[Daus]

the passenger cruise ships could go to that area, and they could maybe get boats or helicopters and transfer people to them

The cruise ships already come with their own tender craft. You could pick up 2,500 people at a shot with one of those big boys.

[randita]

The cruise ships already come with their own tender craft.

Not to mention enough lifeboat space for everyone on board the ship. A tender could haul a bunch of lifeboats behind it and get some able bodied young fellas to volunteer to leave the stinking confines of the Superdome to row some folks (and themselves) out to the cruise boat. Or the tender could pull a few of the lifeboats out. Or maybe the lifeboats are equipped with motors - don't know.

If worse comes to worse, couldn't a bunch of inflatable rafts be air dropped in?