Buses wait to pick up passengers from the Carnival Conquest cruise ship Sunday, July 7, 2013, near the Alabama Cruise Terminal in downtown Mobile, Ala. The Conquest was diverted from New Orleans to Mobile after a tugboat sank in the Mississippi River Saturday, closing the river. (Mike Brantley/mbrantley@al.com)
MOBILE, Alabama—More than 4,500 passengers and crew members arrived into Mobile at 1:08 p.m. today.
Shelia Gurganus, who oversees the operations at the terminal, said the Carnival Conquest is the largest cruise ship to arrive into the terminal, at more than 950 feet. The vessel was originally set to arrive this morning in New Orleans, but had to divert into Mobile because of complications from a sunken tug boat that caused the closure of the Mississippi River.
"I think it's going to be a normal day," Gurganus said. "What this tells me about Carnival is that they have put confidence into Mobile and this terminal. They put confidence in us before. This says something they never have said before in that we can take a ship we've never taken."
Gurganus said she is confident there will be no problems disembarking the 3,500 passengers on board the ship, which should take place around 2 p.m. She also said the terminal's gangway can operationally handle the large vessel.
"They are showing confidence in us and it gives me a lot of feel-good about our terminal and our city," Gurganus said.
The Conquest will arrive "starboard," meaning it will be backed into the terminal. Passengers will disembark and arrive through customs security before leaving the terminal and loading into one of the buses currently parked along Water Street for a drive to New Orleans.
"They are ready to take them back to New Orleans," she said.
The Conquest has a passenger capacity of 2,984, but Gurganus said it's not uncommon during the summer months for a cruise vessel to have more people aboard.
"They are full and it's summer," she said. "You can always put more on. When you say 3,000 that is capacity of two per cabin. When you have a family of four, they may have a pull down bunk."
The Conquest will be in Mobile until at least 5 p.m. Monday, when a new group of vacationers arrive via bus from New Orleans.
Gurganus said she first learned that the Conquest might be arriving into Mobile around 9 p.m. Saturday. She said the company provided her confirmation about the vessel's arriving at 12:30 a.m. Sunday.
The Conquest's arrival could also mean big bucks for the city, after the Carnival Triumph's emergency docking on Feb. 14 generated $74,855 for the city.
The Triumph returned to the city-owned cruise terminal for a 36-day-stay after strong winds broke the 894-foot vessel from its moorings at BAE System. The city's bill to Carnival Cruise Lines was more than $300,000 during that stay, Gurganus said.
Carnival Corp. is suing BAE Systems -- among others -- for more than $12 million for damage the cruise ship sustained. The suit contends BAE's "defective" mooring equipment failed to hold the vessel steady when straight-line winds gusting up to 66 mph struck the area.