Other Things You'll Want to Know - April 17, 2019

CND subscribers also read about:

• Oasis of the Seas safe arrival at the shipyard in Cadiz for repair after its transatlantic crossing
• Mobile working to keep Carnival there when its contract expires

Details appeared in the April 17 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Staying Put for Now

Carnival Cruise Line confirmed they have signed a contract extension with the City of Mobile to continue to homeport Carnival Fantasy at the city through December 2018.

The one-year extension (the current contract expires in December 2017) is actually an option  in the current contract that is being picked up.

The complete story appeared in the August 2 edition of Cruise News Daily.

When “Nowhere” Might Mean Somewhere

When Carnival Fantasy left Mobile yesterday, it had a propulsion issue and passengers were advised they weren't going to be able to call at Cozumel as scheduled. The cruise was becoming a cruise to nowhere and would remain at sea the entire time.

Passengers were offered some generous compensation (50% refund and 50% future cruise credit), but quite a few decided to disembark and receive a full refund. It turns out they may have made the wrong decision.

The complete story appeared in the April 14 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Mobile's Fantasy

The city of Mobile had a fantasy, and that was the return of cruise ships to once again dock at their modern, purpose-built cruise terminal. Today Mobile's fantasy came true when Carnival Fantasy arrived at the Alabama Cruise Terminal for a year-long series of short cruises to Mexico.

The complete story appeared in the November 9 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Carnival Fantasy at the Alabama Cruise Terminal at Mobile today

Photo courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.

Other Things You'll Want to Know - October 17, 2016

CND subscribers also read about:

• Restrictions being lifted on bringing Cuban cigars and rum into the US.
• Excitement abounding in Mobile 
• Captain Albert being back at sea

Details appeared in the October 17 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Let’s Not Tell Them

About the time word leaked that Carnival was returning to Mobile, some of the city council members decided the cruise terminal needed a new name.

It has had the name “Alabama Cruise Terminal” since it was built, and civic pride told them it needed to have the word “Mobile” in the name, perhaps, “Mobile Cruise Terminal.” But now that idea's been put on hold because they have a master plan.

The complete story appeared in the October 1 edition of Cruise News Daily.

You Can Go Home Again

Carnival and the City of Mobile jointly made it official today and announced Carnival had contracted to operate cruises from the city’s cruise terminal beginning late next year for at least a year.

But there's backstory that includes the agreements and what the city still doesn't get about the relationship.

The complete story appeared in the September 23 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Mobile Gets Their Ship

AL.com reports that the Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson and Carnival officials have scheduled a joint press conference Wednesday at the cruise terminal to announce that a Carnival ship will return to the city.

The complete story appeared in the September 22 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Cruise News Daily Headlines for October 3, 2014

* And October 11 Makes Three
As repairs have continued on Veendam in Quebec today, technicians have determined a complete repair can only be made in dry dock. Unfortunately that process and getting the ship back in position will take longer than seven days, so Holland America is also canceling the October 11 sailing from Quebec to Boston.

* To Be Successful, a Change of Thinking Is Necessary
The contract for the firm that manages the cruise terminal in Mobile is coming up for renewal, and the city has asked for an extension while they consider what they are going to do. From the tone, it sounds more as if the city is considering more of a change of policy regarding the terminal, rather than considering simply changing the firm that will manager it.
   No doubt this is going to engender a community-wide discussion. The local newspaper has already started it. The cruise terminal seems to be a hot potato. It hasn’t had a cruise line there regularly since Carnival left in October 2011. The city borrowed $18.6 million in 2008 to build the terminal, and payments on it go on until 2030. So there seems to be a mindset that the city must find another cruise line to occupy the terminal in order to pay the annual bond payment, or the terminal needs to be generating at least enough revenue to make substantial payments.
   This thinking needs to change. If it doesn’t, not only will it never be successful in the eyes of the community, but chances are slim the city will ever find a cruise line to occupy it. They may as well stop looking for a cruise line now and convert the building to offices or a banquet hall or something that can easily be rented.

* Star Princess Returning with More Than Passengers
On Saturday, Star Princess will be Princess Cruises’ first ship to return to Cabo San Lucas after Hurricane Odile. When it arrives, in addition to passengers anxious to enjoy the port, it will also be carrying pallets of relief supplies for area residents who are still feeling the storm’s impact.

The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.

Cruise News Daily Headlines for August 11, 2014

* The Dilemma in Alabama
There’s a dilemma in Mobile, Alabama. They still want a cruise ship to home port there. They have this new, slightly used terminal, but currently no cruise ship, and no imminent prospects to get one. They are also building a new highway bridge (for I-10) across the Mobile River, and any cruise ships that come to Mobile will have to go under it to get to the cruise terminal.
   Their dilemma is if they should they build it high enough to accommodate the ship they don’t have anymore. Or should they pay more to build it even higher to accommodate bigger ships they don’t have either? And if they go the second route, how much higher should it be to accommodate other ships that have shown no interest in coming to Mobile?

* Passenger Overboard from Grandeur of the Seas
A 68-year-old American man quietly went overboard from Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the Seas last Wednesday night as the ship traveled from Bermuda to Baltimore.

* Passenger Drowns aboard Sapphire Princess
A 29-year-old Chinese woman drowned in one of Sapphire Princess’ swimming pools last Thursday during a short cruise from Shanghai.

The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.

Cruise News Daily Headlines for October 31, 2013

* BYOB (Bring Your Own Bar)
What better way to show people something about what a cruise is like than to bring part of the ship to them?

That’s exactly what Carnival Cruise Lines has done in downtown Miami. They’re partners with the Miami Heat basketball team, so Carnival brought three of their signature bars from the ships to the Heat’s home court in the American Airlines Arena.  More


* Other Things You’ll Want to Know
CND subscribers also read about high hopes in Mobile ... an update from Australia ... and facing reality in Bermuda.
 
The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.

Cruise News Daily Headlines for July 8, 2013

* Mississippi Closure Disrupts Carnival Conquest’s Turnaround
A sunken tugboat in the Mississippi River disrupted Carnival Conquest’s turnaround in New Orleans yesterday making for a last-minute change in travel plans for thousands of Carnival passengers. It threatened to do the same with Carnival Elation’s turnaround today, but the Coast Guard reopened the river in time for Elation to turnaround with a delay, but not a long enough one that it would affect the next cruise’s itinerary.

* Cracking the China Market
China is indeed shaping up to be the new battleground for passengers among the international brands of cruise lines. It is a vast, virtually untapped market that is quickly proving itself quite profitable. Cruising has proven very popular with the Chinese with most lines marketing there experiencing rapid growth.

The latest line to jump into the market with both feet is Princess Cruises which today opened five  offices in China.

* Other Things You’ll Want to Know
CND subscribers also read about a passenger falling from a balcony on Carnival Magic ... Tropical Storm Chantal in the Caribbean ... Costa Cruises doubling capacity in China ... and Disney Magic's return to Venice.

The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.

The Next Step for Mobile

Mobile is beginning its quest to replace Carnival Cruise Lines at the city's port once the line leaves in November. A few weeks ago, the cruise line abruptly announced it would pull its ship out of the Gulf Coast city in this fall due to the lack of profit potential.

The move stunned the city which said they had no previous indications from Carnival that anything was wrong. The mayor, Sam Jones, is going to Miami on Friday to meet with Carnival officials to try to get a better understanding of what was wrong for Carnival. That's a good move on his part because it's going to help the city put together a more viable package to offer other cruise lines.

Mobile is going to find itself in a highly-competitive arena trying to lure another ship to the market, but they have two big advantages. One is that they have a cruise terminal already built and ready for occupancy. (Of course so do at least two other top contenders, both barely used.) The other advantage is that Mobile has a real multi-year track record for other lines to look at. Although it wasn't as profitable as Carnival would have liked, Carnival will be the first to admit that they received tremendous community support from Mobile. Other cruise lines will be able to look at real data, something they can't do at the other ports without ships.

While the search for another cruise line is going on, there is something Mayor Jones could be doing that will improve chances. He needs to be on an education campaign that will change some of the community attitudes to make it more conducive for another likely candidate to sign on the dotted line.

One thing that needs to get across to the community is the reality of just how the businesses like cruise lines operate. For example, in the aftermath of Carnival's announcement we saw a lot of comments from Mobile's citizens that appear they don't understand that a cruise line's sole reason for existing is to make a profit, and the maximum profit they can over the long term. The community needs to understand that low prices do not equate to good business for the cruise line. (There were many people expressing pride that Mobile's prices were always lower than New Orleans' or Tampa's.) There needs to be an understanding, therefore, that cruise lines are not going commit to a long-term stay in the city upfront.

Another thing that always held Mobile back, in our opinion, was the constant agitation for something else from Carnival. From the moment Carnival began sailing from Mobile, there were cries for a larger ship, different itineraries, and even for an additional cruise line. That doesn't make a business feel comfortable to be constantly hearing that the community wants to create competition for them.

But the big thing is that the community needs to change their attitude about why they want a cruise line there. When the cruise industry comes to town, all the studies show it creates a tremendously positive economic impact on the area. What the community needs to realize is those benefits won't come for free. There may need to be some tax dollars spent or foregone to get that big economic impact.

In just about every article we see written about the subject, it's mentioned prominently that Mobile has a $26 million debt they still have to pay off on the cruise terminal, and they have been counting on revenue from Carnival's operation to pay it.

The cruise terminal needs to be viewed as part of the city's infrastructure, just like an airport, good roads, or quality schools. Those are all things you need to have to attract new industries to the area. In the same way you need to have an airport to attract airlines to serve it, or good highway and rail access to attract a large factory, you need to have a cruise terminal to attract a cruise line.

It's reasonable to spend tax dollars to maintain that infrastructure if the goal is attracting an industry that's going to return them in economic impact many times over.

There needs to be an understanding in the community that once a cruise line does replace Carnival, the financial need to spend to maintain that infrastructure won't automatically stop. The cruise line may not pay for it directly. Just like a special tax break may be granted to a factory that you are trying to entice to move to town, the city may need to grant a cruise line a special concession (like free use of the cruise terminal for a period of time) to entice them to town, or get Mobile chosen over a strong competitor, such as Houston. We know that Carnival said they couldn't make money in Mobile, and that may just be the push that's needed to ensure another line will make money.

Yes, it's proper to do that when balanced against the much, much larger economic benefits that a cruise line brings to an area. (In 2009, the last year for which complete data is available, the cruise industry had a $124 million annual economic impact through direct spending in the state of Alabama, mostly in Mobile, the only cruise port. That included 2,055 jobs and $75 million in wages.)

Mobile has a chance of replacing Carnival. In a market as keenly competitive as getting a cruise ship is, the city will need every little advantage they can get, and getting the community attitude right and behind the effort, could just be what tips the scales in the city's favor.

Dividing up the Pie

There's been a lot of coverage of growing home ports in the southeastern states - Charleston (SC), Jacksonville, and Mobile. Each is working to some degree or another for more or larger ships, and still other ports are marketing themselves to cruise lines looking for their first ship. Generally, there's excitement in those ports.

But for all the excitement there is in those ports, there's a bit of uneasiness a few hundred miles to the south in the larger ports of Port Canaveral and Tampa.

The complete article appeared in the June 4, 2010, edition of Cruise News Daily.

New Maritime Museum

The Montgomery Advertiser reports that cruise passengers sailing out of Mobile (Alabama) will have a new reason to arrive early for their cruise. The city will have a new maritime museum, shaped like a ship, near the cruise terminal. The cornerstone was laid for the $36 million structure on Thursday. The paper says the museum's focus will be on interactive exhibits that teach about ships and the culture along the Gulf of Mexico. The museum is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2011.