Port NOLA (New Orleans, Louisiana) services 4 major cruise companies: CCL-Carnival, RCI-Royal Caribbean, NCL-Norwegian, and DCL-Disney.
The docks are now empty and have been for more than a year when the CDC held up ex-USA passenger shipping operations due to the health crisis.
According to Brandy Christian, Port NOLA's President and CEO, this coming year they were due to have 338 cruise ship calls and ~1.5 million passenger moves for the year. For the regional economy, annually that was ~USD 250 million in spending.
Christian said the port had lost USD 21 million in direct revenues and added they typically collected "fees for both parking and a passenger fee for using the cruise terminal.”
The USA's CDC agency (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) laid out plans for safe returns, but most cruise lines are still waiting.
Carnival and DCL-Disney canceled all sailings leaving from ports in the USA through June, NCL through July. Two RCI-Royal Caribbean ships will resume services in June 2021, but not from New Orleans.
Christian said from communications she had with cruise lines, they were hopeful the port city could see all cruise ships return by the fall.