After months of empty docks and sparsely populated water, cruise ships are coming back to the San Francisco Bay.
According to an announcement Friday by Mayor London Breed and the Port of San Francisco, the first vessel to dock in the Bay once again will be the Majestic Princess on Monday.
"I am so excited to welcome cruises back to our Port, and visitors back to our City," said Breed in a statement. "Tourism is a critical part of our City’s economy, helping to pay for important services that allow us to take care of our most vulnerable residents. This announcement is just another example of our City coming back to life and emerging from this pandemic stronger than ever before."
San Francisco is the only place where cruise ships are able to stop in the Bay Area. The city is expecting 21 cruises for the rest of this year and 127 in 2022.
While cruise lines have resumed operations in accordance with CDC guidelines, the docking areas at Pier 27 and Pier 35 have implemented additional COVID-19 protocols in anticipation. Passenger departures and returns to the ship will be staggered, and masks will be required while in the terminals.
Cruise ships bring in thousands of passengers with each visit. San Francisco hosted 280,000 cruise visitors in 2019, before the pandemic hit, and those visitors brought in $27 million to the city.
"Passengers aboard the Majestic Princess will be warmly welcomed to San Francisco this coming Monday. The return of cruises to and from San Francisco is an important step forward in our recovery and yet another positive sign for the City’s tourism and hospitality industry," said Joe D’Alessandro, the president and CEO of the San Francisco Travel Association, in the statement.
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