Carnival abandons New Orleans -- at least for now

[mercedes]

Call it the disaster that never ends.

Last month's oil spill on the Mississippi River was supposed to be cleaned up weeks ago. But apparently it's still causing trouble for ships heading to New Orleans, including the Carnival Fantasy, and it appears Carnival has finally given up hope that the situation will be fixed anytime soon.

The line says the 2,052-passenger Fantasy, which normally is based year-round in New Orleans, will relocate to Mobile, Ala., through at least September.

The announcement affects six Caribbean cruises on the Fantasy scheduled to depart New Orleans on Aug. 9, 14, 18, 23 and 28, and on Sept. 1. The ship will then enter a previously-scheduled dry dock for a massive overhaul before (presumably) returning to New Orleans in October.

As we mentioned earlier this week, the oil spill has been a bit of a nightmare for Carnival, which has scrambled to make last-minute changes to the Fantasy's itinerary in each of the last three weeks. Every week it looked like the oil spill had been contained and the ship could get back into its berth in New Orleans. And every week something went wrong that kept the vessel away.

In each of the past three weeks the ship has been forced to make a last-minute diversion to Mobile to disembark passengers, a change that has left thousands of passengers nearly 150 miles away from where they expected to arrive (and where many have left their cars or scheduled flights for home).

Carnival has bused the passengers back to the port of New Orleans.

The diversions also have caused headaches for the thousands of passengers who expected to depart from New Orleans the past few weeks and had to be bused to Mobile to reach the ship.

Carnival says the switch to Mobile for the next month will ensure smooth operations for the vessel. "The decision is based on continued issues and uncertainty surrounding the Mississippi River," it says in a statement. "Based on the potential for additional sporadic closures, along with speed limitations and required hull cleanings, the company cannot provide assurances that it will be able to operate the scheduled itineraries from New Orleans."

The oil spill occurred on July 23 after a collision between a tanker and a barge near New Orleans.

[JoeyandDavid]

David's Supervisor is on the 14th sailing and said that Carnival wanted to charge 50 dollars per person to bus them from NO to Mobile RT... (he recieved the call thursday after all arrangements for NO were made)after negotiating he was to pay the $200 necessary for the round trip for his family but would receive the same amount as OBC..

[TheSkipper]

What a bummer But, I can certainly understand Carnival's problem. But, it will be a mess for awhile and cause real problems for those scheduled to depart N.O.

[hazelson]

As bad as that sounds - what about the environment in NO - the water must be really bad for the wildlife - and I don't mean the ones in The French quarter LOL

[Peddler]

I'm sure they (NO) will call in Homestead Security and file for some sort of goverment aid declare a National Emergency and sit on theor butt untill something is done. Sorry JMHO.

[DebbieandJerry]

We loved NO. Never had an opportunity to go there except for when it was on a "stop" as one of Carnival's ports (Tampa to Western Caribbean). Haven't been back since. Can certainly understand why they are making this change. But what a shame.