Carnival Cruise Line said yesterday that it is introducing a year-round cruise schedule from San Diego, a first for the region and a boost to the local tourism industry.
Starting in June 2007, Carnival will offer four-and five-day cruises to Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada on the Elation, a 2,052 passenger ship.
Port of San Diego officials say Carnival's decision to port a ship year-round will have a $240 million economic impact, creating 1,600 jobs. The direct economic impact, which includes the money the cruise ship and its passengers will spend in San Diego, is estimated to be $110 million.
“This is a really big deal,” Mayor Jerry Sanders said at a news conference at the B Street pier. “The benefits of this are tremendous.”
The Elation will offer 78 voyages annually and is expected to carry some 177,000 passengers. Carnival will continue to offer cruises from San Diego on the Spirit, which is making 23 eight-day voyages off the Mexican Riviera this year.
Carnival Cruise
Line's 2,052-passenger ship,
the Elation, will
begin offering
year-round
cruises to Baja
Mexico in 2007.
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Between them, the two ships are expected to carry 230,000 passengers a year.
On average, there are 150 seasonal voyages that embark from San Diego, with Holland America the largest operator.
Vicki Freed, senior vice president of marketing and sales for Carnival, said San Diego's demographics as well as its ability to draw visitors from such areas as Phoenix, Las Vegas and Orange County made the decision to port a year-round ship an easy one.
“We have been looking to bring more ships to the West Coast. San Diego was a no-brainer,” she said. “It's an attractive destination.”
The Elation is docked in Port Canaveral, Fla., where it offers Caribbean cruises.
David Peckinpaugh, CEO of the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau, said people who go on cruises often spend extra time in port cities, staying at hotels, eating at restaurants and visiting local attractions.
“My gut tells me that it will have an impact that will be centered on the downtown,” he said. “But the ripple effect will be countywide.”
Even more important, Peckinpaugh said, is that Carnival's decision provides a foundation on which to build San Diego's reputation as an attractive port city.
“In the evolution of our cruise ship business, this is a very critical step,” he said.
In 2005, San Diego had 234,000 passengers embarking from its port, the third-highest number in the state behind Los Angeles and Long Beach. California accounts for 15 percent of total U.S. embarkments.
The Port of San Diego has long aimed to lure a cruise ship to call San Diego its home, said Rita Vandergaw, director of marketing for the port. In fact, the itinerary Carnival ultimately chose was one proposed six years ago.
Vandergaw said that no incentives were given to Carnival but that more has to be done to improve the docking facilities so that more cruise ships will want to port in San Diego.
Freed said negotiations for the cruise schedule began about a month ago. The regular schedule, which will start in June, will go in a constant rotation, starting with a four-day cruise leaving Thursday afternoon and returning Monday morning, followed by a five-day cruise that will leave Monday and return Saturday.
The schedule will provide visitors plenty of opportunity to prolong their stay in San Diego, Vandergaw said.
“It gives people yet another reason to come to San Diego,” she said.
Carnival said it will start taking reservations for the four-and five-day cruises on Monday and plans an aggressive marketing campaign. Those cruises will start at $339 per person.
Jennifer Davies: (619) 293-1373; jennifer.davies@uniontrib.com
