How Does the Catalina Express Ferry Work? Tickets, Schedule, and Prices Explained

Quick Answer:

Round-trip Catalina Express tickets run about $88 to $97 for an adult in 2026, depending on whether you sail from Long Beach, San Pedro, or Dana Point. Long Beach is the cheapest and most frequent option; Dana Point costs a few dollars more but saves Orange County and San Diego travelers a long drive north. AAA members get roughly 11% off, but only when the ticket is bought through a local AAA branch or travel agent, not at checkout on catalinaexpress.com. Book online at least a few days ahead in summer; walk-up seats aren’t guaranteed once a sailing fills.

That’s the short version. The rest of this comes down to which port fits your trip, when the boats actually run, and how to avoid paying more than you need to.

What Is the Catalina Express, Exactly?

Catalina Express is the primary passenger ferry to Santa Catalina Island, running high-speed catamarans out of three Southern California harbors: San Pedro, Long Beach, and Dana Point. The company moves more than a million passengers a year and runs up to 30 departures daily across its fleet, with crossings that top out around 37 knots, fast enough to make the trip in roughly an hour on the shortest route.

There’s a second ferry operator, the Catalina Flyer, but it only runs once a day from Newport Beach. If you want more than one sailing option, or you’re not departing from Newport, Catalina Express is functionally the only game in town for getting to the island without a private boat or a $100+ helicopter flight.

Two towns receive ferry service: Avalon, the main town with hotels, restaurants, and the golf-cart-only downtown most visitors picture, and Two Harbors, a smaller, quieter settlement built around camping and coastal hiking. Every port serves Avalon. Only San Pedro runs daily boats to Two Harbors, worth knowing before you pick a departure point if that’s where you’re headed.

How Much Do Catalina Express Tickets Cost?

Fares change seasonally and by route, and Catalina Express adds an island wharfage fee (essentially a local landing tax) on top of the base fare. Here’s what a round-trip from Long Beach looked like for spring/early-summer 2026:

Dana Point departures run a little higher, adding a few extra dollars per person round-trip, since the longer route and separate terminal carry their own surcharge. San Pedro sits close to the Long Beach numbers, sometimes with a small premium depending on the season.

A few things about these prices catch people off guard the first time they book. The wharfage fee isn’t optional and isn’t included in the headline fare you see advertised; add it before you compare Catalina Express against a competitor’s quoted rate. Fuel and security surcharges can also apply and get added at check-in rather than baked into the online price.

And upgrades are separate line items: a Commodore Lounge seat (priority boarding, leather seating, an included snack and drink) runs about $20 per person, each way. The Captain’s Lounge, a private room rather than a seat, costs $60 each way from Long Beach or San Pedro for up to six people, or $80 each way from Dana Point for up to eight.

None of that is hidden exactly. It’s just spread across three or four different line items instead of one number, which is why the “advertised” adult fare and what you actually pay at checkout are rarely identical.

Which Port Should You Actually Book From?

This is the decision that matters more than people expect, and it’s mostly about geography, not price.

Long Beach has the most departures and, per Catalina Express’s own numbers, the shortest crossing at about an hour. The terminal (Catalina Landing, 320 Golden Shore) sits in downtown Long Beach with restaurants within walking distance and a parking structure right across the street. If you’re coming from LA proper or don’t have a strong reason to pick elsewhere, this is usually the default.

San Pedro departs from Berth 95 at the Port of Los Angeles’ Catalina Sea and Air Terminal, the closest port to LAX and the only one running daily service to Two Harbors. The crossing runs about 75 minutes, a bit longer than Long Beach. If your trip includes Two Harbors at all, or you’re landing at LAX and don’t want to backtrack, San Pedro wins.

Dana Point departs from Dana Wharf Sportfishing in Dana Point Harbor and makes sense specifically for San Diego and South Orange County travelers. The crossing is the longest of the three, around 90 minutes, and the fare runs a bit higher. What you’re buying with that extra time and money is skipping an hour-plus drive up the 5 to Long Beach or San Pedro; for a lot of people south of the 405, that trade is worth it.

One Long Beach terminal, one Dana Point terminal, and one San Pedro terminal—there isn’t a fourth port, whatever a stray blog post might tell you. If a listing mentions departures from the Queen Mary, that’s outdated or wrong; Catalina Express hasn’t run that route in years.

What Does the Catalina Express Schedule Actually Look Like?

Schedules shift by season, Catalina Express publishes them in blocks (spring, summer, and fall/winter) rather than one fixed year-round timetable, and the summer block runs more sailings per day than the off-season one. Long Beach typically offers the widest spread of departure times; San Pedro and Dana Point run fewer but still multiple daily trips.

A recurring complaint in traveler reviews is discovering, after booking, that their preferred time wasn’t actually the earliest or latest option, the full schedule with “additional sailings” only shows up once you plug in an actual date on the reservation system, not on the general schedule page.

If timing matters (an early boat to maximize a day trip, or a specific return before dinner reservations), check the live calendar for your travel date rather than trusting a screenshot of “the schedule” from an old blog post; schedules here get revised often enough that last month’s version is already stale.

Check-in opens one hour before departure at the ticket window, and Catalina Express recommends being checked in and in line at least 30 minutes early. General seating is first-come, first-served, including, technically, the Commodore Lounge, so the people who show up right at the check-in window get better seats than the people who stroll in five minutes before boarding.

How Do You Actually Get the AAA Discount?

AAA members get roughly 11% off Catalina Express fares, according to Visit Long Beach’s official tourism page, but this isn’t a promo code you type into the standard online checkout. AAA-discounted Catalina Express tickets are typically sold through a local AAA branch office or a AAA-affiliated travel agent, sometimes as part of a package that bundles the ferry with a hotel stay on the island. If you search “AAA Catalina Express tickets” expecting a coupon field on catalinaexpress.com, you won’t find one there.

Practically, that means calling or visiting your local AAA office ahead of the trip, not the week you plan to sail, and confirming current pricing directly with them, since the discount percentage and exact dollar savings shift with Catalina Express’s own fare changes.

Travelers who’ve used the AAA route in past years describe modest but real savings, generally landing a few dollars under the standard adult round-trip fare rather than a dramatic cut. It won’t turn a $97 ticket into a bargain-basement fare, but for a family of four making the trip every summer, it adds up.

Other discount paths worth knowing about, gathered from how past travelers and local organizations have actually bought tickets:

• Employer or membership perks. Organizations like OCEA (Orange County Employees Association) have sold discounted Catalina Express round-trip vouchers to members in past years, sometimes at $10–20 below the standard rate. Check whether your employer, credit union, or membership club runs something similar.
• Senior fares. Automatically applied at booking for travelers 55 and up, no separate discount code needed, just select the right passenger category.
• Group rates. Parties of 20 or more book through Group Sales at a separate rate, but those tickets are non-refundable, so this only pays off for genuinely confirmed group travel.
• Bundled packages. Catalina Express sells “Getaway Packages” pairing the ferry with island hotel stays, which sometimes work out cheaper per person than booking transportation and lodging separately.

Round-Trip or One-Way: Does It Matter?

Almost everyone books round-trip, and there’s a practical reason beyond convenience: one-way fares are priced separately and don’t automatically total less than a round-trip ticket, since each leg carries its own wharfage fee. Buying “Catalina Express round trip tickets” as a single transaction is simpler to manage and, in most fare periods, works out at or below the cost of two one-way legs bought separately.

The exception is genuinely one-directional travel, flying out by helicopter and taking the ferry back, say, or island residents making a single crossing. For a standard day trip or weekend visit, round-trip is the default for good reason.

What Can You Actually Bring on Board?

Baggage allowances are more generous than a lot of first-time travelers assume, but there are real limits. Each passenger can bring two checked bags, each capped at 50 pounds and 23″×23″×37″, plus one carry-on. Bikes and surfboards travel for $7 each way, but only with an advance reservation and on a space-available basis, showing up with a surfboard and no reservation is a gamble.

A few restrictions catch people off guard:

• E-bikes are allowed, but the battery must be removed and carried separately for the duration of the trip.
• Hoverboards are banned outright due to the lithium battery fire risk.
• Propane canisters aren’t permitted, though empty camp stoves are fine; canisters are sold on the island itself for campers headed to Two Harbors.
• Pets are allowed, one per passenger, but must be leashed and either muzzled or in an airline-style carrier for the entire trip, kept on deck and off the seats, and they’re not allowed in the Commodore Lounge. A waiver is required. Service animals under ADA rules are the one exception to the muzzle/carrier requirement.

Reviewers who’ve made the trip consistently flag two small practical details: wear soft-soled shoes, since the boarding ramp can be steep and the deck moves constantly, and pack motion sickness medication if you’re at all prone to it, the crossing is generally smooth, but conditions do vary, and there’s no graceful way to handle seasickness on a packed catamaran with nowhere to go.

Catalina Express vs. Catalina Flyer vs. Helicopter: Which Gets You There Best? 

What If You Need to Cancel or Change Your Trip?

Catalina Express’s standard policy allows free cancellation or date/time changes up to 48 hours before departure. Inside that window, changing your departure time costs a $5 service fee per ticket, per direction, and can only be done in person at the ticket window on the day of travel, not online. Promotional fares and group-sales tickets (parties of 20+) are non-refundable regardless of timing, and tickets in general aren’t transferable to another person.

There’s no protection for lost or stolen physical tickets beyond a “possible follow-up and adjustment” after Catalina Express reviews the situation, which is a polite way of saying don’t count on it. If you book through a third party or a bundled package, that seller’s cancellation terms apply instead of Catalina Express’s own policy, and those can be considerably stricter.

Catalina Express Facts at a Glance

This is a sensitive-adjacent note only in the sense that fares, schedules, and policies shift regularly , verify current prices and sailing times directly on catalinaexpress.com before booking, since anything printed here reflects the 2026 schedule at time of writing.

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