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  • Port of Galveston the 2nd quickest growing U.S. cruise port. Who's sailed from?

    By Jason

    The Port of Galveston ranks as the fourth busiest cruise port in the U.S. based upon embarkation according to a recent study prepared by Business Research and Economic Advisors (BREA) for the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). In 2012, the Port of Galveston, Texas’ only major cruise port, welcomed 863,000 passenger and crew, which is 4 percent of all passenger and crew visits at U.S. ports.

    With over $1.2 billion in direct spending and almost 20,000 jobs paying nearly $1.1 billion in total income, Texas accounted for 6.3 percent of the industry’s overall spending nationwide. The state ranking rose from fourth to third. The Port of Galveston embarked approximately 604,000 passengers and was the second fastest growing cruise port in 2012.

    Next year will prove to be even better for Galveston’s cruise business, with the addition of Royal Caribbean International’s Navigator of the Seas year round operation offering Texas vacationers roundtrip seven-night Western Caribbean itineraries throughout the year and the continued year round operations of Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Magic and Carnival Triumph.

    "The Port of Galveston is committed to remaining in the top 20 cruise home-ports worldwide. We are dedicated to strengthening our existing relationship with the cruise industry and increasing the economic impact to the local and regional communities.," said Mike Mierzwa, Port of Galveston Port Director.

    The Port of Galveston, Texas’ Star Cruise Port serves as the primary point of embarkation for cruises to the western Caribbean and the Bahamas and handles over 1.2 million cruise passengers annually. Three cruise lines, Carnival Cruise Lines, Disney Cruise Line, and Royal Caribbean International, sail from Texas’ premiere cruise port.

    By Teijo Niemelä, Cruise Business Review

    For more cruise news & articles go to http://www.cruisecrazies.com/index.html

    Re-posted on CruiseCrazies.com - Cruise News, Articles, Forums, Packing List, Ship Tracker, and more

    http://www.cruisecrazies.com

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    KeithnRita
    We've cruised from Galveston twice and Houston once. Galveston we liked, including staying at the Galvez, however Houston was a bust. Our cruise was moved there from NOLA after Katrina hit. The terminal was so small the actual check-in was on the ship--the NCL Sun.

    We finally cruised out of NOLA last September and it turned out very good. We stayed at the Holiday Inn near the Superdome, which included free parking for the duration of our cruise. Neither of us had been there since the mid 70s so we did head down to the French Quarter and partied a little and dined at Pat O'Brien's the night before our cruise. Disembarkation was not so good as the Saints were in town and it was game day. Traffic was so bad we just ended joining one of the many tailgate parties near our hotel until game time.

    Our next 3 cruises are out of NOLA as we can drive there in about 10 to 11 hours.

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    Mach
    We've cruised from Galveston twice and Houston once. Galveston we liked, including staying at the Galvez, however Houston was a bust. Our cruise was moved there from NOLA after Katrina hit. The terminal was so small the actual check-in was on the ship--the NCL Sun.

    If it was 2005 you sailed from Barbour's Cut. That cruise terminal was closed shortly after that and the port serves cargo ships exclusively. The 'new' port is Bayport. It opened in 2007 but saw no traffic until 2009 when Hurricane Ike laid waste to Galveston Island. Carnival's Ecstasy and Conquest sailed out of Bayport for 2 months while the port in Galveston was being rebuilt.

    I sailed from there on the Conquest for her second sailing from Bayport:

    IMG_1318.jpgIMG_1317.jpg

    It wasn't the best experience. There were no computers available so the customs folks were amazingly slow processing the debarking passengers. The elevators failed forcing the staff there to carry wheelchair bound guests up the stairs!!

    Parking was a nightmare as there were only 400 parking spaces available on the paved service, as you can see in the photo above.

    I'm sure much of this has been addressed, if not all of the problems. The port now claims 1000 spots on the asphalt for parking... a great improvement!!

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    KeithnRita

    It must have been Barbour's Cut. The staging area was in a post frame building (better known as a pole barn). There was only enough seating for about half of the passengers. Although it was late December it was very hot inside when it became very overcrowded as the buses kept rolling in with more and more folks. With all the buses there they could hardly turn around. When boarding began for check-in on the ship they could only take a certain number at a time so they would not overload the gangway. Once you did finally get aboard you headed for the nearest bar instead of the buffet!

    DrinkUmbrella.gifDrinkUmbrella.gif

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    Mach
    It must have been Barbour's Cut. The staging area was in a post frame building (better known as a pole barn). There was only enough seating for about half of the passengers. Although it was late December it was very hot inside when it became very overcrowded as the buses kept rolling in with more and more folks. With all the buses there they could hardly turn around. When boarding began for check-in on the ship they could only take a certain number at a time so they would not overload the gangway. Once you did finally get aboard you headed for the nearest bar instead of the buffet!

    DrinkUmbrella.gifDrinkUmbrella.gif

    Yep... that's Barbour's Cut. It amazes me that NCL is coming back to Houston after the experience there but, it's a big market and Carnival has pretty much had it cornered for the past six or seven years. I can't blame them for looking for a piece of the pie!

    To me, the biggest downside of sailing from Bayport is the fact that it takes three hours to get from the port to the Gulf of Mexico. Consequently, it's three more hours that the casino can't open and you're charged taxes on your purchases. On my sailing from Bayport we were forced to keep our speed down as we were behind a cargo ship that was only making 10 knots.

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