“Fantasy” Coming To Mobile

By Steve Alexander Reporter

Carnival Cruise Line ship is being diverted from New Orleans. “Fantasy” Coming To Mobile

Published: Fri, July 25, 2008 - 7:30 pm

Steve Alexander

The Carnival Cruise Ship "Fantasy" is scheduled to pull into port in Mobile Saturday morning.
Its usual port of call is New Orleans, but a massive oil spill has diverted much of the ship traffic from there.
Because of the spill, passengers who were expecting to arrive back in New Orleans will be taken instead to Mobile.
And passengers expecting to get on the "Fantasy" in New Orleans will have to be taken to Mobile, too.
Jimmy Lyons, the director of the Alabama State Port Authority, said, "That will be a gargantuan effort on the part of Carnival because they've got to bus all of those people back to New Orleans where their cars are, they've got to get their luggage back, they've got to get supplies over here, they've got to get the passengers that were to embark in New Orleans, got to get them over here because they're going back to New Orleans when they return."
Another ship that came to Mobile instead of New Orleans was a container ship called the "Rome Express.".
It's being off-loaded at the new Mobile Container Terminal, even though the terminal doesn't open until September.
Workers at the Port of Mobile had to do some quick work to welcome their guest.
Brian Clark, project manager for the Mobile Container Terminal, said, "(In) 24 hours, we had the plan, the approval, the equipment available, the labor ordered, and a plan to operate out in the facility which is not yet complete."
Lyons said, "What we're trying to do is help somebody out that's in a really bad situation. These container ships are on a very tight schedule, and they cannot afford to sit around and wait three or four days."