The Port of Galveston and Royal Caribbean signed a long-term agreement to build a cruise ship terminal at the Port. The agreement was approved on Wednesday, December 11, and will result in the cruise company investing ~US$100 million to build the 150,000-ft2 Terminal 3, scheduled to open in November 2021.
The new cruise ship terminal will be large enough to handle Royal Caribbean's biggest cruise ships, including an Oasis Class vessel or the new Icon Class liners scheduled to debut in 2022. In wnter 2021-2022 (starting November 10, 2021) in Galveston will be homeported Allure OTS.
Terminal 3 will be created on ten acres of land at Pier 10. It will be used by Royal Caribbean Cruises, which will lease the terminal land for twenty years. The cruise company will then have the option of extending the lease for an additional ten years, up to 4 times.
While some preliminary works have begun on the terminal, the construction will commence in April 2020.
The port will be responsible for items like maintenance, new surface parking lot, as well as improvements to the dock to accommodate the bigger vessels. Royal Caribbean Cruises will help with the cost of improving the docks.