Cruise lines fleeing Southern California
 

Looks like cruise lines are really cutting back, even cancelling, cruising out of SoCal ports like San Diego and Los Angeles. They say it's due to economic woes and travelers' fears of the Mexican drug wars.

Cruise lines flee California ports - Travel - News - msnbc.com

Read that last night... after finding the mass grave in Alcapulco, who can blame them? Maybe once the heat cools off they'll go back, but for now, Mexico is just too dangerous, and Hawaii isn't exactly profitable (see Norwegian Cruise Line). Really all that's left are lengthy cruises to Alaska which can't be made year-round either. Not good for Socal. Good for everywhere else though...

Yeah I don't blame them for not going to Mexico. I know I'd be a little nervous. LA and San Diego are too far away for Alaska. I would say San Francisco is the farthest south to cruise to Alaska, any farther south is too far away (just like much farther north than New York is too far away from the Caribbean).

If they could build faster ships they could offer weekly trips to Hawaii from SoCal. But right now ships don't go nearly fast enough.

What part of Mexico are you going ?

There's been a lot of violence associated with drugs going on in many parts of Mexico. If you search any news sites I'm sure you can come up with a full story or someone on here can give you more details.

See building faster ships to cover that LA - Hawaii route in a week is even difficult given the 2,500 or so nautical miles between the two. That's pretty much the reason why it takes roughly 4 sea days to get there alone. I mean in theory it could be possibly to cut down by half the number of sea days, but even then it barely leaves any room for port time. You'd hit maybe one island max.

As for the Mexican Riviera... it's in shambles. Gangs and drugs have it completely broken down (hence why the lines are fleeing). And mass murders every other week doesn't really help the case either. Most news organizations have been heavily covering it as Rebecca said...

If you have an 8-9 day cruise from LA to Hawaii with 2 days each way you could hit 3-4 ports. Just look at cruises from New York to the Caribbean.

There is always research into reducing the resistance of a hull cutting through the water, the real reason being to go the same speed with less fuel, but you could use the same research to go faster with the same amount of fuel you're using now. It would take several years but it is possible to build a high speed cruise ship. I don't think you could have a very large one though. There might also be a problem with higher speeds amplifying motions experienced at sea (just like driving faster over a bumpy road amplifies what you feel from the bumps). The biggest problem would be finding someone to invest the money into the research and construction.

I mean it doesn't take much for a high speed liner (take a look at SS United States - 38 knot top speed back in the 60s). But again, like you said, size and speed don't combine well when you're at sea. It's advancing slowly though... Oasis and Allure OTS both have higher cruise speeds than other ships.

I wouldn't go on the cruise panicking, but definitely be cautious on all of the islands. Make sure you do excursions either through the ship or with reputable tour guides. Be aware of your surroundings. Don't walk around flashing big cameras or expensive jewelry. Try to stay with a group of people if you can and don't go off on your own.

I'm honestly not sure because I've never been to the Mexican Riv.
There's another website, cruisecritic.com, that has message boards about the specific ports. If you read about the places you're going I'm sure you'll be able to find reviews and suggestions on what to do and what to stay away from!

As long as the beach isn't just you guys alone it should be fine. We're not suggesting not running off the way of excursions, but we are suggesting using extreme caution with the locals, and being careful with the amount of valuables (yes this includes money) that you take off the ship.

i wonder how long itll be before RCI pulls mariner from the west coast. but the new austrailia sailings to the pacific islands do look enticing. especially because the historic aspect of the iteneraries concerning WWII and the pacific islands seem to be one of the few places that havent been turned into complete tourist meccas.

[QUOTE=Zach17;1345556]i wonder how long itll be before RCI pulls mariner from the west coast. QUOTE]

Mariner arrives in Galveston this fall.

Some Best attractions of Southern California are:
1. Catalina Island
2. Solvang
3. La Jolla
4. Balboa Island
5 .Coronado.
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***Edited to remove commercial reference***