Houston: Should HAL sail from there?

[billroddy]

What if you built a multi-million dollar cruise terminal and nobody came? That's Houston's problem right now.
Could HAL use it?
If they did they could go to new places like Tampico and Vera Cruz; or Belize, or Jamaica, maybe even Gatun and Colon.
I think that would open a new market in the Middle West and to people who don't want to fly to Ft Lauderdale.
For more here is the Houston Chronicle story.
Bill

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/travel/cruise/news/5557410.html

[jackkip]

I would love for HAL to move to Houston. I live about 4 hours from Houston, so I am sure I would be a frequent cruiser. Much easier to afford cruising when you don't have to pay for airfare. I will keep my fingers crossed.

[DesertDogs]

I think it would be nice for the Mid-Westerners. But I don't think I will be taking an NCL Cruise anytime soon.

[NorthPhoenixGuy]

great idea. i would rather fly to houston than ft lauderdale from phoenix. and i won't have san diego as a gateway after next year.

[Copper10-8]

I'd cruise from Houston in a minute. HAL used to have New Orleans as one of its home ports for Western Carib cruises. Be great to go back there also

[billroddy]

NCL spokeswoman Susan Robison said, "As of now, we don't currently have plans to return to Houston."
Bill

I think it would be nice for the Mid-Westerners. But I don't think I will be taking an NCL Cruise anytime soon.

[sail7seas]

NCL spokeswoman Susan Robison said, "As of now, we don't currently have plans to return to Houston."
Bill
:) Boston...... I wish HAL would move Noordam and Maasdam to Boston permanently. Sail anywhere they want...sail to Bermuda, sail to Canada/New England, sail south to the Caribbean stopping along on the coast on the way. Just sail them both 12 months from Boston. :D

Now for my next fantasy!! Dreams are fun!

[Sailorgirlseattle]

I'm all for it! I don't fly, and I have family in Houston. Makes it a LOT easier for me to do the Caribbean than getting myself to southern Florida.

[Taxguy77]

I'm all for it! I don't fly, and I have family in Houston. Makes it a LOT easier for me to do the Caribbean than getting myself to southern Florida.

Ditto. Also we leave our cat with our daughter there (has 2 cats) so he gets a vacation too.:) Flying has deteriorated so much in the past few years, I have to have a lot of incentive to fly now. :eek:

[jhannah]

Houston/Galveston would work for us.

[newmexicoNita]

I would be the first one making a reservation. Let's hope with the new port all lines will consider sailing out of Texas. We are praying NCL comes back and HAL starts. These are our 2 favorite lines (for different reasons) For those of us living in the So WEst and mid section of the country it is becoming harder and harder to get to embarkation ports.

Nita

[c-cruise]

No thanks, would much rather fly the extra couple hours to get to South Florida than depart out of Houston/Galveston. But, I guess it would be fine if it was in addition to the normal Ft. Lauderdale itineraries. Then there would be a choice.

[hogwildcruzers]

8 hour drive for us and we would do that in a second if HAL would port there....do hope that whichever cruiseline ports there, will come up with some new itinerary.

[jhannah]

...do hope that whichever cruiseline ports there, will come up with some new itinerary. I think that's one of the major challenges when sailing out of south Texas.

[cferro514]

:) Boston...... I wish HAL would move Noordam and Maasdam to Boston permanently. Sail anywhere they want...sail to Bermuda, sail to Canada/New England, sail south to the Caribbean stopping along on the coast on the way. Just sail them both 12 months from Boston. :D

Now for my next fantasy!! Dreams are fun!
I have a dream the Noordam or some other HAL ship comes back to NYC.

[Copper10-8]

A cruise from L.A. (or San Diego) with stops in Santa Barbara, Shell Beach (for San Luis Obispo/Morro Bay/Pismo Beach) and Monterey (with a service call on the way back at Ensenada, BC to satisfy a federal law that should be taken off the books), now that's the ticket!

[cruznon]

It appears that HAL is not that interested in porting ships anywhere in the West.
Perhaps we, in the West, are no longer their marketing targets. I seriously doubt they would homeport a ship in Houston-Galveston. If they did, we would sail from there--a lot closer than Florida.

[billroddy]

It was done in the 1930 by the ss Yale and ss Harvard with overnight voyages to and from SF to LA. I took it once as a child.
Here is a photo of the Yale enteirng the bay.
Bill

http://americahurrah.com/SanFrancisco/GoldenGateBridge/3-FinishedPier.htm


A cruise from L.A. (or San Diego) with stops in Santa Barbara, Shell Beach (for San Luis Obispo/Morro Bay/Pismo Beach) and Monterey (with a service call on the way back at Ensenada, BC to satisfy a federal law that should be taken off the books), now that's the ticket!

[GCurry]

We live in Bacliff less then 10 miles to the new terminal, and both work in
Galveston so you can put us in the wanting new itineraries category.
We've cruised twice on the Grand out of Galveston, so the same Ole Western Carib doesn't do much for us.

In Dec. we are going out of Lauderdale on the Zuiderdam to Panama, a cruise you could have had out of Galveston three years ago before they pulled Celebrity out of here. We chose to cruise Hawaii at the time not knowing what was going to happen.

We won't do NCL again, and Carnival doesn't excite us a whole lot, but as you can tell, we enjoy HAL and would welcome them or Princess to the new terminal.
Both Carnival Corp. and RCCL have a lot invested in Galveston, so they are unlikely to totally leave. But the new Houston terminal is a quandary, one of those if we build it they will come things, and so far, nobody is coming.

This BTW is SE Texas, South Texas is about 400 miles from here!!:)

[NoNoNanette]

I've cruised out of Galveston a couple of times.... 'twas pleasant. But HOUSTON WAS A DREAM! Sailed on the now defunct Royal Olympia line back in '03(?). Easy parking, easy in, easy out, no traffic...everything was great.

I would love to cruise out of Houston again! (Plus a quick drive for us!) :)

[Copper10-8]

It was done in the 1930 by the ss Yale and ss Harvard with overnight voyages to and from SF to LA. I took it once as a child.
Here is a photo of the Yale enteirng the bay.
Bill

http://americahurrah.com/SanFrancisco/GoldenGateBridge/3-FinishedPier.htm

Thanks for the info and the pic! She's a classic and looks like one of those "Murder on the Nile" ships from an Agatha Christie book/movie and Hercule Poirrot

[bepsf]

No desire to sail out of Houston - IMHO, it's an unattractive town and I wouldn't enjoy staying there again.

I always enjoy my pre-cruise stays in Ft Lauderdale and would also enjoy departing from New Orleans.

[constantcruiser]

We'd be on any HAL, Princess or Celebrity ship that sailed out of Texas...probably several times a year. In addition to year-round residents, many snowbirds have winter homes in South Texas and that would add to the potential passenger market. If there 's a lack of ports for 7-night cruises leaving from Texas, we're up for longer cruises.

[Taxguy77]

Constantcruiser
D---- right.

[gizmo]

I have no interest in sailing out of Houston.

[cruisinbulldog]

It appears that HAL is not that interested in porting ships anywhere in the West.
Perhaps we, in the West, are no longer their marketing targets. I seriously doubt they would homeport a ship in Houston-Galveston. If they did, we would sail from there--a lot closer than Florida.



Looks like your getting a dose of what we had with HA pulling the Noordam from NYC..

My options for a caribbean cruise on HA now goes thru Florida,would not consider TX.. But put a ship out of New Orleans and you have my attention..

Bulldog

[happy cruzer]

I would do it for sure.

I took the opportunity to sail Princess and Celebrity when they had ships in Galveston. Princess did a 7 nighter that had great stops in Belize and Honduras. Celebrity did 10 and 11 nighters that went into the Panama Canal and turned around to come back out.

Carnival Conquest just added an itenarary that does the eastern Caribbean that includes Key West, and two stops in the Bahamas.

So you can get some good itenararies. I think CCL will want to make sure if they put another ship in the area it won't hurt their Carnival ship sales.

RCI has a ship part time out of Galveston now. So there is a bit of competition. But I think a new ship with a different itenarary would make it for at least one season.

Here's hoping!

[GCurry]

No desire to sail out of Houston - IMHO, it's an unattractive town and I wouldn't enjoy staying there again.
I always enjoy my pre-cruise stays in Ft Lauderdale and would also enjoy departing from New Orleans.
I would agree with you to a limited extent, you can't get anywhere in our area without a car. Transportation from the big airport, Bush, is 1 1/2 hrs to Galveston, and only some what less to the new terminal through heavy traffic. Out of Hobby airport, it's only 35 minutes to either.
Speaking of which, there is not a lot down in the new terminal area in the way of hotels, the NASA/Kemah area being the closest.
Galveston, however, has a lot more to see and do, and is a tourist destination in it's own right, with good beaches and some world class attractions (goggle Moody Gardens or Galveston.com).

The Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex is not very visitor friendly either, Texas Cities were build around business and available space with individual transportation and little mass transit. This is becoming a huge problem for us with higher fuel prices.

Still, for the many millions of us in Texas and surrounding States, cruising out of here sure beats flying off to Florida.

[Stevesan]

Guess what I think about HAL at the new Houston Cruise Port. :D

I've darn near deserted to Princess subsequent to sailing Grand Princess out of Galveston, nearly in my back yard.
Much to my surprise I thoroughly enjoyed Grand. It's comparatively large, 108ktons, but the interiors are very intelligently downsized so as to not be overwhelming.

Also, Princess often has much better prices for the same intineraries.
Now, that I really like.
But if I could eliminate air travel I'd be back to HAL early and often, even for more money.

[dlbaqua]

It would be a dream if they'd come to Houston! My mom lives there, it's only 5 hours south of us, we'd be able to sail in suites since there'd be no air fare. I hope SOMEONE sails out of that new port.

[Taxguy77]

Constantcruiser
D---- right.
My response is located just below a response I don't agree with. Wash my mouth wjit soap, and tell me to be more careful. :(