The only cruise ship to call San Diego home year round is pulling up anchor. The ship is moving to the South and taking millions of dollars with it.
The Carnival cruise ship, Elation, is getting a new home base in Alabama. It’s been based in San Diego since 2007 and was the only cruise ship that was here year round. The Port of San Diego’s Marguerite Elicone says the ship’s departure in April means the Port will miss out on nine cruises this spring. That’s a loss of $18 million for the region.
“And the real impact won’t be felt until next year when we would be losing the 78 total cruises that we had from the Elation being here,” she said.
Elicone says the region’s poor economy prompted Carnival to move the ship to Alabama. But she says cruise lines often change up routes just to provide variety. She said several other cruise lines will be coming to San Diego as the season gets under way in the next few weeks.
