Visit our travel agent friends at MEI Travel

Spotted: Royal Caribbean will add second cruise ship to Los Angeles

In:
21 Feb 2024

It looks like Royal Caribbean may be gearing up to announce a second cruise ship will be deployed to the west coast.

Royal Caribbean had originally planned to announce its 2025-2026 deployments from Los Angeles this week, but the cruise line delayed that deployment until the week of February 26, 2024.

In the meantime, the Port of Los Angeles schedule for 2025 shows there will be two Royal Caribbean cruise ships based there.

Quantum of the Seas is listed as scheduled to depart from Los Angeles across dates in the last part of 2025.  The 2026 schedule is not available yet.

LA port schedule

RoyalCaribbeanBlog reader Ron Hiller shared his findings with us. Based on what we can tell from the port schedule, Quantum's first cruise out of Los Angeles will be October 2, 2025 and offer a 4-night sailing. Quantum then has an array of 3, 4, 5 and 6 night cruises for the rest of the year. 

Read more: Mexican Riviera cruise guide

Logically, it makes sense Quantum of the Seas could fit into the west cruise market. She's already scheduled to offer cruises to Alaska in 2025.

Navigator-Exterior-Cabo

Navigator of the Seas is also on the schedule, and will continue its normal schedule. 

Royal Caribbean has not confirmed or announced anything yet, so this is all speculation. In the past, port schedules have been good indicators of what Royal Caribbean intends to do.

Official confirmation could come at some point during the week of February 26, with it likely occurring midweek based on when other deployments have been published.

Navigator-of-the-Seas-Los-Angeles

Adding a second cruise ship to the west coast market is a strong indication of the cruise line's commitment to the market.

Royal Caribbean was absent from the LA cruise market for ten years, due to violence in Mexico and dwindling profits. However, they resumed sailing from there in 2022 with Navigator of the Seas.

New deployments for 2025-2026 have been slowly coming out since November 2023, and there are just a handful of deployments left.  Cruise fans can't help but wonder where the remaining ships that have not been deployed will end up.

Wonder of the Seas

Quantum of the Seas was one such ship, but Wonder of the Seas and Ovation of the Seas two other notable ships missing from the schedule.

Short Caribbean deployment also delayed

freedom-ship-from-cococay

Initially, Short Caribbean cruises in 2025 and 2026 were scheduled to launch around the same time as those from Los Angeles; however, they got pushed back a week.

Short Caribbean was delayed before the Los Angeles deployment was, and now both are scheduled for the week of February 26.

These voyages are ideal for those seeking a shorter getaway or who might be new to cruising and cannot commit to the idea of spending a week on a ship.

Short Caribbean itineraries refer to primarily weekend cruises, as well as 3-, 4-, and 5-night cruises. Typically it's from ports such as Tampa, Miami, and Port Canaveral.

Currently, the only sailing to the Caribbean that's fewer than 5 nights is onboard Allure of the Seas from Galveston. This cruise departs in March 2026 and costs $749 per person, before taxes and fees. 

Read more: Is it worth it to book a short 3-night cruise?

Upcoming deployments

The remainder of the deployment schedule is as follows:

2025-2026 deployment schedule
  • Week of February 26: Los Angeles & Short Caribbean
  • Week of March 11: China
  • Week of April 8: Australia
  • Week of May 13: Singapore

It's important to remember that the sailings could be released at any point within that week; they're not bound to be published on the first day of the listed week. In addition, the deployment schedule can be changed at anytime.

Anything beyond early 2026 will be released in the next deployment cycle, which typically commences in November.

Royal Caribbean talks about possibility of returning to west coast

In:
03 Nov 2015

For many years, Royal Caribbean has been absent from offering cruises on the west coast of the United States and that has many fans wondering when that would change.

Royal Caribbean senior vice president, sales, trade support and service, Vicki Freed, spoke with Travel Agent Central about the possibility of Royal Caribbean returning to the west coast.

Freed pointed at the fiscal situation of offering cruises on the west coast, "We always look at the West Coast. But we continue to look at the rates that the other cruise lines are getting, and we offer an experience that we can't afford to be selling at those low rates."

"If when we see the rates start to bounce back, and we feel we can get paid for what we offer for our product, then we’ll be back there. But right now, unfortunately, it's a bath out there. They're selling four-day cruises at $199 per person and we’re not just talking Carnival."

"We spend more on food, more on entertainment and more on our overall onboard experience [than other lines] and so we cannot be the low-price leader out in any market."

Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas left Los Angeles back in 2011 due to violence in Mexico as well as to find bigger profits.

Royal Caribbean bringing back cruises to Los Angeles in 2015

In:
19 Feb 2014

Royal Caribbean has added two roundtrip cruises out of the port of Los Angeles, California, which marks the cruise line's return to the west coast after a number of years absence.

Jewel of the Seas will offer 7-night cruises on September 26 and October 03, 2015.

The cruises will visit the ports of Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Monterey and Ensenada, Mexico.  The stop at San Francisco will be overnight.

The news confirms a report we posted back in December of a possible return to the west coast for Royal Caribbean.

Royal Caribbean hasn't had a cruise ship based out of Los Angeles since 2010 when Mariner of the Seas left due to violence in Mexico.

Royal Caribbean returning to Los Angeles in 2015?

In:
13 Dec 2013

It's been a few years since Royal Caribbean had a cruise ship on the west coast of the United States but there may be indications Royal Caribbean plans on returning in the coming years.

According to the Port of Los Angeles cruie ship schedule web site, Jewel of the Seas will be making stops there in September and October 2015.  It isn't clear if the cruise will begin and end in Los Angeles, but for at least 3 weeks the Royal Caribbean ship is on the schedule.

Royal Caribbean has not made any announcement about returning to Los Angeles, but in the past port schedules have been good indicators of what Royal Caribbean intends to do.

Royal Caribbean hasn't had a cruise ship based out of Los Angeles since 2010 when Mariner of the Seas left due to violence in Mexico.

Mariner of the Seas moving to Europe because of violence

In:
21 Jun 2010

It's no secret that Royal Caribbean has been moving its ships from North America to Europe in large part to seek out the higher demand and bigger profits to be found in Europe.  The Los Angeles Business Journal is reporting that the real reason Mariner of the Seas is sailing to Europe after a short stint in Los Angeles is not to find bigger profits but because of the recent surge of violence in Mexico.

The widely publicized war between the country’s federal government and its powerful drug cartels has led to nearly 30,000 deaths since 2007. And on the West Coast – where 90 percent of cruises depart for the Mexican Riviera and other points south – the number of passengers in the last two years has dwindled by 21 percent.

Royal Caribbean stands by its claim that the move to Europe is just for economic reasons and not because of the violence.

The Royal Caribbean cruise line, for its part, will say only that the decision is an economic one.
“We’re looking to maximize our profits,” said Harrison Liu, a spokesman for the cruise line, owned by Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. “Both Europe and the Caribbean are hotter tickets than the Mexican Riviera, and there’s a stable market out of Galveston.”
Personally, I don't think the violence in Mexico helps the situation any, but given that so many other ships have left American ports for Europe, it isn't hard to believe that Mariner of the Seas is (pardon the pun) in the same boat.  Royal Caribbean isn't trying to hide the fact that they are chasing larger profits based on the numerous statements from Royal Caribbean in the form of statements to the press as well as blog posts.
Subscribe to Los Angeles