Carnival Elation Heads To New Orleans

Update: The Mississippi River has opened to ship traffic and Carnival Elation is proceeding to New Orleans.

Message from Carnival Cruise Lines to July 8, 2013 embarking Carnival Elation passengers (sent on July 7, 2013):

We know you are looking forward to your cruise tomorrow which is why we want to take a moment to provide you with some important information.

As you may have heard, the Mississippi River is currently closed to ship traffic so the US Coast Guard can continue their assessment of the area impacted by the wreckage of the sunken vessel. Authorities are planning to provide an update by 3:00pm today and we remain optimistic the river will re-open so that we can operate your cruise as scheduled tomorrow.

If the river opens by midnight, we will modify check-in and our departure times. Check-in for your cruise will be scheduled from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM at the Erato Street Terminal, located at 1100 Port of New Orleans Place. We will sail at 7:00 PM. This delay will not impact our scheduled itinerary.

For your comfort and convenience and to ensure a smooth embarkation experience, we ask that you please not arrive earlier as we will be busy checking in Carnival Conquest guests (their sailing was delayed by a day due to the river closure).

In the event the river does not open by midnight, we will provide you with an update on our plans in the morning.

In the meantime, to stay in touch, we encourage you to sign up for text alerts by texting CCL2 to CRUISE (278473) to receive updates. If you have already done so during your online check-in, you will automatically receive updates. We apologize for this delay and thank you for your cooperation and understanding. Most importantly, we can't wait to welcome you aboard for a fun and memorable cruise vacation. See you soon!