I recently read a report on the internet discrediting the rumors recently that Mobile, Alabama has reached an agreement with Norwegian Cruise Line to base a ship at their port, and I thought to myself…why would I cruise out of Mobile? Honestly, what would make you want to cruise out of there? It’s not Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, or New York. It doesn’t have a great tourism feeling to it, its Mobile. Recently Carnival and NCL both left the port with their ships, and I say it was the right move. I guess they weren’t making enough money, and weren’t filling the ships enough that they decided to pull the ropes aboard, turn on the auto pilot, and set their course for other ports. I just don’t see a benefit to cruising out of Mobile, because the ships they did have their were small, and didn’t have the best itineraries ever. It just sounds like a boring city to say in the night before and then board your ship. I want a fun, warm, vibrant city to cruise out of, like Miami! Mobile is just to industrialist and boring. I apologize to all Mobile residents for trashing your city, but I have a similar situation here in Cleveland, no one wants to come here either. I gotta say I do admire your city for at least looking for a ship to call your city home, unlike a ungrateful Charleston to your east. Charleston won’t appreciate what they have until she home ports in Mobile!
Have a great day everyone!
-Mikey
2 replies on “The Forgotten City – Mobile”
One thing you are overlooking, Mikey is how centrally located Mobile is for many people in the South. Its biggest issue is the lack of a large airport with decent fares. As a city, it actually has some decent touristy things to do as well as a nice downtown and great food. Also, the Gulf Coast beaches are very close by and are extremely nice and less crowded than Florida beaches. The ships were actually selling pretty well, but Carnival claimed that they couldn’t get the prices out of Mobile that they could get out of other regional ports. Yet, their cruises were continually priced above most similar itineraries in Florida. The itineraries also were quite varied with stops not only in Cozumel, but Progreso, Belize, Grand Cayman and others from time to time. Clearly, it isn’t the most attractive cruise port, and I think it was really geared toward regional passengers who it was cheaper to drive to Mobile than to fly elsewhere, and I am always in favor of more options for people to cruise economically.
Sorry Kaleigh, I didn’t mean to offend anyone. I guess I did overlook the ports importance to the south, I was just talking from a point of view of being from Cleveland, and the fact that it seems like we have no flights (direct or nonstop) to Mobile from our major airports. Thanks for your input! 🙂