Springtime in New Orleans: The Return of the Cruise Lines
October 17, 2005
Budding flowers; warmer weather; cute, fuzzy little ducklings—with spring comes new life, and New Orleans is hoping that's true for their cruise ship terminals as well. Although repairs on the battered port will continue throughout the fall and winter, Katrina caused minimal damage to the cruise ship terminals in the Port of New Orleans (at least compared to the cargo terminals and other areas of the port), and the port could be ready for cruise lines by early spring.
Of course, when the family of cruise lines come back is also going to depend on more than just the quality of the ports; the French Quarter, the street cars, hotels, music, shops, and restaurants—in a word, life—needs to bloom again in the Big Easy before city sees the return of the cruise lines.
New Orleans may not have the biggest cruise ship port in the U.S. (Miami holds that distinction), but it is one of America's leading general cargo ports. It's America's portal to international commerce, and vice versa. Coffee, steel, grain, plywood, and countless additional commodities are en route to New Orleans every day. (The port recently started receiving goods again—a sign that the entire port may be up and running sooner than many had expected.)
Still, aside from the goods from Mexico, Central and South America, as well as part of Europe, New Orleans was building its status as one of the major cruise ship ports in the world. Cruises to the Caribbean, Mexico, the Bahamas, the Panama Canal, South America, and transatlantic trips to Europe can be had out of New Orleans. Lots of ports of call and lots of passengers to travel to them. According to Gary LaGrange, the port president and CEO, if everything goes according to plan, the cruise ships could come back as soon as March 1st. But, he admits, "that is [New Orleans'] date, not the cruise lines' date."
"Unfortunately, we're going to lose the winter season," said LaGrange. "The Norwegian Sun and Royal Caribbean International usually have a six month season here, October through April. Carnival Cruise Line has a 12-month presence here." In fact, Carnival Cruise Line has never left even during the storm-well, in a manner of speaking. Carnival Cruise Line was awarded the no-contract bid with the federal government to house Katrina evacuees. Not really what you'd call an exciting pleasure cruise.
Even with things in a state of flux right now, port officials are looking towards the future and plans that were in place in "antediluvian" times. Those plans not only included renovations, but also additions to the family of cruise lines docking in New Orleans. "We were targeting '06 or '07 as a time [Princess Cruise Line and Holland America Cruise Line] could be here," said LaGrange.
"We are going ahead with plans for improvement. We have a $40 million new terminal under construction that is already about a third to 40 percent completed. It's located on Erato Street, right by the Crescent City Connection bridge. It has a 1,200-car parking garage and a 90,000 square-foot terminal building," La Grange said.
But there's no doubt that before the cruise ships return, the city itself needs to be capable of receiving guests. Regardless of the shape that the cruise ship terminals are in, the city itself needs to have brought back their Big Easy attitude before enough cruise ships—or passengers, for that matter—are going to feel compelled to sail out of the city.
Still, what's clearly evident is that no one has written off the Port of New Orleans. Even if March 1st comes and goes without New Orleans seeing a cruise ship, it will only be a matter of time before the cruise lines return to the city, thereby helping the Gulf Port spring to life once again.
Keep up to date on the status of the Port of New Orleans right here at Cruise Network. Of course, at Cruise Network, you can also find cruises to anywhere in the free world from hundreds of ports of call, too.
