Disney Cruise Line strikes groundbreaking agreement with San Diego that will deliver 1M passengers
In a major boon for the county’s still rebounding cruise industry, Disney Cruise Line has inked a lucrative deal with the Port of San Diego that promises to deliver more than 1 million passengers over the next four years.
While Disney has been sailing out of San Diego since 2012, this latest agreement represents a huge commitment on the part of a popular - and growing - cruise line that port officials say has rarely been done locally.
Just last year, Disney announced it would for the first time be bringing to San Diego two cruise ships during the upcoming 2026-27 season that would mean 60 San Diego cruises, which translates to about 288,000 passengers. The Disney Magic arrives in October, offering mostly three- to seven-night voyages through November. And the Disney Wonder will homeport in San Diego from October 2026 through April 2027, sailing three- to seven-night itineraries to destinations including Catalina Island, Cabo San Lucas, Ensenada and Puerto Vallarta.
But this new multiyear agreement goes above and beyond, guaranteeing an annual minimum of more than 200,000 passengers through the 2030-31 season. If renewed for the 2031-32 season, the number of guaranteed passengers would jump to 250,000, from 225,000. The new pact starts with the 2027-28 season.
Port officials say that this marks the first time in more than 20 years that a cruise line has offered a minimum annual guarantee to the Port of San Diego.
"San Diego has been an important part of our West Coast operations for more than a decade, and a place our guests love sailing from," said Jose Fernandez, vice president of Port Strategy, Development & Operations, Disney Cruise Line. "This new agreement supports our long-term growth and helps us continue contributing to the region's economy."
While Disney has been bullish about San Diego for some time, the number of passengers sailing out of San Diego has at times dropped as the cruise line repositioned its ships to different parts of the world, like Australia, where it enjoyed great success. During the current season, which is close to ending, the number of Disney passengers dropped to an estimated 105,000.
"Disney is a valued homeport partner. Seeing them commit to a minimum annual number of passengers shows confidence in this cruise market, the Port, and San Diego,” said Adam Deaton, Port of San Diego maritime operations manager. “We have always known that San Diego is a special place to visit and now even more people will get to experience everything the ‘Port of Land and Sea’ has to offer."
In exchange for its willingness to guarantee a minimum number of passengers over the next several years, Disney will be assured “non-exclusive priority access” to the port's north and south berths at the B Street cruise terminal, port officials said.
“The Port is giving Disney priority access to berths,” port spokesperson Gabriella Rodriguez said. “This means Disney Cruise Line is granted non-exclusive preferential berthing at B Street Pier on certain days of the week (subject to change). This helps the Port better plan and maximize utilization of its cruise ship terminals throughout the cruise season, including the use of shore power.”
Disney, in turn, is required to send the port its cruise schedule for the next 20-month period by June 30 and Dec. 31 of each year, she explained. Any dates not requested then would be opened to other cruise lines, which allows the port to market open berths.
No subsidies or specific improvements to the B Street terminal were guaranteed as part of the agreement, she said.
The San Diego Unified Port District aggressively markets San Diego to various cruise lines because of the huge ripple effect they and their passengers have on the economy. The port estimates that each ship that begins and ends a cruise in San Diego contributes $2 million to the local economy. Roughly one-third of that is money spent by the cruise lines on such things as labor, ship repairs, shore excursions, florists and provisions.
In addition to the passenger growth Disney will bring, another line, Royal Caribbean, plans to make an unprecedented 44 cruise calls here during the 2026-27 cruising season, which are expected to attract 211,000 passengers. The port had earlier anticipated as many as 780,000 cruise ship passengers for this upcoming season, Rodriguez said, but the port lost a few calls from Norwegian Cruise Line because the ships coming here are going into dry dock mid-season.
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This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 12:57 PM.