Mobile Is Carnival's "Fantasy" Port

Carnival's Fantasy cruise ship will continue to operate out of Mobile until it goes into drydock in September.

The cruise line fears lingering delays from an oil spill on the Mississippi River would throw off its arrival/departure schedules out of New Orleans, Fantasy's home port.

"We sincerely apologize to all of our guests that are impacted by this situation," said a Carnival spokesperson on the company's website. "The entire Carnival team will do everything possible to minimize this inconvenience"

The Fantasy, which is currently out to sea, will return to Mobile on Saturday. Passengers will be bused back to the New Orleans cruise terminal or the New Orleans airport.

Passengers who embark on Saturday should park at the New Orleans cruise terminal. They will then be bused to Mobile. The cruise will return to Mobile August 14th and passengers will be bused back to the Crescent City.

All remaining cruises (August 14, 18, 23 and September 1) will depart from Mobile. Carnival will bus passengers to Mobile if they've already purchased airfare to New Orleans.

Mayor Sam Jones tells News 5 this experiment could lead to a second cruise ship in Mobile.

"It shows that we could very easily handle two cruise ships at our terminal here," Jones said. "We're using (this opportunity) to market ourselves for another ship. We'd like to have another ship. Certainly this year, we expect to have an announcement for a larger ship."