There was a celebration in Texas on the weekend when a 9-year-old ship entered a 100-year-old waterway to kick off a cruise experience that’s in its infancy.
Houston has a new cruise ship.
This one is called the Jewel, as in Norwegian Jewel, and after what it’s been through lately it is a jewel. It’s the beginning of a relationship between the cruise line and the port that 
will go on for years…three of them, at least. And when it comes to the biggest city, this is not Norwegian’s first, as they say in Texas, rodeo.
This was the first cruise line to put a ship in Houston’s Ship Channel, 17 years ago. Norwegian came back for another look in 2003 and stayed four years. Now, with a new cruise terminal and lucrative contract, Norwegian began cruises to the Western Caribbean this week, following some of the pomp and pageantry that accompanies such launches.
The Jewel was the shining star. Fresh from refurbishing, it boasts many of the assets of its bigger and newer fleetmates. Passengers will have 16 dining options, Nickelodeon activities 
and the largest suites at sea, the 5,000-square-foot, three-bedroom Garden Villas. Among the restaurants is a favorite of ours (O’Sheehan’s), the steak-heavy Moderno Churrascaria and Carlo’s Bakery, all of which came along after the Jewel did in 2005.
With the upgrade, the Jewel jumps into the post-Epic era of Norwegian ships as it begins 27 Caribbean cruises from the Bayport Cruise Terminal, tomorrow becoming the first large cruise ship to visit the new port of Banana Coast, in the Bay of Trujillo, Honduras.
Before leaving Houston, the Jewel hosted a party of sorts. The people from the Port 
Authority put a cowboy hat on the captain (Kenneth Harstrom) and then said all the right things about economic development and happy cruisers who were going to enjoy (and bring their tourist dollars) to Houston.
A hundred years ago last month at another celebration, politicians and local authorities also said all the right things at a party christening the Ship Channel. That ceremony had thousands of spectators, a 21-gun salute and, from Washington, the President himself (Woodrow Wilson) remotely fired a cannon to open the channel, officially, following a bond issue approved by the citizens, who voted 16-1 in favor.
Ironically, it opened the same year as the Panama Canal, as a civil engineering feat of lesser stature, yet critical to the economy. Until then, goods shipped to Houston had to be unloaded in Galveston and trucked more than an hour up the road to the big city. A hurricane that leveled Galveston in 1900 and the discovery of oil around the same time gave legs to the idea of a deep-water channel to Houston.
Needless to say, the investment has been repaid many times over. Now, Houston hopes the same will apply to its investment in cruising.
Today at portsandbows.com: The latest in cruise news
Holland America Eurodam
7 nights
November 9, 2014
Fort Lauderdale (return): Half Moon Cay, Montego Bay, Grand Cayman, Key West
Inside: $399
Cost per day: $57
www.hollandamerica.com