Mystery why California keeps losing ports

Cruise Critic says some homeports — such as New Orleans, Galveston and Charleston — are gathering bigger and better ships, but the site can’t help but notice one area that’s losing out, California.
 

“Cruise ships just don’t seem to stay put in the Los Angeles and San Diego homeports,” it says.
 

Radiance of the Seas and Carnival Elation have already stopped sailing to Mexico from San Diego, and the other ships will be saying adios in the coming months that include Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas, which is leaving Los Angeles with no plans to return to California or the Mexican Riviera.
 

This all raises the question of why can’t California keep its cruise ships?
 

"2011 will be a poor year, the worst in a couple of years," Chris Chase, Marketing Director for the Port of Los Angeles.
 

He has several reasons: "The California economy is not helpful — ships are full, but the price point is down." Plus, last year’s fears of H1N1 and now worries about Mexico’s security are making people think twice about traveling to Mexico.
 

He also notes that Mexico has not done a good job of marketing its increased touristic options and differentiating its multiple ports. (The same reasoning has been given for a similar downturn in Alaska.)
 

“We found there was too much capacity in the Mexican Riviera, and when that occurs it drives the pricing down," says Courtney Recht, spokeswoman for NCL. "There are more viable markets that have a stronger interest amongst our customers."
 

Royal Caribbean’s president, Adam Goldstein, says California ports have had their chance. He wrote in his blog:
 

“Royal Caribbean has tried multiple ships over multiple decades at various lengths of cruises in California. We may very well try again in the future as we would love to be back on the West Coast. But for now we are unable to generate acceptable levels of performance for Mariner of the Seas.”
 

Another point noted by Cruise Critic is that there’s a general lack of itinerary options from the West Coast. For seven-night cruises, Mexico or Pacific Coast cruises are the only options; Hawaii and the Panama Canal are only accessible on longer cruises.
 

“And, with current laws preventing foreign-flagged ships from sailing itineraries that feature only US ports, Hawaii and Pacific Coast cruises necessitate out-of-the-way stops in Canada or Mexico, making for somewhat awkward itineraries,” the site adds.
 

At the same time, there are some positive developments for California cruising. Disney is setting up shop in Los Angeles in 2011, Princess and Crystal continue to have a presence there. Holland America and Celebrity also continue to sail from San Diego.
 

Said Cruise Critic:
 

“And the ports are working hard to attract cruise lines. The Los Angeles port is undergoing cosmetic upgrades, such as a new paint job on the entire 100,000-square-foot terminal, and the port is looking to enhance the customer experience with a better roadway layout, new gangways to get people onboard faster and audio-visual equipment to improve communications in the terminal during the check-in and boarding process.”
 

By David Wilkening