The City of Avalon is negotiating long-term agreements with cruise lines that make regular visits to Catalina Island.
Discussions on the subject started in February and were recently included in the agenda of a city council meeting earlier this month.
Avalon’s City Council agreed to move forward with the negotiations during the meeting, as the Disney Cruise Line Blog reported.
An official policy is not currently available for cruise lines requesting visits to the destination, which is located in Southern California.
“There is no written policy regarding the scheduling of cruise ship anchorage requests,” the agenda of the meeting stated.
“However, the City Council reviews and adopts a resolution semi-annually confirming guidelines that establish a framework by which cruise ships are approved to visit Avalon as a port of call,” it added.
According to the document, Disney Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean International and Carnival Cruise Line expressed interest in entering a port agreement with the city.
The council then recommended the discussion of potential deals with these companies, authorizing the City Manager to negotiate and execute agreements.
Preliminary city documentation points to five-year contracts with Disney and Carnival, including the option of two additional five-year extensions.
Disney would take advantage of preferred anchorage space on Tuesdays and Saturdays, while Carnival would get prime positions on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Royal Caribbean is looking into a three-year agreement, which would include options for two three-year extensions.
The company would get the preferred anchorage space on Mondays and Wednesdays, guaranteeing the arrival of at least 100,000 guests per year.
While Carnival’s minimum passenger arrival numbers were not included in the documents, Disney is looking into bringing at least 120,000 guests to Avalon per year.
A Carnival representative, Leon Sutcliffe, was present at the council meeting that took place in July and expressed the company’s willingness to establish a long-term relationship with the city.
According to the Disney Cruise Line Blog, Sutcliffe emphasized Carnival’s 25-year presence in the town, noting that the brand was the first to add Catalina Island as a port of call.