By
Rebecca Gibson |
The Port of Galveston in Houston, Texas marked its 15th anniversary as a year-round cruise port on 30 September.
Since Carnival Cruise Line’s Celebration made her inaugural voyage from Galveston on 30 September 2000, the popular US homeport has handled 2,643 cruise ship calls from 18 ships, and more than seven million cruise passengers. In 2013, the Cruise Lines International Association named it as the fourth-largest US embarkation port.
Currently, Galveston handles year-round weekly departures from Royal Caribbean International’s Navigator of the Seas and Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Triumph, Carnival Magic and Carnival Freedom. This November, Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas will replace Navigator of the Seas with Saturday departures, while Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Wonder will return to Galveston for the first time since January 2014 to sail nine Friday departures. Meanwhile, Carnival Liberty will replace Carnival Triumph next March, and Carnival Breeze will replace Carnival Magic next May.
Last year, around 640,000 passengers embarked on a cruise at Galveston and the new deployments are expected to bring more than 824,000 passengers to the port in 2015, a 28% rise.
“A special thank you to Carnival Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean International for choosing Galveston as a cruise homeport and for entrusting us with their newest and most innovative ships in order to offer our cruise guests a unique opportunity to visit exotic ports of call in the Caribbean and the Bahamas,” said Mike Mierzwa, the port’s director. “In addition, I’d like to thank our cruise partners-the cruise lines’ shore staff, the International Longshoremen’s Association, Federal Agencies such as Customs and Border Protection and the US Coast Guard and the tremendous support from the local community throughout the years.”
Galveston’s cruise industry also generates more than US$1.2 billion in direct spending and almost 20,000 jobs.
“Today we celebrate the positive impact the cruise industry has had on our community,” said Mierzwa. “It is important that we recognise that not only is this business great for Galveston, but also for the entire state of Texas. The port is dedicated to continuing to make improvements that will keep Galveston a top-notch cruise port and keep the cruise business thriving for another successful 15 years.”
Since 2000, Galveston has invested more than US$85 million to improve its cruise facilities and has several infrastructure improvements in the pipeline to enable it to accommodate three cruise ships on the same day.
To find out more about Galveston's expansion plan, read our exclusive interview with Mike Mierzwa in the latest issue of International Cruise & Ferry Review.