Carnival Cruise Line to return to San Diego as Carnival Miracle redeploys

Gene Sloan | USA TODAY

San Diego is back as a hub for cruise giant Carnival.

The Miami-based line on Thursday announced its 2,124-passenger Carnival Miracle would redeploy to the city in late 2019 for a three month season of Mexico and Hawaii cruises.

The ship currently is based in Tampa, Florida.

"We've got good demand (in the San Diego area)," Carnival president Christine Duffy told USA TODAY. "We think this is a really good opportunity for us."

Speaking in advance of today's announcement, Duffy said a recent expansion of Carnival's fleet that would continue into 2019 had made the San Diego deployment possible. Carnival this year added a 26th vessel, the 3,960-passenger Carnival Horizon. Another new sister ship, Carnival Panorama, is on the way for 2019.

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"With the new capacity (coming) into the fleet, we're always looking at where we can put ships," Duffy said.

Carnival has a history with cruises out of San Diego that goes back more than a decade. The line first offered voyages out of San Diego on a seasonal basis in 2005 and eventually began operating out of the city year-round. But Carnival pulled out of San Diego in 2012 as it pursued a strategy of expanding in Australia.

The Carnival ship originally deployed to San Diego, Carnival Spirit, was sent to Australia in 2012 and has since been joined part of the year by the 2,124-passenger Carnival Legend. A third Carnival ship, the 3,006-passenger Carnival Splendor, is heading to Australia in 2019.

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Miracle will kick off its new deployment in San Diego on Dec. 1, 2019 with a seven-day cruise to the Mexican Riviera.

Miracle’s San Diego-based program also will include two five-day voyages to Mexico that feature two days in Cabo San Lucas (departing on Dec. 22, 2019 and Jan. 12, 2020) and two three-day Mexico getaways that bring a day visit to Ensenada (departing on Dec. 27, 2019 and Jan. 3, 2020).

Additional itineraries include a four-day New Year’s trip to Mexico departing on Dec. 30, 2019 and a six-day cruise with two days in Cabo San Lucas and a day-long visit to Ensenada departing Jan. 6, 2020.

The deployment also will feature two longer-length voyages of 14 and 15 days to Hawaii that begin on Dec. 8, 2019 and Jan. 17, 2020, respectively.

The schedule concludes with a 13-day Panama Canal cruise from San Diego on Feb. 1, 2020 that ends in Miami.

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