Key Aspects:
- Port of Galveston will be rerouting street traffic through December 5, 2025, due to road construction.
- All passenger vehicles for Terminal 25, used by Carnival Cruise Line, must enter and exit on 23rd Street.
- Cruise traffic for Terminal 28, which serves Princess Cruises, Disney Cruise Line, and Carnival, will be rerouted to 33rd Street.
Cruise passengers departing from Galveston, Texas, this fall will need to follow new routes to reach two of the port’s busiest terminals.
The Port of Galveston is temporarily rerouting traffic flow to Terminals 25 and 28 through December 5, 2025, due to ongoing road construction near the cruise complex.
At Terminal 25, used by Carnival Cruise Line, all passenger vehicles will enter and exit via 23rd Street. At Terminal 28, which serves Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, and Disney Cruise Line, all cruise traffic will use 33rd Street for pickups and drop-offs.
Passengers are encouraged to park in official Port of Galveston lots and to take port shuttles to their assigned terminal to help alleviate roadside delays and congestion.
“Cruise passengers may also receive details from their cruise line before their sailing date,” representatives at the port stated.
The new routes will affect thousands of passengers sailing to the Western Caribbean aboard nine ships currently homeported in Galveston.
These include Disney Cruise Line’s 2,713-guest Disney Magic, operating 4-night roundtrip cruises to Progreso, Mexico, and Princess Cruises’ Regal Princess, which sails 7-night voyages to Cozumel, Mexico; Belize City, Belize; and Roatan, Honduras.
Galveston traffic route (Rendering: Galveston Wharves)
Carnival Cruises, Port of Galveston’s largest cruise operator, recently marked its 25th anniversary sailing from Galveston.
The celebration aboard 5,374-passenger Carnival Jubilee’s on October 18, 2025, highlighted the cruise line’s growth and long-standing partnership with the city.
Carnival Breeze, Carnival Dream, and Carnival Legend also run regular Western Caribbean itineraries from Galveston to Mexico and Honduras.
Passengers booked on Royal Caribbean should not feel the strain as much as the line operates from its dedicated Terminal 10, which debuted in November 2022.
Both the 5,479-passenger Harmony of the Seas and the 3,344-passenger Mariner of the Seas continue 7- and 4-night Caribbean sailings, respectively, through the end of the year.
Read Also: Galveston Cruise Port: Getting There, Piers, and More
Meanwhile, Galveston’s newest cruise facility, Terminal 16, is on track to open in November 2025.
The fourth terminal will welcome MSC Cruises’ 5,877-guest MSC Seascape for its inaugural sailing to the Western Caribbean on November 16, marking the cruise line’s official debut from the Lone Star State.
Port Growth and Record Passenger Volumes
The traffic changes come as the Port of Galveston experiences record growth and mounting infrastructure demands.
In 2024, the port logged a record 3.4 million passenger movements across its terminals and projected more than 400 sailings in 2025. By the end of 2026, the Port of Galveston anticipates welcoming 2 million passengers.
Its newest 165,000-square-foot terminal, a $151-million project, anchors the expansion alongside a $55-million parking garage to support drive-to cruisers using Galveston’s prime Gulf of Mexico location.
The parking facility follows recommendations from a traffic-flow study that called for onsite parking, dedicated curb lanes for embarkation and debarkation, and a separate truck entrances.
The temporary reroutes for Terminals 25 and 28 are part of those long-term plans. While traffic is expected to return to normal patterns in early December, guests should stay alert for further changes in case of construction delays.
Appeared first on: Cruisehive.com
