Cruise Lines Set Sail from New Orleans

The answer to a big question –the future of New Orleans’ cruise ship industry- is now unfolding as the first regularly scheduled liner to sail since Hurricane Katrina left the city’s docks.

Before Katrina, four cruise ships were home-ported in New Orleans. The industry was rapidly expanding, with more than 700,000 passengers leaving and arriving in 2004 through the Port of New Orleans.

But Katrina, which struck in August 2005, shut down the usually strong fall season. Only 308,000 passengers sailed from New Orleans during the first eight months of the year, according to the International Council of Cruise Lines, an industry group.

Now, nearly 14 months since the last regular voyage the business is starting over. On Sunday, the Norwegian Sun, an 853-foot Norwegian Cruise Lines vessel that can handle 2,000 passengers, left for the Caribbean. Three other cruise ships are expected to return later this year and in 2007.

There have been several one-time liner stops at New Orleans since Katrina, but Sunday’s voyage marks the return of regularly scheduled service of four- to seven-day voyages. For a time after Katrina, two cruise ships docked at New Orleans to provide housing for emergency workers.

The port is opening a third cruise terminal and a 1,000-vehicle garage at a cost of $38 million that will give the facility the ability to handle two large passenger ships at once. It is bullish enough to be making plans for a fourth terminal.