Galveston Terminal # 3

[Ourusualbeach]

38 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

I hope so. I was thinking that they would try to keep the 2 Western itineraries somewhat different from each other.

Labadee is about 10 hours sailing from Jamaica.  Not enough time on a 7 day of itinerary to have it and 2 other ports. 

[HBE4]

46 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Labadee is about 10 hours sailing from Jamaica.  Not enough time on a 7 day of itinerary to have it and 2 other ports. 

 

Bummer. I wonder if Jamaica will be eliminated since most of the ports will be Mexico/Central America.

 

Hoping the Grand Cayman pier will actually happen. I feel like I've been hearing about that for 10 years now.

[Ourusualbeach]

37 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

Bummer. I wonder if Jamaica will be eliminated since most of the ports will be Mexico/Central America.

 

Hoping the Grand Cayman pier will actually happen. I feel like I've been hearing about that for 10 years now.

I think that you will see 2 itineraries.

 

Cozumel, Costa Maya and Roatan

 

Cozumel, Jamaica and Grand Cayman (providing the pier gets built) substitute Roatan or Costa Maya if it doesn’t. 

 

If they opened it up and did a 9/5 or a 10 /4 rotation it would open up a lot more possibilities

Edited December 14, 2019 by Ourusualbeach

[Clarea]

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

 ...

 

If they opened it up and did a 9/5 or a 10 /4 rotation it would open up a lot more possibilities

 

Even an 8/6 rotation would likely allow Labadee on the 8-night, and still be using Saturday and Sunday for start/end.

[ssb]

4 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

That would be nice, as an Oasis class ship out of Galveston would have even fewer options than the current 7-night itineraries due to the lack of tendering.  Adding a pier at Grand Cayman would certainly help.

Royal Enchantment is cruising 7 nights  presently to Nassau,  Coca Cay , Key West from Galveston . March thru October 2020 . for 12 cruises . 

[Ourusualbeach]

3 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Even an 8/6 rotation would likely allow Labadee on the 8-night, and still be using Saturday and Sunday for start/end.

Yep, it would open up adding Labadee as a port with Jamaica and would also allow a Bahamas itinerary while still keeping a 3 stop 6 day itinerary 

[John&LaLa]

4 hours ago, ssb said:

Royal Enchantment is cruising 7 nights  presently to Nassau,  Coca Cay , Key West from Galveston . March thru October 2020 . for 12 cruises . 

 

Allure can't do KW

[ssb]

20 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Allure can't do Kw 

Correct But Enchantment  will do 7 night 3 destination ports and should satisfy those who want to do go East out of Galveston instead of West . 
 

Edited December 15, 2019 by ssb

[KansasK]

We live outside of Kansas City in Overland Park, Kansas. We have flown to Galveston twice for the Navigator and once for the Liberty. We flew into Houston Hobby and got transportation to our hotel in Galveston. We had a reservation with a transportation service to pick us up at the airport and take us to our hotel. That was easy. What was hard was initially getting a hotel room. It could be we picked the wrong dates, but twice we struggled to find a room 10 months out. We finally did, but the next hurdle was getting a cab to the pier the next day. We called the cab company the night before as recommended by the hotel and made a reservation and they did call the next morning and then pick us up and take us to the pier. I think staying in Houston might be the solution and then having a transportation service take us to the pier the next day.

 

We will be on the Liberty again sailing May 22, 2020.  All the Hilton or Marriott hotels were full. We made the reservation in June. I always think it will be easier that next time and it never is. 

 

Most people on the ship seemed to be from Texas or Oklahoma and drove to Galveston. Some drove a good distance. Texas is not a small state. 

[RCCL Fan]

Well here's what seems doable to me

 

Allure

 

1)  Galveston to Miami, Coco Cay, & Nassau   (7 day)

 

2) Galveston to Roatan, Costa Maya, Cozumel  (7day)

 

Adventure

 

1)  Galveston:  Grand Cayman & Falmouth (5day)

 

2) Galveston: Cozumel & Costa Maya or Progreso (5day)

 

3) Galveston: Cozumel (4day)

 

4) Galveston:  Key West, Coco Cay, Nassau (7day)

 

5) Galveston:  Roatan, Belize, Cozumel or Costa Maya (7day) 

 

 

Unless allure does some 8 night/6 nights I don't see how Allure can go anywhere else, unless port conditions change.

Baltimore and Cape Liberty ships stop in Port Canaveral.    I can see Allure stopping in Miami

 

But Adventure has a million different routes it can do to compliment whatever Allure can't hit.  

 

I just hope it's some combination of the above and not just  the same ole tired routes. 

 

I think if Royal combines Allure and Coco Cay on a route, that ship will be untouchable and if Adventure can offer something more unique than Cozumel which is so tired for Texans, then I think it will do well too.   

 

[Ourusualbeach]

9 minutes ago, RCCL Fan said:

Well here's what seems doable to me

 

Allure

 

1)  Galveston to Miami, Coco Cay, & Nassau   (7 day)

 

2) Galveston to Roatan, Costa Maya, Cozumel  (7day)

 

Adventure

 

1)  Galveston:  Grand Cayman & Falmouth (5day)

 

2) Galveston: Cozumel & Costa Maya or Progreso (5day)

 

3) Galveston: Cozumel (4day)

 

4) Galveston:  Key West, Coco Cay, Nassau (7day)

 

5) Galveston:  Roatan, Belize, Cozumel or Costa Maya (7day) 

 

 

Unless allure does some 8 night/6 nights I don't see how Allure can go anywhere else, unless port conditions change.

Baltimore and Cape Liberty ships stop in Port Canaveral.    I can see Allure stopping in Miami

 

But Adventure has a million different routes it can do to compliment whatever Allure can't hit.  

 

I just hope it's some combination of the above and not just  the same ole tired routes. 

 

I think if Royal combines Allure and Coco Cay on a route, that ship will be untouchable and if Adventure can offer something more unique than Cozumel which is so tired for Texans, then I think it will do well too.   

 

Not sure Miami really works as a port stop.  It’s 6-8 hours further than Key West and the earliest that ships arrive there from Galveston is 20 am with others arriving at noon.

 

i thought that Adventure was too big to port at Key West.

 

 

Edited December 15, 2019 by Ourusualbeach

[RCCL Fan]

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Not sure Miami really works as a port stop.  It’s 6-8 hours further than Key West and the earliest that ships arrive there from Galveston is 20 am with others arriving at noon.

 

i thought that Adventure was too big to port at Key West.

 

 

 

I'm basing it off of two things.

 

1) When Liberty couldn't get into Galveston on Sunday because of Harvey flooding, she sat in the gulf off the Texas coast for half a day.   She finally left super late Sunday night ,  and made it to Port of Miami by Tuesday Midday.

 

2) Couple years ago RCI had Mariner visit Key West empty, and spin around and go back, just to see if she was capable of making in through the channel and apparently she did without issue. So...... they have 2 years to come up with a plan.... i think it sounds doable.

[Ourusualbeach]

2 minutes ago, RCCL Fan said:

 

I'm basing it off of two things.

 

1) When Liberty couldn't get into Galveston on Sunday because of Harvey flooding, she sat in the gulf off the Texas coast for half a day.   She finally left super late Sunday night ,  and made it to Port of Miami by Tuesday Midday.

 

2) Couple years ago RCI had Mariner visit Key West empty, and spin around and go back, just to see if she was capable of making in through the channel and apparently she did without issue. So...... they have 2 years to come up with a plan.... i think it sounds doable.

Liberty may very well have been able to do that but she was probably going full out given the circumstances.  I think that if ships could economically get to Key West earlier then they would be yet Royal arrives there at 10 and Disney does not arrive until noon. It’s a huge cost increase in fuel to get those last couple knots that could make that possible.

 

I also think that if it were possible to have a ship larger than Radiance class visit key West you would have already seen it happen by now.

 

Either way we will know in less than a week.  Until then a whole lot of speculation. 

[RCCL Fan]

8 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Liberty may very well have been able to do that but she was probably going full out given the circumstances.  I think that if ships could economically get to Key West earlier then they would be yet Royal arrives there at 10 and Disney does not arrive until noon. It’s a huge cost increase in fuel to get those last couple knots that could make that possible.

 

I also think that if it were possible to have a ship larger than Radiance class visit key West you would have already seen it happen by now.

 

Either way we will know in less than a week.  Until then a whole lot of speculation. 

Here's the webcam from Mariner in 2012, into and out of Key West.   My understanding from peeps on Mariner at the time was that it was definitely possible, tighter than they hoped, but possible. With minimal investment from key west they could operate with some more breathing room and bring even larger ships than Voyager class. 

 

They didn't NEED the key west stop back then but planned to hold the possibility in their pocket for a time when it would be more of a need for the cruise line.    I'm not saying now's the time.  Just saying it IS possible.

 

As for operating at top speed to get to Miami....  perhaps that's how they pulled it off.... but it's also how they get to Roatan from Galveston in 2 days routinely.   When onboard Vision earlier this year the  captain said.... "we push the engines to the max to get to Roatan on time on the way down and take our time on the way back."      So if it's good enough for Roatan....    why not for Miami?

 

But as you said we'll find out soon.   It's just fun to speculate.

[Clarea]

6 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

 

 ...

 

2) Couple years ago RCI had Mariner visit Key West empty, and spin around and go back, just to see if she was capable of making in through the channel and apparently she did without issue. So...... they have 2 years to come up with a plan.... i think it sounds doable.

 

I think the fact that they never sent another Voyager class ship to Key West indicated that for some reason they did not want to do that on a regular basis.  Maybe the Chief can weigh in, but I wonder if they felt there could be a safety issue.

[John&LaLa]

9 hours ago, ssb said:

Correct But Enchantment  will do 7 night 3 destination ports and should satisfy those who want to do go East out of Galveston instead of West . 
 

 

Enchantment will be in Baltimore by the time Allure arrives

[ssb]

1 hour ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Enchantment will be in Baltimore by the time Allure arrives

If folks out of Galveston want seven nighter and three destinations, they have it 2020 before Allure comes in . 

Edited December 15, 2019 by ssb

[whitshel]

10 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Liberty may very well have been able to do that but she was probably going full out given the circumstances.  I think that if ships could economically get to Key West earlier then they would be yet Royal arrives there at 10 and Disney does not arrive until noon. It’s a huge cost increase in fuel to get those last couple knots that could make that possible.

 

I also think that if it were possible to have a ship larger than Radiance class visit key West you would have already seen it happen by now.

 

Either way we will know in less than a week.  Until then a whole lot of speculation. 

We stopped in KW on the Celebrity Equinox a couples years ago which is 122k, and I know the Edge is going to KW regularly and thats 130k, not much difference from Voyager Class.  Ships much larger than Radiance class visit KW

[whitshel]

What about Progresso?  Is this a viable stop?  Seems like only Carnival goes there???

 

Maybe a new port (Private Destination) like Ncl's Harvest Caye?  Perfect Day on the Yucatan 🙂

[Tapi]

20 minutes ago, whitshel said:

What about Progresso?  Is this a viable stop?  Seems like only Carnival goes there???

It’s been mostly Carnival, but there are a few stops in Progreso scheduled by Royal Caribbean as well as Disney. It’s a deep port built on a 5 mile long pier.
 

I hope that Progreso doesn’t become another Cozumel. I was very skeptical about going there after reading many reviews saying that it’s a dump and that there’s nothing to do there. But we were there in February and I absolutely LOVED it. What people mean by dumpy and boring really means that it’s authentic and not overly exploited, commercialized, and Americanized. It was wonderful. It reminded me of what Cozumel used to be like 20 years ago before it got way too crowded. 

Edited December 15, 2019 by Tapi

[Ourusualbeach]

44 minutes ago, whitshel said:

We stopped in KW on the Celebrity Equinox a couples years ago which is 122k, and I know the Edge is going to KW regularly and thats 130k, not much difference from Voyager Class.  Ships much larger than Radiance class visit KW

Your correct, there are ships out there larger than Radiance class however I didn’t really see the need to mention that since we were talking about the deployment of Royals ships.  I still believe that there must be something from preventing them from docking a ship larger than Radiance as it’s been years since the Mariner test and they haven’t stopped there since with a ship larger than Radiance.

[John&LaLa]

5 hours ago, ssb said:

If folks out of Galveston want seven nighter and three destinations, they have it 2020 before Allure comes in . 

 

OK, but we were talking about having a 3 port stop after Allure arrives.

That was the point of this thread as far as i can recall

[ssb]

46 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

OK, but we were talking about having a 3 port stop after Allure arrives.

That was the point of this thread as far as i can recall

Yes but so many say they want to go East out  of Galveston like it never happens  . Carnival And Royal are going East . Even Liberty goes East to Jamaica and Cayman. We have done many repos in and out of Galveston not having to go West . 
 

Edited December 15, 2019 by ssb

[time4u2go]

On 12/14/2019 at 9:09 AM, ssb said:

Cruise Lines Chipping in for Cruise Pier on Grand Cayman

 

Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean, and Disney will now help finance a project to build a state-of-the art pier at the port.

That's really a shame.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50647625

[ssb]

42 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

That's really a shame.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50647625

Thanks for  information 

Edited December 15, 2019 by ssb