United States
Mobile, AL
Mobile: America's Original Mardi Gras City
Mobile, pronounced moh-BEEL, sits where the Mobile River meets the head of Mobile Bay, and it takes its name from the Mobile people, who were allies of the French colonists. If your cruise falls in Mardi Gras season, the History Museum and Fort Condé close early on parade days and stay closed over Mardi Gras weekend and on Mardi Gras Day itself.
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What Cruise Travelers Should Know About Mobile
Mobile's cruise terminal stands in downtown Mobile, with covered parking on site, and the downtown entertainment district is right next to it. Mobile is a home port, where passengers start or end a Carnival cruise, and American Cruise Lines calls on a Gulf Coast itinerary.
- Carnival sails from Mobile to the Bahamas.
- Parking at the terminal can be paid in advance.
- Mobile Regional Airport serves the city, and Amtrak's Mardi Gras Service runs to Mobile from New Orleans.
- The city sits at the head of Mobile Bay, and its port is the only deep-water port in Alabama.
Mobile on Your Own
Mobile is mainly a starting and finishing port, so a day on your own usually means the day before or after the cruise, or a few hours on a port call. Downtown is walkable from the terminal, with the History Museum, Fort Condé and the Carnival Museum within walking distance of one another, and the USS Alabama is a drive away on Battleship Parkway.
- Colonial Fort Condé: It is a four-fifths-scale reconstruction of part of the French fort of 1723, opened in 1976, at 150 South Royal Street. Your History Museum ticket includes it.
- History Museum of Mobile: The museum occupies the Old City Hall and Southern Market of 1855 to 1857, at 111 South Royal Street. Admission is free on the first Sunday of each month.
- Bienville Square: It has been a city park since 1824 and is shaded by live oaks. Dauphin Street nearby has restaurants and bars.
- The battleship: USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park, at 2703 Battleship Parkway, is open every day except Christmas. Last tickets are sold an hour before closing.
- Boarding day: Follow the check-in time your cruise line gives you, and allow time to park.
- On a port call: All-aboard is usually about 30 minutes before sailing, and your ship posts the exact time. A ship will not wait for passengers touring on their own.
- Opening hours change, so check before you go.
Getting Around Mobile on a Port Day
Downtown Mobile can be explored on foot. Beyond downtown, a car or taxi is the practical choice, and the city bus timetable is worth checking before you rely on it.
- Wave Transit runs the city buses; check its current timetable, especially for Sundays.
- The battleship park and Dauphin Island are a drive from downtown, so plan a taxi or rental car for them.
- Interstate 10 passes under the Mobile River through the George C. Wallace Tunnel.
Gulf Coast Seafood and Mobile's Culinary Identity
Seafood from the bay is central to Mobile's food, from oysters at a downtown oyster house open since 1938 to West Indies salad, a crab dish first made near the city in 1947. Mardi Gras adds a sweet of its own.
- West Indies salad: It is lump blue crab marinated with sweet onion, cider vinegar and oil. Bill Bayley first served it at his steak house south of Mobile, and many restaurants around the bay offer it.
- Oysters: Wintzell's Oyster House on Dauphin Street has served oysters downtown since 1938.
- MoonPies: Since 1956 these graham cracker and marshmallow snacks have been thrown from Mardi Gras floats in Mobile, and the city lowers a giant lighted MoonPie on New Year's Eve.
Tipping in the United States
Tipping is expected in the United States, so plan to add a percentage of the bill when you eat at a sit-down restaurant. Check your bill first, because some restaurants add a service charge or gratuity automatically, especially for large groups.
- Restaurants: At a full-service restaurant, a tip is customary for table service.
- Taxis and guides: Taxi drivers and tour guides are commonly tipped too.
- Currency: The United States uses the US dollar ($), and foreign currencies are almost never accepted.
Museums, Mardi Gras, and the Mobile Spirit
Mardi Gras is Mobile's signature, celebrated here since 1703 and organized by mystic societies that have paraded since 1831. Downtown, which is easily explored on foot, holds the Carnival museum, the cathedral and the History Museum.
- Mobile Carnival Museum: In the historic Bernstein-Bush mansion on Government Street, it tells more than 300 years of Mardi Gras in Mobile.
- Mystic societies: The Cowbellion de Rakin Society, the first parading mystic society, marched on New Year's Day 1831, and its members took the idea to New Orleans in 1835.
- Joe Cain: In 1867, after the Civil War, Joe Cain revived Mobile's Mardi Gras parade, riding a decorated charcoal wagon with six fellow veterans.
- Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception: Its cornerstone was laid in 1835 and it was consecrated in 1850, built to a Roman basilica design.
- Africatown: About 5 km north of downtown, the community founded by survivors of the slave ship Clotilda was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.
America's First Mardi Gras and the Battle of Mobile Bay
Mobile began in 1702 as the capital of French Louisiana and passed through British and Spanish hands before the United States took it in 1813. Cotton, the slave trade and the port drove its growth, and the Civil War and wartime shipbuilding shaped the modern city.
- 1702: Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville founded the settlement on a bluff upriver as the capital of French Louisiana. The first Mardi Gras was celebrated there in 1703.
- 1711: After flooding and disease, the town moved downriver to its present site, and work on the brick Fort Condé began in 1723.
- 1763 to 1813: Britain took Mobile after the Seven Years' War, Spain captured it in 1780, and US forces seized it in 1813 during the War of 1812.
- 1830s to 1850s: Mobile grew on cotton and the trade in enslaved people, and by 1840 it was second only to New Orleans in cotton exports.
- 1859 or 1860: The Clotilda, the last known slave ship to reach the United States, brought 110 captives from Africa to Mobile Bay. Survivors later founded Africatown, and the wreck was identified in the Mobile River in 2019.
- August 5, 1864: Union ships won the Battle of Mobile Bay. The city surrendered on April 12, 1865, after the fall of nearby Spanish Fort and Fort Blakeley.
- 1940 to 1943: More than 89,000 people moved to Mobile to work in its shipyards and at Brookley Army Air Field.
- 1964: The battleship USS Alabama was given to the state and towed to Mobile to become a museum ship.
- To learn more ashore: The History Museum of Mobile, at 111 South Royal Street, covers the city from its founding to today. Check opening times before you go.
Mobile with Children: USS Alabama, Aquariums, and History
Mobile has enough for a family day before or after a cruise, with a science center and a fort downtown and a battleship park on Battleship Parkway. Children aged 5 and under enter both the History Museum and the battleship free.
- Younger children: The Exploreum Science Center on Government Street has hands-on exhibits for all ages and a digital dome theater.
- School age: Colonial Fort Condé has walls and cannons and is included with the History Museum ticket.
- Teenagers: Battleship Memorial Park lets you go aboard USS Alabama, a battleship of the Second World War, and the submarine USS Drum, with military aircraft on show nearby.
- A day at the shore: Dauphin Island, at the mouth of Mobile Bay, has Fort Gaines, the Dauphin Island Sea Lab with the Alabama Aquarium, and an Audubon bird sanctuary.
Accessibility at the Alabama Cruise Terminal and in Mobile
The cruise terminal is downtown with covered parking, and the historic center around it is walkable. Ask your cruise line about assistance at check-in and boarding.
- The History Museum of Mobile has an unloading area directly in front for cars and buses, and welcomes service animals.
- Downtown museums, Fort Condé and Bienville Square are within walking distance of one another.
- The battleship park and Dauphin Island need a car or taxi.
- Ask the battleship park in advance which parts of the ship and submarine you can reach without stairs.
Shopping in Mobile: Antiques, Local Makers, and Mardi Gras Souvenirs
For small independent shops, look downtown around Bienville Square and Dauphin Street. Mardi Gras beads, doubloons and MoonPies are Mobile's own souvenirs.
- The Haunted Book Shop: It is a small independent shop at 109 Dauphin Street selling new and used books, with plenty of local and Southern authors.
- Mardi Gras throws: Beads, doubloons and decorated cups are the classic throws from Mobile's parades.
- The Carnival Museum: On Government Street, it tells how Mobile's celebration grew into the tradition behind the throws.
Beaches Near Mobile: Dauphin Island
Mobile itself sits on the river at the head of the bay, so for Gulf beaches head south by road to Dauphin Island. The island is 24 km long and reached by a single bridge.
- Dauphin Island: Sandy beaches face the Gulf, with a fishing pier and Fort Gaines at the eastern end.
- Birds: The island is the first land many birds reach as they fly north from South America in spring, and the Audubon Bird Sanctuary covers 66 hectares.
- Fort Gaines: Established in 1821 at the island's east end, the fort played its part in the Battle of Mobile Bay, and it displays the anchor of Admiral Farragut's flagship, USS Hartford.
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