DCL Catalina port agreement -- good West Coast news?

[Lillebelle]

I'm still bummed about getting two Alaska ships instead of a summer San Diego ship -- but, I did see this article today which I found interesting:

https://thecatalinaislander.com/council-approves-agreement-with-disney-cruise-lines/

Basically, it sounds like Disney is working on negotiating a port agreement with Catalina Island. Details from the article:

• It’s a five-year agreement with two five-year extensions
• It allows Disney Cruise Lines to have preferred schedule access to Tuesdays year-round and Saturdays from mid-September to mid-May.
• The agreement would guarantee 120,000 passengers a year.
• The cruise ships will have from 2,500 to 3,000 passengers on them
• The new agreement would go into effect in September 2027

I have no sense of how much of a jump this would be for Disney; I didn't think they had many itineraries that visited Catalina so this seems like a significant increase to me but I might be wrong there. The no Saturdays during the summer doesn't necessarily bode well for summer San Diego cruises but that sounds like a local thing from the article (like they restrict cruises on weekends in the summer in general). The late 2027 timing seems like it could be related to the next new ship coming online and perhaps freeing up a ship to hang out on the west coast though? I'd certainly love to see more West Coast cruise options!

 

[supercarrie]

The Wonder has often been based in San Diego with three and four night cruises to Ensenada and Catalina (three night (edit: sometimes) only went to Ensenada, four night stops at Catalina and Ensenada) outside of summers, when it goes up to Alaska. This has been pretty standard for the past few years. This fall, it is going back to Australia, but returns in the spring. I heard a report that the Australia cruises haven't sold well, so perhaps they are giving up on that idea for future seasons and are sticking with San Diego?

I think the Adventure will appeal to Australian cruisers as well, although still a long flight.

It will be exciting if we do get a ship in the summer months as well. Hopefully not the Wonder, though. Perhaps they will stick to the Ensenada and sea day itinerary on the weekends, as is typical with Royal and Carnival.

Edited to clarify that they previously did occasionally stop at Catalina on 3 night cruises, per the note below.

 

[kucanhead]

And no weekends makes sense, as the three night cruises do not visit Catalina (for any cruise line - Royal and Carnival do three and four night cruises out of LA with the same itineraries, and do not visit Catalina on the three night routes).

We did a 3 night cruise out of San Diego last May on the Wonder that included a stop at Catalina. I just looked and Disney has 11 3-night cruises scheduled for this year and next that port in Catalina, and only 4 that don't.

 

[gatordoc]

We did a 3 night cruise out of San Diego last May on the Wonder that included a stop at Catalina. I just looked and Disney has 11 3-night cruises scheduled for this year and next that port in Catalina, and only 4 that don't.

We have one of these booked

 

[supercarrie]

We did a 3 night cruise out of San Diego last May on the Wonder that included a stop at Catalina. I just looked and Disney has 11 3-night cruises scheduled for this year and next that port in Catalina, and only 4 that don't.

Interesting! You are right, I just checked - and even the weekend cruises now include a stop at Catalina. Thanks for the correction! Royal and Carnival haven't historically stopped at Catalina on the weekends (I assume they probably want a sea day for their casinos, though). I know when we shopped for the Wonder previously, none of the dates we looked at included a Catalina stop, but we probably weren't looking at the ones that did.

Out of curiosity, was your 3 night a Fri-Mon cruise? I know DCL didn't do many of those when we previously looked. Their 3 nights that we looked at were a Th-Sun, which is why we never booked them.

With this new Catalina agreement, sounds like summer weekend cruises to Catalina are out from September 2027 onward, anyway.

 

[dcl_firefly]

As someone who lives in California I'd love to have more sailing options from San Diego. Not having to fly before the cruise makes planning much easier (and cheaper!) for me. Hopefully this means we'll get a full season of Halloween and Merry Time cruises from San Diego in the future.

 

[LKing]

I would love for them to move back up to sailing out of San Pedro or Long Beach.

 

[supercarrie]

I would love for them to move back up to sailing out of San Pedro or Long Beach.

Agreed! I think it would be easier for a land/sea type Disneyland vacation, too. The San Diego cruise port is beautiful to sail from, though!

 

[PsylockeSmythe]

We did a 3 night cruise out of San Diego last May on the Wonder that included a stop at Catalina. I just looked and Disney has 11 3-night cruises scheduled for this year and next that port in Catalina, and only 4 that don't.

We are booked on one of the 4-night cruises that will stop there next year as part of our first B2B. My wife is looking forward to going to Catalina.

Psy

 

[supercarrie]

We are booked on one of the 4-night cruises that will stop there next year as part of our first B2B. My wife is looking forward to going to Catalina.

Psy

Catalina is great! Feels a world away from the sprawl of mainland SoCal.

 

[jwblane]

We are leaving in early April to Catalina and Ensenada. Looking forward to Catalina, been wanting to go for a while and this was a great way to check it out.