Carnival Says Goodbye to Mobile, Tweaks Gulf Coast Itineraries

[LauraS]

Check out the latest Carnival Cruise Line news from Cruise Critic:

Carnival Says Goodbye to Mobile, Tweaks Gulf Coast Itineraries

[Ceece911]

I just turned on the 5:00 news and it was the top story here in Mobile. So, so sad. The mayor says he's working hard to get another company's ship here. Well, I guess he needs to, mainly because they still owe so much on that cruise terminal.

[floatingaway2525]

Wow what a shocker of a move...I am thrilled to have Ecstasy come close to home, I love love love that ship....but it's a sad thrilled because I am really sad for Mobile to end up with no ship

I know there are reasons that we don't know or understand, and it may be the best business move and all, I'm just sad for the city....I hope Mobile and CCL work it out and resume there again!

[MrFancypants]

Was just on the Elation 3/3 out of Mobile. Glad to have experienced the port before it's vacated.

[wallyjar]

Mobile just lost opportunity for 40 billion dollar Air Force tanker contract now Carnival leaves Mobile with new cruise terminal still unpaid for.

Anyone know what the $s lost will be for Mobile in lost jobs and business that serves the cruise line?

[richcrow]

The news reports here in Mobile state that Mobile stands to lose a little more than $!,000,000 net just for the rest of 2011. This is just the city of Mobile and doesn't count the losses that will be expierenced by business owners. I believe that I heard there will be around 40 to 50 jobs lost.

I know that corporations such as Carnial have to protect there bottom line, but some of there rational just doesn't make since. As stated below, one of the main reasons Carnival gives for leaving Mobile is fuel costs. I'm here to tell you that operating the Elation out of New Orleans in lieu of Mobile will incurr higher fuel costs. It will take the Elation around 8 hrs. of sailing time just to reach the gulf of Mexico which is at least twice as long as sailing out of Mobile. I hate to think what it costs in fuel to return to NO bucking the currents in the Mississippi River as compared to Mobile Bay.

"Although we have consistently filled the ship, it has been at lower relative pricing to the rest of our fleet," noted Carnival president and CEO Gerry Cahill in a press release. "Additionally, the itineraries from Mobile require much higher relative fuel costs to operate and those fuel costs will become even more unfavorable with the implementation of the new ECA requirements starting in 2012." Therefore, the cruise line made the "very difficult decision to discontinue our cruise operations from Mobile effective October 22, 2011."

[nofishforme]

Let's hope one of the other cruiselines would like to fill this market or maybe two .They all have small ships that can navigate the channel.Change could be a good a good thing just my two cents

[iluvdoxies]

Originally Posted by floatingaway2525

Wow what a shocker of a move...I am thrilled to have Ecstasy come close to home, I love love love that ship....but it's a sad thrilled because I am really sad for Mobile to end up with no ship

I know there are reasons that we don't know or understand, and it may be the best business move and all, I'm just sad for the city....I hope Mobile and CCL work it out and resume there again!

I agree floatie, glad she's close to home, but feel bad for people from Mobile who will be impacted by this move.

And she's one CCL ship we haven't sailed.

[Ronn452]

Seems there may be more to the story. As previously noted, Mobile to Cozumel and Progresso is no further than NO to the same ports. From Mobile, open water of the Gulf is only a stone's throw whereas from NO it is seven to eight hours. The decreased fare was minimal compared to that of the same cruise from NO on a larger, newer ship (apples to oranges). And, as stated by Carnival, the ship was most often full. There must be some behind the door problem between the port and the line; maybe a little greed by either party over fees or whatnot. Anyway, it really is a shame and a big loss to the city and those of us who have cruised out of Mobile on the Holiday and the Elation.

I truly don't see any of the other cruise lines moving a ship to Mobile. If it wasn't profitable for Carnival, why would it be so for another line?

[Jabee]

Port Canaveral announced the addition of the Ecstacy before Carnival could inform anyone of what was going on.

Suddenly they went into crisis mode...closed out bookings in the middle of the day...had to make quick calls to Mobile, NOLA, and tell them what was happening, and finally scheduled an impromptu and unplanned press conference. Also Got John Heald some quick info as he also was caught off guard.

Mobile officials had less then an hours notice before the official release.

It really makes me wonder if something else was in the works, and suddenly a plan had to be developed, and eliminating Mobile was the easy answer.

Last June Mobile average 2,617 passengers on a 2100 passenger ship. Even at lower rates, those extra 500 passengers added profit, especially in the summer.

To be honest, and I also happen to be a stock owner of CCL, and more then the 100 shares to get on board credit, it makes me wonder about the decision making going on.

And, with fuel being the big excuse, makes me wonder if the surcharge is coming back (and don't tell me about JH saying anything...he knew nothing of Mobile either.)

[LHP]

Originally Posted by Jabee

Port Canaveral announced the addition of the Ecstacy before Carnival could inform anyone of what was going on.

Suddenly they went into crisis mode...closed out bookings in the middle of the day...had to make quick calls to Mobile, NOLA, and tell them what was happening, and finally scheduled an impromptu and unplanned press conference. Also Got John Heald some quick info as he also was caught off guard.

Mobile officials had less then an hours notice before the official release.

It really makes me wonder if something else was in the works, and suddenly a plan had to be developed, and eliminating Mobile was the easy answer.

Last June Mobile average 2,617 passengers on a 2100 passenger ship. Even at lower rates, those extra 500 passengers added profit, especially in the summer.

To be honest, and I also happen to be a stock owner of CCL, and more then the 100 shares to get on board credit, it makes me wonder about the decision making going on.

And, with fuel being the big excuse, makes me wonder if the surcharge is coming back (and don't tell me about JH saying anything...he knew nothing of Mobile either.)

Jimmy..you are not looking at the whole picture....

A cabin is rated on TOTAL REVENUE generated...not just the cruise fare...
(spa, casino, gift shop, bar, shore excursions etc)

Also, I am a little surprised that we heard none of this reaction with RCCL pulling out of California. WE all know that California is in far worse shape than Alabama or Mobile......

And yes, an official at Port Canaveral messed up and announced it before they were suppose to. It hits the wires (USA TODAY) so the only responsible thing for Carnival to do was confirm.

I am certain that Carnival would have loved to have been able to talk to all the official involved before making the announcement...but Carnival wasn't given that option.

Carnival gave it 6 years. Carnival Passengers paid for the terminal, gangway and improvements. Mobile got 6 years of promotion and advertising.....but could not deliver.

AS I have posted earlier....no one on this board would work for $10 an hour when another company guaranteed them $20 an hour.......

it is business...period.

[CorncobOBiscuit]

I will say that when planning our upcoming cruise, several trips out of Mobile were in the list presented to us by the travel agent, and we tended to pass over those in favor of the ports we recognized as more of a vacation destination like New Orleans and Miami. I did a little further research and found that Mobile does have more going for it than I expected, but I wonder how many cruisers turn it down right off the bat because it doesn't "sound" like a place to take a vacation.

[Earthworm Jim]

Originally Posted by richcrow

As stated below, one of the main reasons Carnival gives for leaving Mobile is fuel costs. I'm here to tell you that operating the Elation out of New Orleans in lieu of Mobile will incurr higher fuel costs. It will take the Elation around 8 hrs. of sailing time just to reach the gulf of Mexico which is at least twice as long as sailing out of Mobile. I hate to think what it costs in fuel to return to NO bucking the currents in the Mississippi River as compared to Mobile Bay.

There is more to it than that. First of all, the Elation going to N.O. is just replacing its sister ship, the Ecstasy, there. So there will be no net change in fuel costs from New Orleans. The Ecstasy is going to Port Canaveral. So the real change is Carnival effectively switching Mobile for Port Canaveral.

There are new rules that say ships have to use more expensive, low sulfur fuels inside a designated emissions zone. In the Gulf of Mexico, that zone extends to 200 miles from the coast. It's said that can add 3% to operation costs in the zone. Since the Caribbean nations near Florida are not in the zone, a ship sailing from Port Canaveral would have to sail much less distance in the designated emissions zone before reaching waters where they can use cheaper fuel.

Here's the article I read on it to get this info: http://blog.al.com/live/2011/03/carn..._from_mob.html

[Earthworm Jim]

I suspect another factor is that it's cheaper to fly from some major East Coast airports to Orlando than it is to fly to Mobile. So when passengers compare their total cost, the cruise fare has to be lower from Mobile to make it cost competitive. Which would explain why Carnival is getting lower prices for it's Mobile sailings.

However, it's not cheaper to fly to New Orleans from the East Coast than it is to fly to Mobile, and New Orleans supports higher prices, so maybe my theory is all wet. Perhaps New Orleans is a destination in itself that people are willing to pay extra to go to, and Mobile is not.

[familycruzinnewbie]

I live in Eastern Canada nowhere near a port. NY or Florida are the easiest and cheapest. But I have been looking at the other ones seeing if they are possible to combine with other trips or conferences that DH can attend etc. Galveston is definitely one place that is quite inconvenient to get to for those who have to fly. But they do have a large base of people that can drive to the port. And the novelty of Magic might be enough to get people from further away. The are conferences near NOLA, as of yet I haven't found the right combination of schedule and cost that would work. But as Jim mentioned the destination itself has something going for it. Mobile hasn't really been a consideration up to this point though.

[ScubaJim]

I say just boycott Carnival. Give them a tast of their own medicine.

[futaba951]

Originally Posted by ScubaJim

I say just boycott Carnival. Give them a tast of their own medicine.

Meanwhile, you and the nine others who join you will really put the hurt on the bottom line!

[trailercruiser]

Originally Posted by familycruzinnewbie

I live in Eastern Canada nowhere near a port. NY or Florida are the easiest and cheapest. But I have been looking at the other ones seeing if they are possible to combine with other trips or conferences that DH can attend etc. Galveston is definitely one place that is quite inconvenient to get to for those who have to fly. But they do have a large base of people that can drive to the port. And the novelty of Magic might be enough to get people from further away. The are conferences near NOLA, as of yet I haven't found the right combination of schedule and cost that would work. But as Jim mentioned the destination itself has something going for it. Mobile hasn't really been a consideration up to this point though.

For Galveston you fly into Houston which is the 4rth largest city in america, not sure why you would have trouble flying there? Yes the inconvience of driving 40 minute from Galveston to houston, but its a 45 minute drive from orlando to PC, so not sure how its so hard? And there are 2 major airports in Houston . hmmm

[firefly333]

Originally Posted by trailercruiser

For Galveston you fly into Houston which is the 4rth largest city in america, not sure why you would have trouble flying there? Yes the inconvience of driving 40 minute from Galveston to houston, but its a 45 minute drive from orlando to PC, so not sure how its so hard? And there are 2 major airports in Houston . hmmm

Actually Galveston is one of the worst ports to fly into. Rental cars are closed on sundays, so thats out and shuttle are much more expensive than going from Orlando to Port Canaveral. My RCL roll call who flew in for Voyager said probably never again. It is a very inconvenient port if you are not driving in.

[carnivalcruiser10]

I saw other site AL have lost for passport of different in NOLA?? hope carnival elation sailing in New Orleans it is year round?? I'm be will ailing on the elation be okay for me.