Carnival Cruise Line announced it is extending its pause of all North American sailings through September 30, 2020, a decision that keeps cruises from the Port of Mobile on hold even longer during the coronavirus pandemic.
The announcement came after the Cruise Lines International Association, the industry’s leading trade group, said its member lines would voluntarily extend their own suspension of passenger operations from U.S. ports until September 15.
Why the Industry Hit Pause
In a statement, CLIA pointed to the ongoing spread of COVID-19 across the United States. The federal No Sail Order issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was set to expire July 24, but industry leaders said it had become clear that more time would be needed to clear the barriers standing in the way of a safe restart.
The voluntary suspension applied to every CLIA member line covered by the CDC order — essentially any vessel able to carry 250 or more passengers and crew. The group said members would keep evaluating conditions and decide whether yet another extension was needed.
Economic Stakes for Port Communities
The economic toll of the shutdown was mounting quickly. CLIA estimated that each day cruise operations remained suspended cost roughly $110 million in economic activity and up to 800 American jobs. Before the pandemic, the cruise industry supported more than 421,000 U.S. jobs in 2018, with roughly one American job sustained for every 30 cruisers sailing from a domestic port.
For Mobile, which had built a steady cruise business around Carnival sailings from the Alabama Cruise Terminal, the extension meant more months without the passenger traffic, parking revenue, and pre-cruise spending that homeported ships bring downtown.