Viking Serenade to Call on San Diego

Starting Jan. 27, passengers on four-day cruises aboard the Viking Serenade will be able to spend a day in San Diego en route from Los Angeles to Ensenada, Mexico.

The ship, owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., last week became the first to add a California port to its itinerary after last month’s congressional passage of a law that is expected to bring more cruise business to the state.

The law overrode a 1992 state provision that banned gambling on cruise ships stopping at more than one California port en route to a foreign destination. San Diego alone lost about $30 million annually as a result of the earlier law, said Rita Vandergaw, the port’s director of marketing and public relations.

Under its new itinerary, the Viking Serenade will depart Los Angeles every Monday and stop at Avalon, San Diego and Ensenada before returning to Los Angeles. It has been shutting down its casinos between Los Angeles and Avalon to conform to the 1992 ban; on Monday, it will resume gaming.