roughly 2,000 passengers and 1,500 crew. I imagine that the Carnival ship that was due in to New Orleans cannot get there (it takes about 6 hours from the mouth of the Mississippi Delta to travel to the Port of New Orleans.

No only can't the ship get close, but all the supplies (or majority of supplies) are already waiting in New Orleans (or were destroyed/looted). It would be unlikely that the ship (or other ships) can take on supplies to sustain people and especially since the number of people would be relatively small.

Its a good idea, but by the time you transport peoplem to the ship(s) you may be better off transporting them (by ground) North of the disaster area. That way supplies can be brought to them faster (air and then ground).

Just my thoughts.

Jim