Galveston Steve

Whoa! Now there's a 9-night on Independence to Port Canaveral, Miami, Nassau, and Coco Cay! Round trip from Galveston.

We have been booking mostly first class flights for a couple of years now, when it's not too unreasonably priced.  Just like cruising, we find that booking as early as possible sometimes gets us in first class at a pretty reasonable cost. The extra benefits mentioned by others above are all nice, and now with the Covid craziness its nice to have the extra "distancing".  I think that if you're able to afford it then it's worth going first class, especially on such a long flight.

8 hours ago, Zurc said:

Royal and my TA said they are unavailable until they finish moving ship-swap customers.  My email said they would begin moving reservations over starting today. 

7 hours ago, Landry_TX said:

Can you tell how long Indy will be doing these shorter sailings before moving back to Florida? Would like to try to get on one. 

Most of the Independence of the Seas sailings from Galveston are now available to book.

This has always been a special community. Matt’s positive attitude and approach to keeping things positive and accurate sets the tone here. His blog really is the only source of RCI information that you need. I missed the live broadcast but watched the replay. Well deserved Matt!

19 hours ago, CrznTxn said:

Looks like Indy will take the place of Liberty for the 7 night voyages until mid-September when Liberty returns from dry dock. Then Indy will assume the 4 and 5 night voyages until returning to Miami a little later. This from the RCCL agent we talked to last Friday.

I can confirm this. My travel agent can see these 4-5 night sailings in the system but they aren’t available for booking as of last night. 

22 hours ago, Matt said:

This is exciting to see Royal back in Galveston, and a new ship.

I wonder if Indy will hang out in Galveston for a bit, or head out to sea until test cruises can commence.

Looks like she’ll hang out with the tankers and occasionally come in to the dock for provisioning. 

New Cruise Terminal Update

Here's the division of work between the Port of Galveston and Royal Caribbean International (RCI): The Port will move things out of the way to clear the site for the terminal, and will bring utilities to the site. The Port also provides the parking, landscaping, roads, and dock repairs. RCI builds the terminal building and performs some improvements to the dock.

At this time much of the physical work is continuing to be performed by the Port as they prepare the site for RCI's new terminal. Royal has limited physical work at the site at this point in the schedule as they complete the design and procure materials.  RCI's construction will ramp up as the schedule progresses. At the moment it seems that things are progressing as planned.

RCI Activities

• Pile testing was completed by RCI in May. This will allow RCI to complete the foundation design for the terminal.
• Design work continues.
• Procurement of materials continues.

Port of Galveston Activities

• Bids are being solicited for improvements to the Pier 10 dock with some scope performed by Royal and some scope by the Port.
• Water line and sanitary sewer line construction contract of $1.65 million was approved by Port Trustees in May. This work will provide water and sewer service to the terminal and connects those lines into the City of Galveston.
• Working with utility companies (electrical and others) to relocate some of their facilities to make way for the new terminal facility.
• Continuing work to relocate certain structures and facilities from the new terminal area to other areas of the Port to make room for the new terminal facilities.
• Construction continues on improvements to Old Port industrial Road for better traffic flow. 
• Design of roads and parking in the vicinity of the new terminal is ongoing.

New Road Names

The Trustees approved Royal Caribbean Way and Royal Caribbean Circle as names of roads in and around the terminal area. RCI had asked what the new terminal address will be. The Port didn't have an answer, so that prompted getting the new roads named.

Let's get this party started! Courtesy of Galveston.com

Independence of the Seas and Carnival Vista... ready for simulated sailings!

15 minutes ago, emmef said:

Is it terrible that I want to just take my kid out of school for several days to go on a cruise?  His school starts Aug. 17.  

I'm trying to get permission to pull my grandson from kindergarten for the Aug 15th sailing.  I don't think it's gonna fly.

27 minutes ago, CrznTxn said:

We are booked on Liberty in September. Since they are the same class of ship I hope they transfer the rooms to the same location and the few that are different can be rearranged. Since we are booked through the Casino, if we have to rebook then we loose that cruise, they will not transfer it.

I'm seeing others post that their Liberty sailings have been moved to Independence. Not sure how that would impact your casino cruise.

7 minutes ago, HtownHolly said:

Ah... well that would be ours, then (8/15). I haven't looked at Independence at all. Guess I oughta check the ship out to see how it compares to Liberty.

She was refurbished in 2019, so that's a nice plus over Liberty. Since it hasn't been used in over a year, it should look like a new ship.

31 minutes ago, Tanner said:

Wow, I was schedule for Liberty the week before you.  Hoping it's the same case for me!

 

Independence begins sailing from Galveston August 15th, so it looks like your cruise would be a go!

8 minutes ago, nate91 said:

Agreed. It also seems to indicate that either Royal has some sort of agreement with the CDC so that they can sail with an unvaxed ship and not require masks, or that they are certain that the CSO will be cancelled. I don't really see any other ways they can get from here to there.

Since Royal is doing simulated sailings (test cruises), the CDC does not require the 95% vaccination rate for passengers.  95% vaccination for passengers is only required if you bypass the test cruises and go straight to revenue cruises like Celebrity is doing.

9 minutes ago, nate91 said:

Interesting. The same thing is quoted in another thread, and it mentions "further health and safety protocols to be announced later." But the page you linked is very clear that US sailings aside from Alaska will not require the vaccine. My question is...which posting is the updated/accurate one?

You never know when Royal will issue a retraction and blame in intern for a typo, but if this stands it would seem to defuse the confrontation with the State of Florida regarding asking passengers for proof of vaccination.

Wow, it looks like the game has changed for US cruises. They used the words "strongly recommended" as far as the US vaccine requirements in today's announcement:

"U.S. Health and Safety Measures 

Travelers can plan their cruise adventure with peace of mind knowing that all crew members will be vaccinated against COVID-19. Guests are strongly recommended to set sail fully vaccinated, if they are eligible. Those who are unvaccinated or unable to show proof of vaccination will receive a test before boarding. "

19 minutes ago, Scatmanjack said:

August 15 is live sail date for Independence of the Seas from Galveston per Matt...

 

We were booked for August 1...

 

and school starts...

 

Yes, Michael Bayley posted this on Facebook... Independence from Galveston starting August 15!  Now we know why she is now along side at Galveston Terminal 2.

9 minutes ago, MrMarc said:

I agree, I'm not trying to start the debate, but I thought the 90 day window could be interesting.  Someone could do the no test cruises for a couple of months while they work through the test cruises.

My thoughts exactly. That is the approach I thought Royal was going to take, but they haven't really been forthcoming with their specific overall strategy.

25 minutes ago, MrMarc said:

The real problem may be that there is a bill similar to Florida's ban on requiring proof of vaccination not being allowed, and he is expected to sign it.  Then we will have the same issues that Florida has.  

True. But since Royal plans on doing test cruises they can simply eliminate the vaccine requirement and then we can all go on cruising. I don't want this to become a vaccine discussion but I just think there must be a simple solution out there now that the authorities and the cruise lines are finally talking.

Here's a nice video of Independence of the Seas arriving in Galveston yesterday.  Thanks @Jaymac Radio for the link.

I have not been able to confirm from any credible source why Independence is in Galveston.

7 hours ago, stevendom57 said:

Am I the only person that comes to RCB multiple times a day specifically to see if Galveston Steve has more info on my local port and has updated this thread?

Haha, well that puts the pressure on!  Thanks for following along!

I guess I'm old school on this subject, but I prefer to eliminate the doubt and take the extra half second to just spell it out. When you ask for advice on your AOTS sailing I think WTF and then SMDH and move on.

On 5/13/2021 at 9:25 AM, Scatmanjack said:

 

Would it not make sense that Royal moves ALL operations to new terminal thus opening the old terminal to a new Cruise Line, Norwegian?   Royal wouldn't be running multiple ships on same day so they wouldn't need to have two slots...

You are correct! Carnival sometimes uses the current Royal terminal, and prior to Covid Carnival had announced a 4th ship to homeport in Galveston. That would keep the two existing terminals pretty busy.  It will be interesting to see if NCL comes to Galveston and uses the old Royal terminal or if they will build a 4th terminal.  A 4th terminal location would be located at the current Del Monte pier based on the Port of Galveston Master Plan.

The Port of Galveston is now acknowledging that NCL's Norwegian Prima will call on Galveston on 27 Oct 2022, before repositioning to Miami and Port Canaveral for the winter.  This will be the first NCL ship to ever call on Galveston.

Discussions are also in progress to home port an NCL ship in Galveston beginning in November 2023.

On 4/27/2021 at 12:54 PM, Galveston Steve said:

Yes, Vista and Breeze arrive in Galveston on Sunday.  They will be using the existing cruise terminals to vaccinate about 350 crew members across both ships starting next week.

https://www.galveston.com/webcams/cruisevideocam/

56 minutes ago, cruisellama said:

They (and we) need to get a larger ship in there so isn't the new terminal is a must?  Already booked (for the 2nd time) on Allure in '23.

Yes, the new terminal is a must for Oasis Class ships in Galveston.  At the beginning of the Covid craziness the port looked at the possibility of bringing Allure into the existing terminal and concluded it wasn't feasible, which resulted in the one year delay in the new terminal construction.