Carnival Cruise Lines, Port of New Orleans Extend Contract

Carnival Cruise Lines and the Port of New Orleans announced a new two-year contract retroactive to October 2006, with the option to renew the deal for an additional two-year period, which could keep the world’s largest cruise line sailing regularly from the Crescent City through 2010. Under the terms of the contract, the 2,056-passenger Carnival Fantasy, which replaced the Carnival Sensation in October of 2006, will make a minimum of 70 calls per year to the Port of New Orleans’ new $37 million Erato Street Cruise Terminal and Parking Garage. The ship sails four- and five-day cruises to the Western Caribbean year-round, with port calls in Cozumel and Costa Maya. Carnival also plans to hold its quarterly meeting of national sales managers on Sept. 24 and 25 in New Orleans to highlight the City’s rebounding tourism industry to its leading sales personnel. More than 100 of Carnival’s sales managers will attend the event, which will be held at Hotel Monteleone in the French Quarter. An economic impact study found the cruise industry contributes $226 million annually to the regional economy and supports more than 2,800 jobs in Louisiana.