Mobile cruise season: cruises from Mobile, Alabama in 2026, 2027 and 2028

Mobile is between two kinds of season. Carnival Spirit has sailed from here six months a year since 2023, the City of Mobile says, and her last Mobile departure is on 29 March 2027. After a gap of nearly seven weeks, Carnival Valor starts on 15 May 2027, and Carnival says she will sail from Mobile year-round.

The guide runs through the schedule month by month, then covers what is left in 2026, the 2027 and 2028 schedules, the spring gap, holiday sailings, hurricane season and Mardi Gras. The table at the end shows each month's departures, routes and fares per night, and it is rebuilt from the schedule every day.

When is the cruise season in Mobile, Alabama?

Until March 2027 it is a fall-to-spring season, and from May 2027 it is all year. Carnival Spirit sails from Mobile until 29 March 2027, nothing leaves in April or early May, and Carnival Valor sails from 15 May 2027. On our schedule Valor then leaves Mobile in every month except February 2028, usually on a Saturday or a Sunday.

This is what leaves in each month:

Month	Departures	Ship	What leaves
November 2026	3	Carnival Spirit	8-night Bahamas trips with Key West on 14 and 28 November, a 6-night Bahamas trip on 22 November
December 2026	4	Carnival Spirit	6-night trips on 6 and 20 December, 8-night trips on 12 and 26 December
January 2027	3	Carnival Spirit	An 8-night trip on 3 January, 6-night trips on 11 and 31 January, nothing on sale in between
February 2027	4	Carnival Spirit	8-night and 6-night Bahamas trips, taking turns
March 2027	3	Carnival Spirit	An 8-night Bahamas trip on 6 March, the 9-night Western Caribbean voyage on 20 March and the one-way voyage to Seattle on 29 March
April 2027	0	None	No departures
May 2027	3	Carnival Valor	Her first trip, 8 nights to the Bahamas on 15 May, then 6- and 8-night Bahamas trips
June 2027	4	Carnival Valor	6-night trips to Bimini and Celebration Key and 8-night Bahamas trips, taking turns
July 2027	4	Carnival Valor	The same
August 2027	5	Carnival Valor	The same
September 2027	4	Carnival Valor	The same, then the 14-night Caribbean and Panama voyage on 26 September
October 2027	4	Carnival Valor	6- and 8-night Bahamas trips from 10 October
November 2027	4	Carnival Valor	A 6-night Bahamas trip on 7 November, 7-night trips on 13 and 20 November, an 8-night Bahamas trip on 27 November
December 2027	3	Carnival Valor	6-night Western Caribbean trips on 5 and 27 December, an 8-night Bahamas trip on 11 December
January 2028	4	Carnival Valor	Bahamas trips on 2 and 8 January, the 14-night Southern Caribbean voyage on 16 January, a 6-night Western Caribbean trip on 30 January
February 2028	0	None	No departures on either schedule we check
March 2028	4	Carnival Valor	8-night and 6-night Bahamas trips, taking turns
April 2028	3	Carnival Valor	8-night Bahamas trips on 1 and 15 April, a 6-night Western Caribbean trip on 9 April. Our schedule ends here

The route notes describe the schedule when we wrote this on 4 November 2026. We list only sailings Cruisebound sells, so a month can look thinner than the ship's real pattern. CruiseTimetables also lists Carnival Spirit leaving on 17 January 2027 on a 14-night Southern Caribbean trip, a date Cruisebound was not selling when we checked. Cruises by month lists every month page.

What cruises from Mobile, Alabama are left in 2026?

Our schedule has 7 left, all on Carnival Spirit and all to the Bahamas, in November and December. When we checked on 4 November 2026 they were 8-night trips on 14 and 28 November and on 12 and 26 December, and 6-night trips on 22 November and on 6 and 20 December. The lowest 2026 fare on 4 November 2026 was $392.

That fare is per person for the cheapest cabin listed, with taxes and port fees included. The 8-night trips call at Key West, Celebration Key, Princess Cays and Nassau. The 6-night trips call at Celebration Key with Bimini or Nassau. The December 2026 page lists the December dates with fares, and last-minute cruises shows everything in the next 60 days.

If you searched for cruises from Mobile in 2026, these are what is left of the year. Spirit carries on into 2027 on the same Bahamas routes until late March, so a January, February or March trip is the same ship. CruiseTimetables also lists Spirit leaving on 8 November 2026 on a 6-night Bahamas trip. Cruisebound was not selling it when we checked, so it is not on our schedule.

What cruises leave Mobile, Alabama in 2027?

Our schedule lists 41 departures in 2027, from 3 January 2027 to 27 December 2027. Carnival Spirit sails them until 29 March and Carnival Valor from 15 May. Most are 6- or 8-night Bahamas trips, with a few longer voyages and, from December, 6-night Western Caribbean trips to Cozumel and Belize City.

The longer trips are Spirit's 9-night Carnival Journeys voyage to the Western Caribbean on 20 March, her one-way voyage through the Panama Canal to Seattle on 29 March, and Valor's 14-night Caribbean and Panama voyage on 26 September. Valor's two 7-night trips leave on 13 and 20 November. The Carnival Journeys guide covers the long voyages.

On 4 November 2026 the lowest fare in 2027 was $378, per person for the cheapest cabin listed, with taxes and port fees included. The 2027 schedule lists every date.

Are there cruises from Mobile in April 2027?

No. Nothing leaves Mobile between Carnival Spirit's departure on 29 March 2027 and Carnival Valor's first trip on 15 May 2027, 47 days by our count. Spirit leaves on a 16-night voyage that ends in Seattle on 14 April, and Carnival says Valor's last New Orleans cruise is a four-day trip leaving on 10 May.

Neither Cruisebound nor CruiseTimetables lists a Mobile departure in April or early May 2027. Carnival's July 2025 release says Spirit sails from Seattle after that, to Hawaii and then Alaska. If your time off falls in the gap, the nearest departures are Spirit's on 20 and 29 March and Valor's on 15 and 23 May. The Carnival guide compares the two ships.

What cruises leave Mobile, Alabama in 2028?

Our schedule lists 11 departures in 2028, all on Carnival Valor, from 2 January 2028 to 15 April 2028. They fall in January, March and April. Neither Cruisebound nor CruiseTimetables lists a departure in February 2028: Valor's 6-night trip of 30 January is back on 5 February, and the next one leaves on 4 March.

The schedule stops at 15 April 2028 because that is where Cruisebound's catalogue and CruiseTimetables' list both stop. Carnival announced Valor for Mobile year-round from May 2027, and we add sailings as Cruisebound lists them.

What day of the week do cruises leave Mobile?

Saturday or Sunday, nearly always. On our schedule most 8-night trips leave on a Saturday and most 6-night trips on a Sunday, so the ship is back on a weekend morning and leaves again that afternoon. Cruisebound's itineraries put departure at 3:30 PM on nearly every trip we read and the return at 8:00 AM.

Three departures are on a Monday: Spirit's 6-night trip of 11 January 2027, her one-way voyage of 29 March 2027, which leaves at 4:30 PM, and Valor's 6-night trip of 27 December 2027. If your time off is fixed, the weekend cruises page and the short cruises guide show how the trips fit a week.

Are there Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year cruises from Mobile?

Yes, in 2026 and 2027, with one gap. Carnival Spirit's 6-night trip of 22 November 2026 is at sea on Thanksgiving, her trip of 20 December is at sea on Christmas Day, and her 8-night trip of 26 December is in Nassau on New Year's Eve. In 2027 Valor's 7-night trip of 20 November is in Cozumel on Thanksgiving.

Holiday	Sailing	Where the ship is on the day
Thanksgiving, 26 November 2026	Carnival Spirit, 6-night Bahamas, 22 to 28 November	At sea
Christmas 2026	Carnival Spirit, 6-night Bahamas, 20 to 26 December	At sea on 24 and 25 December
New Year 2027	Carnival Spirit, 8-night Bahamas, 26 December to 3 January	Nassau on 31 December, at sea on 1 January
Thanksgiving, 25 November 2027	Carnival Valor, 7-night Western Caribbean, 20 to 27 November	Cozumel on 25 November
Christmas 2027	None on our schedule
New Year 2028	Carnival Valor, 6-night Western Caribbean, 27 December to 2 January	At sea on 31 December and 1 January

Where the ship is on each day comes from Cruisebound's itineraries. On 4 November 2026 the lowest fare in December 2026 was $532 and in December 2027 $435. The holiday cruises page compares each holiday sailing's fare per night with the rest of its month.

Do cruises from Mobile sail in hurricane season?

Yes. The National Hurricane Center gives the Atlantic hurricane season as 1 June to 30 November, with a peak on 10 September and most activity between mid-August and mid-October. Carnival Valor sails from Mobile right through it on our schedule, with Bahamas trips from June to November 2027 and her 14-night voyage of 26 September.

The Hurricane Center counts the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf as part of the Atlantic basin, and adds that storms sometimes form before or after the official dates. On its 1991 to 2020 figures, an average Atlantic season has 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes.

Carnival's ticket contract lets it change a cruise's length or itinerary, or drop or change port calls, for reasons that include adverse weather and hurricanes. It says Carnival owes no compensation for such changes beyond what the contract, its change-of-itinerary policy at the time of booking or federal rules provide. If Carnival cancels or shortens a voyage for any reason other than a mechanical failure, the contract offers a future cruise credit or onboard credit up to the cruise price paid, as Carnival decides.

Carnival's own insurance, Vacation Protection, lists severe weather among the common cancellation reasons it covers, and started at $49 when we checked on 4 November 2026. It is sold to U.S. residents of every state except New York. When we checked, August and September 2027 had some of the lowest fares on the schedule, and the cheap and last-minute guide has the figures.

Does Mardi Gras affect a cruise from Mobile?

It can affect the drive in. The City of Mobile says marching bands fill downtown streets for weeks each season, and during parade season it restricts on-street parking in areas marked with gold and purple signs, from two hours before each parade until two hours after it. Cars parked there may be towed. The city had posted no 2027 parade dates when we read its Mardi Gras pages on 4 November 2026.

Carnival Spirit sails from Mobile through January, February and March 2027, so if your sailing falls in parade season, check the city's parade schedule and routes once they are out and leave extra time downtown. The city's temporary impound lot for towed cars is under the I-10 overpass on Water Street near Canal Street. The parking guide covers the terminal's own deck.

Which month is cheapest for a cruise from Mobile?

We can only give today's snapshot. This site began recording Mobile fares in November 2026, too soon to show how they move through a year. On 4 November 2026 the lowest fare per night was $55 in August 2027 and $54 in September, against $84 in June and $84 in February, per person for the cheapest cabin listed, with taxes and port fees included.

A fare per night puts the 6-night and 8-night trips on the same footing. The table at the end of this guide shows the typical and lowest fare a night for every month, and the cheap and last-minute guide picks out the lowest fares.