Should Celebrity return to East Texas?

[Ex-Airbalancer]

But only when Quebec gets paved roads and electricity. :p:rolleyes:

 

I will gladly trade you electricity prices with what we pay in Ontario :eek:

[takemewithyou]

Yes, yes and yes.

Texas is BOOMING!! There is a lot of $$$$ to made there.

Princess is there, NCL is there, RCCL is there and Carnival is there.....

Where is Celebrity?????

Plus, many of us in the West would travel there to take a cruise!

It is cheaper and easier to fly to Texas!

We just did our first RCCL cruise ever, because it was out of Galveston....I would have preferred to be on X.

 

Are you listening Celebrity????

[Pecs ado rojo]

Me too !!

 

As for weather...

 

Florida is warmer.

 

Comparing Cruise Ports:

 

Galveston is at Latitude 29.16.52 (similar to St Augustine at 29.53.41) and both cities have seen very cold temps and even snow. The annual average high and low temps for January in Galveston are 62 F and 49 F respectively.

 

Fort Lauderdale & Miami on the other hand is at Latitude 26.8 and 25.47.16 respectively. And freezing cold is extremely rare here, and snow almost unheard of (last snow happen in 1977). The annual average high and low temps for January in Miami are 76 F and 60 F respectively.

 

Currently there is no Cruise Port in Corpus Christi (Latitude 27.44.34) but there has been talk. Weather is a bit better than points further north in Texas at 67 F and 47 F as the average highs & lows for January... But still no where as great as Fort Lauderdale or Miami.

 

Makes sense... Then WHY Florida continues to be Snowbird State of choice.

 

* Weather Stats from The Weather Channel Historical Data

 

Hope this helps,

 

Cheers!

 

Additionally,

 

Itineraries, itineraries, itineraries.

 

It takes at least a 7 day cruise out of Galveston to get to the Eastern Caribbean destinations and back. Not much demand for 7 day cruises with 4 at sea days. You can take a 3-4 hour flight out of Houston or Dallas and go to a Western Caribbean or Cabo all inclusive for about the same money as a cruise. Too bad it takes so long to navigate to New Orleans. As Houston, NO, Tampa, and Key West could be a fun itinerary.

 

We Texans don't deal with the extend cold or super short days to get the cabin fever our Northern brethren do.

 

Another issue affecting cruising out of Texas is Texas' schools get reimbursed by the state via attendance records and thus school districts have very strict absence policies and hefty fines. If your kid isn't present for attendance the school district doesn't get any money for that kid on that day.

 

Whoever said Panama canal to Galveston should look at a map as the Florida ports are closer to Panama. Colon is almost due South of Miami.

 

I've lived in Texas and Houston for the last 35 years. My fantasy cruise, from here, would be to take a Disney ship from Galveston to Canaveral, spend a week at WDW, and then take a Disney ship back to Galveston.

 

As for Corpus Christi they'd have to rebuild the bridge for modern ships to be able to pass under and it lacks greatly for airport and other infrastructure. Also, you almost have to change planes in either Houston or Dallas to get there.

Edited September 15, 2014 by Pecs ado rojo

[neverbeenhere]

No 2 X in TX.

[Sloop-JohnB]

Additionally,

 

Itineraries, itineraries, itineraries.

 

It takes at least a 7 day cruise out of Galveston to get to the Eastern Caribbean destinations and back. Not much demand for 7 day cruises with 4 at sea days. You can take a 3-4 hour flight out of Houston or Dallas and go to a Western Caribbean or Cabo all inclusive for about the same money as a cruise. Too bad it takes so long to navigate to New Orleans. As Houston, NO, Tampa, and Key West could be a fun itinerary.

 

We Texans don't deal with the extend cold or super short days to get the cabin fever our Northern brethren do.

 

Another issue affecting cruising out of Texas is Texas' schools get reimbursed by the state via attendance records and thus school districts have very strict absence policies and hefty fines. If your kid isn't present for attendance the school district doesn't get any money for that kid on that day.

 

Whoever said Panama canal to Galveston should look at a map as the Florida ports are closer to Panama. Colon is almost due South of Miami.

 

I've lived in Texas and Houston for the last 35 years. My fantasy cruise, from here, would be to take a Disney ship from Galveston to Canaveral, spend a week at WDW, and then take a Disney ship back to Galveston.

 

As for Corpus Christi they'd have to rebuild the bridge for modern ships to be able to pass under and it lacks greatly for airport and other infrastructure. Also, you almost have to change planes in either Houston or Dallas to get there.

 

Interesting post from someone who lives in Texas !!

 

As a Northerner / Canadian I would be in for a cruise that took in some of America's Southern Highlights / Cities like you have mentioned... Including: Charleston SC (with a side trip to Savannah GA also) - Cape Canaveral FL (with a side trip to St Augustine) - Key West FL - Tampa FL - New Orleans LA - and then Galveston TX (with a side trip to Houston)

 

Of course to meet the current US Cruise requirements they would have to throw in a foreign port of call. Somewhere in the Bahamas would be the easiest.

 

Then again I wonder who would want to take this on... And what time of year would be the most successful / profitable.

 

As a Canadian we love all these Destinations, but to drive this far and take them all in takes a great deal of time.

 

It would be nice to awake each day in another one of them... And leave the "driving time" ;) to someone else

 

Cheers!

Edited September 15, 2014 by Sloop-JohnB

[wallie5446]

I haven't read most of the comments.

 

We live in a sub on the east side of Dallas, it is close to an hour drive to the big airport, DFW International, and 30-40 minutes to downtown where Southwest flies from at Dallas Love.

 

It is a 4 hour drive to Houston, then another hour to Galveston. There is no airport there, so shuttle's, taxi, ect are very costly from both Houston airports. Neither city is actively trying to put together the inter-structure needed to handle any more passengers than are currently coming. The port area is old and worn, and makes Port Everglades and Miami look like a palace. If you think it is bad there, you ain't seen nuttin yet!

 

Any sailing 5-7 days are limited to the western route. Yes RCCL, Princess, NCL, and Carnival have had ships there off an on for awhile. We can fly to FLL for about the same $$ as we can to Houston.

 

We sailed on the Rhapsody when she was there, and it always went out with 80-85% pax from Texas. It will be interesting to see how long Princess stays this time, and RCCL leaves the bigger ship coming to Galveston.

Edited September 15, 2014 by wallie5446

[wander]

I realize that you are talking about major cruise ships like the size Celebrity has, which are my preferred way to travel. However, some of the ports that were mentioned reminded my of a great (well, we like them) small ship line called Blount that sails the Great Lakes, the Mississippi, the inter coastal waterway, and such as well as more exotic destinations. A very different cruising experience but one I really enjoy in a different way. We went from Chicago to Rhode Island with them a few years ago. We were to sail from Jacksonville to Rhode Island this year but had to cancel that trip. That is still on our bucket list as are several more of their itineraries.

 

(One thing many folks like - you bring your own booze, all you want. They have complimentary basic bar supplies available all day, and really bring out the mixers, munchies, etc. for several hours before dinner. You can store your booze there or in you cabin. Also, all dinner nights are tidy casual (tidy is my term, not theirs).

 

Just a thought and an alternative. They have a number of very interesting itineraries with a very different cruising experience.

[kelmac]

How about something out of the box? Ten and eleven day cruises that leave out of Galveston and end up at Ft Lauderdale; turn around and cruise back to Galveston.

 

Example:

 

1 - Galveston

2 - At Sea

3 - At Sea

4 - Cozumel

5 - Belize

6 - Roatan

7 - Grand Cayman

8 - Labadee

9 - Turk & Caicos

10 - At Sea

11 - Ft Lauderdale (or even Tampa)

 

Seems fun to me!

Kel:)

Edited September 15, 2014 by kelmac

[TLCOhio]

We live in a sub on the east side of Dallas, it is close to an hour drive to the big airport, DFW International, and 30-40 minutes to downtown where Southwest flies from at Dallas Love. It is a 4 hour drive to Houston, then another hour to Galveston. There is no airport there, so shuttle's, taxi, ect are very costly from both Houston airports. Neither city is actively trying to put together the inter-structure needed to handle any more passengers than are currently coming. The port area is old and worn, and makes Port Everglades and Miami look like a palace. If you think it is bad there, you ain't seen nuttin yet!

 

Appreciate the important added logistical details and points above from our Texas "neighbor". People in the north forget how very, very big, BIG is Texas. Those "logistics" are all not easy and simple there. Good "reality check" with these comments and background information details.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Back from doing a 14-day Celebrity Solstice, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure on this ship and getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for much more information and lots of wonderful pictures on these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 76,864 views for this fun posting.

[Karynanne]

I know this may be a bit OT...but send a Celebrity to the West Coast!

[kelmac]

I know this may be a bit OT...but send a Celebrity to the West Coast!

 

KA,

 

I'm with you on this! We did two cruises out of LA this past year (15 day Panama Canal and 7 day California Coastal) on the Century. Easy 1 1/2 hour flight for us non-stop to LAX.

 

Getting to Florida is more expensive and dealing with 6 to 8 ships in port is not fun.

 

The only problems is the ocean on the west coast is too cold, compared to the Caribbean.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[takemewithyou]

i know this may be a bit ot...but send a celebrity to the west coast!

 

like :):)

[Maligator]

I think it's safe to say everyone wants a cruise port in easy driving distance from home. With that covered, I'll get back to the topic of Celebrity on the upper Texas coast.

 

For comparison's sake, let's look at X's "Exotic Southern Caribbean" 14-night itinerary (Port Everglades > Aruba > Curacao > Grenada > Barbados > St Lucia > Antigua > St Maarten > USVI > Port Everglades). I picked this for no other reason than it's one I'm familiar with. It's sails roughly 3800 miles. The same itinerary sailing out of Galveston is about 5400 miles. The +/- 1600 mile difference would necessitate a couple extra days at sea.

 

Point-to-point, Port Everglades to the Panama Canal is roughly 1400 miles. From Galveston, about 1700 miles. Probably no need for an extra day.

 

To play my own Devil's Advocate, new Western Caribbean routes could work. Mayan Riviera, Belize, Roatan, Panama Canal, Cartagena, Jamaica, Caymans and anything I'm forgetting along the east coast of Central America would give cruisers enough variety, IMHO.

 

That being said, Celebrity's fleet is too small for Galveston/Bayport.

[CruisingChick]

Join the long list of locations that posters want a ship, NJ, Baltimore, Charleston,,port Canaveral, Tampa and the entire west coast. They effectively only have nine ships most of the other lines have double that. They put the ships where they will make money.

 

Exactly. I could not answer the poll because neither answer worked for me. We would love to see ships in NJ, Baltimore, Charleston instead of all of them in FL. Heck I would even love to see ships out of Los Angeles, so we could visit my son and then take a cruise. It's calling killing two birds with one air fare.

 

Texas is not on my list at all. Sorry.

[mylove]

How about something out of the box? Ten and eleven day cruises that leave out of Galveston and end up at Ft Lauderdale; turn around and cruise back to Galveston.

 

Example:

 

1 - Galveston

2 - At Sea

3 - At Sea

4 - Cozumel

5 - Belize

6 - Roatan

7 - Grand Cayman

8 - Labadee

9 - Turk & Caicos

10 - At Sea

11 - Ft Lauderdale (or even Tampa)

 

Seems fun to me!

Kel:)

YES would LOVE THIS.....

[A Sixth?]

How about something out of the box? Ten and eleven day cruises that leave out of Galveston and end up at Ft Lauderdale; turn around and cruise back to Galveston.

 

Example:

 

1 - Galveston

2 - At Sea

3 - Cozumel

4 - Belize

5 - Roatan

6 - Havana (over night )

7 - Havana

8 - Labadee

9 - Turk & Caicos

10 - At Sea

11 - Ft Lauderdale (or even Tampa)

 

Seems fun to me!

Kel:)

 

Here's the one that'll fill up in a day

[kelmac]

Here's the one that'll fill up in a day

 

AS,

 

I agree! Wish the US Government would get their act together on normalizing relations with Cuba. It would be good for both counties.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[bearjr]

How about something out of the box? Ten and eleven day cruises that leave out of Galveston and end up at Ft Lauderdale; turn around and cruise back to Galveston.

 

Example:

 

1 - Galveston

2 - At Sea

3 - At Sea

4 - Cozumel

5 - Belize

6 - Roatan

7 - Grand Cayman

8 - Labadee

9 - Turk & Caicos

10 - At Sea

11 - Ft Lauderdale (or even Tampa)

 

Seems fun to me!

Kel:)

 

would book this in a heartbeat!

[wallie5446]

Just on the evening news, the State of Texas will begin charging duty tax on liquor and cigarette's brought back on cruise ships. $3.50 per bottle, and $15.00 on a carton of cigarette's. Now in effect at the Port in Galveston and starts in Houston in The fall.

http://www.galvestoncruisetips.com/new-tax-on-alcohol-and-cigarettes-to-hit-galveston-cruisers/

Edited September 17, 2014 by wallie5446

[Pecs ado rojo]

How about something out of the box? Ten and eleven day cruises that leave out of Galveston and end up at Ft Lauderdale; turn around and cruise back to Galveston.

 

Example:

 

1 - Galveston

2 - At Sea

3 - At Sea

4 - Cozumel

5 - Belize

6 - Roatan

7 - Grand Cayman

8 - Labadee

9 - Turk & Caicos

10 - At Sea

11 - Ft Lauderdale (or even Tampa)

 

Seems fun to me!

Kel:)

 

 

You wouldn't need two At Sea days to reach Cozumel. It is under 800 miles from Galveston.

Edited September 26, 2014 by Pecs ado rojo