Mobile Port - Carnival

I'm leaving from the Mobile Port in August on Carnival. Is anyone familiar with this port? Is there a place to wait and it it easy to get through to the ship? For me, Miami's great with the new terminal and lots of check in windows. There's lots of room inside the terminal (with A/C) to wait. But when I left from LA, we all had to stand in line outside and there was no place inside the terminal to wait. We were just standing around in the sun. I want to get there in time to board for lunch and if we're delayed boarding, I was hoping there would be facilities for us.

I hear about folks parking free "under the bridge" in Mobile.

Cotton should be able to tell ya.

When we went thru Mobile in January, I liked it much more than Miami. To me, Miami is a long drawn out affair. Up, down, around, back around...........blah blah. I thought Mobile was much quicker & easier than Miami. You park in the parking garage, walk over & go into the terminal & before you know it you are on the ship. I was pleased.

I have sailed out of 5 different ports, and to me Mobile is by far the best, easiest and friendliest port to cruise out of.

Chris

The Holiday was my first cruise, and my second is in January, so I have nothing to compare it to. But the process was pretty painless.

Forget parking at the port- get a hotel the night before. There are a few that offer stay and park deals, and a shuttle to the port.

I did that, and my room (including parking) wasn't much more than paying for parking at the port. I can't remember right now where I stayed, but if you need help finding a place, I can look it up- just PM me!

Sailed from Miami,New Orleans, Galveston and others. Mobile is the easiest to get to off the interstate and the friendliest employeees we have found.Very convenient.

I have consistently read that Mobile's port is outstanding.

We shall see . . . :D

I've heard good things about the port too. I hope they are right, will know very soon :)

I am staying at the Radisson and leaving the car there. Not sure how their shuttle service works exactly but I hope to be there early enough to enjoy some of the ship exploring before we leave port.

Where are some of the places ya'll have recently stayed at the night before? I have used the search and read reviews but since we will make this trip in October, I wonder what recently people have found.

This might be a hi-jack and I'm sorry for that but I fell like it goes alon with the thread!

Thanks,

Chuck

We took our first cruise out of Mobile. We got there too early - there was a police officer at the entrance to the pier and he directed us to a parking area under the interstate. There were many other people waiting. When the port was ready for us, the officer turned on his blue lights. We then drove across the street and parked in the ramp. There are porta-pots in the parking lots under the interstate. This port is very easy.

There is a section dedicated to Gulf Coast Departures. There are several threads about the Mobile Alabama area and the port itself.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=414

What is the date of your cruise? I'm booked in August too (see my signature)

I don't know if you are talking to me or the OP. We are going on the Holiday on October 11. First cruise and I don't want to miss a thing!!!

There is a section dedicated to Gulf Coast Departures. There are several threads about the Mobile Alabama area and the port itself.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=414

 

What is the date of your cruise? I'm booked in August too (see my signature)

Thanks for the link! I'm going 8-16-08. Sorry we'll miss eachother. I see you'll be somewhere else having fun!

I would love any hotel info you have for Mobile. We were thinking of driving in the day of, but if the price is close to the same, I would rather be rested and avoid the stress of driving that day. Where did you stay and what was the price?

We took our first cruise out of Mobile. We got there too early - there was a police officer at the entrance to the pier and he directed us to a parking area under the interstate. There were many other people waiting. When the port was ready for us, the officer turned on his blue lights. We then drove across the street and parked in the ramp. There are porta-pots in the parking lots under the interstate. This port is very easy.

Thanks for the info. What's too early?

Howdy Y'all!

Welcome to the Gulf Coast Departures Forum!

Per the Guidelines, another host moved this thread to the correct forum where it would be on-topic.

I sincerely hope you will find anything you want to know about the Galveston, Gulfport, Mobile and New Orleans ports. Please feel free to use the Search this Forum feature with your key word or words. It will help narrow down the threads you will want to read during your research. You can see if your inquiry has been asked and answered before. And it probably has... many, many times! I suggest you do not try to search with too many or too common of key words at one time. This will sometime overwhelm the search feature with too many threads to scan.

I sincerely hope this information will be helpful and glad to have you aboard our forum!

Kat

http://www.mobile.org/vis_home.php

Try this link for lots of information about the City of Mobile, Hotels and places to visit while you are here. There are lots of really good Seafood Restaurants on the Causeway - (follow directions to the USS Alabama - they are East of the ship. My favorite is Ed's Seafood Shed (on the right approx. 1.5 miles past the Battleship)

I would also recommend that you do not park underneath the interstate - use the port parking or cruise parking package at one of the local hotels.

There are many nice hotels in the downtown area - when checking rates ask if they have room with a view of the ship as many should have a good view.

My mom and I are driving in from Houston to sail out on the Holiday, along with some other girls in the family that are from TN and AL (otherwise we'd be cruising from Galveston!). This is the first cruise for all six of us. :)

How soon do we need to arrive? We were planning to leave Houston that morning, but it is at least a 7 hous trip. Is that cutting it too close??

My mom and I are driving in from Houston to sail out on the Holiday, along with some other girls in the family that are from TN and AL (otherwise we'd be cruising from Galveston!). This is the first cruise for all six of us. :)

How soon do we need to arrive? We were planning to leave Houston that morning, but it is at least a 7 hous trip. Is that cutting it too close??

Depends on what time you leave in the morning :D

The LATEST you can be on the ship is what? 2pm or 2:30pm, something like that. Give yourself 30-45 minutes to check in at the terminal, this means you should arrive at the port no later than say 1:30pm.

This means you would need to leave Houston (same time zone?) at 6:30am. If it was me, I would leave at 5:00-5:30 am just to be safe.

Thanks. I think we've decided to drive in the night before to be safe.