Oil spill causing havoc among land vacationers but cruises are status quo

Cruise industry so far unaffected by oil spill

NEW YORK — While some beach destinations in the Gulf region have experienced visitor cancellations related to the oil spill, there’s one sector of the travel industry that has not been affected yet and that’s the cruise industry.

“The cruise impact so far has been nil,” said Melissa Paloti, managing editor at CruiseCritic.com. The website has been checking in daily with all the cruise lines running ships in the region.

Lanie Fagan, a spokeswoman for Cruise Lines International Association, an industry group representing 97 percent of cruise capacity in North America, said CLIA’s member lines “have had no ships requiring deviations or changes to itineraries due to the oil spill.”

Carnival Cruise Lines, which sails ships from New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., said in a statement that its captains may make “slight course alterations as necessary to avoid the most heavily impacted spill areas.” The company is also inspecting ship hulls for oil residue. But the company said it was “not anticipating any interruptions to our normal cruise schedules.”