Low down on Santa Barbara and Monterey ports

[mhurdle127]

We just learned that our April 2024 trip on HAL that included Santa Barbara and Monterey as ports of call has been altered to remove those stops. I can find information about the decision by Monterey city council, but I can't seem to find information on why Santa Barbara was also removed. We were looking forward to both visiting the Monterey Aquarium and going whale watching in Santa Barbara, but I guess that isn't going to happen on this trip!

[Mary229]

44 minutes ago, mhurdle127 said:

We just learned that our April 2024 trip on HAL that included Santa Barbara and Monterey as ports of call has been altered to remove those stops. I can find information about the decision by Monterey city council, but I can't seem to find information on why Santa Barbara was also removed. We were looking forward to both visiting the Monterey Aquarium and going whale watching in Santa Barbara, but I guess that isn't going to happen on this trip!

We are on the fall repositioning cruise and those two ports were deleted for our cruise also.  There was no explanation given. 

[cruisingrob21]

Monterey City council has been pretty hostile toward cruises since the pandemic, I think they passed a resolution restricting ships but not sure if it carries any teeth.  Santa Barbara has been similar.  

 

Unfortunately there aren't many small city, west coast ports.  Seems like Astoria is one of the last ones as well as Avalon, but even Avalon is pushing back lately.  A fall cruise on the Kdam was switch from Avalon to Astoria a few months back.  Personally, I think Astoria is a great port but HAL and Princess, who are the big players on the Pacific coastal voyages, will need to find some new ports soon.  Ports that will both accommodate ships and welcome them.  Years ago, HAL had port calls in Port Angeles, WA and Eureka, CA but beyond that, there are only a handful of mostly Oregon ports on the West Coast that have the infrastructure to even handle tender operations.

[POA1]

Here you go. Please note that the kazu.org website is a public access channel and is not affiliated with our very own Kazu from this board. (Her TV & radio url carries a dot ca suffix.)

 

https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2023-02-09/monterey-votes-to-deter-future-cruise-visits#:~:text=The city council voted 3,Monterey City Manager Hans Uslar.

[sambamama]

Perhaps it is similar to Amsterdam and Key West banning cruises.  They just don't want 3000 people overwhelming their town. 

[OlsSalt]

Proposed Chumash Marine Sanctuary will cut off all entry into the Santa Barbara Channel from the north.  Cruise ships and cargo ships. Pending.

 

Lots of local heay hitters are backing this and the Santa Ynez Band of Indians'  Chumash Casino in Solvang has the financial clout to get what they want:  https://www.edhat.com/news/northern-chumash-tribal-council-applaud-noaa-marine-sanctuary-plan

[OlsSalt]

Port Hueneme,  south of Oxnard/Ventura, Calif,  is a natural deep water commercial port which would appear on face value to have great potential as a regional Central California cruise port .

 

However, ChengKP, our resident technical expert, lays out a good case why this would not be feasible, regardless of desirability of location and geology. Primarily because of the potentianlly dangerous cargo this commercial port handle.

 

Port San Luis up north from Santa Barbara used to be a major passenger terminal, during the days of small passenger vessels traveling between LA to SF. Only a fishing port now, but has a wharf and a good location for exploring  very scenic Central California towns and wine country. 

 

(Hueneme:  why - knee - me)

[mcrcruiser]

It would be nice if there was a cruise port close enough to visit The Hearst Castle at San simion Ca .Yjink the State of Calif Gearst Castle services would love the revenue that weould create

[cruisingrob21]

As a former resident of the Central Coast, I think it would be highly unlikely that Avila beach (aka Port San Luis) would ever welcome a large ship.  Pismo beach might be a place that would welcome the ships as an alternate however.  I doubt anything around San Simeon (Hearst Castle) would welcome a ship, but who knows. The problem is everything else is an hour away and there isn't much to see for 2-3k passengers without going on a tour.  But I could be wrong.  Coastal voyages still rank around the "exotic" itineraries as far as popularity and their port charges can be pretty high making voyages there pretty expensive.  

[OlsSalt]

Coastal Calif cruises mainly serve the Alaska-Caribbean re-positioning shoulder seasons. Not yet a destination in themselves, since it requires the "foreign port" stop.

 

Ensenada, Mexico a few miles south of San Diego has served this purpose for some and underwent a remarkable transformation from a very dusty little town known mainly for college kids going to drink beer at Hussong's.. I don't get the impression Ensenada is banning cruise ships. Yet. 

[OlsSalt]

Many smaller ships would come to Santa Barbara, largest has been  Princess ships -maybe 3000 passengers?  But others are the boutique lines under 900, or the smaller HAL ships under 2000. 

 

We had 20 cruise ships this year so far -- not sure if only HAL was cancelled for the end of the shoulder season. Time will tell over the next month or so.

 

Santa Barbara does require a long, and often rough tender ride. And we have seen in the past high winds that make re-connections to the ship very problematic.

 

We watched one tender take and hour to finally re-board due to high waves and swells. It think it was luckily only the crew members onboard as the last one to embark again.

[OlsSalt]

Here is the cruise port calendar for Santa Barbara in October.

 

Celebrity is a new addition with three stops; Royal Caribbean too. The growth of the larger ships coming into Santa Barbara may have raised the local alarms. 

 

I see Konigsdam is still on for November, but alas the Noordam for early October has gone missing for good.

 

10/02/23    Celebrity Eclipse - 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, capacity - 2,850
10/03/23    MS Regatta - 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, capacity - 824
10/04/23    Seabourn Venture - 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM, capacity - 300
10/06/23    Radiance of the Seas - 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, capacity - 2,501
10/10/23    Celebrity Eclipse - 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, capacity - 2,850
10/17/23    Celebrity Eclipse - 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, capacity - 2,850
10/20/23    Seabourn Odyssey - 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, capacity - 450
10/24/23    Crown Princess - 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, capacity - 3,080
10/31/23    Crown Princess - 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, capacity – 3,080
 

[cruisingrob21]

10 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

Here is the cruise port calendar for Santa Barbara in October.

 

Celebrity is a new addition with three stops; Royal Caribbean too. The growth of the larger ships coming into Santa Barbara may have raised the local alarms. 

 

I see Konigsdam is still on for November, but alas the Noordam for early October has gone missing for good.

 

10/02/23    Celebrity Eclipse - 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, capacity - 2,850
10/03/23    MS Regatta - 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, capacity - 824
10/04/23    Seabourn Venture - 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM, capacity - 300
10/06/23    Radiance of the Seas - 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, capacity - 2,501
10/10/23    Celebrity Eclipse - 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, capacity - 2,850
10/17/23    Celebrity Eclipse - 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, capacity - 2,850
10/20/23    Seabourn Odyssey - 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, capacity - 450
10/24/23    Crown Princess - 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, capacity - 3,080
10/31/23    Crown Princess - 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, capacity – 3,080
 

Princess and now Celebrity are continuing to try to cultivate the 7 day coastal voyages that are RT west coast ports.  It's a good hedge against potential future issues with Mexican ports but certainly has its own issues.  I think they will need to focus more in the north where there are some decent, untapped Canadian ports and excellent scenic cruising available.

[Mary229]

25 minutes ago, cruisingrob21 said:

Princess and now Celebrity are continuing to try to cultivate the 7 day coastal voyages that are RT west coast ports.  It's a good hedge against potential future issues with Mexican ports but certainly has its own issues.  I think they will need to focus more in the north where there are some decent, untapped Canadian ports and excellent scenic cruising available.

I agree.  If my travel partners weren’t so enamored with HAL I would do this with Princess 

[dockman]

I was on HAL years ago when we stopped for the day at Port Angeles...

 

I have been to a lot of ports but still remember how many locals turned out to meet the ship and go out of their way to welcome passengers ashore and how friendly they were....

[OlsSalt]

1 minute ago, dockman said:

I was on HAL years ago when we stopped for the day at Port Angeles...

 

I have been to a lot of ports but still remember how many locals turned out to meet the ship and go out of their way to welcome passengers ashore and how friendly they were....

 

Today, locals in Santa Barbara now welcome cruise ships with Friend of the Earth (FOE) talking points. https://foe.org/projects/cruise-ships/?issue=335 They hand out grades for various cruise lines. Which then becomes local media fodder for the many who have never been on a cruise ship.

 

Know what the cruise industry is up against on this topic in "eco-sensitive" California. Valid or not. 

[OlsSalt]

In Santa Barbara we have something called "marine layer" - an off-shore fog bank that can hang heavy on the far horizon. Laden with water vapor, the bottom border is naturally dark gray.

 

A favorite ploy anti-cruise ship ploy is to photograph a cruise ship smoke stack in alignment with this dark and natural marine layer bottom border, Then scream cruise ship air pollution - here is PROOF!

[jaapie]

Would love it if cruise ships stopped at Hueneme - my son works at NAS Point Magu so I could visit with him.

Edited August 27, 2023 by jaapie

[FlaMariner]

We have no interest in cruising/visiting California now.....And when I view the few repositioning type cruises along the west coast it seems they are at rock bottom prices....so sadly, I do not think we are alone in our lack of interest.....

 

Not being welcomed is yet another reason to avoid California.

 

Sad. Because the weather is fantastic.....

 

 

 

 

[OlsSalt]

5 hours ago, FlaMariner said:

We have no interest in cruising/visiting California now.....And when I view the few repositioning type cruises along the west coast it seems they are at rock bottom prices....so sadly, I do not think we are alone in our lack of interest.....

 

Not being welcomed is yet another reason to avoid California.

 

Sad. Because the weather is fantastic.....

 

 

 

 

 

85% of California is still fantastic.

 

It is just that our problems are 300% abnormal. All that is bad seems to flow into California, on a course of least resistance.

 

Not having visited the SF Bay Area in number of years, our Noordam itinerary stop in SF will be interesting when we re-visit this formerly magical city of my own childhoods.

 

Is 85% of the city still okay and the other 15% is 300 times worse. I'll know in a few more weeks.

 

The other burning question having lost the Santa Barbara port for a San Pedro substitution, is taking the Silver Line "J"  metro bus from the San Pedro port into LA downtown safe, crazy, too dangerous, and/or perhaps also over-hyped by lurid publicity.

 

[FlaMariner]

16 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

Not having visited the SF Bay Area in number of years, our Noordam itinerary stop in SF will be interesting when we re-visit this formerly magical city of my own childhoods.

 

I hear you!

 

I hope SF is nice for you but we had friends that went in May and they left a day early and I think we all know what the experience was for them......So very sad. 

 

 

 

[Mary229]

36 minutes ago, FlaMariner said:

 

I hear you!

 

I hope SF is nice for you but we had friends that went in May and they left a day early and I think we all know what the experience was for them......So very sad. 

 

 

 

I am on the cruise with @OlsSalt   My plan is to use the ship excursion to get out of town.  I am not much of a city visitor anyway. I can see all the modern city “amenities” from my ride to the grocery 

Edited August 28, 2023 by Mary229

[WanderingTheWorld]

Last April, I took a California Coastal cruise on the Celebrity Solstice. Originally, we were supposed to visit Monterey, but the City Council intervened. We stopped in Santa Barbara instead. The locals we encountered were very friendly. There was even a docent at the courthouse ready to chat with cruise ship passengers.

 

Our actual itinerary was Avalon, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Ensenada. All these ports were winners, and we dragged our feet getting back to the ship each time. We did not do any excursions; we just enjoyed the activities and attractions in the towns/cities. The overnight in San Francisco was the highlight.

 

As for the popularity of the itinerary, the ship seemed mostly full. However, we got a very good deal. Perhaps others were enticed by the low prices?

[OlsSalt]

2 hours ago, Mary229 said:

I am on the cruise with @OlsSalt   My plan is to use the ship excursion to get out of town.  I am not much of a city visitor anyway. I can see all the modern city “amenities” from my ride to the grocery 

 

New shore excursions just got posted for LA (San Pedro) finally - some decent additions, but as we discussed all take long bus trips to get there. Even some excursions now for Avalon now.

[Mary229]

Just now, OlsSalt said:

 

New shore excursions just got posted for LA (San Pedro) finally - some decent additions, but as we discussed all take long bus trips to get there. Even some excursions now for Avalon now.

I looked at LA options.  I think we are going to stick with San Pedro, sis is considering a spa day.   Avalon looked pretty nice for strolling but I will look at the offerings. TY