BREAKING: Carnival Leaving San Diego

Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen told USA TODAY’s CruiseLog, that “the line will not replace its last remaining ship in the city, the Carnival Spirit, when the vessel moves to Australia in 2012.”

“All San Diego cruises through April 2012 will operate as scheduled, (but) we do not currently have plans to replace the Carnival Spirit in San Diego due to the weaker relative financial performance for that program at present,” Gulliksen says. “However, we will consider basing a ship in San Diego in the future depending on market conditions and based on our very strong relationship with the Port of San Diego.”

Earlier in 2010 Royal Caribbean made the announcement that they were pulling the Mariner of the Seas out of the debt-ridden state and sending her to Europe and Texas.

All in all, CA had its calls cut by 50%.

I wonder what will happen to Carnival’s Alaska presence in 2012. Maybe the Splendor will head up. She does have a dome over her main pool. Hint, Hint.