My wife, two daughters and I drove from our home near San Jose, CA, directly to the LA cruise terminal. We arrived at the parking lot gate about 11:30 am, both the Golden and Dawn were docked. The lady at the gate informed us that Princess would not be boarding until 1:00, and asked if we would like to park or go do something else. We parked. There were plenty of spaces.
We checked our luggage and checked in immediately. Then we had to wait until about 1:30 or so before boarding began. The explanation of the delay had something to do with a 90 day health inspection aboard the ship.
After dropping off our carry ons at our cabins, daughters had interior, wife and I a balcony on Caribe deck, we had lunch in the buffet.