Carnival Cruise Line has completed the expansion of its Long Beach, California terminal and is set to commemorate the facility in the days ahead.
Those familiar with flight innovator Howard Hughes will recognize the port as the former Spruce Goose dome. The geodesic structure once displayed the aviator's famous wood-framed behemoth of an aircraft. The plane has since vacated the building, but Cunard's original Queen Mary is still permanently moored alongside-appropriate given Carnival Corporation is now the parent to both cruise brands.
For a long time, only Carnival's Fantasy- and Spirit-class vessels were accommodated from the Los Angeles cruise port with the line utilizing half of the dome for embarkation and disembarkation. That meant only the Carnival Imagination (2,056 guests), Carnival Inspiration (2,056 guests) and Carnival Miracle (2,124 guests) sailed from California until recently.
Today, the larger 3,012-guest Carnival Splendor has replaced the Carnival Miracle, sailing on seven-day runs to the Mexican Riviera, as the brand has taken over the remainder of the dome. This permits greater throughput of passengers than before.
When I first took a Carnival cruise on the Miracle from Long Beach over five years ago, arriving guests had to queue up outside while disembarking passengers were first processed inside. The situation was not ideal.
All simultaneous operations can now be performed indoors. The adjunct building leading to the dome is no longer where you go for expedited boarding; Most everything is currently handled in the main building while the secondary building is used for special assistance.
Rather than heading to the right half as before, passengers are directed to a larger opening at the left with general lines as well as a "Faster to the Fun" queue. Prior to security, agents greet guests at standing tables with PDAs for scanning boarding passes and passports, as well as taking shipboard identification photos. Our keys would be waiting for us when we got to the cabin, eliminating the representative retrieving them from a maze of files.
(As a brief aside, I was without my passport for this trip as it was being processed for a visa, but my birth certificate conveniently sufficed for the voyage to Mexico.)
The first step was very quick. Following the initial check-in was security, which thankfully consists of half a dozen or so lanes instead of the prior pair.
Beyond that, a large seating area made to resemble a park with photographic mural backdrops welcomes everyone as they comfortably wait to board.
Meanwhile, the geodesic ceiling still rises dramatically above. There's also a private waiting room for priority passengers to enjoy with padded seating that is considerably larger than the previous iteration. In here, PA announcements were heard faintly outside before it was understood what was happening. It's likely a minor technical difficulty that still needs some final ironing out.
Once the ship was ready for us, a new series of gradually sloping, switchbacking ramps ensured a steady and safe flow of people to the vessel. No longer were passengers with roller-boards reliant exclusively on slow-loading elevators or occasionally dicey escalators.
I have yet to disembark through the terminal, but I am already impressed by what Carnival currently offers cruise travelers at Long Beach.
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