Hurricane Harvey leaves logjam of cargo, cruise ships at Galveston port

As many as a half-dozen commercial cargo ships have joined four cruise ships waiting for the green light to dock at the Port of Galveston.

Roughly 20,000 cruise ship passengers are stuck at sea, as are commercial ships including roll-on/roll-off carriers, two grain ships and a few bulk carriers, said interim port director Peter Simons Saturday.

"The four cruise ships - two of which were due today - those are everyone's highest priority," he said.

But at least some of the ships' passengers weren't too concerned about the extra time away.

"This is an extra day in paradise," said Vanessa Gurrusquieta, an Itasca resident who said she boarded the cruise in Houston with her husband and six kids.

And even in the wake of the hurricane, it was mostly smooth sailing.

"It's pretty calm," she said. "A little rocking but not much."

Officials shut down the port Friday, leaving thousands of vacationers with no place to land as Hurricane Harvey loomed at sea. The storm also forced the U.S. Coast Guard to close multiple ports along Texas Gulf Coast, including those at Houston, Galveston, Texas City, Freeport and Corpus Christi.

On Saturday morning, the Port of Brownsville reopened. The Brownsville Pilots began guiding ships into the port with a tanker that arrived at 11:45 a.m., said Henry A. de La Garza, spokesman for the Texas State Pilots Association. Pilots are tasked with guiding ships in and out of ports.

At the Port of Corpus Christi, port personnel began assessing the damage Saturday. The resumption of operations following the storm will depend on the severity of damage to the ship channel and port facilities, according to a news release.

Galveston Port officials said Friday that the cruise ships might not be able to dock in Galveston until Tuesday or Wednesday, but Simons said Saturday afternoon that he was "a little more optimistic."

Two of the ships in limbo — Carnival Freedom and Carnival Valor — were set to dock Saturday and will stop in New Orleans instead, according to Carnival spokeswoman Christine de la Huerta.

"Guests who wish to terminate their cruise at that point and disembark in New Orleans may do so," de la Huerta said in statement. ""We are strongly encouraging them to remain on board as we intend to return the ships to Galveston as soon as feasible."

The Carnival Breeze spent the night in Mexico and was slated to leave Saturday for Galveston, although the company did not offer an update on progress Saturday afternoon.

Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas was staying behind the storm with plans to return to port Sunday, officials said.

"We're working with the Coast Guard and the pilots and the cruise line to try to minimize the impact of the storm on the cruise ships," Simons said. "We're all really kind of subject at the end of the day to the mercy of the weather."