Port NOLA New Orleans announced it had ceased cargo-loading operations at Napoleon Avenue container terminal at noon on Thursday, July 11. Carnival Cruise Line revealed it had diverted Carnival Valor to Mobile Alabama, as the region prepared for potential hurricane conditions over the weekend.
Carnival made alternative travel arrangements for its ~3600 disembarking guests as a safety precaution as Tropical Storm Barry formed in the Gulf of Mexico and threatened Louisiana coast. The reopening of the container terminal will depend on weather conditions and storm aftermath.
The last Carnival Valor disembarking travelers were put on buses in Mobile AL by midmorning on Thursday. According to Vance Gulliksen, a Carnival spokesman, ~3600 cruisers who had been scheduled to board Valor in Port NOLA were expected to board at Mobile instead and sail on a 4-day voyage to Cozumel Mexico on schedule.
It was not clear early Thursday afternoon if there had been cancellations for that sailing or for the voyage aboard Carnival Glory scheduled to depart out of NOLA on Sunday, July 14.
Carnival is the only cruise company with year-round scheduled New Orleans homeporting operations.