Port of San Diego Highlights Its Advantages for Cruises
A city of convenience. A destination of multiple attractions. An attractive venue for a postcard shot. That’s how San Diego, California, distinguishes itself and the advantages it offers for cruising.
For the Port of San Diego, its plethora of offerings to its thousands of cruise visitors gets high marks from cruise lines looking to develop onshore programs to keep their passengers entertained and wanting to return.
“We love cruise ships. They pull in right to the heart of downtown,” says Renee Rose, the port’s Maritime Commercial Manager. “Passengers are only steps away from attractions, like the USS Midway, a unique museum aircraft carrier, and the world-famous San Diego Zoo,” she says. Plus, there are many other sites nearby that draw the attention of visitors, such as SeaWorld, the famous theme park Legoland, and, for the more adventurous, whale watching, fishing, the nearby mountains, and the desert an hour away. New attractions include the Navy SEAL Museum, a military history of the famous U.S. Navy SEALs, and Gaylord Pacific Resort and Conference Center at Chula Vista Marina. As a bonus, the port is near the city’s airport, making arriving and departing extremely convenient.
“It’s a beautiful city. The whole bay (San Diego Bay) is just gorgeous with lots of activity with sailboats, jet skis, and powerboats. It’s a fun vibe with the water,” says Rose. She noted, as well, the busy nearby Navy base.
“Some people like the fact we have a heavy military component. We have the largest Navy base on the West Coast, right across from the cruise ships, where there is usually an aircraft carrier or two and at least three warships going up and down the bay. We see people on the Embarcadero taking pictures of the water activities,” Rose said.
The Embarcadero, a pedestrian-friendly walkway along the waterfront, is, in itself, an attraction with several dining choices, shops, hotels, parks, and tours.
“The tourists and cruise passengers just love coming to San Diego. We have mild weather year-round, and we have something for everybody,” says Rose.
Port of San Diego's cruise pier is convenient to downtown and the attractions (Port of San Diego)
For the port’s cruise business, which has been developing since the late 1980s, “I feel like this happens to be a very special year for us. It happens to be our biggest year in over 15 years,” notes Rose. In the past season, the port hosted 109 cruise calls, and in the coming season the port is scheduled to host 184 calls. According to port statistics, each call has an economic impact of approximately $2.6 million.
Rose said the reason behind the increase is that Norwegian Cruise Line began homeporting out of San Diego in 2025-26 and Royal Caribbean International will homeport in 2026-27. Those two lines join Disney Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, and Holland America Line in the homeport category. On top of the two additions, Disney will expand its service to 60 calls from approximately 20 and will have two vessels calling, Disney Wonder and Disney Magic, in 2026-27. A new agreement with Disney runs through 2031 and anticipates more than one million Disney passengers in the Port of San Diego.
The current cruise season kicked off on September 14 with the arrival of Ruby Princess. Princess’s calls will be up 68 percent from 109 calls last year and 75 in the 2024-2025 season, the port highlights. Overall, the Port of San Diego is marking its biggest cruise season in more than 15 years, expecting 183 total voyages during the 2026-2027 season.
The upcoming season is expected to bring about 700,000 cruisers to San Diego, with approximately 91 percent being American travelers. Last season saw approximately 390,000 cruisers. Calls are expected to increase again in 2027-28.
The additional calls are not expected to add pressure on cruise facilities, said Rose.
“We have a pier next to downtown called B Street Pier with two berths. So we are going from having many single calls to double calls, but it is easy to manage because we have been doing it for years. So having two ships alongside is not a big issue for us,” she added.
The port’s cruise season runs September until May and depends heavily on the Mexican trade, with about 80 percent of the cruises going to Mexico. There is also some repositioning trade when cruise lines move ships to and from Alaska.
As the cruise business becomes more active, port improvements are being carried out to handle the growing numbers. The port will go forward with interior improvements to the Pier B terminal in 2027 that will add new flooring and logistical improvements to make the terminal more attractive and passenger flow more efficient.
On the pier side, the port has completed maintenance dredging, which has taken the water depth to 32 feet.
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“The year-over-year growth shows that passengers and cruise lines come to San Diego for our beautiful waterfront, strategic location on the West Coast, and our proximity to Baja Mexico,” says Vice Chair Michael Zucchet, Port of San Diego Board of Port Commissioners. He highlights that the port cannot wait to welcome more than 700,000 cruise passengers this year and show off the many features of San Diego.
