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Galveston Terminal # 3

ssb

By ssb,
in Royal Caribbean International

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ssb

ssb

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10 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Seems like new signage would be an awesome change 🤔

The short term changes happening now and long term changes to traffic patterns , at and near port,  will be on Harborside ,  Old Port Road and on Port Property  , not on Broadway. Therefore signage on Broadway is not necessary. Long term traffic patterns will not logically be through downtown with many thousands of passengers and vehicles . I’m just giving y’all  locals shortcuts . 
There is a master plan almost 100% completed by professionals out of Miami that have worked with Roger Rees before over in Florida  , on overall cruise and port operations on the island . 

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soremekun

soremekun

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1 minute ago, Tulsacoker said:

I love Hobby and really love Southwest. #KEEPHOBBYONLYSWA 

And I like Southwest as well but the nonstop flight options from BOS and HOU are extremely limited.  I have a cruise in April 2020 and I'll most likely end up flying to IAH.

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DHADEN

DHADEN

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On 12/9/2019 at 8:13 PM, ssb said:

Cruise critic should not be happy with his attitude and comments about Galveston in the past . Cruise Critic is in business to sell cruises .  Galveston has made great progress with improvements . Many more are coming . 

This post bothers me - why should anyone CARE about what Cruise Critic should or should not be happy before they post their thoughts?  Do you think Censoring Your Thoughts  when posting on cruise critic is the answer?

 

On 12/9/2019 at 8:20 PM, ssb said:

Not available yet . 

80-90% of cruisers in Galveston drive in depending on days of  cruise . 

Can't you imagine that percentage may very well CHANGE when there is an Oasis Class ship there?

 

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soremekun

soremekun

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51 minutes ago, RCCL Fan said:

I can't wait for this to not be a rumor and be official --- Allure -- New Terminal -- and we pray new Itineraries that include CoCo Cay!

 

 

I want to sail Allure after the amplification but Galveston would make it a tough decision.  Such a long flight to Texas from Boston.

 

Let's just home port it in Boston and everyone will be happy.  😁

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CGBCruiser

CGBCruiser

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On 12/9/2019 at 8:06 PM, kruzerci said:


His comment is appropriate. Galveston’s infrastructure and traffic patterns can barely/can’t handle the smaller ships that sail from there now. We’ve sailed out of about 10 ports and never experienced anything like the disaster that is sailing from Galveston. It’s great that it is convenient to the middle of the country, but that’s about it. It’s rough. 

The new port will be closer to the Gulf than the two currently are...pretty sure it's going to be close to John Sealy Hospital area as it will be needed to accommodate larger ships than currently sail out of Galveston. 

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RCCL Fan Great Review Rare

RCCL Fan

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17 minutes ago, soremekun said:

I want to sail Allure after the amplification but Galveston would make it a tough decision.  Such a long flight to Texas from Boston.

 

Let's just home port it in Boston and everyone will be happy.  😁

 

You just enjoy Serenade....   we'll keep Allure

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RCCL Fan Great Review Rare

RCCL Fan

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45 minutes ago, CGBCruiser said:

The new port will be closer to the Gulf than the two currently are...pretty sure it's going to be close to John Sealy Hospital area as it will be needed to accommodate larger ships than currently sail out of Galveston. 

1401 Harborside is the address previously released....  A DelMonte Banana plant  is being relocated and the terminal will be go there is what i  believe was said.

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ssb

ssb

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Agreement officially approved today in meeting of  wharves board of Port of Galveston. 
City of Galveston in  city council meeting tomorrow will officially approve agreement . Royal Caribbean officials are in Galveston for signing ceremony  planned already for tomorrow evening . 

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denamo

denamo

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Our cruising addiction began in Galveston on the Rhapsody.  We were totally enthralled with cruising, and have neve quit since that first cruise. We enjoy the bigger ships and can hardly wait until one of those ladies are cruising out of Galveston.  Even having a 6.5 drive from deep south TX, it beats flying to other ports.  

 

So glad to hear there are new things happening in the cruise world in Galveston. Now, if some different itineraries can come into play, that will be awesome.  

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ssb

ssb

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Galveston port inks $100 million deal for third cruise terminal

 
Port votes on cruise terminal deal

Port Director Rodger Rees, left, and Albert Shannon, chairman of the Wharves Board of Trustees, talk with Trustee Elizabeth Beeton before heading into executive session during a special meeting Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019. The wharves board approved an agreement with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines to build a terminal at Pier 10.

JENNIFER REYNOLDS/The Daily News
 
 

GALVESTON

The Port of Galveston on Wednesday approved a lease agreement with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines to build a new cruise terminal at the Port of Galveston.

By any definition, the deal is one of the largest financial agreements in the island’s contemporary history.

 

The contract guarantees construction of a $100 million terminal at Pier 10 in the Port of Galveston. The terminal, the island’s third, will be built by the company and owned by the port.

The vote to approve the lease was unanimous.

Construction is expected to be complete by the fall 2021. When it is done, Royal Caribbean will begin paying the port $4 million in rent annually, as well as additional money based on the number of cruise passengers that travel through the terminal.

The initial lease agreement is for 20 years, and includes four 10-year options.

The agreement is one of the most important and momentous deals ever struck in the city of Galveston, Wharves Board of Trustees Chairman Albert Shannon said.

“It’s a huge investment, fortunately made by a partner in the Port of Galveston,” Shannon said. “It will really do a great thing for not just our local economy, but for all of Texas.”

No other projects in the island’s recent history match the price tag of the new terminal. The city in 2016 completed construction of an $85 million wastewater treatment plant. The Galveston Island Convention Center, completed on Seawall Boulevard in 2004, cost $32 million.

The new Jennie Sealy Hospital at the University of Texas Medical Branch cost $438 million.

The value of the agreement will be measured in more than just the cost of the terminal, said Tony Brown, the wharves board’s attorney who helped negotiate the deal over the past year.

Brown estimated the value of the deal was between $250 million and $500 million to the port when factoring in the revenue from rent and other sources of income.

“It’s really pretty amazing for this place,” Brown said.

With the lease agreement signed, the contract enters a due diligence period, Port Director Rodger Rees said. During that 120-day period, the port and Royal Caribbean will ensure, for a final time, that the site at Pier 10 will work for the terminal, Rees said.

The company needs to ensure the ground at the pier is safe to build on, Rees said.

 

“That may sound weird, but that’s the place we’re in,” Rees said. “One of the issues we’re going to be faced with is the age and the history of this port. We’re not sure what may be underground.”

Rees was hired in January 2018 with a mandate to help the port grow its cruise business. He wept while speaking to the board after it had voted to approve the lease.

“In my mind, this is a victory for the port, for the staff and all the work we’ve done up to this point,” Rees said.

In addition to approving the ground lease, the wharves board also voted to enter into a memorandum of understanding requiring the port to pay the city $300,000 annually, as well as additional fees if more than 600,000 people travel through the new cruise terminal in a single year.

The terminal is expected to easily exceed that number once it’s in full operation, officials said.

The contract does not specify which ships will be positioned at the port once the terminal is completed or how many sailings will be scheduled from the port every year.

Two final pieces of the terminal deal remain to be approved. The Galveston City Council on Thursday will vote on the memorandum of understanding and finalize the payment deal between the port and the city.

The council will also vote on a statement affirming the port’s ability to enter in the lease agreement.

On Thursday afternoon, port, city and Royal Caribbean officials will attend a signing ceremony at Events @ The Tasting Room inside the renovated Falstaff Brewery building, 3316 Church St.

 
 

John Wayne Ferguson: 409-683-5226; john.ferguson@galvnews.com or on Twitter @johnwferguson.

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ssb

ssb

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City Council of Galveston and Wharves Board of Port of Galveston  have officially

approved Ground Lease Agreement between the Board of Trustees of the Galveston Wharves, and Galveston Cruise Terminal, L.L.C. (Royal Caribbean)

Ceremonial Signing with Royal will be this afternoon ! 

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HBE4

HBE4

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On 12/11/2019 at 9:27 AM, ssb said:

The short term changes happening now and long term changes to traffic patterns , at and near port,  will be on Harborside ,  Old Port Road and on Port Property  , not on Broadway. Therefore signage on Broadway is not necessary. Long term traffic patterns will not logically be through downtown with many thousands of passengers and vehicles . I’m just giving y’all  locals shortcuts . 
There is a master plan almost 100% completed by professionals out of Miami that have worked with Roger Rees before over in Florida  , on overall cruise and port operations on the island . 

 

@ssb Thanks to the recommendation you gave me last year, this New Yorker was able to utilize the "locals" shortcut and bypass the what-seemed-like a 25-mile long line of cars making the left into the terminal.  But I agree with you, being local streets thru town, it's not meant for high volume traffic.  So thank you for that!!

 

The only "issue" I had was after dropping off the luggage and family, I had to leave the terminal to park the car at Park-N-Cruise which technically is across the street. But as the exit from the terminal is actually several blocks away, I had to double-back. I managed to bypass most of the traffic but it still took me close to an hour to get back to the terminal after initial drop-off. For comparison, Cape Liberty from luggage drop-off to parking lot and walk back to terminal is about 15 minutes.  Granted, the extra 45 minutes isn't a deal breaker but still.....Should I do it again, I'll probably go straight to the parking lot and haul my luggage to the terminal.  But that might not be a viable option for some.

 

As others suggested, a ramp directly from highway to the terminal would go a long way to alleviate that traffic jam. Also, more pedestrian bridges going across the street would be helpful.  Kudo's to traffic enforcement officers that kept things moving along smoothly.

 

All in all, sailing from Galveston was nowhere near as bad as some make it out to be.  Every port has its pros and cons.

 

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squick64

squick64

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I'm going through this with interest... I live in Houston, so Galveston's obviously a convenient port for me. Funnily enough, I've never cruised out of it. I had one from the Houston port, when that was still open, but not Galveston. I'm always going to Florida. Maybe I'm crazy. 🙂

 

Anyway, I don't know what I'm in for, and as it's a year away and changes may be coming in the meantime, I really don't know.

 

I know there's parking and I can drive down. A Lyft looks like it's about $60 each way ($120). It looks like $80-$105 prepaid for the lots and garages? On the plus side, I don't have to worry about flying in, and the drive's about an hour (still surprisingly long for someone who's supposedly "nearby", but that's normal in this city). 🙂

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