Los Angeles residents have a brand new method to cruise to Mexico.
On Could 31, Royal Caribbean repositioned the large Ovation of the Seas to the Port of Los Angeles for Mexico cruises.
“We’re right here in a giant method,” stated Vicki Freed, Royal Caribbean’s senior vice chairman for gross sales, at a Q&A on a preview crusing of the brand new route for media and journey brokers. She meant that each actually and figuratively.
The 4,182-passenger Ovation of the Seas is the primary Royal Caribbean Quantum Class ship based mostly in Los Angeles — and likewise the biggest ship ever to sail out of that port based mostly on capability. (At 168,666 gross tons, it is simply barely smaller than the 169,116-ton Norwegian Encore, additionally based mostly there.)
Launched in 2016, Ovation of the Seas is one in every of Royal Caribbean’s 5 Quantum Class ships and contains facilities like indoor skydiving, bumper automobiles and the North Star statement capsule that lifts passengers 300 toes above sea degree.
The Mexico itineraries out of Los Angeles on Ovation of the Seas vary from three to eight nights in size and go to ports corresponding to Catalina Island, California, and Ensenada and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
This repositioning additionally marks a significant West Coast growth for Royal Caribbean, which beforehand solely sailed the three,368-passenger Navigator of the Seas from Los Angeles to Mexico. Navigator will proceed crusing from Los Angeles till October 2026.
“Once we say West Coast is the ‘finest coast,’ we’re popping out robust,” Freed stated.
This October, Quantum of the Seas (one other Quantum Class ship of an analogous dimension to Ovation) may also start to sail from Los Angeles to Mexico. The marginally smaller 3,602-passenger Voyager of the Seas may also sail from Los Angeles beginning in October 2026.
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Freed additionally introduced the two,143-passenger Serenade of the Seas will sail from San Diego to Mexico beginning in October 2026 for the winter season. This can mark Royal Caribbean’s return to San Diego after a protracted absence. The three-to-seven-night itineraries will embody stops in Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada, in addition to La Paz, Mexico, which will likely be a brand new vacation spot for the model.
Royal Caribbean initially deliberate for Ovation of the Seas to sail out of Tianjin, China, this summer time, nevertheless it finally determined to maneuver the vessel to Los Angeles as a part of this West Coast growth.
Ovation of the Seas sailed from Japan earlier than arriving in Los Angeles on Could 31. After its first summer time season crusing from Los Angeles to Mexico, Ovation of the Seas will relocate to its Asian residence dock in Singapore from October 2025 to March 2026. From Could to September 2026, Ovation will return to its typical summer time season crusing to Alaska, however this time from Seward, Alaska, and Vancouver, British Columbia, as an alternative of Seattle. In September 2026, Ovation will return to Los Angeles, the place it would stay till April 2027.
Royal Caribbean is not the one cruise line increasing its presence in Los Angeles. Virgin Voyages will launch its first Los Angeles sailings in 2026 on board the brand-new Sensible Girl, which might accommodate 2,770 passengers.
In 2024, Carnival Cruise Line started crusing one in every of its latest ships, Carnival Firenze, from the Port of Lengthy Seaside, only a few miles from the Port of Los Angeles.
The West Coast cruise market to Mexico is actually heating up. Hopefully, that may imply every kind of offers for potential passengers to benefit from … or at the very least extra handy crusing dates for extra vacationers.
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