Ship ahoy, Angelenos. The first cruise to depart the Port of Los Angeles since the coronavirus pandemic is scheduled to sail Saturday when Princess Cruises’ Grand Princess leaves for a five-day Cabo San Lucas getaway.

“In accordance with health authority directives, these cruises will be operated as vaccinated cruises with guests and crew vaccination rates approaching 100%,” a company spokesperson told Spectrum News 1. 

What You Need To Know

  • Princess Cruises Grand Princess will be the first cruise to sail from the Port of Los Angeles since COVID-19

  • Guests and crew vaccination rates for the Grand Princess are almost 100%

  • The 2,600-passenger Grand Princess will operate at 60 to 75% capacity for the first several cruises

  • Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line will resume sailing at the Port of LA in October

Grand Princess has a capacity of 2,600 guests but will be operating at 60 to 75% capacity for its first several cruises, the spokesperson said. Passengers are required to provide proof of vaccination and must also wear masks, in accordance with guidelines issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The last passenger cruise ship to sail from the Port of Los Angeles was the Norwegian Cruise Line Joy. That was March 8, 2020 — three days before LA County reported its first death from COVID-19 and 11 days before the pandemic prompted California Gov. Gavin Newsom to issue a statewide stay-at-home order.

Cruise ships returned to the Port of Long Beach last month when Carnival Cruise Lines’ Panorama left on a seven-day Mexican Riviera trip, marking California’s first cruise departure in 17 months. While Long Beach is the port of call for Carnival, the Port of Los Angeles accommodates the balance of the cruise industry, including Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line.

Royal Caribbean’s and Norwegian Cruise Line’s first post-COVID trips out of the Port of LA will depart in October, offering excursions to the Mexican Riviera and Catalina Island. 

Other Princess cruises leaving from LA this fall include five- and seven-day getaway cruises of the California coast and Mexico and 15-day cruises to the Hawaiian islands, the company announced in June.

The port’s bottlenecked cargo terminals will not impact cruise lines because passenger ships operate out of different docks, Port of LA spokesman Phillip Sanfield said. 

Carnival Corporation reported Friday that booking volumes and customer deposits for future cruises in the third quarter were higher than they were for the first quarter of the year. “Cumulative advanced bookings for the second half of 2022 are ahead of a very strong 2019,” the report said.