As if the past decade wasn’t exciting enough, 2015 looks to be the biggest year for Galveston cruising ever. During this year, 232 different departures are scheduled from the port. That includes the return of Disney Cruise Lines later in the year, and the placement of Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas — a “Freedom Class” ship that will be the largest cruise liner ever to sail from Galveston.

But the changes for 2015 get started a little earlier when Carnival begins sailing the Carnival Freedom from the port in February. The Carnival Freedom will be the third of the company’s ships to sail from the Texas coast during the year.

The Freedom will be criss-crossing the Gulf and Caribbean with a wide variety of itineraries. Trips include 4, 5, 6 and 7-day sailings to ports ranging from Nassau, Key West, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Roatan, and more.

The ship is one of the newer vessels in Carnival’s fleet. Built in 2007, Freedom measures more than 950 feet, carries roughly 3,000 passengers and 1,150 crew. Meanwhile, the ship was upgraded in 2014, where it added Guy’s Burger Joint, Blue Iguana Tequila Bar, and the RedFrog Rum Bar, along with a host of other upgrades in amenities.

The Carnival Freedom is repositioning to Galveston from Port Everglades, Florida. Her first voyage will be a 6-day trip to Mexico on February 15th.

Photo: SwimPhoto

President Obama made a surprise announcement when he revealed plans for the United States to normalize relations with Cuba.

The island nation just 90 miles from U.S. borders has long been romanticized in American culture. Known for delicious rum, fine cigars, beautiful women, and antique cars, many Americans have longed to travel to explore Cuba.

But since the 1960s, Cuba has been one of the few places on the planet where it was all but impossible for most Americans to visit. Now, with relations seemingly getting better, does that mean you could see Havana as a stop on Galveston cruise itineraries?

First things first is to understand that many laws and regulations put in place in the past 50-plus years will have to be changed. Just because the President makes a statement doesn’t automatically make something the law of the land.

According to law firm Holland & Knight, however, one of the restrictions that will likely be lifted concerns ships stopping to port in Cuba:

“The restriction on foreign flag vessels calling on the U.S. if they have called in Cuba in the last 180 days will be modified in the case of vessels that called on Cuba and engaged in certain “humanitarian” trade. It is not expected that this restriction will be lifted on cruise ships in the short term, however, it is possible if there is pressure from the cruise lines.”

As well, U.S. citizens are still prohibited from most purchases in Cuba, which will have to be adjusted before American cruise passengers could reasonably expect to visit the island:

“U.S. citizens, permanent residents, companies organized under the laws of the U.S. (and their foreign subsidiaries), and persons or entities located in the U.S. are still largely prohibited from engaging directly or indirectly in any transactions with Cuba, unless such transactions fall within a general or special License.”

In short, don’t expect to lounge on Cuban beaches this summer. But we wouldn’t be surprised if in the next 5-10 years there are some cruises that begin traveling to the country as the rules are changed.

And frankly, Galveston would be an ideal port for trips to Havana/Cuba. Havana is just about 900 miles from the Texas coast — only 100 more miles than Cozumel. It is easily within sailing distance for a 7-day cruise.

Add to that the fact that competition for cruising dollars is heating up in Texas. Between Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Princess, and Norwegian, cruisers have a wide choice of which line to sail. That means the cruise lines will look for any way possible to differentiate themselves — including being the first to add exotic Cuban ports to their itineraries.

We’re excited about the possibility of opening up Cuba to American vacationers. We know it won’t happen overnight, but it’s likely that Galveston will be one of the first ports to service the area.

You may have noticed that Galveston parking rates on many lots have shot up lately. Due to a fee increase charged to independent parking lots to drop off passengers at the port, the businesses have had to charge more just to combat their rising costs.

Needless to say, the increased fees charged by the Port of Galveston have been controversial. In an effort to combat the change, one lot — EZ Cruise Parking — is taking a unique approach. They recently emailed out a new “Go Green” promotion that can save some passengers a lot of money if they are willing to skip the shuttle and walk a little bit.

Here’s the scoop: Since the port charges the parking lot for every trip its shuttle makes to drop off cruise passengers, EZ Cruise Parking is offering up to a $20 parking discount to those willing to instead walk from the lot to the port. This helps save the parking lot in fees charged by the port, and it is passing the savings on to you.

All you have to do is prepay on their website, and use coupon code “20parkwalk” if you are taking a 7-day cruise or “15parkwalk” if taking a 4-5 day cruise. For a 7-day cruise the prepaid price goes from $65 to only $45. That’s one of the lowest rates around.

If you want to take advantage of the promotion, you can click here to reserve your parking spot.

You may not realize it, but that quiet little port in Galveston has quietly turned into one of America’s busiest cruise ports.

In 2014, the port expects 640,000 cruise passengers to pass through — about the population of Denver, Colorado.

That figure has grown enormously in recent years. Consider that in 2008, roughly 380,000 passengers sailed from Galveston. So in five years cruise passenger traffic has increased about 70%.

All of this begs the question — when will the Port of Galveston pass the 1 million passenger mark?

One million passengers would be a major milestone and a huge economic boom to the port and the island (though still a far cry from the 4 million-plus passengers that ports like Miami see every year).

That mark still appears to be a little ways off, though we think Galveston can get there. First, it will take more ships and cruise lines calling the port home.

On the good side, Royal Caribbean has decided to keep the Navigator of the Seas in Galveston year-round. That’s a major boost — especially during the summer months when Royal Caribbean used to leave the island to sail in Europe. Meanwhile, the Carnival Triumph fiasco, which cancelled many cruises for the ship, is in the rearview mirror.

On the bad side, Disney has pulled its business from the port, electing to leave the Texas market for now. As well, Princess Cruises (which used to sail from Galveston) is now sailing from the Bayport Terminal in Houston, adding more competition.

The port definitely has its work cut out. But given its proximity to the Gulf, two cruise terminals, and an established infrastructure, we think the island port will be able to overcome the Bayport Terminal.

The real key will be getting more cruise ships and cruise lines to call the port home. The good news? There seems to be plenty of space.

Cruise lines like to sail on weekend days — it’s more convenient for passengers. Right now nearly every Sunday in 2014 has a full schedule, with two ships docking. But Saturdays have plenty of open space with only one or zero ships scheduled to use the port that day throughout the year.

We think that space is eventually going to be used. With millions of people with a few hours drive of Galveston, the reward is too great for the terminal to sit idle. It wouldn’t surprise us to one day see another Royal Caribbean ship — or another cruise line — start to sail from it.

And when that happens (it will almost certainly take a few years), we think the port will sail by the 1 million passenger mark.

It’s a day five years in the making… now it’s just around the corner.

Built in 2008, the Bayport Cruise Terminal in Houston has sat dormant since it has been built. Outside of a few cruises following Hurricane Ike, the terminal hasn’t seen any traffic.

That’s about the change. On November 5th, Bayport welcomes its first dedicated cruise ship — Princess Cruise Lines’ Caribbean Princess.

Here are a few details of what to expect. The Caribbean Princess is 952 feet long, was built in 2004 (refitted in 2011), and can hold more than 3,000 passengers.

She will be taking Houston cruisers on 7-day trips to the Caribbean, sailing a regular schedule every week to Cozumel, Roatan, and Belize City.

Princess will have the port to itself for several months. Bayport’s other tenant — Norwegian Cruise Lines — doesn’t arrive until October 2014.

In the meantime, cruisers in the Houston area now have an option that’s about 45 minutes closer than Galveston and more competition between cruise lines could result in lower fares.

For more information about getting to the Bayport Terminal and parking, visit this page. For a calendar of cruises from the port, click here.

Photo: Eric the Fish