When you yearn to put your feet on white stuff that’s warm – not cold – this season, adventures in the Caribbean are closer and less expensive than you think if you look to Texas first.
As more, bigger ships debut, cruise lines have expanded homeports, and Texas has evolved as a major starting point for itineraries into the western Caribbean, calling at not only popular Mexican ports but also in Belize and Honduras. Even the Panama Canal, considered one of the great cruise destinations, is on the itineraries and at rates below $100 a day aboard a highly rated ship.
With the arrival of two more cruise ships this fall, five will be sailing from Galveston and Houston this season, carrying more than 9,000 passengers a week on average. That figure will jump next fall when Princess Cruises joins the lineup with its 2,600-passenger Grand Princess doing weekly sailings for the season, making it the largest ship on the Texas coast.
The ships have enticing prices – from $399 per person for four- and five-day cruises, from $529 for seven-day cruises and from as low as $999 for an 11-day Panama Canal cruise. Prices, of course, are subject to change, and the lowest fares may apply to specific sailings, but discounts are widely available.
Yes, you have to add airfare to those prices – but, again, Texas offers some advantages. It’s less time in the air and less money out of your pocketbook to fly to Houston than to go to Miami or San Juan. And, flying to Texas offers more choices in itineraries and more adventurous ports of call than if you go to Los Angeles to cruise.
Cruises from the Texas ports have action-oriented itineraries. The ships call in Mexico’s Yucatn area, noted for outstanding Mayan ruins, as well as great beaches and water sports, and some hot, newer ports farther down the coast in Central America, including Belize and Honduras with excellent diving and jungle excursions.
We sailed to the Caribbean from the Texas gulf coast with a major goal: to climb as many pyramids as possible in the Maya country from the Yucatn southward. Thus, it was easy to pick shore excursions – until we came to Belize. Though there are trips to ruins here, none was on our particular sailing. But how about cave tubing? That’s a different adventure, so why not?
Oddly enough, my grandsons, ages 11 and 8, and daughter didn’t jump at this as quickly as I did, the bat factor perhaps a cause for hesitancy. However, once we arrived at the site about an hour outside Belize City, picked up inner tubes, put on spelunker/miner-type lights and safety vests and traipsed through the jungle, we all were getting into the spirit, if a little nervous. We pushed aside banana leaves, clambered down a hill, plopped our big inner tubes into a clear, cool stream and eased ourselves onto them.
We floated into the mouth of a series of large caves and for one hour bobbed along in the dark on a shallow spring-fed underground river considered sacred by the Maya centuries ago. A jittery quiet gave way to occasional laughter and shouts to test the echo as scores of us formed haphazard lines with guides, though there was no way to get lost. We pointed our lights upward at stalactites and bats, the latter probably not too happy about our incursion, but fortunately they continued to hang rather than fly.
The biggest problem was water so shallow at points that our butts bumped rocks, which the 8-year-old was sure really were crocodiles or some sinister serpent of the Maya underworld. It was a slow, easy float, save for one rippling drop that propelled us along faster for maybe 100 feet.
As fun an adventure as the cave tubing was for our three generations, the high fives went to the dramatic Maya ruins. In Mexico, we climbed the 91 steps of El Castillo at Chichen Itza, between Merida and Cancn, and staved off panic attacks at the top, seeing how frightfully steep the descent was. The answer: Sit down and scoot step by step to the bottom, preferably looking at the back of the person in front of you rather than the distance to the ground.
To the west, Uxmal seemed more mystical, its architecture beautifully refined and detailed and its Pyramid of the Magician towering high above the scrubby foliage. Climbers, however, are no longer allowed on the steps of this unusual pyramid with rounded shoulders, though visitors may climb a smaller pyramid. Cave tubing and pyramid climbing are only two of the more unusual adventures on cruises from Texas. From here, divers can reach some of the world’s top underwater sightseeing around reefs off Cozumel, Mexico, and in Belize and Honduras. Or you can engage in a shark encounter, go river kayaking, ride horseback through the jungle, swim with dolphins, dive in a submarine or take a four-wheel drive adventure into the jungle.
Whatever happened to golf, or shopping or lazing on the beach? Well, you can do those things, too.
From having no cruises three years ago, the seaside resort city of Galveston has risen to No. 6 in the country in passenger volume, handling about 375,000 passengers a year now, according to Steve Cernak, port director. He was even more proud to learn Galveston now is ranked 18th among cruise ports in the world in its passenger volume.
Ships tie up close to the historic Strand area, with its renovated Victorian-era iron-front buildings, a fixed-rail trolley that clangs around the district and horse-drawn carriages clomping along brick streets.
Galveston’s neoclassical cruise terminals have a Spanish look, stucco facades with arched promenades that welcomed cruise passengers in the 1920s sailing to Cuba, Miami and New York. The terminals fell silent for decades, though there was occasional cruise traffic in the 1980s and ’90s.
The big change came in 2000 when Carnival Cruise Lines brought the Jubilee here for four- and five-day itineraries to the Mexican Caribbean, then added a sister ship, the Celebration, also on short cruises. Each carries about 1,500 passengers normally, though frequently sails above 100 percent capacity as third and fourth berths in cabins are filled.
“We’ve had a very high satisfaction level (by passengers) on the ships out of Galveston,” says Terry Thornton, Carnival’s vice president of marketing planning.
With the market proven, other lines casting for new ports looked to Texas. Royal Caribbean International tested the waters with sailings in fall 2001, then based a 2,000-passenger ship in spring 2002, introducing seven-day itineraries. Last fall RCI added the Splendour of the Seas seasonally to do longer Panama Canal cruises through the spring.
Carnival and the Port of Galveston have worked together to renovate Terminal 1, which is becoming the main berth for Carnival and its family of ships. Terminal 2 is being upgraded as a center for RCI’s cruises.
Galveston has an advantage over Houston in that it’s a shorter distance into the Gulf of Mexico. Within about 45 minutes of casting off from Galveston’s piers, the cruise ships are in open sea.
Houston’s cruise facilities are located southeast of the city, at Barbours Cut Terminal on the mouth of Galveston Bay, about 2 1/2 hours’ sailing time to open waters off Galveston.
Starting Nov. 8, the Houston port again will have regular weekly “Texarribean” sailings by Norwegian Cruise Line on its newly refurbished Norwegian Sea, which carries 1,518 passengers. In 1997, NCL was the first to start regular cruising from Texas. While the sailings from Houston were popular, the line pulled the ship out in 2000 to serve another port.
The Houston cruise scene has developed slower, in part because of passenger limitations at the facilities. “We can take 1,500 to 1,800 passengers. We can’t handle the bigger ships now,” says Tom Heidt, market development manager for the Port of Houston Authority.
Houston, however, is planning a new cruise facility with five berths, designed to take all sizes of ships, on a point farther down the bay, thus with less sailing time to open water.
“We believe we’ll have the permit this year and can start building and have the cruise terminal in late 2005 or early 2006,” Heidt says.
Once that terminal opens, Texas is likely to make even a bigger name for itself in cruising.
Based in Houston, Mary Lu Abbott is a freelance writer who has sailed from her home city and many other ports around the world.
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Shipping out from Texas
Galveston
Celebration: This Carnival “Fun Ship” is an oldie but in beautiful shape after a multimillion-dollar refurbishment this year. It dates to 1987 but is definitely hip – the cool Red Hot Piano Bar is black, white and red, sexy and fun. At 47,262 tons and a normal (two per cabin) passenger count of 1,486, it’s one of Carnival’s smallest ships; still it has two dining rooms and a number of lounges and nooks for quiet tte–ttes. Cabins are fairly spacious. It does four-day cruises to Cozumel, Mexico, with two days at sea, and five-day trips that add a call on the Yucatn Peninsula of Mexico, at Calica/Playa del Carmen. Prices start at $399 per person.
Elation: This newer, larger ship introduces Carnival’s seven-day itineraries from Galveston on Sept. 28. Elation made its debut in 1998. It is 70,367 tons and carries 2,052 passengers normally. It’s moving to Texas after a stint in Los Angeles. It has a seven-deck atrium, 12 bars and lounges, an upper-deck spa for workouts with a view and some cabins with verandas. It sails to Progreso/Mrida and Cozumel, Mexico, and Belize, presenting a different itinerary from its seven-day competitor here, the Rhapsody of the Seas.
Prices start at $549 per person.
Rhapsody of the Seas: A baby grand piano and champagne bar welcome passengers to a seven-deck atrium, bathed in light from outside walls of windows. Introduced in 1997 by Royal Caribbean International, this is a beauty of a ship. At 78,491 tons, it carries 2,000 passengers. It has a casual, elegant feeling, with a lovely retreat in the solarium, which has a pool (covered with crystal canopy in bad weather) and Egyptian-motif spa. The dining room is gracious and inviting and has an upper-level balcony. Slip into the Schooner Bar for drinks. Note: The ship has just added RCI’s signature rock-climbing wall on an aft deck. It sails on seven-day cruises to Key West, Fla.; George Town, Grand Cayman; and Cozumel. Prices start at $749 per person.
Splendour of the Seas: Slightly smaller than its sister, the Rhapsody, Splendour is 69,120 tons and carries 1,800 passengers. It was introduced in 1996 and has a similar light, airy feeling, with a seven-deck atrium and solarium with pool and spa. It also has a champagne bar and a dining room with a second-floor balcony. It sails the winter season from Galveston Nov. 17, doing 11- and 12-night cruises into the Caribbean that include a partial transit of the Panama Canal, through Feb. 19, then switching to four- and five-day Mexico cruises until May 1, when it goes to Europe. It will not return next fall but will be replaced by a sister line’s ship, the Galaxy from Celebrity Cruises. Prices run as low as $999 for some Panama Canal cruises and $399 for four-night cruises.
Galaxy: Celebrity Cruises brings this 1,870-passenger, 77,713-ton ship into Galveston in November 2004. Celebrity is noted for its higher-end cruising at good-value pricing, with excellent cuisine and plenty of activities. It will do 11- and 12-day Caribbean cruises with a partial transit of the Panama Canal from November 2004 until April 25, 2005. Check later for prices.
Grand Princess: At 2,600 passengers the largest, newest and most amenity-filled ship to sail from Texas, this 109,000-ton ship starts a series of seven-day itineraries Nov. 13, 2004, through April 9, 2005. Despite its size, the ship has intimate nooks. It will go to Belize, Grand Cayman and two ports in Mexico, with a holiday itinerary that adds Jamaica. Prices start at $549 per person.
Houston
Norwegian Sea: Norwegian Cruise Lines brings its “freestyle” cruising back to the gulf, after being here in 1997-2000. The Sea, introduced as the Seaward in 1988, carries 1,518 passengers and underwent major refurbishment this year. It has additional dining with two main restaurants and three cafs, and new furnishings in most of the public areas. It will do year-round seven-day cruises to Cozumel and Cancn, Mexico, Honduras and Belize. Prices start at $529 per person.
– Mary Lu Abbott
