of terminal parking, about $675 for two at our assumptions, where Uber both ways is $106 for two.
How far is Long Beach Airport from the Los Angeles cruise terminals?
By our route estimates it’s about 15 miles to the World Cruise Center and 11 to the Long Beach terminal, roughly 17 to 24 minutes with no traffic. LAX sits about 18 and 20 miles out.
More on renting around a Los Angeles cruise
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