Mobile finally got a major cruise line to return to its ghost town of a cruise terminal last week.

The crippled Carnival Triumph docked at the terminal, built for $20 million in 2004 to host Carnival ships. The cruise line pulled out of Mobile in the fall of 2011 and relocated the Mobile-based ship, Elation, to New Orleans, even as the 2,052-passenger ship typically sailed at or near capacity from Mobile.

Issues with the Mobile port included the lack of an adequate turning basin and a general inability to market Mobile-area attractions.

Food for thought as our local cruise debate heats up. Carnival likes to move its ships around and would be Savannah’s most likely tenant (Charleston and Jacksonville are home ports for Carnival ships).

But hey, if we were to lose our ship someday, we’d at least have room on the waterfront should a Triumph-like breakdown happen off our coast.