Carnival’s Newest West Coast Cruise Itineraries

When people think about the West Coast, it’s usually movie stars, great weather and all the fish tacos you can eat. Carnival Cruise Lines is hoping to add cruising to that list thanks to their first fleet of West Coast cruise ships in decades.

Carnival Miracle, a spirit-class ship from the major cruise giant, is set to move to San Diego, offering cruises to the Mexican Riviera with stops in Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada. Launched in 2003, Carnival Miracle offers a smaller cruising experience compared to newer ships as she holds less than 1,000 passengers at a time. She was built by Kvaerner Masa-Yards in Helsinki, Finland.

New West Coast Cruise Options

The announcement followed news earlier this year that Carnival Panorama will be a West Coast ship as well. Carnival Panorama is scheduled for completion in 2019. Her two sister ships, Carnival Vista and Carnival Horizon, are already in rotation cruising around the world.

RELATED: Exploring Carnival Horizon 

Carnival Panorama will dock in Long Beach, California when not at sea, replacing the Carnival Splendor which is headed on quite the journey all the way to Australia. Carnival Panorama is capable of holding nearly 4,000 passengers and is chock full of the latest and greatest innovations found on the major ships of today.

Carnival Splendor docks at Long Beach | Photo Carnival Cruise Line

A sky ride spanning 800 feet will sit atop the ship, along with a water park, obstacle course, an Imax movie theater, adults only spa, dozens of bars and restaurants plus numerous performances and more.

To coincide with the announcement, the Long Beach port terminal will undergo significant upgrades to handle the larger ship and influx of more passengers.  Long Beach, located less than 30 miles from LAX and downtown Los Angeles, is a popular tourist destination known for its unique mixture of urban and beach atmospheres.