Port of Houston Paying $6.7 Million in Cruise Bait for Suddenly Popular Bayport Terminal

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

8 Comment

  • 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.