Carnival extends N.O. contract |
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Thu, 26 Jul 2007 22:56
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Reporting an increase in demand for cruises from Louisiana, Carnival Corp. signed a two-year contract extension Thursday to keep its ships sailing through the Port of New Orleans.The pact, which is retroactive to October 2006, has a two-year option that could keep Carnival Cruise Lines in the city through 2010, the port announced.The 2,056-passenger Carnival Fantasy, which replaced the Carnival Sensation in October 2006, will make a minimum of 70 calls per year to the port's new $37 million Erato Street Cruise Terminal and parking garage. The ship makes four- and five-day cruises to the Western Caribbean.Miami-based Carnival has seen some improvement recently in demand for New Orleans cruises 'and a steady expansion of the geographic source markets for passengers,' said Vicki Freed, Carnival's senior vice president of sales and marketing.'It indicates that interest is definitely building among consumers from well beyond the local area for cruises from New Orleans,' Freed said.In March, Carnival chairman Micky Arison said he was disappointed that New Orleans has not recovered from Hurricane Katrina as quickly as the company had hoped.Arison blamed the slower-than-expected return of tourism on media reports that focused on the parts of the city that were hardest hit by Katrina, 'which are really outside of the tourist areas.'Carnival also said it would hold its quarterly meeting of national sales managers Sept. 24-25 in New Orleans. The company said more than 100 people would attend.New Orleans also serves as the homeport to Norwegian Cruise Lines' Norwegian Spirit.New Orleans was one of the fastest-growing cruise ports in the country before Katrina. It handled 700,000 passengers leaving and arriving in 2004, the last full year prior to Katrina.Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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