Should Corpus Christi Become the Next Major Port?

[talkorpi]

I've been doing a lot of research and thinking. Corpus Christi would be PERFECT for the next cruise port. Think about it. I live in New Braunfels, TX, smack dab in between San Antonio and Austin. It takes two hours to get to Corpus and 4 to get to the Houston/Galveston area. South and Central Texas has a HUGE population, which would be more accessible to Corpus. I've heard that there are some people working on getting Corpus to be a port, but that will take FIVE YEARS. I will be posting my strategy in the Carnival Cruise Lines forum, but feel free to share your opinion. Should Corpus Christi become the next major Gulf Coast port?

 

Thanks, Tate

[Texas Tillie]

Only logical for someone like you driving from nearby. Not logical for anyone having to fly in. Everyone would have to fly through Houston, so why not get off the plane there and cruise from Galveston or Bayport? There's not enough people like you to keep the ship full.

[ssb]

I've been doing a lot of research and thinking. Corpus Christi would be PERFECT for the next cruise port. Think about it. I live in New Braunfels, TX, smack dab in between San Antonio and Austin. It takes two hours to get to Corpus and 4 to get to the Houston/Galveston area. South and Central Texas has a HUGE population, which would be more accessible to Corpus. I've heard that there are some people working on getting Corpus to be a port, but that will take FIVE YEARS. I will be posting my strategy in the Carnival Cruise Lines forum, but feel free to share your opinion. Should Corpus Christi become the next major Gulf Coast port?

 

Thanks, Tate

 

Royal Caribbean just pulled out of New Orleans.

Compare Corpus with NO?

[talkorpi]

Only logical for someone like you driving from nearby. Not logical for anyone having to fly in. Everyone would have to fly through Houston, so why not get off the plane there and cruise from Galveston or Bayport? There's not enough people like you to keep the ship full.

 

 

I beg to differ. The San Antonio metro area has a population of 3 million. The Austin metro has about a 1.7 million population. Corpus and the surrounding cities (Weslaco, McAllen, etc.) have about 500,000. Combine that with all the other small towns and Victoria, and you have an area about the same size, if not larger than Houston and Dallas, of south texans who have an easier commute to Corpus over Galveston.

 

 

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[Texas Tillie]

I beg to differ. The San Antonio metro area has a population of 3 million. The Austin metro has about a 1.7 million population. Corpus and the surrounding cities (Weslaco, McAllen, etc.) have about 500,000. Combine that with all the other small towns and Victoria, and you have an area about the same size, if not larger than Houston and Dallas, of south texans who have an easier commute to Corpus over Galveston.

 

 

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That's no where nearly enough people to keep a 2000 plus passenger ship filled for even a 5 month cruise season. Think 20 weeks times 2000 equal 40,000 people. Not that many local people would want to cruise annually on a cruise that can basically do what the cruises out of Houston/Galveston already do. Galveston and Houston would never make it if they relied solely on Texas cruisers.

[talkorpi]

That's no where nearly enough people to keep a 2000 plus passenger ship filled for even a 5 month cruise season. Think 20 weeks times 2000 equal 40,000 people. Not that many local people would want to cruise annually on a cruise that can basically do what the cruises out of Houston/Galveston already do. Galveston and Houston would never make it if they relied solely on Texas cruisers.

 

Okay. You're entitled to your opinion and I'm entitled to mine. I'm not going to pick a fight simply over me wanting the Victory to move to Corpus Christi.

[ssb]

If a cruise line's due diligence market research concludes the same as you,

Then corpus will have a cruise ship.

[TC1957]

Not gonna happen. First, it would take a significant investment from a cruise line AND the city/county to build the facailities.

 

You can also take Austin out of your geographic pool. According to MapQuest, from Austin you can get to Houston faster and get to Galveston in the same amount of time. Sure, it takes longer to get from San Antonio to those locations (an hour longer to Houston, two hours to Galveston) but there is no way the population/customer base will support another home port in Texas. Heck, lines are pulling out of NOLA...why on earth would they invest in facilities to move further away from the customer base that was served by NOLA?

 

Someone also mentioned air travel considerations but you also need to consider hotel space. That is already a tourist destination during the summer months. They would need to build more rooms to accomodate pre and post cruise stays during the summer but be faced with excess capacity during the beach "off season".

[jonbgd]

Galveston and Houston are both a PITA for those that fly in

 

Corpus WOULD BE even worse

[Galveston Cruiser]

Agreement keeps Carnival in Galveston through 2022 - Houston Chronicle 6/23/14

Doesn't look like CC has a chance.

Carnival signed an agreement to stay in Galveston to 2022:D

Seems they know they have a good thing going.

[dna1990]

And even in Corpus could muster a better reason to make them a departure port, the port reach from Texas still has its limits. I can't see enough demand for the far Western side that would warrant an extra port, no matter its amenities.

 

Galveston has yet to complete everything it needs for a smooth passenger port and look how much experience and capital commitment it has. CC would be starting from scratch with an even smaller freight port.

 

There is large demand and ease of travel arguments to be made for St. Louis too, but I see about the same chance for it becoming a cruise departure point too. Sorry, just is.

[Lynda59]

Another thought - does Corpus Christi have enough of the infrastructure needed to support a cruise ship? You need hotels for people to stay the night before and/or after. Do you have car rentals and parking facilities? Do you have food and supply providers to stock the ship? There needs to be more demand for this than just once/week for a cruise ship.

 

To make money, I agree with the others that you need to be close to a major airport. I think that is why Carnival pulled out of Mobile.

 

New Orleans comes and goes with cruise lines. We have had 4 ships before and we will have 4 again. I am disappointed with Royal, but that leaves room for another ship to come in. The port would not be expanding to an additional section if they were not optimistic.