For weeks now we have told you about the competition in the Galveston port between Carnival and Royal Caribbean. Each cruise line is trying to “one-up” the other in the race for passengers.

Royal Caribbean heaved the latest blow when it announced a deal with the Port of Galveston for a $10 million upgrade to its cruise terminal in return for porting a larger ship. That ship, the Liberty of the Seas, will be the largest cruise ship ever to sail from Galveston when it arrives next year (more than 4,500 passengers!).

Well, the other cruise line in Galveston — Carnival — isn’t taking this news standing still.

The cruise line has just announced that the Carnival Freedom will join the Carnival Magic and the Carnival Triumph in sailing from the port.

The new ship will start sailing from Galveston in February 2015, going on 7-night trips all around the Caribbean that will depart on Saturdays.

So how big of an impact will this third ship have? According to Wikipedia, the Freedom holds 2,974 passengers. Meanwhile, the Triumph holds 3,143 guests, and the Magic carries 3,270. That means at any one time, Carnival can have nearly 10,000 passengers aboard her ships from Galveston alone.

Of course, we think this is great news for the port and just another sign of how booming the cruise business is in Texas. We’ve told you before about Galveston’s quest to hit the 1 million passengers per year mark. That achievement can’t be far off with the Freedom coming to town.

The rumors had been swirling, not they are official. Royal Caribbean is bringing the largest cruise ship ever to the Port of Galveston.

If you remember, the port and the cruise line made a deal a few months back — the port would make about $10 million in improvements to Terminal #2 (where Royal Caribbean sails) in return for more sailing dates and a larger ship.

Already Royal Caribbean has decided to keep a ship in Galveston year-round. It used to reposition during the summer, leaving a huge gap in sailing dates. Now you can sail on the Navigator of the Seas any week of the year.

But it’s getting bigger and better…

It has now been announced that in the fall/winter of 2015, the Liberty of the Seas will replace the Navigator in Galveston.

This is huge news (and in more ways than one). Take a look at the comparison of the two ships:

Needless to say, this is a major upgrade for the island. The Liberty will be able to carry about 50% more passengers than the Navigator.

As we said, the Liberty will hit our shores in late 2015, so there is still some time before she gets here. Still, it’s never to early to get excited about the largest ship ever sailing from Galveston!

If you’ve followed the Galveston cruising scene for any time at all, then you know that one of the biggest drawbacks in the variety of destinations.

Given the port’s location on the Gulf, a 7-day cruise can only go so far before it has to start the return trip. That means most of them go to the western Caribbean, stop in Cozumel, and then head back to Galveston.

Carnival is adding a little variety, and in the process, differentiating itself from the other cruise lines in the area.

According to USA Today, Carnival has just announced a couple of new itineraries scheduled for October 2015 and January 2016 for the Carnival Triumph. The trips are one-way cruises from Galveston to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The first trip will be an 11-day sailing with stops in Grand Cayman, Aruba, Bonaire, Grenada, Martinique and St. Maarten. Most of these ports (except for Grand Cayman) aren’t served by any cruise line from the Galveston area.

What’s most exciting is that once this cruise reaches San Juan, it will then depart on a 10-day trip to St. Thomas, St. Kitts, St. Maarten, Antigua, Grand Turk, and the private Bahamian island of Half Moon Cay before returning to Galveston.

In other words, passengers will be able to cruise these itineraries back-to-back, for a 21-day mega cruise that begins and ends in Galveston. Or they can sail a shorter 11-day trip to San Juan and fly back to Texas.

Given that 11 days (or 21 days) is too long a trip for most families to take, we don’t expect Carnival to make this trip a permanent fixture. But it is definitely exciting to see varied itineraries coming to Galveston… and it’s one more sign that the port is turning into a world-class cruising spot.

There’s a golden rule about cruising: The school calendar decides how much you’ll pay for your trip.

When the kids are out of school, expect prices to be much higher than when classes are in session. And looking at the current schedule, it looks like this year passengers should expect to shell out a pretty penny for a summer cruise.

We’ve taken a look at the upcoming schedules for both Carnival and Royal Caribbean. Unlike past years, both cruise lines will have ships sailing from Galveston this summer. This wasn’t always the case.

If you can hurry up and book a cruise before the summer season or wait until after, then you can still find some pretty good deals. But if you want to sail during June, July, or August, then open up that wallet.

For example, the Carnival Triumph runs a regular 5-day cruise from Galveston to Progreso and Cozumel, Mexico. Book this trip right now for a December 1, 2014 trip and it costs only $279 per person for an interior cabin.

But that exact same trip on June 30, 2014 costs $629 per person for an interior cabin — $350 more! Remember also that those rates are per person. With two people sharing a cabin, the price difference adds up to $700. Of course, the price difference is even greater if you upgrade your cabin to an oceanview or balcony room.

The good news? While prices are higher in the summer, there is a good amount of competition. Royal Caribbean and Carnival both sail from Galveston, but don’t forget about Princess and Norwegian sailing from the Bayport Terminal in Houston.

Currently Princess and Norwegian don’t sail summer routes — choosing instead to move their ships for the summer. But as time goes on, we wouldn’t be surprised to see these cruise lines sail from Houston during future summers.

That would put four different cruise lines all sailing during the more expensive summer months, which would hopefully provide enough competition to lower summer fares. Click here to read our buying guide on finding cheap Galveston cruises.

Update: As of 3:15 p.m. Carnival has said it is cancelling today’s embarkation for the Carnival Magic and choosing to tentatively go with a 6-day cruise instead of the scheduled 7-day cruise. Passengers can still elect to sail and receive a refund of one day’s fare, reschedule their trip, or they can cancel entirely and receive a refund/future credit. We have not heard word from other cruise lines.

Click here to see Carnival’s full statement.

An oil spill in the Houston Ship Channel is causing havoc. A collision between a barge and a ship has created an environmental crisis as the barge — said the be carrying nearly a million gallons of fuel oil — has sprung a leak.

According the Washington Post, “While the remaining oil in the damaged barge is removed Sunday, the mouth of Houston ship channel is closed to all ships in either direction. It’s not clear when it will reopen, Danus said. Twenty-seven vessels, including two cruise ships, are waiting to enter the channel from the Gulf of Mexico. Thirty-four vessels, including one cruise ship, are waiting to leave Galveston Bay.

Carnival has sent out an alert on their website:

Web Update – 1:45PM EDT
Carnival Magic – 03/23/2014
The fog has lifted, however, the Port of Galveston remains closed to all inbound and outbound ship traffic due to an oil spill caused by the sunken barge we had previously communicated. We are in constant communication with the United States Coast Guard and port officials regarding the situation.

We will provide you with another update no later than 2:30 PM (CDT). Please do not proceed to the cruise terminal until you hear from us.

In the meantime, to stay in touch, if you have not already done so, we encourage you to sign up for text alerts by texting CCL1 to CRUISE (278473) to receive updates.

Royal Caribbean hasn’t shared anything publicly that we’ve found. However, with the channel shut down, you can expect delays for all ships in and out of the ports of Galveston and Bayport. We suggest you keep in touch with the cruise lines at the following phone numbers:

Royal Caribbean: (800) 256-6649
Carnival: (800) 764-7419
Princess: (800) PRINCESS