Cruising, From San Diego and Beyond

A dozen years ago, I served as the anonymous cruise critic for a division of USA Today. The job sounds like a dream, and often it was, in spite of the busy schedule — up to three cruises a month, sometimes jumping off after a week on one ship to embark on another, often out of the same port, the same day. One embarkation port was my favorite. As a native San Diegan who grew up within eyesight of the bay, few journeys were easier than those that started with a taxi down to the Port of San Diego. Even when planned at the last minute, a winter week in Mexico with easy airport connections was a joy.

The San Diego cruise season runs October through May, and two cruise lines offer the vast majority of sailings out of our port. Calling San Diego home since 2011, the Disney Cruise Line’s mid-sized Disney Wonder runs three- and four-night itineraries to Ensenada and Catalina in the spring before transiting to Alaska for the summer season, and then to Australia and New Zealand for cruises in the fall and winter.

But it’s Holland America that has truly nurtured a relationship with San Diego. With a lineage dating to 1873, the venerable cruise line is probably the most traditional of the major operators, with a fleet that is comfortably mid-sized. In contrast to Disney, Holland America tends to draw a mature crowd — it’s a good bet for anyone wanting to avoid children — and the Dutch heritage is kept alive through afternoon tea and a crew that is mostly from Indonesia, Holland’s former colony.

Two Holland America ships reside in San Diego during the season, led by the elegant 2,650-passenger Koningsdam, which sails a variety of Mexico and Hawaii itineraries through March before operating a summer season in Alaska. (Next year, Koningsdam will be replaced by the slightly smaller Nieuw Amsterdam.) The other ship dedicated to San Diego is the older, 1,432-guest Zaandam, with a similar roster of Mexico and Hawaii voyages planned this season and next.

A few one-off itineraries with Holland America will take San Diegans well beyond Mexico and Hawaii. On February 15, the Koningsdam sets sail on a 35-night itinerary visiting Hawaii coupled with eight leisurely days at five different islands in French Polynesia. Want longer still? The Zaandam embarks on a 60-night itinerary from San Diego to Sydney, Australia, that trades French Polynesia for an extended trip through Papua New Guinea and a circumnavigation of the Australian continent. That delicious-sounding adventure starts January 4, 2026. 

Seventy-some cruises after I first embarked as “Anon,” I tend to cast my eyes toward the far horizons in search of new ports and new adventures. Two of cruising’s newer brands, Virgin Voyages and Viking, can claim a “V” for victory, having each nabbed the top slot in their size categories (midsized and large) in several readers’ choice awards.  Not surprisingly, they each boast a fiercely loyal clientele.

Viking, solidly established for a quarter-century with its river ships in Europe, has spent the last decade expanding into ocean territory. It now boasts ten identical 930-passenger ships canvassing the globe, reaching deep into less obvious corners, such as Southeast Asia and Northern Norway for aurora viewing in winter. Two 378-passenger expedition ships were added to the fleet, offering the requisite Antarctica journeys at one end of the year and Great Lakes at the other.  

Virgin Voyages is the personal project of entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, with three identical 2,762-guest ships sailing. A fourth, the Brilliant Lady, arrives in September 2025. While itineraries so far have been largely vanilla — Caribbean from Miami, Mediterranean out of Barcelona and Athens — the onboard vibe is playfully relaxed, celebrating come-as-you-are nonconformity, and dining is surprisingly varied.  

One sector of the industry that has experienced significant growth in the last few years is expedition cruising, where smaller vessels explore wildlife-rich regions and smaller ports. Several new cruise lines have emerged. The Australian-owned Scenic launched its second ship last year, and Atlas Ocean Voyages arrived on the scene in 2021 and now has three 198-passenger vessels. Atlas winters in Antarctica, but dedicates the summer season to Europe, with itineraries and activities focused on culinary and cultural exploration.  

Established names like Viking have also staked a claim to the fast-growing expedition market. Seabourn has launched a pair of handsome, 264-passenger expedition ships, and Silversea now has four ships catering to adventure seekers, including the 100-passenger Silver Origin, which explores year-round in the Galapagos, and the 220-passenger Silver Endeavour — possibly the most expensive ship ever built on a per-berth basis. For those pressed for time, Silversea offers what it calls the Antarctic Bridge, flying from Argentina’s Ushuaia straight to King George Island, thus shaving off four sea days crossing (and returning) via the notorious Drake Passage.

For those of us lucky enough to have explored Antarctica, expedition lines use their kayak- and Zodiac-equipped vessels to seek out increasingly unusual regions the other months of the year: Visit the Kimberly region of Western Australia and discover rock art galleries thought to represent the world’s oldest known depictions of human figures. A cruise to Arctic regions trades penguins for polar bears and the dramatic landscapes of Greenland, the far reaches of Canada, and Svalbard, an archipelago halfway between Norway and the North Pole. And for those of us seeking the back of beyond, the dream beaches and pink granite monoliths of the Seychelles beckon — the outer islands include Aldabra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to more than 130,000 giant tortoises, ten times the number found in the Galapagos.

One well-known land operator has quietly emerged as a leader canvassing these and other remote corners of the world: Abercrombie & Kent. The company charters the classy expedition ships of French cruise line Ponant, brings aboard a crack team of lecturers and guides for curated shore excursions, and amplifies the culinary program.  Next year the company will offer 24 cruises across seven continents and 33 countries.

A&K made news in another big way when it acquired the two beloved ships of Crystal Cruises, re-launching the pair last year. Through a $150 million renovation, the two ships — both more than 20 years old — were lavishly upgraded, while guest capacity was reduced by about one quarter (many cabins were combined to create suites). The two ships ply the seven seas, with leisurely itineraries that include plenty of overnights in choice ports such as Hong Kong and Dubrovnik. Many of the voyages can be linked to create a deeper immersion into a region such as the Mediterranean or Southeast Asia.

While my former cruise reporting job kept me busy with Carnival, Celebrity, and Cunard, somehow, I never made it onto the “old” Crystal Cruises. Based on reports from the first year operating as the “new” Crystal, they are now high on my must-ride list.

The only question: Where to?