Carnival Valor Is a Step Up for Mobile, Not a Contract Extension

“I don’t think they’re giving us a larger ship to leave,” Mobile Mayor Spiro Cheriogotis said of Carnival’s decision to bring Carnival Valor to the city in May.

That is a lot of reassurance to draw from a ship assignment. I welcome the return of year-round cruising to Mobile, but the larger vessel does not settle the port’s longer-term future with Carnival. The current five-year agreement is approaching its final year, and an extension still needs to be negotiated.

There is plenty to celebrate in the meantime. Carnival Spirit returned to Mobile on Saturday for a winter deployment lasting through April, beginning the city’s fourth consecutive cruise season under the agreement. Valor is scheduled to follow in May, replacing that seasonal operation with a full-time schedule.

Those are concrete improvements. They deserve attention without being stretched into a commitment Carnival has yet to make.

What Mobile is getting

Visit Mobile President and CEO David Clark said Valor will be the largest cruise ship the city has hosted. The 110,000-gross-ton vessel has a double-occupancy capacity of 2,980 guests. Built by Fincantieri in Monfalcone, Italy, it entered service in December 2004.

Spirit is smaller, at 88,500 gross tons, with a Carnival-listed guest capacity of 2,134. It was built in Helsinki in 2001.

The move to year-round service matters more to me than the largest-ship distinction.

Clark thanked Carnival’s captains for their partnership with the destination. “It’s a really big deal, the impact that you make for our destination with our hotels, our restaurants, our attractions,” he said.

A full-time schedule gives that argument more substance. It does not, by itself, tell us how much additional spending Mobile will see.

A winter return, with a bigger change ahead

Cheriogotis and Visit Mobile officials welcomed Spirit at the Alabama Cruise Terminal. Passengers disembarked after a two-week voyage from the West Coast. Traveler Jeremiah Fassler said his journey began in Seattle and would finish with a one-way rental car trip home to Myrtle Beach.

For passengers looking at the upcoming Mobile season, Carnival’s website lists an eight-day Bahamas sailing departing the Saturday after Spirit’s return.

The mayor also acknowledged that “contracts need to be extended, negotiated in terms,” while expressing confidence that the partnership would continue beyond Valor’s first year in Mobile.

That confidence may prove justified. Sending a larger ship and restoring year-round service are meaningful steps. But the next commitment Mobile needs is a negotiated extension, not an optimistic reading of the ship Carnival has assigned.

See current Carnival Valor fares and itineraries on Cruise Lookup.