Carnival Cruise Line announced recently that it will be going back to Mobile, Alabama as a cruise departure port for its shorter Western Caribbean cruises from the Gulf Coast. The change stems from the lack of progress the City of New Orleans is showing in getting the recent oil spill cleaned up on the Mississippi River. It will be an inconvenience for some passengers until Carnival works out all the logistics, but they have extended a heartfelt apology to all cruisers who are booked.

Unfortunately, several issues remain for our operation on the Mississippi River and the cruises scheduled to depart from New Orleans. As a result, we will now operate the Carnival Fantasy from Mobile, Alabama for all cruises through, and including the September 1, 2008 departure. The following information will explain our operational plans:

Carnival Fantasy August 9 Departure

This cruise will operate round-trip from Mobile. The ship will return to Mobile on August 14 and motorcoach transportation will be provided to the New Orleans cruise terminal or the New Orleans airport.

Carnival Fantasy August 14, August 18, August 23 and September 1 Departures

We will operate all of these cruises round-trip from Mobile. If guests were driving to New Orleans, we request they proceed to the cruise terminal in Mobile. Guests may also purchase transfers between New Orleans and Mobile.

Due to the airlift constraints into Mobile, guests that purchased air transportation from Carnival or independent air transportation should fly into New Orleans as scheduled. Carnival will provide round-trip motorcoach transportation between the New Orleans airport and Mobile on the day of arrival and departure only.

We sincerely apologize to all of our guests that are impacted by this situation. The entire Carnival team will do everything possible to minimize this inconvenience.