Most cruise ships sail one particular itinerary, and they sail it on a fairly consistent basis. Naturally, there are some exceptions to this rule. Some ships sail a Western Caribbean itinerary one week; an Eastern Caribbean the next. Ships assigned to shorter cruises typically sail a three-night cruise on weekends, and a slightly different four-night schedule during the week.
Carnival Cruise Lines is getting a little more creative with one of their two ships based in San Diego - Carnival Elation.
Many of you may remember the Elation from her days sailing seven-night Mexican Riviera cruises from Los Angeles. When she was replaced on that route by the Carnival Pride, Elation was moved to a new home port. The ship eventually returned to the West Coast with both four-night cruises to Cabo San Lucas and five-night cruises which added an Ensenada port call. We (Makarma Travel) and others liked that, as it presented additional options to our local customers.
As a result of economic conditions, the four and five-night cruise series didn't last long; they were replaced with three and four-night options similar to those currently available from Los Angeles. A benefit to this was the increase in overall passenger numbers, and its resultant increase in sail dates for local customers. The disadvantage? The same itinerary as that available from another port just a short distance away.
Well, Carnival very recently presented us with some news that should please everyone looking for additional cruise options from Southern California. It gets complicated (but interesting); here are their new itineraries, beginning this July, based on a four-week rotation:
WEEKS 1 & 2
Five-night cruise to Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada
Five-night cruise, with two days in Cabo San Lucas
Four-night cruise to Cabo San Lucas
WEEK 3
Four-night cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada
Three-night cruise to Ensenada
WEEK 4 (same as Week 3)
Four-night cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada
Three-night cruise to Ensenada
A little complicated, but more choices and a great compromise. We most definitely like it, and hope you will too!
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