Question - Is Celebrity coming to the new RC terminal in Galveston?

[JDPCruisers]

Anyone hear if Celebrity will be coming to the new RC terminal in Galveston?

[George C]

I would love to see any celebrity ship in Texas 

[jwlane]

Don't hold your breath.

[RTShaker]

Nothing in the works yet.

[Cruising Divers]

Same here - not sure but I’d love to see one (and would definitely sail on it)! 🌟⚓🛳️⚓🌟

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Hope not 

[prmssk]

Celebrity doesn't follow everywhere RC goes.  I personally would rather they bring a ship to Port Canaveral but I'm not holding my breath.

[Texed]

57 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Hope not 

Why?

[Ex-Airbalancer]

19 minutes ago, Texed said:

Why?

Not a place I want to fly into 

[jwlane]

1 hour ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Not a place I want to fly into 

IAH or HOU?

 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

4 minutes ago, jwlane said:

IAH or HOU?

 

Anyplace in Texas 

[bEwAbG]

7-night cruises can only make it to the Western Caribbean because it's at least one sea day to sail through the Gulf and another to get back. 5-night cruises can make it to a Mexico stop in Cozumel or Costa Maya.  I bet it would be hard to fill a ship consistently making those types of trips, especially with the existing competition from there.

 

Maybe a repositioning cruise could be longer, but those are limited (Princess has one that does the Panama Canal on its way to the West Coast). 

 

I am from Texas originally.  The reason I would never choose to fly to Galveston as a port is that it takes 45 minutes to over an hour to get from Houston airports to Galveston, which is a real dump.  I have family I could stay with there, even, but the less time spent there, the better.  Much better port cities practically anywhere else in the country.

[jwlane]

9 hours ago, bEwAbG said:

it takes 45 minutes to over an hour to get from Houston airports to Galveston, 

Unlike Southampton or Civitavecchia?

[Ex-Airbalancer]

4 minutes ago, jwlane said:

Unlike Southampton or Civitavecchia?

Those places are not in Texas, 

London and Rome are worthwhile to visit 

[terrydtx]

I Live in Texas and driving to Galveston for us is only 4 hours, but we haven't cruised from Galveston since 2002 because all they can do are the same boring western Carribean cruises in 7 days. I read recently that Galveston is the largest and busiest cruise port in the US outside of Miami and Ft Lauderdale. The Royal AOS is going to be home based here year round joining several Carnival and Royal ships. The new Royal cruise terminal had to be built to accommodate the AOS. NCL, Disney and Princess also have cruises from here, but not year-round at this point.

 

Cruise Lines From Galveston, TX | Visit Galveston

Edited February 16, 2023 by terrydtx

[39august]

Galveston is a quaint, lovely little city. Nice place to visit for a day or two. Can't see why anyone would call it a dump. We used to drive there to cruise RCI a lot. Not a pleasant drive, but beats flying to Florida for us. I have very little hope that  X will place a ship there. 

[terrydtx]

14 minutes ago, 39august said:

Galveston is a quaint, lovely little city. Nice place to visit for a day or two. Can't see why anyone would call it a dump. We used to drive there to cruise RCI a lot. Not a pleasant drive, but beats flying to Florida for us. I have very little hope that  X will place a ship there. 

I agree Galveston is hardly a dump, plenty to do and some very nice restaurants. However, if you want to go to a nice beach, Galveston is very lacking, unless you drive to the very southern part of the island. The best beaches in Texas are in South Padre Island a very long drive for most of us.

[Longhorn-ED]

32 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Those places are not in Texas, 

London and Rome are worthwhile to visit 

Don't Mess with Texas! We love it here.

[terrydtx]

1 minute ago, Longhorn-ED said:

Don't Mess with Texas! We love it here.

We do too and it is a great place to retire. In the Winter you we see many Canadians snow birding in the South Padre area so they must like it here for at least the winter months.

[Jeremiah1212]

A Celebrity exec confirmed very recently that they have no plans for Galveston in the future.  

[terrydtx]

7 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

A Celebrity exec confirmed very recently that they have no plans for Galveston in the future.  

With 5 cruise lines sailing during the winter months, there may not be room for another cruise line in Galveston without another expansion of the facility.

[jwlane]

1 hour ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

London and Rome 

Southampton and Civitavecchia are not London & Rome.  Your complaint included airport distance.

[sptrout]

Celebrity did sail out of Galveston a few years ago for 12 day Panama cruises that stopped in Colon. They used the Galaxy for these trips and only for couple years. Great savings for us since we live on the north side of Houston. No airfare and pre-cruise hotel costs meant that we got to book a Sky Suite for the first time. The C-class ship's had huge verandas almost has big as the cabin, the table outside could easily seat four maybe six people. Great experience, but spoiled us forever, only small suites since that cruise back in 2005

 

This experience is probably why Celebrity will never return to Galveston IMO. Only real option with all the competition, is going to the places that are 10-14 day cruises. 

[t18c97]

2 hours ago, terrydtx said:

With 5 cruise lines sailing during the winter months, there may not be room for another cruise line in Galveston without another expansion of the facility.

MSC has decided to expand to Galveston, https://www.travelandleisure.com/msc-cruises-homeport-galveston-texas-6979594. 

 

I agree with the current limit of destinations they can reach maybe they just need to add a couple US ports to a cruise to change things up. But as another TX resident (Austin) it's nice to be able to jump in the car and 3.5/4 hours drive get on the ship. 

[Texed]

3 minutes ago, sptrout said:

Only real option with all the competition, is going to the places that are 10-14 day cruises. 

That is exactly what I wish they would do.  Even just offer a limited number of sailings.  They could offer the two sea days at the front and two days at the end of the cruise.  We are booked on a similar cruise from Ft. Lauderdale on Edge.