Houston building a "state of the art" cruise terminal?? (Merged threads)

[firefly333]

:confused: We live in East Texas. And we are cruising on the Ecstasy Dec. 11, 2006. When we went to pick up our Docs last week, our travel agent said that the Houston Termainal was completely closing and there would be no ships out of there for the spring. That was the 1st I had heard of it and my Daddy lives in Baytown. This is my 1st cruise but my best friend's 3rd.

 

Will definately keep watching now to see what happens. By the way. The reason I do not sail out of the Port of Houston is because the port charges are more expensive.:confused:

 

I could be wrong what they meant...but the old port out of Houston that NCL was going on, yes it is closing to cruise traffic but a NEW port was being built. They could be talking about the port that NCL was using until this past April.

[Tucker in Texas]

I think "corporate pipe dream" fits the picture. They have closed the Barber's Cut terminal because there are no ships to use it. The new one is suppose to be ready by Spring 2008. However, there are no ships at present booked to use it. We heard Fall of 2008 at the earliest, maybe. I haven't heard of any progress on Terminals #2 and #3 and suspect I won't in my lifetime (lol).

 

Tucker in Texas (who is hoping that "if you build it, they will come")

[clearlakecruisers]

No great news right now, but construction on the new terminal facilities continues at a reasonable pace and we can only hope that, as Tucker stated, "If you build it, they will come."

[Cruisin Dave]

Here is the link to the lastest news from the Houston Chronicle: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/travel/shattuck/4578966.html and http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/travel/shattuck/5185867.html

Hope this helps!

[Too blessed to be stressed]

I love cruising out of galveston. No air to pay for. But after this next cruise I will have seen all the western ports offered. We have this brand new state of the art cruise terminal with no boats coming or going yet. Would love to see some new boats and new itineraries from this new port. Has anyone heard of any hopeful cruise lines or ships contemplating this new embarkation point?

[*Mach*]

I love cruising out of galveston. No air to pay for. But after this next cruise I will have seen all the western ports offered. We have this brand new state of the art cruise terminal with no boats coming or going yet. Would love to see some new boats and new itineraries from this new port. Has anyone heard of any hopeful cruise lines or ships contemplating this new embarkation point?

 

As of yet Bayport doesn't have firm commitments from any of the cruise lines and you may not hear about any until the middle of next year.

 

If anyone has heard anything new I'd love to hear it myself!

[mariemorgan]

I am guessing even if boats go out of bayport they will be the same ports as all the other gulf coast cruises go to:

Progresso, Cozumel, Jamica, Belize, Honduras, Key West, Costa Maya

[yst347]

I am guessing even if boats go out of bayport they will be the same ports as all the other gulf coast cruises go to:

Progresso, Cozumel, Jamica, Belize, Honduras, Key West, Costa Maya

 

The Conquest sails MoBay,Grand Cayman, Cozumel each week. Sometime in the future Carnival will return a seven day ship to New Orleans. I'm hoping when this happens the itinerary will be something like Roatan, Belize, Calica. Then each week the new Orleans ship and Galveston ship switch itineraries. It would be great to have a new itinerary from Galveston, and it would be fun to do a B2B from Galveston or New Orleans and sail different itineraries.

[Howards_girl]

I love cruising out of galveston. No air to pay for. But after this next cruise I will have seen all the western ports offered. We have this brand new state of the art cruise terminal with no boats coming or going yet. Would love to see some new boats and new itineraries from this new port. Has anyone heard of any hopeful cruise lines or ships contemplating this new embarkation point?

 

 

Just an FYI...

RCI will start sailing out of Galveston in Dec. of this year (I believe). They have an itinerary that is the same as the Conquest one week and then a different itinerary the next week. You may want to check it out....

[Capt. Mike]

We recently heard that Houston is spending millions on constructing a new "state of the art" cruiship terminal.

 

I was wondering if anyone knows if they have entered into discussions with any of the major cruise lines to locate ships there, and what date they hope to have the new terminal open by?

 

I guess they are hoping to lure some cruise dollars away from sister city Galveston...which seems to have a pretty old cruise ship terminal?

 

I was at a meeeting with POHA officials this week and asked what the latest was. The terminal is scheduled to open in Feb 08 but they don't have a ship. They talked like they would have one in the fall of 08 and it would not be one of the current lines in Galveston. Just what I heard, don't take it to the bank.

I hope they get one soon, I live almost insight of the terminal. Ok you have to be on top of the Kemah bridge to see it!

[clearlakecruisers]

Capt. Mike,

That's the same information reported in today's article in the Houston Chronicle - construction completed in February 2008, no ships committed, but hoping for something in the fall of 2008. Can't believe our politicos didn't plan a bit better and get some type of committment before they built the new terminal facility. But, then again, you can never go wrong if you lower your expectations for our local politicians!

[Capt. Mike]

They are all preaching the same thing. I am sure this guy is asked the same thing everytime he sticks his head out. Maybe they have an ace up their sleave, I have been involved with the Port Authority for over 3 decades now and it is amazing how they can pull that rabbit out of the hat when they need to. More power to them.

 

Regards from Galveston County's other island. Clear Lake Shores.

[Tucker in Texas]

This is my take on it.

 

The POH wanted to build a big, new container port. To do this, they needed to pass a big, new bond issue. The container port was was not exactly enthusiastically welcomed by us down here. In spite of its ugliness there have been major environmental issues. Those voters up in Houston weren't that excited by a bond issue either which would probably raise their taxes. The POH knew they weren't going to get much support from us so they went after the NIMBY votes in Houston. They trotted out the economical benefits to Harris County in general and Houston in particular. More employment opportunities and, TADA, the THREE new cruise ship terminals making Houston the nation's largest, would bring tourist dollars. That got the tourism industry's attention. Since there really aren't many tourism facilities near the port like hotels, good restaurants, car rental facilities, etc. people coming to Houston pre/post cruise would be spending their dollars up in Houston. They didn't mention that they had no firm commitments for any cruise lines to home port any ships at their brand new facility(s) any time in the foreseeable future or even assurances that NCL was going to continue to berth a ship here. Anyway, the bond issued passed.

 

As for it becoming an itinerary stop, they are really whistling Dixie with that. To do anything would require a ship's shore excursion much like Calica and we all know that the ship's excursions are more expensive to start with and when you are the only game in town, even more expensive. There is nothing within walking distance and there would be few, if any, opportunities to arrange your own tours. Maybe during a repo but I can't see anything on a weekly basis.

 

Now they are trying to get another six part bond issue passed. This one will cover six items and be over $500 million if they all pass (and the port has their finger in the pie for a piece of it). They emphasize that passage of these propositions will not raise our taxes--their definition of "raising taxes" is they won't raise the tax rate of x per $100 appraised value of your property. However, you can bet the farm that the tax rate may remain the same but appraisals will be raised to cover it down the road.

 

Has anyone gotten their Harris County property tax bill yet? We have always gotten "greetings" in October but not this year. No tax bills will be going out until after the election next week because they don't want people to see the hike they are laying on them this year with raised appraisal values.

 

Off my soap box now.

 

Tucker in Texas--who is 15 minutes from the new terminal

[Too blessed to be stressed]

I am guessing even if boats go out of bayport they will be the same ports as all the other gulf coast cruises go to:

Progresso, Cozumel, Jamica, Belize, Honduras, Key West, Costa Maya

I believe a few years back celebrity sailed out of galveston and did a panama canal cruise, I know its not round trip but at least I would not have to pay a flight there.:)

[aggieastrosfan]

[quote name='Too blessed to be stressed']I believe a few years back celebrity sailed out of galveston and did a panama canal cruise, I know its not round trip but at least I would not have to pay a flight there.:)[/QUOTE]

Actually, it was round-trip, but they did alternating 11 and 12 day itins.

I, too, would love some new ports out of Galveston/Houston, but there's only so many places they can reach from there! I consider it a trade-off for the lack of airfare. :)

[LHP]

We have never sailed from Galveston. However, we would love to see the new Bayport open up because that would mean a little shorter drive and a more convenient connection should we fly (which I hate to do, but sometimes it is necessary).

 

From all the rumors I have read, I do not see Carnival as a possible participant. I have only heard Princess, RCCL and NCL etc mentioned, but I keep hearing that Carnival is dedicated to Galveston.

[aggieastrosfan]

From all the rumors I have read, I do not see Carnival as a possible participant. I have only heard Princess, RCCL and NCL etc mentioned, but I keep hearing that Carnival is dedicated to Galveston.

 

Carnival has spent a lot of money on the Galveston terminals. I think they're set. I would expect NCL would return, as they sailed from the old Port terminal, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear Princess or RCCL sailing from there, either. However, with as far in advance as they set their schedules, I wouldn't expect a ship there before 2009, MAYBE the end of 2008.

[ed_k_tx]

We have never sailed from Galveston. However, we would love to see the new Bayport open up because that would mean a little shorter drive and a more convenient connection should we fly (which I hate to do, but sometimes it is necessary).

 

From all the rumors I have read, I do not see Carnival as a possible participant. I have only heard Princess, RCCL and NCL etc mentioned, but I keep hearing that Carnival is dedicated to Galveston.

 

Actually the Bayport Terminal will not make that much difference in the transit time from Bush Airport. Maybe 15-20 minutes.

Bayport means a longer transit for the vessel to the Gulf by about an hour or two.

I think alot will depend on what the ports are willing to offer in the way of incentives to the cruiselines. A difference in dockage charges to the lines of a penny or two per ton over 50/60 sailings per year could really add up.

Ed

[Too blessed to be stressed]

Actually, it was round-trip, but they did alternating 11 and 12 day itins.

 

I, too, would love some new ports out of Galveston/Houston, but there's only so many places they can reach from there! I consider it a trade-off for the lack of airfare. :)

 

I did not realize that was round trip, do you remember what ports they went to? The only reason I knew they went out of galveston is that ship was in port when I was going on my first cruise. Never researched it before. Just curious, I was thinking they may come back:confused:

[aggieastrosfan]

I did not realize that was round trip, do you remember what ports they went to? The only reason I knew they went out of galveston is that ship was in port when I was going on my first cruise. Never researched it before. Just curious, I was thinking they may come back:confused:

 

I can't remember where they went, but I know they went halfway in the canal and turned around and came back. If you check old posts on the Celebrity board from winter 2004 and 2005 for reviews of the Galaxy, I'm sure you could find out pretty easily - there were several reviews done of these itins.

[clearlakecruisers]

We took that cruise on the Galaxy. Can't remember all the ports but, as the previous poster said, we went halfway through the canal and then back out into the Gulf. We also went to Costa Rica (our all-time favorite), Colon/Panama, Cozumel, and, I think, Grand Cayman. It was a great cruise and I'm really hoping some cruise line will offer similar, longer cruises out of Galveston or Houston sometime soon.

[clearlakecruisers]

Check out this photo of the Port of Houston from today's Houston Chronicle. The building with a blue rooftop is the cruise terminal facility.

 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nb/bay/news/5276481.html

(you probably will need to copy and paste into your browser)

[Snoozeman]

Check out this photo of the Port of Houston from today's Houston Chronicle. The building with a blue rooftop is the cruise terminal facility.

 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nb/bay/news/5276481.html

(you probably will need to copy and paste into your browser)

 

Thanks (BTW-link worked fine)

[Son of a Cruiser]

Here's a link to another article in today's Houston Chronicle about the new terminal. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5334275.html

 

Pretty much more of the same:(. Seems Homeland Security wants some security upgrades. No ships yet, but says they are "hoping" for fall 2008, but will probably be 2009.

[Capt. Mike]

Here's a link to another article in today's Houston Chronicle about the new terminal. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5334275.html

 

Pretty much more of the same:(. Seems Homeland Security wants some security upgrades. No ships yet, but says they are "hoping" for fall 2008, but will probably be 2009.

 

Good idea to build a restaurant right next to a big ship full of "free" food. Eating shoreside is the last thing I want to do before boarding a ship.

 

I do agree it would be a nice location with a view of the bay but I think Kemah/Seabrook have that covered.