Cruise ships to return to San Diego this week without passengers
KGTV
and last updated 2020-12-22 15:37:48-05
SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Cruise ships are scheduled to return to the Port of San Diego this week and through the new year, part of an effort by the cruise lines to reestablish ships in U.S. waters as a prerequisite to resume cruising in a post-COVID-19 world, it was announced Monday.
Five Holland America Line ships and one Princess Cruises ship are scheduled to arrive beginning Wednesday, periodically docking at the B Street Cruise Terminal for fuel, food, supplies and services. At this time, none of the vessels will be carrying passengers or conducting any sailings, according to local port officials.
According to port officials, time spent docked in San Diego will be limited. Each ship is scheduled to dock at B Street the morning of their scheduled arrival date and depart that evening.
The Holland America Line ships are scheduled to remain in the San Diego area and may be visible off the coast, with some periodically positioning in the outer anchorage just outside of San Diego Bay off the coast of Coronado.
After their initial arrival, each HAL ship plans to periodically return to the B Street Cruise Terminal to refuel and/or to resupply or receive services. The Emerald Princess is scheduled to go to Los Angeles after its Dec. 24 visit, but port officials stressed that vessel schedules may change.
Posted by Jacob Resneck, CoastAlaska | Dec 17, 2020
A cruise ship dwarfed by the mountains of Glacier Bay in this undated photo. (Courtesy of National Park Service)
National Park Service wildlife biologist Chris Gabriele says the national park normally gets more than 600,000 visitors each year.
“Most of those on cruise ships,” she said.
But then the coronavirus pandemic erased Alaska’s entire 2020 cruise season. That made the waters a lot quieter. And the region’s humpback whales took notice.
“We saw them out in the middle of the channels, taking naps, socializing, feeding with others,” Gabriele told a panel at a December 9 meeting of the American Geophysical Union. “I heard a lot of long exchanges between the whales including what I think may have been a mother and calf.”