Carnival Cruise Lines delivers knock-out blow to Mobile

It appears that Carnival Cruise Lines is suffering from the proverbial “seven year itch” and is looking to have an affair outside of marriage.  In other words, they are looking for greener pastures.

Carnival’s announcement on Thursday that they were cutting ties with the Port of Mobile caught everyone off guard. Not only to local travel agents, whose bookings with Carnival were up significantly over the past couple of years, but also to city officials who first heard the news on Thursday, along with the travel agent community, and claim they were not aware that Carnival was unhappy in Mobile.

The Carnival Elation will return to Mobile for the last time on Oct. 22, at which time she will be re-deployed to New Orleans.  Carnival has no current plans to replace her, leaving Mobile without cruise ship service for the first time since 2004. 

The news deals a significant economic blow to the City of Mobile and the timing could not be worse. Just two weeks ago EADS lost the Air Force tanker contract, which would have resulted in the new Air Force tanker being built at Brookley Field in Mobile.

According to Mobile mayor, Sam Jones, Carnival did not call or contact the city before making the announcement online.

Gerry Cahill, Chief Executive Officer for Carnival, stated that while Mobile’s cruises were always full, Carnival had to offer below-average prices to book them.

Carnival’s Business Development Manager and Regional Vice President of Sales were both in Mobile just weeks ago visiting local travel agencies and promoting Carnival’s support for them, as well as the local cruise market in Mobile, and offering their assistance in helping travel agencies maintain and increase their sales goals for 2011. They did not offer any indication that Carnival was about to pull the plug on Mobile. Because of this, most local travel agents feel extremely hurt and blind-sided by Carnival’s news.

While the news comes as a shock to the city and local travel agents, other businesses will also be impacted. Local hotels and restaurants will be impacted, especially by losing the business of those cruise passengers that would stay in Mobile before and after their cruise. The cruise terminal staff and security staff will no longer have their jobs after October.

Not only will the city lose millions in annual revenue, as a result of parking fees and other fees generated by the Alabama Cruise Terminal, but the City of Mobile still owes millions on the cruise terminal.

It is hopeful that city officials will work vigorously to attract another cruise line to the Port City. But even if they can, it may be a year or longer before another ship is actually in operation from Mobile, as most cruise lines have their itineraries and schedules already set for the next 18 months.

Whatever the future holds for Mobile’s tourism industry, only time will tell. But one thing is for sure. It will take an immediate, concerted effort on the part of the mayor and other city officials to go after the cruise market. After seven years of continual service from Mobile, cruise ships have become a regular fixture in the city, as well as a part of the city skyline. It would be a shame, and a waste, if Mobile’s legacy as a cruise port died after only seven years.

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Originally posted by dmwnc1:
I wonder what the reason was that Carnival left so suddenly? 

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Usually the primary reason a cruise line changes a home port of a ship is because they feel it can generate more revenue elsewhere. Other reasons might have to do with the infrastructure of a certain port, the logistics of getting people to that port, or even the financial and environmental obligations of sailing from a particular port.

In the case of Mobile, I don't think there were any financial or environmental hardships, or infrastructure/logistical issues, so I'm guessing they just feel there are better markets elsewhere where the ship can earn more revenue.

Ernie

[ 03-12-2011: Message edited by: eroller ]

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Originally posted by eroller:

In the case of Mobile, I don't think there were any financial or environmental hardships, or infrastructure or infrastructure/logistical issues, so I'm guessing they just feel there are better markets elsewhere where the ship can earn more revenue.

Ernie

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I think that's it, exactly, according to Carnival's press release. The local market in Mobile was not prepared to pay higher fares, and it's location farther north from the ports of call meant that CCL was spending more per pax on fuel costs than any other ship in the fleet.

Mobile is pretty much a "drive-to" market; no one is taking flights there to board the one ship being offered. If they're going to fly south, there are numerous options in various Florida ports or even New Orleans.

No offense intended to our friends in LA (Lower Alabama), but Carnival just does not see them as a lucrative market. It did not expand to fill the bigger ship which replaced HOLIDAY.

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Originally posted by Linerrich:
Mobile is pretty much a "drive-to" market; no one is taking flights there to board the one ship being offered. If they're going to fly south, there are numerous options in various Florida ports or even New Orleans.
Rich

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I wonder if NCL could make a profit in that market.
They have gotten from one quarter to another by going into markets that the larger players would not touch.

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Originally posted by desirod7:

If Imperial Majesty gets another ship, that could be an untapped market.

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Imperial Majesty is gone--they've evolved into Celebration Cruise Lines. And their operation is based on adding 2-night extensions to time-share vacations. From Mobile you need at least 4-5 nights to go anywhere and return, as Carnival found out. It's just too far north for the short-cruise market that the locals seem to want.

Imagining the Carnival Holiday out of Mobile

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Originally posted by desirod7:
PS: The NCL Dawn and sisters can make 28.5 knots. and cruise 25. Could they make a 5 day cruise from there with 2 ports?

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Technically they might, but it would be very expensive to cruise at those speeds, for the kind of revenue Mobile can bring. Also, the NCL ships are full of balconies, which that market will not pay for; no cruise line is going to give away their product for bragging rights of sailing out of a terciary port.

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Originally posted by desirod7:
Here is my take on a cruise out of Mobile

Imagining the Carnival Holiday out of Mobile

PS: The NCL Dawn and sisters can make 28.5 knots. and cruise 25. Could they make a 5 day cruise from there with 2 ports?

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Oh David you just love to torment my beloved little HOLIDAY! LOL

Just remember she wasn't always the oldest, smallest, trashiest, and cheapest in the fleet. I sailed on her when she was brand new in 1985 as a high school graduation gift. I had a blast! HOLIDAY was the largest and most innovative ship in the Carnival fleet, and she was 'the' ship to sail in the Caribbean. HOLIDAY really set in motion the Carnival ship building formula we see used even today. The double wide promenade (no, I didn't say double wide trailer!), the forward and aft show lounges, the split dining rooms high up, the centrally placed casino that you had no choice but to walk through, the multitude of lounges off the single promenade, the central Promenade Bar, and of course the over the top Farcus theming. TROPICALE had some of this to a much smaller extent, but HOLIDAY was really a leap forward in design compared to TROPICALE.

I recently splurged and purchased a fairly decent color pic scanner. I've had a lot of fun the last few days scanning and organizing tons of old photos. Eventually I'll get them all online, but why not start with HOLIDAY? Have a peak at the following link if you want some insight into Carnival cruising over 25 years ago. To be honest it's not dramatically different compared to a Carnival cruise today. Slightly better class of people and the hairstyles were really BIG! LOL

Ernie

Carnival HOLIDAY - circa 1985

And you're right, at the time she was big, new, flashy and exciting. It's hard for people now to look back and appreciate that, from the standpoint of today's cruising, but coming after the original CCL ships, and even the TROP, she was really special.

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Originally posted by Linerrich:
Great shots, Ernie, which really bring back memories! Working in CCL Operations, I was at the Port and on board HOLIDAY every Saturday from 1985 until 1989; I knew every inch of that ship, both passenger and crew areas.

And you're right, at the time she was big, new, flashy and exciting. It's hard for people now to look back and appreciate that, from the standpoint of today's cruising, but coming after the original CCL ships, and even the TROP, she was really special.

Rich

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Rich,
I wish I could capture the smell of the Blue Lagoon Lounge. A combination of plastic and glue! I don't think the theme quite worked as Farcus had hoped.

Speaking of smells, Carnival ships even today have a unique smell I don't find on other cruise lines. When I toured the CARNIVAL FREEDOM last year I smelled it the minute I walked onboard, and a slew of memories came rushing into my head. I think it must be a combination of the cleaner Carnival uses and perhaps second hand smoke. It's not a bad smell, in fact I like it as it reminds me of my past Carnival cruises. It's kind of like walking on to a very old cruise ship and having that instantly recognizable smell. The smell is different on Carnival, but the same idea.

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Originally posted by eroller:

Ernie

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She looks huge next to the Olympia-Caribe

[ 03-14-2011: Message edited by: desirod7 ]