Carnival’s cruise ships returning to Galveston, Texas

Carnival Cruise Lines next week will return to sailing from Galveston, Texas, just seven weeks after Hurricane Ike devastated the city. The company’s two Galveston-based ships, the Ecstasy and the Conquest, began using Houston’s port for their Caribbean cruises after the hurricane.

In a news release Tuesday, Galveston’s port director, Steven Cernak, said Cruise Terminal 1, damaged in the storm, had been overhauled, with work crews tearing out carpeting and walls, installing new amenities and repairing equipment. Beaches and many hotels and restaurants were open, according to the Galveston Island Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Although the port’s news release said “Web-based prepaid parking” was available, it did not address the condition of the cruise parking lots, which it earlier said had been flooded with about seven feet of salt water, leaving vehicles “probably not drivable.”

Both Carnival ships, at sea with passengers when the storm hit, sailed safely. The Ecstasy had set sail two days before the storm, while the city was under a hurricane warning and an evacuation order.

Carnival said the Ecstasy will begin sailing out of Galveston on Nov. 1, and the Conquest on Nov. 2.

— Jane Engle, assistant Los Angeles Times Travel editor

[Photo: Carnival Ecstasy by Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times]

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This entry was posted on Thursday, October 23, 2008 at 12:00 pm by Jane Engle and is filed under Caribbean, Islands & Beaches, Mexico, News, Tips & Advice, Southern States, Texas, Tours & Cruises. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.