Carnival leaving Mobile

[blwms]

What a shame! Carnival to leave Mobile. I know I am prejudiced, being from Alabama, but I love the Mobile terminal! And I know the Carnival ships have had great success here from an occupancy standpoint. Carnival says the price of fuel is the main reason for moving from Mobile to New Orleans. I yield to their reasoning, but am deeply disappointed. At my age, Mobile is the ONLY cruise port that I am able to drive to so I guess my cruising days are over. My wife and I will be celebrating our 54th wedding anniversary this year but it looks like dry land for us! Oh, but the memories!

[cruisin'tex]

What a shame! Carnival to leave Mobile. I know I am prejudiced, being from Alabama, but I love the Mobile terminal! And I know the Carnival ships have had great success here from an occupancy standpoint. Carnival says the price of fuel is the main reason for moving from Mobile to New Orleans. I yield to their reasoning, but am deeply disappointed. At my age, Mobile is the ONLY cruise port that I am able to drive to so I guess my cruising days are over. My wife and I will be celebrating our 54th wedding anniversary this year but it looks like dry land for us! Oh, but the memories!

 

Thanks for posting this....I didn't know Carnival was leaving Mobile. Just sailed out of there in Jan.

[Deckbreeze]

When they announced this, I felt so sad. All of the local investment on behalf of Carnival and the loss of hosptality income - rough deal for Mobile. I would hope that some cruise line would at least look at Mobile for the summer season.

I thought the port was just right for families that just wanted to cruise and maybe get some southern seafood apres-cruise.

[jasminelee]

What a bummer! We sailed from Mobile our last cruise-MUCH better than JAX. I know we won't be driving to NO to cruise. Maybe another line will call Mobile home. Otherwise, I agree with blwms. :mad:

[salty dingo]

At my age, Mobile is the ONLY cruise port that I am able to drive to so I guess my cruising days are over.

Not so fast... you could drive to Mobile and take Amtrak to NOLA. No extra driving and the cost would be minimal.

[RJ7591]

We're tired of the same old itinerary but we're very sad to see Carnival leave! Does anyone know what the last sail date will be? Our first cruise was the first cruise out of Mobile and my husband thinks we should sail on the last one. Everything I've read says they're leaving in November but I don't see anything on Carnival's website after October 15th.

[mfeenker]

We're tired of the same old itinerary but we're very sad to see Carnival leave! Does anyone know what the last sail date will be? Our first cruise was the first cruise out of Mobile and my husband thinks we should sail on the last one. Everything I've read says they're leaving in November but I don't see anything on Carnival's website after October 15th.

Last scheduled sailing 15 Oct 2011.

[Mysticks1]

Not so fast... you could drive to Mobile and take Amtrak to NOLA. No extra driving and the cost would be minimal.

 

Mobile no longer has Amtrak service. The terminal has even been torn down.

[travler27]

My first thought was that NO used some of it's Katrina stimulus bucks to lure Carnival from Mobile to NO.

 

Haven't seen anything to indicate that but the "fuel cost" statement from Carnival doesn't hold water since the Elation will maintain the same schedule and travel to the same ports and the distance difference between NO and Mobile to Cozumel has got to be almost none.

 

Time will tell the real story.

[futaba951]

Service out of Mobile is actually going to PC. The only reason NOLA is involved is because they are moving Ecstasy to PC and replacing it with Elation from Mobile. Actually another slap at NOLA imo because they are losing a ship with the full upgrades. Not an even swap. The fuel costs out of PC will be minimal on the short runs it will do from there. It's all about the money. I can't blame Carnival for making the move, business wise.

[Ga-Fl Peach]

Service out of Mobile is actually going to PC. The only reason NOLA is involved is because they are moving Ecstasy to PC and replacing it with Elation from Mobile. Actually another slap at NOLA imo because they are losing a ship with the full upgrades. Not an even swap. The fuel costs out of PC will be minimal on the short runs it will do from there. It's all about the money. I can't blame Carnival for making the move, business wise.

 

Is PC - Panama City - as in 'Florida'? The new International Airrport is there and they have a deep water port, it would be perfect to go along with the beach vacations. I have seen big navel LSD ships brought in there. Panama City would be a good location for Gulf of Mexico departures between NO and Tampa.

[futaba951]

Is PC - Panama City - as in 'Florida'? The new International Airrport is there and they have a deep water port, it would be perfect to go along with the beach vacations. I have seen big navel LSD ships brought in there. Panama City would be a good location for Gulf of Mexico departures between NO and Tampa.

 

Port Canaveral.

[rvsullivan]

It's 143 miles and 2 hours and 15 minutes from Mobile to New Orleans. This is going to stop you from cruising????:rolleyes::rolleyes:

[jewopaho]

The only reason NOLA is involved is because they are moving Ecstasy to PC and replacing it with Elation from Mobile. Actually another slap at NOLA imo because they are losing a ship with the full upgrades. Not an even swap.

Funny ... I pointed the trend out on this thread ...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1365934

... and was flamed royally. I guess there's some credibility to my contention after all.

 

Give Carnival credit. It's the only cruise line that takes chances ... some work, others don't. They've initiated cruising out of such places as Jacksonville, FL (a dud), and Charleston, SC (a winner), keeping those older ships around to open the newer markets. They obviously hope for the best, but are apparently prepared to fail, cut their losses, and move on. Not every business entity can survive using that model.

[maldenmusic]

I was sorry to hear this....Mobile has always been a nice place to cruise from...and it is close to really nice beaches so we always took an extra day after our cruises and went to Florida.