Question to Cruise TA's

[Peddler]

I know RCCL is leaving Galveeston at the end of Aug with the exception of the Voyager from Dec thru April 08. Does anyone know if Carnival as well as the other few lines that are sailing from Galveston are leaving also? I have heard that Corpus Christy will be supporting a cruise line in the near future...

Inquiring minds want to know.

Thanks

[Gregswife]

Peddler, I can't answer your question, but I hope Carnival isn't leaving Galveston - we are scheduled to sail out of there in Nov.

[JohnG]

They aren't pulling out of Galveston. The cruiselines put all the ships in the Caribbean or South America over the winter. In April they start moving ships to Alaska for the May-Sep season, then they come back. In April, they also send some to Europe for the Apr-Oct season. Of the five ships that have been sailing from Houston/Galveston, NCL Dream and and Grand Princess head to Europe. RCCL announced months ago that they were redeploying Rhapsody of the Seas to Asia, as several other lines have done recently. That leaves Carnival Conquest doing 7 nights and Ecstasy doing shorter cruises in the summer. The Voyager has never been sailing from Galveston, and starts in December with two holiday cruises, and continues through at least the spring, replacing Rhapsody. Most lines' 2008 full schedule isn't published yet.

The same thing happens to New Orleans. At the end of April Granduer of the Seas leaves to spend the summer alternating Bermuda and Caribbean sailing from Baltimore, and the NCL Sun goes to Alaska, leaving only Carnival Fantasy there for the summer (hurricane) season. The Norwegian Spirit will redeply from New York to New Orleans in December at least through March.

[Peddler]

I understand redeployment of ships but RCCL has abandoned Galveston from the end of Aug until the end of Dec with NO ships sailing from there at all. Voyager is only scheduled 4 months with no plans for other short or long cruise ships.

[JohnG]

All I can suggest is wait to see the full RCCL 2008 schedule, once it is issued later this spring.

[SCIROCCO]

Nothing for 2008 for Sept, Oct or November for RCCL! Sailings to the Caribbean thats why we are going with Carnival now on the Conquest for those months, looks like no ships will replace the Rhapsodys sailings for those months! Also I talked to NCL, they are pulling out of Houston going back to New Orleans for the Western Caribbean as well! I talked to the agent today and thats what I was told! I was told by a cab driver last Year theres Two New cruiselines coming to Galveston in two years this also may have something to do with these changes! "To Be Continued"!

[Peddler]

Well here is an answer I recieved off of another forum.

I'm not a TA, but I've got some info.

I've not heard anything about Corpus Christ hosting a ship, but that would be a possibility since there was a naval facility across the bay at Ingleside which has now been shut down.

I'm actually about 25 miles from Galveston and less than 10 from the new Houston Bayport. I attended a Chamber of Commerce luncheon last week which featured a guest speaker from the Houston Bayport operation. In fact, she is formerly with Royal Caribbean and is now the the person with the new port who is doing the negotiating with the cruiselines.

This port will be a totally different animal than Galveston. Basically she said the goal is to make Houston the new Miami. They have 140 acres and are going to have 3 cruise terminals (yes, starting off with one in April 2008, then expanding to three). The number 2 and 3 berths will be reserved for specific ships like Project Genesis which will hold 10,000 pax. (not that she said that ship is contracted, just using it as an example).

There will be a "retail" area at the port which will include hotels, restaurants, even themeparks, etc, so that they can offer "quality" pre- and post-cruise packages. She indicated that this port will host ships with clients who will have a "higher per diem spending", and although when asked which lines, she said she couldn't say because she was still in negotiations, but she did mention Disney several times, especially in regard to the themepark. Of course, Tilman Fertitta isn't out of the picture, either. 35% of the retail area is reserved for small business.

She is working on unique "send offs" for each different cruise line to make it really fun to depart from Houston.

There will be 800-1000 (non-covered) parking spaces, but they will be looking to the hotels in the retail area to provide most of the parking (covered) and shuttles.

They are also looking into things such as a water taxi to the Kemah Boardwalk, a trolley system, etc.

She said that the port will have totally separate embarkation and debarkation areas, so we won't have the traffic nightmare we have at Galveston with everybody coming and going at the same time.

She gave us the following stats on Texas cruise passengers:

2005 - 531,000

2006 - 635,000

2007 - projected 655,000

2008 - projected 760,000

2009 - projected 935,000 (Houston only)

2010 - projected 1,125,000 (Houston only) (Miami 1,771,000 but I don't know if that is current or projected for 2010)

Those are all the notes I took, but if you have any questions, I'll try to answer them. I think this pretty much covers everything she said, though.

[elva]

i am in kingsville just south of corpus christi (CC). the port at CC is not deep enough to handle a cruise ship. as for NAS ingelside its been thrown around for some time but be about 4 or 5 yrs before government gives it back to community if they do. i keep hoping they move in closer but as of now no such luck.