**Cruising from the Gulf Ports**

[MizzouMary]

We have cruised from Florida and New Orleans quite a few times. It seems that the Gulf cruises that we've been on are always pretty full.

 

Why are there not more ships cruising from Galveston, New Orleans and Mobile? I mean there are a lot of potential customers and an untapped market here, especially since air prices are so high. I just read an article in the Cruise Travel magazine on the Port of Galveston. Texas is a huge state and there are lots of people in the mid-west willing to drive to any of the three ports in the Gulf. Did cruise ships once depart from the Port of Houston? Why is this not a viable port to cruise out of?

 

Also, why are there no cruises longer than seven days from any of these ports? I would love to see a 10-day or longer cruise to Aruba, Bonaire or some other ports offered.

 

Just wondering. What are your thoughts on this?

[cherylandtk]

While there may seem to be a big market there, at least one line (Princess) pulled out because the cruises from Galveston just did not fill up and had to be heavily discounted. Galveston's distance from the airport was another factor that made pax unhappy. And the once-stated plan to homeport one of the ships in New Orleans never materialized after Katrina.

 

Another obstacle is that the Gulf of Mexico is so large that it takes a day and lots of fuel to get out of it....unlike leaving from Florida and being in the Caribbean the next day. Something similar can be said for the port of Houston; although the port is trying to woo a cruiseline, the distance and speed limit getting through the channel is several additional hours. Add that to a tight schedule getting to the first port and it seems that current ports and itineraries are more desirable to the cruiselines.

 

I presume they are finding from their pax demographics that their pax are just as willing to go to the Florida ports as they would to a gulfside port....and that the 'untapped' market is already cruising from existing ports.

[MizzouMary]

I would be willing to pay more for the extra fuel and would really enjoy the extra days at sea. It would be nice if more ships could be located in Mobile. I can understand why cruise lines would possibly want to avoid the Mississippi, but we really enjoy crusing out of New Orleans since it is a very unusual trip and definitely worth doing a time or two. We also love the port of New Orleans. It's an easy trip for us. We've never cruised from Galveston, but plan to drive down since the new Carnival Magic will be there next year.

[wrp96]

I would be willing to pay more for the extra fuel and would really enjoy the extra days at sea.

 

Unfortunately, at least in the past, the cruiselines have found that most people don't want to pay more for cruises from the gulf coast. A few lines, for example, used to do longer cruises from Galveston, but they had troubles filling the ships AND onboard revenues were lower than for cruises from other ports. RCCL used to have two ship in Galveston, one year round, and one part of the year. But now they only have one ship part of the year partly because onboard revenues were lower than out of other ports.

 

In addition, I think the 2005 hurricane season really did a number on the viability of year round homeporting in the Gulf. Too many cruises that had to be switched, altered, changed due to weather, with not a lot of options of alternatives along the Gulf.

[AWCHIEF]

Ask and you shall receive. Big things are about to happen in the Gulf during the upcoming year. Two more Carnival ships are coming to New Orleans year around, moving from Galveston. NCL and RCL both have ships in New Orleans and are going to be expanding their presence by the end of 2011. The Carnival Magic is going to be homeported in Galveston along with the Triumph, moving from New Orleans. Plans are in the works to expand the Port of Mobile in anticipation of another Carnival ship coming to that port. So the naysayers that are saying negative things about cruise ship ports in the Gulf are a bit out of date with their information.

[okgirl]

Carnival is sailing full on both the Conquest and Ecstasy out of Galveston year round so they have at least found the right business model. I'm not sure why RCCL doesn't keep a ship there year round.

 

The port of Galveston is undergoing a 9 million dollar renovation in preparation for the Magic (which is larger than the Conquest) and the Triumph (smaller than the Conquest, but larger than the Ecstasy). Galveston island isn't very large, so additional ships might pose a parking problem.

 

The port of Houston isn't really viable due to the problems navigating the channel, plus there is nothing around the terminal, no hotels, no restaurants, nothing. Very inconvient.

[MizzouMary]

Ask and you shall receive. Big things are about to happen in the Gulf during the upcoming year. Two more Carnival ships are coming to New Orleans year around, moving from Galveston. NCL and RCL both have ships in New Orleans and are going to be expanding their presence by the end of 2011. The Carnival Magic is going to be homeported in Galveston along with the Triumph, moving from New Orleans. Plans are in the works to expand the Port of Mobile in anticipation of another Carnival ship coming to that port. So the naysayers that are saying negative things about cruise ship ports in the Gulf are a bit out of date with their information.

 

AWESOME!!! I'm so happy to hear this. I've heard comments about how there has been low demand in the past resulting in companies pulling their ships out. The ironic thing is I've cruised out of Florida several times and seen ships at much less than capacity. The market there is so flooded. There are a HUGE number of mid-westerners who have never cruised! Just in my circle of friends and family, only a handful have. They just don't know enough about it. There is so much marketing potential to those of us who live in the mid-west, in addition to those who live in the western U.S. who are tired of going on cruises in the Pacific and Alaska, and Canadians.

 

It sounds like the cruise companies are giving the Gulf region another chance. There's no better way to get the economy in those areas invigorated than tourism dollars. More power to you!! I know we will be cruising more from the Gulf if there are additional ships to sail on, and especially if there are new ports to explore! Thanks for replying!

[Taxguy77]

I remember NCL had a 2 or 3 year exclusive on Houston or Galveston for a while, then pulled out. We need another line (not necessarily NCL) sailing out of here.