California to Mexico via Carnival's biggie

OceanAngel · July 1, 2007

About the time when cruise lines are scrambling across the globe to dominate the next hot market (China? India? South America? Australia?), Carnival is planning to base the biggest ship in company history in the exotic port of, er, um, Long Beach.

In all fairness, Carnival Splendor (3,006 passengers) will spend most of its time somewhere else -- the best thing about boarding a ship in Long Beach is that, eventually, you get to leave Long Beach -- in this case, the waters off Mexico's west coast. In March 2009, Splendor will take over the weekly Mexican Riviera round-trips out of Long Beach currently being offered on Carnival Pride, the company announced recently.

The plan will maintain Carnival's current fleet of three ships in Mexico year-round and one with seasonal visits, as well as increase capacity by almost 50,000 passengers per year. Three of the four ships will sail all or some portion of the CMP Circuit (Cabo-MazatlÃƒÂ¡n-Puerto Vallarta).

Here's the fleet shakedown:

-- Carnival Pride (2,124 passengers) will continue seven-day trips out of Long Beach until March 2009, when it will offer a short set of eight-day sailings from San Diego that will include stops in Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa and Manzanillo.

-- Elation (2,052 passengers) has been sailing popular four- and five-day round-trips out of San Diego to Cabo San Lucas and, on the longer trip, Cabo and Ensenada, Mexico.

-- Paradise (2,052 passengers) will continue the workhorse three- and four-day sampler voyages out of Long Beach that hit Catalina Island and Ensenada.

-- Carnival Spirit (2,124 passengers) will operate seasonal eight-day voyages out of San Diego, sharing the year with routes in Hawaii and Alaska. It's unclear if Pride will take over some or all of that duty in March 2009.

For more: www.carnival.com.

God save the Queen: Now that the Queen Elizabeth 2 is destined to become the next attraction in the freak show that is Dubai's tourism plans (the Bearded Lady, perhaps?), Cunard has announced a set of farewell voyages for the grand dame before she retires in November 2008.

A Farewell to the British Isles trip leaves Southampton on Sept. 30, 2008, and spends 10 nights sailing a circuit that includes Dublin, Belfast, Clyde (where the ship was built), Cork, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Newcastle. The ship will also make two last ocean crossings: Southampton to New York on Oct. 10; and a return trip, leaving New York on Oct. 16.

The final voyage, 16 nights from Southampton to Dubai, leaves on Nov. 11 and will call at Lisbon, Gibraltar, Civitavecchia (Rome), Naples, Malta, Alexandria and transit the Suez Canal. Cabins range from $4,615 to $11,995 (the Grand Suite). Take the cheaper option; you'll need the extra money once you get to Dubai.

The cruise line said last month that the ship, which entered service in 1969 and is Cunard's longest-running vessel, had been sold and will serve as a "first-class hotel, retail and entertainment destination" at Palm Jumeirah, one of Dubai's enormous manmade islands shaped like a tree. For more, visit www.cunard.com.

New ship, new name: Discovery World Cruises, known for longer, soft-adventure voyages off the beaten waterways (Antarctica, the Galapagos, Amazon and Greenland, among others), has added the 394-passenger Explorer II to its fleet -- and seems to be marking the event by changing the company's name.

Explorer II (formerly Swan Hellenic's Minerva) will join the cruise line (soon to be Voyages of Discovery) in 2008 following a "soft refurbishment." The ship entered service in 1996 as a charter for Swan Hellenic, but building began in 1989 when it was intended to be a spy ship for the Soviet navy. (The original design called for a stern ramp for submersibles that would track submarines, according to Berlitz's "Complete Guide to Cruising.") Beginning in May 2008, the ship will sail around the Baltic, Scandinavia and the Mediterranean.

The change to Voyages of Discovery -- the name the company uses already in the United Kingdom, Australasia and South Africa -- is mostly a branding move, the company says, to bring the cruise line under a single moniker. For more call (866) 623-2689 or visit www.discoveryworldcruises.com.

On the dock of the Bay: Large cruise ships expected at San Francisco's Pier 35 during the next two weeks: Dawn Princess, July 10. For updates, go to www.sfport.com and select the "Cruise" and "Cruise Schedule" links.

Cruise Briefing appears every other Sunday in Travel. Deputy Travel Editor Spud Hilton travels anonymously and doesn't accept complimentary trips or special rates from the cruise lines. E-mail questions and comments to shilton@sfchronicle.com.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...TRGSTQNL551.DTL

KimmyKat · July 3, 2007

Whats wrong with Long beach? It is a very nice terminal with convenient parking and a beautiful city as a port. To those not native to southern california it is not far from alot of things to do or even some beautiful beaches. Not the Long Beach of 10 years ago at all. They have really made an effort to clean up the City and it shows....not that it was that bad to begin with.

I, for one, am very happy that we will be getting a new ship. It's about time since some have said the west coast sometimes gets treated as the red-headed step child (no offense to red headed step children, I am just quoting what others have said :huh2: ) of the cruise industry. I know why and I am sure many can go into the logistics but the truth is, the west coast is the base for mex. riviera, alaska and hawaii cruises. Those really are not bad places to cruise. Besides, The Splendor won't even be "new" by then anyway. It will just be nice to have a new to the west coast ship that isn't from the older fleets.