Repositioning Cruises from Los Angeles: Coastal Runs, Hawaii and Beyond

Repositioning cruises from Los Angeles follow two seasons at once. In April and May, ships that spent the winter on the Mexican Riviera head north to Vancouver for the Alaska season, on coastal runs of 3 to 7 nights. In September and October they come back. Around those moves, Los Angeles also sends ships across the Pacific by way of Hawaii to Tahiti, Sydney and Tokyo, and through the Panama Canal to Florida, most of them on Princess.

For a first repositioning cruise, the coastal runs are hard to beat: short, close to land, and finished with a domestic-length flight home. This guide covers those and the Hawaii voyages in detail, and points to our separate guides for the long crossings.

What sails from Los Angeles: our data

Of the 517 repositioning sailings in our repositioning cruise finder, each checked on the cruise line’s own website in late September 2026, 64 start or end in Los Angeles between October 2026 and December 2027. Princess has 39 of them. Norwegian has 8, Oceania 5, Regent and Celebrity 3 each, and Viking, Cunard and Royal Caribbean 2 each.

The Panama Canal is the biggest category from Los Angeles, and it has its own guide: Panama Canal repositioning cruises covers the transit, the best side of the ship and the timing. The rest of this page is about the Pacific moves.

The coastal runs to Vancouver

These are the voyages most people mean by a Los Angeles repositioning cruise. In 2027 our finder shows 10 northbound sailings from Los Angeles to Vancouver between April 18 and May 15, plus a short November run by Ovation of the Seas, and 8 southbound ones from Vancouver between September 14 and October 18.

• Length: 7 nights is the most common from Los Angeles, then 6, then 4 and 5. The shortest is a 3-night run.
• Ports: San Francisco, Astoria and Victoria appear most, with Seattle on some Princess and Celebrity sailings and Catalina Island or Santa Barbara on southbound runs. The 4-night versions are often nonstop.
• Lines: Princess dominates, with Crown, Royal, Star, Discovery, Island, Emerald and Coral Princess all making the trip. Norwegian Encore and Norwegian Joy, Celebrity Summit and Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas add a few more.

Two practical points follow from the route. First, every one of these sailings ends or starts in Vancouver rather than Seattle, because US law does not let a foreign-flagged ship carry you one way between two US ports via a nearby foreign port such as Victoria. A Seattle call along the way is a port visit only. Second, ending in Canada means the flight home is international: a passport card will not do for the flight, so bring a passport book. Our Vancouver repositioning guide covers Canada Place, US preclearance and Canadian entry.

The Pacific coast in April and October is often gray, and the stretch off Oregon and Northern California can be lively. On a 4 or 5 night run that matters less than it would on an ocean crossing, because the ship is never more than a day or two from port.

One combination needs care. A spring run from Los Angeles to Vancouver followed by the same ship’s first Alaska cruise looks like a natural back-to-back, but if that Alaska cruise ends in a US port such as Seward or Whittier, CBP can treat the two tickets as one voyage between US ports. Its own guidance gives a San Francisco to Vancouver example of exactly this. Ask the line before booking, and if it refuses, pick an Alaska cruise that returns to Vancouver.

Hawaii from Los Angeles: what you can and cannot book

Searches for Hawaii repositioning cruises from Los Angeles usually run into the same wall. The Passenger Vessel Services Act, as CBP explains it, uses this exact case as its example of a violation: a ship that embarks passengers in Los Angeles, visits the Hawaiian Islands and Ensenada, then lands them in San Diego. Hawaii is a US port, so a one-way Los Angeles to Honolulu trip is not sold.

What Los Angeles does offer:

• Round trips to Hawaii. Usually around two weeks, with an Ensenada call on the way back. These are not repositioning cruises, but they run in the same spring and fall shoulder months.
• Hawaii on the way to somewhere else. Oceania Vista sails Los Angeles to Papeete in January and November 2027 (17 to 18 nights) via Hawaii and Bora Bora. Princess, Cunard and Royal Caribbean run Los Angeles to Sydney or Tokyo through Hawaii.
• Hawaii one-ways from Canada. For a trip that ends in Honolulu, start in Vancouver, as our Hawaii repositioning guide explains.

On a voyage that passes through Hawaii, you cannot simply get off in Honolulu. Leaving early would put the line in breach of the law, and lines pass on the fine or refuse the request.

The long Pacific crossings from Los Angeles

Our finder lists 9 transpacific sailings that start or end in Los Angeles between October 2026 and December 2027. The outbound ones:

• Sapphire Princess, Los Angeles to Tokyo, 19 nights via four Hawaiian ports (November 2026).
• Coral Princess, Los Angeles to Sydney, 36 nights via Hilo, Fiji and Papua New Guinea (January 2027).
• Cunard’s Queen Victoria, Los Angeles to Sydney, 18 nights via Hilo, Honolulu, Fiji and New Caledonia (February 2027).
• Grand Princess, Los Angeles to Sydney, 50 nights via San Francisco, Tokyo and Taiwan (July 2027).
• Royal Princess, Los Angeles to Sydney, 27 nights via Honolulu, Tahiti and New Zealand (September 2027).

The return voyages arrive from Sydney in November 2026, March 2027 and June 2027 (26 to 30 nights), and Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas comes in from Yokohama in late October 2027 (17 nights). For the full picture of Pacific crossings, sea days and the date line, see our guide to transpacific repositioning cruises.

San Diego and Long Beach: the other Southern California ports

San Diego adds 31 one-way sailings in our data, with Holland America (17) and Disney (7) leading. Holland America runs its coastal moves to and from Vancouver from San Diego rather than Los Angeles, often in just 4 nights, and Disney Magic and Disney Wonder make 4-night Vancouver runs in May and September 2027. San Diego also has 16 Panama Canal sailings and one Holland America voyage to Chile. If you live in Southern California, search both ports together with the Los Angeles and San Diego finder filter.

Long Beach is Carnival’s home in the area. Its one repositioning sailing in our data is Carnival Firenze’s 15-night move to San Antonio, Chile, in January 2027, via Acapulco and Lima. For that kind of voyage, see our guide to South America repositioning cruises.

Getting to the ship in San Pedro

The Port of Los Angeles cruise terminal is the World Cruise Center at Berth 93, 100 Swinford Street, San Pedro. According to the port’s cruise FAQ, it is about 18 miles south of LAX, and Norwegian, Princess and Royal Caribbean sail from it regularly, with Cunard, Holland America, Oceania, Regent, Seabourn, Viking and others visiting.

• From LAX: shuttles, taxis and rideshare, Metro express service, or the lines’ own transfers. Allow extra time for freeway traffic.
• Parking: the port runs secured overnight lots with a daily maximum in the low $20s as of 2026. On a one-way cruise this only makes sense if you sail into Los Angeles and drive home, since you will not be coming back to your car on a northbound run.
• Long Beach is different: the port’s FAQ is explicit that Los Angeles and Long Beach are two separate ports close to each other. By road the terminals are only a few miles apart across the harbor, but a driver sent to the wrong one will cost you time.

Is a Los Angeles coastal run a good first repositioning cruise?

For most people, yes. The fare covers four to seven days, there are a few sea days on most routings, and the trip home is a short flight from Vancouver. It answers the real question, whether you enjoy days with no port, before you commit to two weeks in the middle of an ocean.

If you already know you like sea days, the better value from Los Angeles is probably at the other end of the scale: a transpacific voyage to Sydney, booked with the long-haul flight home at the same time, since that flight is the part of the trip that gets expensive at short notice.