Carnival Returns Year-Round to Mobile in 2027

Carnival Cruise Line will restore year-round cruising from Mobile, Ala., by homeporting the Conquest-class Carnival Valor beginning May 15, 2027 — the first year-round deployment in Mobile since the pandemic and the first Conquest-class ship to serve the port. Valor will offer mostly six- to eight-day sailings to The Bahamas and Carnival’s private destinations (RelaxAway/Half Moon Cay and Celebration Key), plus two 14-day Carnival Journeys on Sept. 26, 2027 and Jan. 16, 2028, and a seven-day Thanksgiving sailing on Nov. 20, 2027. Until Valor arrives, Carnival Spirit will continue seasonal service from Mobile between October 2026 and April 2027. The larger ship (about 3,000 passengers) is expected to boost annual passenger traffic — Visit Mobile projects growth from roughly 50,000 to about 140,000 — bringing a noticeable economic benefit to hotels, restaurants and the local tourism industry, and travel agents are already taking bookings. Valor will complete its final New Orleans sailings in early May 2027 before relocating to Mobile, creating a roughly five-week gap in sailings between early April and mid-May 2027.