We happened to have coffee with a nice young woman from Princess Cruises on Thursday and, in the course of conversation, the subject of the cruise line's return to Galveston came up because next winter the Crown Princess will make the Texas port its winter home.
A couple of days later, it occurred to us that Princess is missing the boat…so to speak.
The ship that should be despatched to Galveston is the Princess Magic. If you're familiar with cruise ship names, you will know there is no Princess Magic.
Maybe they can build one quickly…or change a name.
On the weekend, the Disney Magic sailed from Galveston for the first 
time. That's the first time for Disney, but not the first time for the Magic. Since last November, the Carnival Magic has been cruising from Galveston. Shouldn't it be a logical extension that Double Magic become Triple Magic?
What's happening in Galveston can only be described as Magic-al.
The tourism people on the Texas coast don't care what the cruise ships are called…only that there are cruise ships coming. And clearly they are, in increasing numbers. Three months to the day from the (Disney) Magic's arrival, the Crown Princess will begin its string of 19 Western Caribbean cruises. That will make five ships based in the re-built and greatly upgraded port — Carnival Triumph and Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas were already there.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike (2008), cruise traffic in Galveston dropped. In recovering, port and city officials realized its tourism life was on the line of the terminal wasn't upgraded and, about $12 million later, the port now boasts of having "the largest single berth cruise facility in the world." Since 2000, Galveston has spent $65 million on its cruise facilities and it's easy to understand why.
Last year, estimates were that passengers and crew spent $45 million while visiting Galveston and, since the (Carnival) Magic didn't arrive until November, it's logical to assume that number will more than double by the time the Crown Princess completes the fleet of five in December.
The only major cruise port in Texas, the largest state in the lower 48, opens cruising up for passengers who find it too costly to fly east or west to the coasts. Mid-westerners can drive there and the population growth in the central part of the sun belt amplifies demand now that the supply of cruise ships are on the southern coast.
Even if only two of the five are called Magic.
Ocean Princess
11 nights
December 28, 2012
Papeet, Moorea, Bora Bora, Hilo, Lahaina, Nawiliwili, Honolulu
Oceanview: $1,299
Cost per day: $118
www.princess.com