WHY IT RATES: Sail from California in the lap of luxury aboard the Carnival Miracle.-Donald Wood, Breaking News Senior Writer.
Carnival Cruise Line, the world's largest cruise operator, returned to the Port of San Diego this weekend to launch a winter schedule of three- to 15-day voyages aboard Carnival Miracle, marking the line's first departure from the port in seven years.
The cruise schedule began yesterday with a seven-day sailing to the Mexican Riviera, and features a wide range of durations and destinations, including:
-three-day weekend getaways visiting Ensenada Dec. 27, 2019 and Jan. 3, 2020.
-five-day voyages departing Dec. 22, 2019, and Jan. 12, 2020, that spend two days in Cabo San Lucas.
-a four-day New Year's Baja Mexico cruise featuring Catalina Island and Ensenada departing Dec. 30, 2019.
-A six-day cruise featuring two days in Cabo San Lucas and a day-long visit to Ensenada departing Jan. 6, 2020.
-Three longer-length Carnival Journeys adventures, including 14- and 15-day Hawaii cruises visiting popular destinations throughout the Aloha State departing Dec. 8, 2019 and Jan. 17, 2020, respectively, along with a 13-day Panama Canal sailing from San Diego to Miami Feb. 1-14, 2020 offering a unique opportunity to transit through the Panama Canal in addition to visiting exotic destinations in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Colombia.
Carnival Miracle features many of the line's signature dining, entertainment and accommodations options, including guest favorites such as the Caribbean-inspired RedFrog Pub and cocktail pharmacy-themed Alchemy Bar, a water park, specialty dining options, a comedy club, and a 14,500-square-foot spa.
"We're delighted to return to the Port of San Diego to offer this diverse schedule of convenient and attractive voyages for our guests," said Fred Stein, Carnival's vice president of revenue, deployment and itinerary planning. "The West Coast is an important and fast-growing market for Carnival and these departures from San Diego provide guests a wide array of exciting cruise choices with stops along Baja Mexico, the Mexican Riviera and Hawaii."
"The Port of San Diego is excited for the return of Carnival Cruise Line as part of our homeported cruise business," said Garry Bonelli, chairman of the board of port commissioners. "We are proud to once again partner with Carnival and we welcome Carnival Miracle to our cruise lineup."
Carnival Miracle will return to San Diego to operate another winter schedule in 2020-21.
Carnival Miracle's San Diego-based schedules are part of the line's West Coast expansion that also includes its first-ever program from San Francisco to Alaska, Hawaii and Baja Mexico as well as the arrival of Carnival Panorama which kicks off a year-round schedule from Long Beach Dec. 11 - the company's first new cruise ship in Southern California in 20 years.
San Diego is an integral component of Carnival's ship deployment strategy in which the line positions ships near large U.S. population bases along the East and West Coasts and the Gulf of Mexico. Including San Diego, Carnival sails from 19 North American homeports providing a cost-effective means for guests to get to and from their cruise. It's estimated that roughly half of the U.S. population is within a day's drive of a Carnival homeport.
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