The list of cruise ships that have pulled out of the So Cal (Southern California) Market has another addition, and this time it is Holland America Line (HAL). The So Cal region is suffering under a depression of sorts with respect to the cruise ship market. A number of big cruise lines have deployed ships in the region on other destinations.
The Holland America Line’s cruise ship Oosterdam, which was sailing on regular cruises on the ex San Diego Mexican Riviera region from Oct to Apr, has been announced to be redeployed to Australia in Oct 2012.
However, Holland America Line has not declared all the deployments it plans to make beyond fall 2012 and it also has not commented whether Oosterdam would be replaced by a ship on the Mexican Route. According to the statement made by Holland America Line, they stated that the port and the city have been a wonderful location and that they expected the relationship to continue.
Rita Vandergaw, official at Port of San Diego commented to the San Diego Union Tribune that, for the moment, the city appears to be offering regular Mexico sailings no longer. The port was at its peak in 2008, with more than 255 ships harbored at that time, but now the numbers will fall to less than 103 in this year and the next.
Oosterdam being redeployed is only the latest setback to the depressed So Cal cruise industry. San Diego and Los Angeles is experiencing a mass deployment exodus of sorts, with ships from Royal Caribbean, NCL and Carnival being deployed. There are several reasons cited for the departure, and this includes the disinterest with ports on the Mexican Riviera, swine flu scare locally as well as the local economy, which is struggling.