South Padre Island Mayor Discusses Cruise Port Developments

As South Padre Island, Texas continues to be considered as a future port of call, TravelPulse had the opportunity to speak with Dennis Stahl, mayor of the destination, about specifics from his point of view.

TravelPulse: How would a South Padre Island cruise port benefit the cruise industry in the Caribbean?

Dennis Stahl: [We’re] understanding that the number of cruise ships on order and everything’s been growing at somewhere around eight percent annually, and we understand that the cruise lines were looking for new destinations. With some of the hurricane damage in the eastern Caribbean, we thought now would be as good a time as any to explore the opportunity.

TP: What effect would opening a cruise port have on South Padre Island locally?

DS: We’ve learned that cruising through peak season coincides with what’s called our off-season. We’re generally a summer beach destination, so it will have a tremendous economic impact during a slower season. I realize there are summer cruises as well, but just one ship would have a tremendous impact on our island.

TP: What do you think are the greatest regional attractions that would appeal most to cruise travelers?

DS: Number one is the pristine beaches. We’ve got over twenty miles of pristine beach. Right at the potential berthing site for the port of call is a beautiful beach within easy walking distance. That’s number one.

Number two, there are a lot of water activities here on the island, things like snorkeling, windsurfing, jet skis, those type of things. But then we also have the tropical adventures, if you will, [like] deep sea fishing, gulf fishing.

Then one other big thing is ecotourism. We have a Sea Turtle Incorporated, which is basically a rescue center for stranded turtles, and we also have very near that the South Padre Island Birding [and Nature] Center. It’s kind of a renowned bird watching center as migratory birds fly on the path over the island. We also have the dolphin watching tours. So, there are several things like that.

Then nearby in Port Isabel, we have the [port] lighthouse square with a lot of art galleries, things like that, surrounded [by] restaurants. Then in Brownsville—probably 24 miles away—we have the renowned Gladys Porter Zoo and a lot of great animals there. It’s a great zoo.

READ MORE: It's Time to Cruise the Caribbean

TP: There’s even a Schlitterbahn nearby, right?

DS: Yeah, there’s a Schlitterbahn that you could—I mean it’s almost in walking distance to where the port of call will be. The port of call will be on the southern end of South Padre Island in a park called Isla Blanca Park, and it’s slated for major improvements. I mean it’s really going to be nice with food trucks, pavilions.

And there will also be an outdoor amphitheater there that seats somewhere around 3,000, standing up to 5,000, and that is approximately three miles—two and a half miles—from the SpaceX launch pad across the channel. It’s very very close.

So, that amphitheater could be obviously used for space launches, although a cruise ship that’s here on a particular day—we’re not sure, but if, for example, there was a music-themed cruise with many artists—the people could walk to the amphitheater and be entertained there. They have the rock and roll or legacy rock and roll cruises or the legacy country cruises. That would be a very nearby source of entertainment for cruisers.

TP: What do you foresee as a timeline and the soonest South Padre Island could accept cruise travelers?

DS: In my what I call the state of the island address to the citizens, I broke it down into probably four parts, and we’re not sure that’s exactly right. The very first part was to make ourselves known to the cruise industry that we were looking to become a port of call. If we received a positive reception then listen to the cruise lines to what their wants and their needs are. So, that’s the first step.

Until I would be able to talk to people in the cruise industry, I’m not exactly sure. Obviously for us, the sooner the better, but we have to develop infrastructure here. We have a AA+ bond rating, so it’s pretty easy. I mean it’s not completely easy but to be able to build the infrastructure that we need. And we’re not sure of the way that we would go about it.

We are very encouraged that the top four cruise lines since we made the announcement have all reached out to us and asked to meet with us. We’re going to be at the Seatrade conference in March, but we’re actually going to be meeting with three of the four cruise lines late [this] week. They’ve asked us to come before Seatrade to begin discussions. So, we treat that as a positive, but until we talk to them I don’t know that I would feel comfortable giving out a timeline.

READ MORE: Experience the Caribbean with Norwegian Cruise Line

TP: It all sounds very exciting.

DS: We’re also excited about it. We’ve researched doing what we would call a homeport here, but with customs and all the newer regulations, we do not have the adequate parking facilities here on the island to support something like that. That’s why we thought it through a little bit more and said perhaps the port of call would be a better option.

That had been done some years ago, and that would incur bringing ships further up the Brownsville Ship Channel, and it appears—and I’m not an expert on this, far from it—but it appears that the cruise lines want to come in very quickly, make a couple of turns and exit after they finish in a particular port. And the southern end of South Padre Island basically offers that for a port of call.