Is Princess ever going to sail out of Galveston? Sure wish we could get more lines!

[Galleon1234]

Sure wish we could get more cruise lines to sail out of Galveston!!

[Pam in CA]

This is asked fairly often. The bottom line is, "Follow the money." Princess has sailed out Galveston and Houston and redeployed ships elsewhere because they can fill the ships every week for more $. There were frequent fog and delay problems creating customer dissatisfaction. There were other issues as well. Never say never but unlikely Princess will sail a ship from Galveston in the near future.

[Galleon1234]

No, They have never sailed out of Galveston. They sailed out of BAYPORT cruise terminal and that is where they had the problems. Bayport is too narrow a channel and was a BIG expensive goof:)! Galveston does not have the problem. Occasional fog only. Cruises sail full out of Galveston!

Edited March 19, 2017 by shadow1234

[Pam in CA]

No, They have never sailed out of Galveston. They sailed out of BAYPORT cruise terminal and that is where they had the problems. Bayport is too narrow a channel and was a BIG expensive goof:)! Galveston does not have the problem. Occasional fog only. Cruises sail full out of Galveston!

Princess sailed out of Galveston. And yes, there were fog, delay and transportation problems. I sailed on the Crown out of Galveston in 2013. Princess absolutely, positively sailed out of Galveston. :)

[Galleon1234]

Hmm.... I sailed on her out of BAYPORT. REGARDLESS hope PRINCESS cruiseline will come to Galveston!:)!!!

[Hulagirl]

Princess has definitely sailed out of Galveston in the past. We sailed on the Grand Princess in 2005.

[Galleon1234]

Great! Hope they will return:)!!!

[sptrout]

Princess, and do not forget that Celebrity also sailed out of Galveston with 12 day sailings to Panama. That what is really needed in Galveston; l0+ day trips that could then have new and better ports of call. There is only so many ports that can be reached and returned from with only seven day sailings. Even though we live just on the north side of Houston (90 minutes from Galveston), there is nothing that really interests us either in cruise lines or destinations out of Galveston (although we did take a couple Princess "give away" cruises out of Bayport).

[Galleon1234]

We have a 14 day cruise out of Galveston on Carnival that does a partial PC cruise in October. Have done B2B cruises on Carnival from Galveston to San Juan and then San Juan back to Galveston making a 21 day cruise with fabulous new ports.

 

I totally agree we need long cruises out of Galveston with new and exciting ports! Not even any transatlantics out of Galveston any more:(!!

[MTJSR]

No, They have never sailed out of Galveston.

 

FYI,

 

My 2006 sailing to the western Caribbean on the Grand Princess was out of Galveston.

 

Here is the Grand Princess at the Galveston Cruise Terminal

 

[IECalCruiser]

We also sailed out of Galveston on the Grand in 2006. Our issue was the 90+ minute ride from IAH to the port and back. The is also Hobby but with less flight choices.

 

 

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[Coral]

The cruises out of Galveston and Houston were very inexpensive. I don't think it was profitable for Princess.

[DrivesLikeMario]

I wish they'd also do more cruises out of Galveston or Houston. It's so much more accessible for those of us on the West Coast. The drive to the port doesn't bother me. Heck, I do that in England getting to the ship without a problem. Getting to other ports can take awhile too like Civitavecchia. But, the last time we were out of Galveston with Princess we had about an 8 hr. delay getting on the ship due to heavy fog.

[Galleon1234]

Ok, I guess Princess will never come back to Galveston then:)!

[RDC1]

Ok, I guess Princess will never come back to Galveston then:)!

 

Not until they run out of more profitable places to put ships. With Asia and Australia markets increasing it might be a very long time.

[riclop]

They don't want to deal with the fog.

[easyboy]

The cruises out of Galveston and Houston were very inexpensive. I don't think it was profitable for Princess.

I also think that this is the prime reason for pulling out, which is understandable for a business operation.

[bhopal21]

We also sailed out of Galveston on the Grand back in 2007. Luckily we were able to take Delta to Hobby so it was not as far from the port as IAH.

 

With that being said, the terminal was in awful shape and needed major improvements.

 

Mike:)

[Times Prince]

We've sailed Princess out of both Galveston and Houston, including a fantastic Transatlantic on Crown Princess out of Galveston in 2013. And yes, we hit a fog delay returning to Galveston, and were the next sailing after the channel closure coming from Houston Bayport.

 

Interesting itineraries included an 11 day New Year's cruise to Western Caribbean down to Panama on Grand Princess, and a B2B Caribbean Adventurer (Cozumel, Roatan, Belize, then a cruise destined for Key West, Freeport, and Princess Cays.). So Princess has tried some alternate itineraries to test the market.

 

The beauty of a Texas port is that we can drive to the port, avoiding airplanes. This is such a factor that we will be trying a different cruise line on our next cruise.

 

It is unfortunate that Princess finds these ports unprofitable. Weather (fog) is certainly a customer satisfaction factor, as seen by the many complaints here on CC. For both Galveston and Houston, Princess resorted to some really low cabin prices to fill the ship, including an "all balconies, one price" incentive that was too good to pass up.

 

We still wish Princess Cruises would return to Galveston.

[caribill]

As others have pointed out, Princess has sailed from Galveston in the past.

 

They pulled out initially (Grand Princess TA departing April 28, 2007) because of the competition. Three cruise lines from the same port going to the same destinations each week. There was plenty of price competition to get all the ships filled.

 

When they returned to Texas on November 5, 2013 (Caribbean Princess) the season was originally scheduled to be out of Galveston and the cruises as printed in the Cruise Atlas all showed the home port being Galveston.

 

However, Houston had a unused cruise terminal that had been built in 2007 under the theory if they built it, cruise companies would come. They did not. It sat unused except for a short period after Hurricane Ike damaged the cruise facilities in Galveston.

 

So the Port of Houston made an offer that Princess (and NCL) could not refuse. If Princess used Bayport instead of Galveston, the port would pay Princess mucho $$$, waive all port fees and also share the parking revenue. With that deal, Princess changed the home port from Galveston to Bayport and did not sail from Galveston at all on this return to Texas.

 

The last Princess sailing from Bayport was a TA by the Caribbean Princess on April 17, 2016. The contract with Bayport had ended (and it also ended with NCL).

 

With no cruise ships using Bayport any more, the building has been re-purposed as an imported car processing center. The passenger ramps from shore to ship have been sold and no longer exist there.

 

So, if Princess returns to Texas, it would have to be to Galveston.

 

Reasons this is unlikely to happen:

 

a) Princess has deployed a number of ships to the Asian and Australian markets. There is no "spare" ship to send to Texas.

 

b) There are even more CCL and RCCL ships now based in Galveston than there were in 2007 when Princess first abandoned the area. No need for another cruise line sailing to the same ports. The demand for cruises sailing from Galveston and visiting Cozumel is well met with existing ships.

[Essiesmom]

I believe another reason Princess and other lines left Galveston is that there are not enough dock spaces for more than two ships on a weekend day, which would mean cruises would have to have to leave on weekdays, a situation not popular with those who are still working. (Same problem exists with Bermuda). EM

[Tucker in Texas]

Disney is doing a seasonal run out of Galveston in the winter for about three months. They had a ship here before but, I think, discovered something us locals could have told them right off. You cannot pull your kids out of school in most school districts without big time consequences. Only so many home schoolers and pre-school kids available to cruise plus their fares were higher than Carnival and Royal Caribbean. Now they are coming in late September through Christmas (I think) when the kids have a week off at Thanksgiving and Christmas break. Of course, their rates reflect that, too, as do the rates on Carnival and Royal Caribbean.

[neverbeenhere]

Texas Residents: Start your letter writing campaign to get Princess to cruise out of Galveston. Also, North Dakota Residents: Please write to Princess about starting cruises out of Fargo.:evilsmile:

[bhopal21]

I feel sure they both would have equal results.:')

 

Mike:)

[MTJSR]

I believe another reason Princess and other lines left Galveston is that there are not enough dock spaces for more than two ships on a weekend day

 

Possibly true as a rule, however the day I boarded the Grand they had three ships berthed (squeezed). Two were Carnival ships.