PORT OF HOUSTON PAYING $6.7 MILLION IN CRUISE BAIT FOR SUDDENLY POPULAR BAYPORT TERMINAL 
A minor detail missing from last week’s story explaining how the Bayport Cruise Terminal was finally able to lure a couple of cruise lines to its Galveston Bay-side shores, after long 4 years of loneliness and vacancy: the payola. Er, dowry. To entice Princess Cruises and the Norwegian Cruise Line to give up on the overstuffed Galveston Port and stop by for a little on-again, off-again fun with its otherwise antisocial upstream neighbor, the Port of Houston Authority has agreed to dole out a combined $6.685 million to its seafaring suitors. The bulk of cruising-around money will go to the tall Norwegians; Princess will take home $685,000. And both lines will be excused from rent and docking fees. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Flickr user Silent Z
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good money after bad.
Some days you just can’t help but hate the government.
So no rent and docking fees? Which means the port will only be making money off of parking? Maybe something off of the cruise tickets?
The Bayport cruise terminal is a nice feature, but the problem is that it’s located in the middle of nowhere. Most cruise ports are located where passengers can get off the cruise and be a tourist. Even though Galveston is the beginning and ending for many cruise passengers, it is also a destination for many also. New Orleans also feeds of this.
The Bayport terminal is essentially dropping off passengers at a cargo terminal in the middle of a petro-chemical complex. FUN! LOL.
Some twenty years ago we went on a cruise “out of Orlando FL”.
Sure, we flew into Orlando. Then we got on a bus for a 40-45 minute ride to the ship.
There was nothing to see or do anywhere near the ship.
Yea free markets!
Folks – enough with using ‘Love Boat’ reruns as your point of comparison.
PYEWACKET2,
Did Disney coax you into the Orlando based cruise?
kjb:
Nothing Disney about it. Just two people trying out a first ever cruise. One of those ‘fly/sail’ packages.
Now, the Orlando airport was FULL of Disney, even then.