Port agrees to deal with Disney cruises
By Laura Elder
The Daily News
Published August 28, 2012
GALVESTON —
Disney Cruise Line has agreed to sail from the island for at least two years, a deal guaranteed to generate a minimum of $2.4 million in gross revenues for the Port of Galveston, and likely much more, waterfront managers said Monday.
The two-year term also includes a one-year renewal option. Port of Galveston officials hoped to negotiate a five-year term. But
Disney Cruise Line, which also is in negotiations to sail the Disney Wonder from the Port of Miami, wasn’t comfortable committing to more than three years to either port, island waterfront managers said.
Still, the two-year commitment with a renewal option is a coup for the island. Disney Magic, which begins sailing from Galveston on Sept. 22 on a 7-night cruise to the Western Caribbean, has agreed to a minimum of 20 cruises for each operating year. In the first operating year, Disney scheduled 38 cruises from Galveston. Disney is expected to lure thousands of new cruise passengers to the island.
“This is a wonderful thing for us,” port Director Mike Mierzwa said. “It brings during the winter season 38 more calls to Galveston. I am sure there will be some spike in benefits to the city of Galveston and with The Strand and restaurants.”
The port makes most of its cruise revenues from passenger and dockage fees and also on cruise passenger parking. The Wharves Board of Trustees, which manages the port, on Monday approved an operating agreement with Disney Cruise Line that guarantees the port a minimum of $1.23 million for each year Magic sails from here. That amount is based on a fee of $24.96 per passenger on 20 cruises with an average of 2,472 passengers per cruise. Of the $24.96, the port will receive $14.52 in passenger and dockage fees. The remainder will cover the port’s cost to provide cruise terminal security services, line handling and other expenses.
But port officials aren’t sure how much cruise-ship parking revenue Disney will generate. Port officials are unfamiliar with Disney Cruise Line demographics and whether passengers will drive here or fly to Houston airports and secure transportation to the cruise terminal.
The port owns 2,750 cruise parking spaces, averaging gross revenues of $3.4 million in the past three years.
In April last year, after 18 months of negotiation with the port, Disney announced it would sail from the island.
Five cruise ships — some seasonal and some year-round — will be sailing from Galveston by the end of the year. Along with Disney Magic, those vessels include Carnival Cruise Lines’ Magic and Triumph, which sail year-round;
Royal Caribbean International’s Mariner of the Seas, which calls Galveston home in the winter; and Princess Cruises’ Crown Princess, which launches its seasonal sailing from the island in December.
