Wed Aug 20 2008, writen and credited by TravelTrade Staff
Carnival Cruise Lines will deploy the 2,052-passenger Carnival Elation on a new three- and four-day cruise schedule from San Diego beginning Feb. 12, 2009. The ship currently operates four- and five-day cruises from San Diego and will continue that program through the departure of Feb. 7, 2009.On its new route, Carnival Elation will depart Thursdays on three-day cruises to Ensenada. Four-day cruises will depart Sundays and visit two ports, Ensenada and Catalina Island.
Carnival has offered a similar, highly successful program from Southern California for a number of years, currently on the Carnival Paradise based in Long Beach, with those departures occurring on Fridays and Mondays.
“Between the two ships, consumers will have a choice of two very popular departure points, Long Beach and San Diego, as well as four different departure days each week to select from,” said Terry Thornton, Carnival’s senior vice president of marketing planning. “These will be the only ships in the Southern California market offering three and four-day cruises starting in 2009, and with short getaways currently a trend among North American consumers, combined with the inherent value of a cruise, these voyages represent an extremely desirable vacation choice,” he added.
The Carnival Pride operates seven-day Mexican Riviera cruises from Long Beach year-round (to be replaced by the new Carnival Splendor in March 2009) and the Carnival Spirit offers seasonal eight-day Mexican Riviera voyages from San Diego.