Let the Norwegian Cruise Line Roll

Officials with Norwegian Cruise Line and the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans signed a new four-year berthing agreement with three one-year options. The agreement will keep at least one Norwegian cruise ship sailing seasonally from New Orleans through 2018 with the ability to extend the agreement through 2021.

The agreement follows the Norwegian Dawn’s maiden voyage to New Orleans on November 21. The ship began sailing seven-day western Caribbean itineraries November 23 from the Julia Street Cruise Terminal.

New Orleans Port cruise terminals handled 987,860 embarkations and disembarkations in 2013, which resulted in USD 399 million in cruise industry spending in Louisiana, supporting 7,548 jobs and USD 294 million in personal income, according to an economic impact study by Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). More than 80 percent of those cruise passengers are from outside of
Louisiana and spend an average of two nights in New Orleans hotels either before or after their cruise.

Passengers and shipboard crew spend about USD 78 million per year in New Orleans with lodging (USD 27.5 million) and food and beverage (USD 8.3 million) encompassing about half of the overall spending. CLIA ranks New Orleans as the sixth largest cruise port in the United States.

Press Release; Image: Port of New Orleans