Mobile's Ship Comes In!

Dec 16th, 2003

Carnival Commits the Holiday to Mobile Landing Homeport

Less than a year from now Carnival Cruise Lines "Fun Ship" Holiday will call Mobile Landing-Home. What began as a dream nearly five years ago, has become a reality. "I can't wait", Mobile Mayor Mike Dow said when Carnival Vice President of Cruise Programming, Roger Blum called with the good news. "So many people have worked very hard to make this happen. It's fantastic. It shows that persistence, planning and doing the right things really do pay off." According to Dow, the pay off comes in the form of added tourism and economic development for the city, county and state. President of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, Win Hallett agrees, "This will be a major stimulus to our economy. The benefits will spread throughout the area, not just downtown."

Conservative revenue estimates show for one homeported ship, the City of Mobile stands to make $2,266,612 on parking and passenger or "wharfage" fees alone. That doesn't even take into consideration how much money passengers will spend in Mobile before and after their cruise. Many people will drive to Mobile the day before leaving on the cruise, have dinner at a local restaurant and spend the night in an area hotel. On the U.S. average port call, direct passenger spending last year was $82.00 per person. Multiply that by an average of 120,000 passengers expected in the port city each year and it's easy to see how the wealth will spread. There will also be substantial added revenue from the 670 crew members each time the ship makes a Mobile visit.

Winning a homeported Cruise ship is not an easy task. First, according to Al St. Clair, the City's Director of Waterfront, Cruise Development and Special Projects, the port must be an attractive market and fit into the Cruise Line's overall marketing plan. "One obstacle we had to overcome was how close we are to New Orleans", where two Carnival ships are already homeported. But, St. Clair says a lot of Mobile's customers will come from the Atlanta area, and Mobile is about two and a half hours closer than New Orleans. A study conducted by the Mobile Area Convention & Visitor's Bureau shows among those who prefer to drive to a port to embark on a cruise, three-quarters would consider cruising from Mobile. Nearly nine out of ten potential cruisers consider the safety of a port city important; nearly nine out of ten place high importance on the convenience of getting there; and nearly six out of ten make the cost of overnight accommodations in the port city an important consideration. According to the study, Mobile is considered to be safe, convenient and a strong value.

While convenience and geography played a big role in Carnival's decision to bring the Holiday to Mobile Landing, there were other important factors. One is the relationship Al St. Clair, Mayor Dow and others on the Cruise Task Force formed with Cruise Executives. St. Clair who has been the driving force on the Mayor's staff behind the Cruise initiative, became a member of the advisory group of the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association which meets with Cruise Executives at least four times per year for several days. The quarterly meetings gave St. Clair personal contact with these executives.

While timing is everything in the cruise industry, Mayor Dow and St. Clair point to a marketing and advertising incentive package proposed by Retirement Systems of Alabama Chief Executive Officer Dr. David Bronner as the final piece of the puzzle. RSA/Raycom has offered a $3-million co-marketing opportunity the first year, and $2-million the second year. Raycom reaches 11 percent of the U-S media market with television stations in 21 states and newspapers in 182 cities. RSA/Raycom will produce commercials and ads for Carnival incorporating Cruises from Mobile with the opportunity to play Golf at one of the Robert Trent Jones Golf courses in the state.

Research has indicated thousands of potential cruise passengers are within a short drive radius to depart from the Port City," said President & CEO Mobile Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, Leon Maisel. "Having the Holiday homeported here will position us as a cruise destination and will give us a higher profile to a market segment that can further add to the appeal of a 300 year old city on the bay," concluded Maisel. And according to Al St. Clair, that is exactly what Carnival was looking for.

With more vacationers driving to their vacation destinations, Cruise Lines like Carnival recognized the way to get more travelers was to offer them more accessible, convenient ports. Mobile is considered primarily a "drive to market"-- a city within eight hours of 35.5 million people living in the southeast United States.

"This is a great shot in the arm for the area", said Mobile City Councilwoman Connie Hudson who is also a member of the Cruise Task Force. "It's very exciting and will add that element of interest to our port." Hudson says she always knew there was great potential for Mobile to get a cruise ship-it was just a matter of time.

The Holiday is a 727 foot long ship with eight passenger decks and the trademark red, white and blue funnel on the top deck. The ship can carry up to 1,452 guests and has 670 crew members. The Holiday will dock at Mobile Landing and will set sail on her first cruise October 16, 2004, taking travelers on 4 and 5 day vacations to the Western Caribbean with stops in Conzumel, Costa Maya or Cozumel and Calica/Playa del Carmen. Carnival is currently accepting reservations on its departures from Mobile.

"This is a first big step into a totally new industry for the area", said Mike Lee, Chairman of the Cruise Task Force. Lee says having a ship homeported at Mobile Landing brings additional tourism opportunities for services and suppliers and impacts hotels, restaurants and other retailers. Local vendors will supply the ship with everything from fuel and food items to fresh flowers, and cleaning supplies.

This may only be the beginning for Mobile. Mayor Dow says it's his goal for Mobile to be competitive with the other Gulf Coast ports. In the next few years, he expects Mobile Landing to be the homeport for multiple cruise ships. To make that happen plans are underway to build a Cruise Terminal and parking deck that will include space for an indoor shopping mall with restaurants, retail and entertainment. Cruising is the fastest growing segment of the Travel and Leisure Industry. Statistics show that 7-and-a-half million Americans take cruise vacations every year and about 3-million of those are repeat cruisers. The total potential for cruise passengers in the United States is 70 million. Dow says if you're a coastal city and want to compete for tourism, a homeported cruise ship is a must.

"The visibility that Mobile will achieve by having Cruise ships here will be phenomenal," said Hallett. "We want to market Mobile and the Eastern Shore as a destination before and after a cruise." Though it's taken five years, Mayor Dow says he never lost hope. "I knew that Mobile could compete and I knew we had the organization and the planning capabilities to put the plan into place." But, the Mayor says even though he's excited now, he won't jump up and down just yet. He says he'll wait until the day the Cruise Facility is ready and the Holiday sails from Mobile Landing bound for the Caribbean.