SAN DIEGO — When Dolores Morris and her husband, John, arrived at the San Diego cruise ship terminal on a sunny November afternoon, they were looking forward to restful days sailing up the California coast and were eager to begin their pre-cruise routine of grabbing a snack on board before exploring the luxury liner.
Three hours later, their blissful mood had turned sullen after enduring an excruciatingly long wait to board their ship — including two hours under the hot sun.
“We’ve always loved sailing out of San Diego,” said Dolores, 78. “But sadly, what we went through in November has taken away the convenience and positive experience of cruising out of San Diego. Unless they can improve that boarding process, I don’t know that I have it in me to stand out there again like that.”
There’s a good chance she won’t have to.
The Port of San Diego is embarking on a $5 million upgrade of the aging B Street Terminal — the single largest improvement since the former cotton warehouse was transformed into a cruise ship terminal nearly 40 years ago. In addition to new restrooms and a more inviting feel, the rehabbed terminal will include more desperately needed space to process the thousands of passengers who board a single cruise ship on any one day.
While the experience of the Morrises is not necessarily the norm when it comes to boarding cruise ships in San Diego, passengers are increasingly complaining about what they say is the terminal’s rundown condition and delays they’ve encountered when checking in. The project comes at a time when demand for cruising is rebounding sharply since the early pandemic shutdown of ocean-going travel.
San Diego is expecting 460,000 passengers this cruise season, which ends in May. That’s more than double the 188,000 passengers that boarded ships during the 2021-22 season.
The port’s $5 million investment, though, falls far short of more ambitious $96 million and $40 million projects contemplated in years past. The Port of San Diego said it decided to go with a substantially more affordable plan, recognizing the near-term need for a more comfortable, better-performing facility. The project also doesn’t rely on financial help from the cruise lines, which typically will contribute to terminal improvements in major cruise ports given the benefits to their business and their passengers.
More than 30 years ago, the Port had explored a plan to spend more than $90 million on a new, expanded terminal, but legislation at the time banning gambling on ships that stopped at more than one California port killed San Diego’s cruise business for a few years, along with the project.
More recently, the port had been in discussions, starting in 2019, with Disney Cruise Line and Carnival Corp., the parent company of Holland America, which home ports in San Diego, about a joint investment in a $40 million overhaul of B Street Terminal. That project would have included additional baggage facilities and a more sophisticated gangway system for entering cruise ships docked on the south berth, akin to what now exists on the north berth.
But then the pandemic hit in early 2020, and those plans were scrapped as cruise lines suspended talks about investing in land-side improvements, said Adam Deaton, who is the port’s cruise business representative.
“Seeing that it’s a short turnaround for this ($5 million) project vs. a 10-year project and the cruise lines aren’t in a position right now to do a big project, we didn’t want to get wrapped up in negotiating with them a full $5 million investment, which we knew we could raise on our own in two to three years,” Deaton said.
“This is about improving the embarkation experience inside the terminal by expanding the screening security area to handle more passengers, improving the overall aesthetic feel, putting in new restrooms, and expanding the overall space.”
The port is financing the work with a $5.50 passenger fee that was implemented in November. Construction is expected to start in early 2024, with completion targeted for a year later.
A key component of the rehab, which is currently in the design phase, involves demolishing a walled-off, 9,000-square-foot space within the cavernous 125,000-square-foot building. At one time an office for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the area will be redesigned to expand the check-in and waiting area that can become especially cramped when ships are docked on both the north and south sides of the pier.
“By demoing that area, we can move the south berth check-in to that area, and there will be room for more seating in the waiting area, when you’re waiting to board,” Deaton said. “The whole idea is to make the flow a lot quicker and less time lingering in the facility. You don’t want to be lingering in the terminal very long. You want to get on your cruise.”
The experience of boarding a cruise ship in San Diego can vary widely, depending on the day and how many vessels are in port. Processing more than 4,000 passengers boarding two cruise ships on the same day can, on occasion, contribute to delays. Deaton also noted that with the sharp ramp-up this year in passenger volumes, it took some time for the port to hire more personnel and train them.
Cruise lines now schedule staggered appointment times for boarding, but the system doesn’t always go according to plan. Complicating matters over the last several months, says Deaton, is an ongoing pier repair project that has disrupted traffic in and out of the pier area and constricted space, contributing to sometimes long lines and delayed embarkation.
The Union-Tribune reached out to travelers who have taken cruises departing from San Diego, and their impressions of the boarding process varied widely, from smooth and trouble-free to chaotic and uncomfortable.
“We have been on over 20 cruises and this was one of the easiest and most efficient we’ve experienced,” San Diegan Sandy Myers said of her embarkation for a Mexican Riviera cruise she took in February.
Some commented on the appearance of the facility itself. “The terminal looks like a bare-bones warehouse both inside and out. There is nothing warm and welcoming about it,” said one passenger. Another, however, described the facility as “very clean and orderly.”
When people are researching cruises for future travel, the focus is clearly on the destination and the cruise line, but the boarding experience still is a factor, says Colleen McDaniel, editor-in-chief of the online review site, Cruise Critic.
“The experience of boarding a ship really sets the stage for the cruise, and it’s an important part of their cruise experience,” McDaniel said. “A lot of our member reviews include reviews on the embarkation and disembarkation processes, so it’s something they talk about and write about, and when it’s great, it’s less important because they don’t think about it.”
It’s not uncommon, she said, for the cruise lines to invest in terminal upgrades in major port cities, most notably in Miami, considered one of the busiest ports in the world.
“They’ve invested in building beautiful facilities, and if you’re waiting, you’re waiting in comfort as opposed to being in a warehouse,” McDaniel said. “Virgin has invested in Miami, where they opened a relatively new terminal and Norwegian Cruise Line has done the same. There you’ll see terminals dedicated to one cruise line, and it will feel very much like the ship.”
Holland America, which operates the most cruises out of San Diego, has taken steps to speed up the part of the boarding process where passengers check in with their cruise ship by implementing a facial recognition system. But cruise line president Gus Antorcha says there is room for improvement.
“I’m always concerned when the guest experience is impacted at a home port or on board the ship,” he said in a recent interview. “I’ve been to San Diego multiple times, and San Diego has its challenges, which we actively discuss with the port. It’s not always about the size of the terminal. Sometimes it’s the efficiency of the terminal.
“We’ve worked with the port with the check-in part, which is now down to minutes, so the front end works really fast, but the challenge in San Diego has a lot to do with getting people on and off the vessel. There were issues with the escalator and elevators, all well known to the port.”
So far this season, Holland America says, the elevators and escalator have not been an issue.
San Diego does have a second cruise ship terminal — the Port Pavilion on Broadway Pier — that was built in 2010, but it is rarely used for docking ships. It was originally designed more as an overflow facility for the B Street Terminal and is ill-suited for the increasingly larger ships now sailing today.
The Broadway terminal is a little less than half the size of the B Street facility, and the pier it sits on is 135 feet wide compared to the 400-foot width of B Street, Deaton said.
It’s not surprising then that there were just a dozen cruise calls at Broadway Pier in 2019, and only eight are expected this year. There were more last year — 15 — because of the construction work on B Street Pier that started last May.
The port does realize revenue from the terminal, which is frequently used for a variety of public and private events like weddings, proms and festivals. Projected revenue for this year is expected to exceed $320,000, similar to what was generated in 2019, before the pandemic, the port said.
“B street has always been our vision for the primary cruise ship terminal,” Deaton said. “While we would have loved to have had a brand new facility in the ‘90s, we’re not quite there and it will take investment by the lines to get there. San Diego is a key port for Holland America and Disney, and they would like to have a new facility and a better experience but the volumes aren’t there. And the industry is kind of still recovering from the pandemic
“When we first talked about a new cruise facility we were at a million passengers, and we’re not half there yet, at 460,000. Hopefully, we’ll get to that point someday.”
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