Carnival Cruise Line announced today that the Carnival Splendor will be leaving the West Coast in spring of 2013 and abandoning it’s year
round Mexican Riveria cruises. Carnival Splendor will then replace Carnival Miracle in New York and will offer 8 night Bahama/Florida cruises as well as 8 night eastern Caribbean cruises. With the Miracle now leaving New York, she will begin sailing seasonal Mexican Riveria, Alaska, and Hawaii cruises.
The repositioning of the Splendor to New York and the cancellation of a year round Mexican Riveria cruise program shows the struggle to fill ships sailing to Mexico, especially after widespread violence in the port areas.
The Splendor will offer 2 voyages (13 and 18 night) through South America during it’s repositioning. The itineraires are as follows…
A 17-day Long Beach to Santiago cruise will visit Cabo San Lucas and Huatulco, Mexico; Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala; Quito, Ecuador; Lima, Peru; and Arica, Chile. A 13-day voyage will operate from Santiago to Buenos Aires, Argentina, calling at Puerto Montt, Chile; Punta Arenas, Chile; Ushuaia and Puerto Madryn, Argentina; and Montevideo, Uruguay. An 18-day Buenos Aires to New York voyage will feature calls in Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Recife, and Fortaleza, Brazil; Bridgetown, Barbados; and Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos Islands.
After some outcry of the Splendor’s departure John Heald (Senior Cruse Director & Carnival’s Brand Ambassador) issued a statement on his Facebook on the reasoning for Carnival’s decision…
Carnival Miracle, which recently underwent a significant refurbishment, will be repositioned to the West Coast and operate cruises to Alaska, Hawaii and the Mexican Riviera beginning in spring 2013. While we will no longer offer year-round seven-day cruises from Long Beach, we will maintain a seasonal seven-day program and provide our guests with a convenient and affordable option to sail from Southern California to the Mexican Riviera and Hawaii
In addition, the Carnival Inspiration continues to operate year-round three- and four-day cruises from Long Beach. These popular cruises offer an exceptional value compared to land-based vacations.
The decision to reposition the Carnival Splendor to New York for year-round service was based on the popularity of this program and the large consumer audience that is within driving distance of this homeport. Positioning the Carnival Splendor in New York provides a newer and larger ship in this important market.
On a personal not I must say having cruised from Long Beach on the Carnival Splendor that I had lots of great times and some challenging ones as well and I hope that in the future things change and we can add more sailings on more ships from there and until then we continue to support the west coast with the Carnival Inspiration offering some brilliant fun.
Carnival Inspiration will continue to operate year-round three- and four-day Mexi-Cali cruises from Long Beach.
The Splendor will be bringing a 41% passenger passenger increase to New York and with Fun Ship 2.0 planned for Splendor in December of 2012, she will be creating many more memorable vacations.
