Carnival Cruises Pulls Fantasy from New Orleans

Carnival abandons New Orleans -- at least for now
Call it the disaster that never ends.

Last month's oil spill on the Mississippi River was supposed to be cleaned up weeks ago. But apparently it's still causing trouble for ships heading to New Orleans, including the Carnival Fantasy, and it appears Carnival has finally given up hope that the situation will be fixed anytime soon.

The line says the Fantasy, which normally is based year-round in New Orleans, will relocate to Mobile, Ala., through at least September.

The announcement affects six Caribbean cruises on the Fantasy scheduled to depart New Orleans on Aug. 9, 14, 18, 23 and 28, and on Sept. 1. The ship will then enter a previously-scheduled dry dock for a massive overhaul before (presumably) returning to New Orleans in October.

The oil spill has been a bit of a nightmare for Carnival, which has scrambled to make last-minute changes to the Fantasy's itinerary in each of the last three weeks. Every week it looked like the oil spill had been contained and the ship could get back into its berth in New Orleans. And every week something went wrong that kept the vessel away.

In each of the past three weeks the ship has been forced to make a last-minute diversion to Mobile to disembark passengers, a change that has left thousands of passengers nearly 150 miles away from where they expected to arrive (and where many have left their cars or scheduled flights for home). Carnival has bused the passengers back to the port of New Orleans.

The diversions also have caused headaches for the thousands of passengers who expected to depart from New Orleans the past few weeks and had to be bused to Mobile to reach the ship.

Carnival says the switch to Mobile for the next month will ensure smooth operations for the vessel. "The decision is based on continued issues and uncertainty surrounding the Mississippi River," it says in a statement. "Based on the potential for additional sporadic closures, along with speed limitations and required hull cleanings, the company cannot provide assurances that it will be able to operate the scheduled itineraries from New Orleans."