galveston Galveston Update

[Galveston Steve]

I watched the Port of Galveston Trustees meeting today and heard the following items of interest:

• The Port Director stated "Royal Caribbean insists they will begin construction on Cruise Terminal 3 on April 1st (2021)."
• Other Cruise Terminal 3 updates:
  • The design of roads and infrastructure for the East End Cruise Corridor is ongoing.  This includes roads to Terminal 3 and roads to a potential future Terminal 4.
  • Design of utilities to support Royal Caribbean's Cruise Terminal 3 is 90% complete.
  • Traffic study is 90% complete.  The study will recommend upgrading Old Port Industrial Road to accommodate traffic to Cruise Terminals 1 & 2, and using Harborside Drive for traffic to Terminals 3 & 4.  The traffic study determined that a lot of vehicle traffic arrives at the port from hotels along the beach, and it seemed to be a surprise to some Trustees that people spend the night in hotels the night before a cruise.
  • As I speculated back in April, the Port is planning for a "potential" Cruise Terminal 4 in their planning and design.  Nothing has been announced about a 4th Cruise Terminal.
  • I announced earlier this year that building permits for Cruise Terminal 3 were already approved by the City of Galveston.
• The Port Director participates in online meetings with other Ports and the major cruise lines.  What he's hearing:
  • Most COVID precautions will be similar to what we are already doing on land.
  • The main focus is on getting on and getting off the ships: keep people with COVID from getting on... and if someone does get COVID while aboard the ship then get them off ASAP.
  • CDC is finally talking to the cruise lines.
  • Disney will limit the number of people in the terminal by enforcing check-in arrival times.  They will limit ship capacity to 70%.
• The Port has signed a contract with Lyft that charges passengers $2 per pickup and $2 per drop-off.  Uber has declined to sign such a contract and has been informed that they (Uber) are not allowed in the Port.

I will also post this information in my other topic titled All Things Galveston.

[twangster]

Thanks for the update.  

Interesting on the ride sharing.  Lyft has traditionally been cheaper for me to HOU airport but one time their surge price was $150 compared to Uber's $50 so I took Uber that time.  With Uber deciding not to participate I'm curious how Lyft's pricing will change.  

[Galveston Steve]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

Thanks for the update.  

Interesting on the ride sharing.  Lyft has traditionally been cheaper for me to HOU airport but one time their surge price was $150 compared to Uber's $50 so I took Uber that time.  With Uber deciding not to participate I'm curious how Lyft's pricing will change.  

Hey @twangster!  The Lyft customer will pay a $2.00 surcharge for a drop-off and another $2.00 surcharge for pick-up at the Port.  Keep in mind that if you prefer Uber you can still use Uber from the airport to your Galveston hotel.  And Uber can drop you off a block from the Port and you can walk from there if you prefer Uber.  I've seen a lot of cruisers do that at Starbucks and on the Strand.

[twangster]

1 hour ago, Galveston Steve said:

Hey @twangster!  The Lyft customer will pay a $2.00 surcharge for a drop-off and another $2.00 surcharge for pick-up at the Port.  Keep in mind that if you prefer Uber you can still use Uber from the airport to your Galveston hotel.  And Uber can drop you off a block from the Port and you can walk from there if you prefer Uber.  I've seen a lot of cruisers do that at Starbucks and on the Strand.

I prefer Lyft actually but if they have a monopoly I fear they will jack up rates.