Sounds like MSC may ultimately be headed to SoCal/Mexican Riviera & Alaska...

[Stockjock]

I've mentioned that I'd love to see MSC sail out of my hometown of San Diego, since we have a lot of capacity and of course San Diego is much nicer than Los Angeles.  Sounds like MSC has its eyes on SoCal (Mexican Riviera) and Alaska, although no idea if they'd operate out of San Diego or not.  

I think it would be a mistake to join the others in L.A., and San Diego is also closer to Mexico, so operational costs could be lower.  Also, the San Diego Cruise Terminal is about 1 mile from the airport and 1 mile from downtown, which is a lot nicer than what surrounds the L.A. Cruise Terminal.

From MSC's U.S. President, Rubén Rodriguez..
.

With a deal for a terminal in the works in Galveston, next up for MSC may be the West Coast.

“Our wish list certainly includes Alaska and the Mexican Riviera from Southern California,” Rodriguez said. “We don’t have firm plans but we are a rapidly growing company, and the U.S. is a priority market.”

In my photos, San Diego Port shown on the top and the industrial L.A. Port shown on the bottom.
 

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2023/04/mscs-rodriguez-u-s-is-a-priority-market/

Edited April 8, 2023 by Stockjock

[Jess777]

Hello I have been looking to see if MSC has plans to come to the west coast I guess you found some info.  I live in Los Angeles area but I don't really care which port they cruise out of I would love it if they came to SoCal.  San Diego is a beautiful port so many nice things to do. Great hotel’s and restaurants and its only 2 hours away from where I live in LA. The only thing is the parking.  If you drive in the cruise has very little parking to leave you car that I see in the cruise port.  Other than that hotel parking maybe available.  Thats the advantage that La harbor and Long Beach harbor have over San Diego cruise port. Also they can add itineraries to Hawaii and Pacific coast to Panama I like to many of the other cruise lines have. 

Edited April 9, 2023 by Jess777

[Georgia_Peaches]

Would love to see MSC expand to Mexican Riviera and especially, Alaska.  Being on the east coast, I don't think I'd trek over to San Diego for the Mexican Riviera as we just did that in March on Celebrity and airfare is pricey.  We'd definitely fly to Seattle for an Alaska cruise on MSC should they ever venture that way.

[Boozy O Croozy]

I, too, would love to cruise Alaska aboard MSC.

 

[optimusprime82]

I'd rather MSC skip going to TX and just head straight to the west coast. The TX itineraries would be just as dull as most of the FL sailings are these days.  

[Gatordad1967]

On 4/9/2023 at 12:58 PM, Georgia_Peaches said:

Would love to see MSC expand to Mexican Riviera and especially, Alaska.  Being on the east coast, I don't think I'd trek over to San Diego for the Mexican Riviera as we just did that in March on Celebrity and airfare is pricey.  We'd definitely fly to Seattle for an Alaska cruise on MSC should they ever venture that way.

we sailed Alaska on Celebrity last summer.  Alaska was aweome.   Seattle, not so much. 

[Gatordad1967]

24 minutes ago, optimusprime82 said:

I'd rather MSC skip going to TX and just head straight to the west coast. The TX itineraries would be just as dull as most of the FL sailings are these days.  

agreed.  their western Carib is getting very boring.

 

[Georgia_Peaches]

46 minutes ago, Gatordad1967 said:

Seattle, not so much. 

Completely agree.  But I'd rather board in Seattle than anywhere in Canada because of flight pricing.

Edited April 10, 2023 by Georgia_Peaches

[sidari]

Explorer 1 is likely to head to Alaska at some point.

[PTC DAWG]

1 hour ago, optimusprime82 said:

I'd rather MSC skip going to TX and just head straight to the west coast. The TX itineraries would be just as dull as most of the FL sailings are these days.  

You forget how many people are in driving distance easily of the port in Texas...I agree on the itineraries. 

[optimusprime82]

10 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

You forget how many people are in driving distance easily of the port in Texas...I agree on the itineraries. 

 

I'm not forgetting about them, TX just doesn't move the needle for me. I'm sure if I lived in central or eastern Texas I'd be thrilled. With all that said, there's plenty of people that live within easy driving distance of several CA cities that have cruise ports too. 

 

For my wife and I, we really like MSC, but after this fall's trip to NE/Canada there won't be anything left for us to do with MSC in the US until they go out west. We love the Caribbean but we can only do that so many times when there's other ports and destinations that MSC doesn't serve yet.

[Nunagoras]

True! Some Alasca or Mexico itineraries out of the west coast would be nice! I wholly understand your perspective on San Diego for those cruises... But, as a mostly global line with lots of Europeans aboard their sailings, it seems clear for me that LA would facilitate things far more than San Diego on that one with a lot more international direct connections from LA than San Diego. So; some driving distance for you, or eventually any high speed train that my open in due course... Have a nice day!...

[travelingtink]

I would be thrilled with any West Coast MSC presence. 

[kelleherdl]

23 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

You forget how many people are in driving distance easily of the port in Texas...I agree on the itineraries. 

I’ve been amazed at the ‘success’ of sailings from the Gulf ports; Galveston, New Orleans, Mobile. NCL, Carnival, RCCL, and even Disney have stayed in that market, even though the Gulf of Mexico itineraries are bleh. I heard a comment from a DCL employee that it does relate to the high percentage of ‘drivers’ in that region to keep the smaller and older ships sailing there.

[mmbcater]

Both-especially ALASKA!

[Jess777]

On 4/11/2023 at 12:17 PM, kelleherdl said:

I’ve been amazed at the ‘success’ of sailings from the Gulf ports; Galveston, New Orleans, Mobile. NCL, Carnival, RCCL, and even Disney have stayed in that market, even though the Gulf of Mexico itineraries are bleh. I heard a comment from a DCL employee that it does relate to the high percentage of ‘drivers’ in that region to keep the smaller and older ships sailing there.

Your right the Mex Riviera can be blah if you been there a zillion times but I love the ocean just being on the ship is vacation enough for me and not having to get on a plane to fly to the east coast to cruise MSC would be something to look forward to.