Mississippi River flooding and New Orleans

[mr jimmy]

Just saw this online at NOLA.com out of New Orleans. My brother is on the Triumph 7-day and are due back Sat. AM, so this should not effect them. He called last Saturday and said they were "flying" down the river with the fast current. If they close the river due to the 18 mph current prediction, this would probably impact cruises out of New Orleans in the short-term.

http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2011/05/mississippi_river_could_close.html

[KirkNC]

Just saw this online at NOLA.com out of New Orleans. My brother is on the Triumph 7-day and are due back Sat. AM, so this should not effect them. He called last Saturday and said they were "flying" down the river with the fast current. If they close the river due to the 18 mph current prediction, this would probably impact cruises out of New Orleans in the short-term.

http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2011/05/mississippi_river_could_close.html

 

 

Wow, that is hauling butt! I wonder if the would divert to Galveston or Tampa maybe.

 

Kirk

[Bo Didly]

There going to go 16 to 17 knots down the river :eek: ?

[MagnoliaBlossom]

Several years ago the Conquest had a problem clearing power lines (that have now been raised) when the river was up. Three weeks before we were to sail she could not get up river and diverted to Gulfport, MS. She sailed from there for about 6 weeks until the line work was complete.

 

At that time the cruise lines had alwasy rejected the MS coast (although they had been heavily lobbied) because the ship channel is narrow and shallow. I know when we left port it took us 3 hours before we lost sight of land (as opposed to Galveston where, whoosh, you'r gone!). And a ship had a serious incident returning to port one morning.

 

Having said all that I do not know if MS is an option, but it is certainly the closest port for displaced cruisers. The drive is about an hour and a half, maybe less and at that time CCL had rented evert Grey Line bus in the area to shuttle passengers to their cars or the a/p.

 

Let's pray hard that the economy is not disrupted by a port closure and that no damage to levees occur.

[kjunea]

We left from New Orleans once but came back to Mobile because of a barge incident that had the Mississippi closed. They bused us back to New Orleans. They were picking up people in New Orleans and busing them to Mobile to catch the ship!

[cruisin_cajun]

We are leaving out on Saturday, and carefully monitoring this. We live about an hour west of New Orleans, and concerned about neighboring areas flooding. Luckily, we should be safe. Not so with so many others.

 

No news from Carnival, but we are anticipating a change of ports (more than likely on our return). Amazingly, we were also one of those who were on the Conquest when it was diverted to Gulfport. :rolleyes:

 

 

I've always looked forward to the trip down river, as many others have said. Now I'm somewhat afraid with these dangerous currents!

[LBumb]

that trip down the river has a lot of twists and turns

[jchristie]

we are scheduled to leave on the 26th and are closely monitoring this as well..... if we have to change ports how soon would we know and which port do you think they would put us at?

[KajunKruiser]

we are scheduled to leave on the 26th and are closely monitoring this as well..... if we have to change ports how soon would we know and which port do you think they would put us at?

 

 

We will be with you on this trip, I'm starting to wonder the same thing after reading that the coast guard should make the decision on the river on Monday.

 

Back in 2008 when the river was closed due to the barge that hit the river bridge causing oil to leak, we had to report to the cruise terminal then get bused to Mobile and bused back to NO.

[JRock59]

From John Healds Face Book Page

 

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John Heald

with regards to Louisiana I asked a SVP beard and he says " no impact to itineraries but we are closely monitoring the situation "..........i will keep you informed

[PhotoPete]

Just heard on WWL radio out of New Orleans that the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to the mouth of the river will be shutdown to deep draft vessels if the river hits the 18 foot level at the Carrolton Guage in NO. The river stood at slightly over 17 feet today in NO.

[KajunKruiser]

Just saw this online....keeping our fingers crossed. Friend of mine heard that if we have to get bused or leave from another port that it may be Galveston, since there is friction with Carnival pulling the ship from Mobile.

http://www.wwltv.com/news/river-watch/videos/Rising-river-not-expected-to-impact-large-vessels-cruise-ships-121718504.html

[DarthGrady]

There going to go 16 to 17 knots down the river :eek: ?

 

Anyone got water skis? :D

[jchristie]

I hope that it does not come to us having to be bused for N.O. sake....I love that city! I am just ready to get on the ship and have a nice vacation.....lol

[steelerjen]

Our 2003 Conquest cruise was diverted to Golfport, MS and it was our very first cruise. I didn't know until several cruises later how great it is to go down the river. I have to say that Carnival did a great job in getting us to Golfport (we flew to NOLA). I hope it works out for everyoone.

[buddyjo143]

There going to go 16 to 17 knots down the river :eek: ?

 

They don't want to go 16 to 17 knots down the river. That is the rate at which the river is traveling. Keep our Memphis neighbors and others further downriver in your thoughts as they are being flooded out of their homes.

[MRVEGAS711]

My wife and I just returned from a vacation to New Orleans. We watched the Triumph leave and it was a sight to see!

 

The river pushed the aft so hard toward the banks the ship listed about 8 feet. All big ships were going through the same thing. It take a good captain to ride that river right now.

 

We took a riverboat ride and downstream he was going 3 knots propulsion and traveling about 18 knots speed downriver.

 

Up river was like climbing a sand dune.

[BamaCruiser20]

As inconvenient as being bused to another port may be, if it were me, I would much rather do that than go that fast down the Mississippi river....that is one might crooked river and there would be some mighty sick folks on board!

 

Thoughts and prayers go out for those having their homes and lives disrupted by this...

[bonniemari]

If NOLA is expecting anything like Memphis got I would be prepared to port out of somewhere else. The river at downtown Memphis is usually about a 1/2 mile wide. Before the river crested on Tuesday is was 3 miles wide. Even the casinos in Tunica are shut down from flooding. Been here all my life and have never seen anything like it.

 

Good luck and smooth sailing for all who are sailing out of NOLA in the next few weeks.

[Los LocosATL]

We are booked on this cruise as well and have our fingers crossed! How far in advance does Carnival advise of a port of call change?

[authementfly1]

We sail out on the 30th and are watching this closely. We drove down by the river yesterday afternoon and I can say I've never seen the water so far inland in my life. We fortunately will not be affected by any flood waters ourselves, but our thoughts and prayers are with all individuals who have been and will be affected by this in the upcoming weeks.

[Naomi John]

http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2011/05/jindal_says_morganza_floodway.html

 

In an attempt to protect Baton Rouge and NOLA, the Morganza Spillway will be openned. Once this happens, I doubt NOLA will flood, but a good portion of Cajun Country will be gone.

 

How is this for scary, it has not been openned since 1973, and they are not sure if it will close.:eek:

[bonniemari]

Good luck to our neighbors in the South. Memphis got hit pretty hard by these floods. I live east of Memphis in the next county over so luckily we were not subject to the flood waters. Thoughts and prayers to all that were and will be effected by the floods.

[weedris]

Wow, New Orleans doesn't need this all over again. I'm sailing next week and if we have to change ports I can deal with that. However the people and businesses of NO don't need to deal with any more flooding.

[bluey258]

http://photos.nola.com/photogallery/2011/05/streetcar_vs_cruiseship.html

 

this picture really says it all.

 

i dont think there will be any worries about ports. the spillways are doing there jobs and keeping the water out of new orleans.