Decorated with a fresh coat of red paint, it will arrive at the Port of Houston in about eight days. This isn't the ship's first reincarnation. Launched in 1961 as the Transvaal Castle, it initially carried mail and passengers between Europe and South Africa. Longtime cruisers may remember the vessel as Carnival's Festivale from the late-'70s into the '90s. It then sailed for Dolphin Cruise Line.
Major guidebooks give the ship mixed reviews.
We've had millions of people on Big Red Boats, and we know what does and doesn't work. The 31,793-ton Big Red Boat III is designed to carry 1,146 passengers, based on double occupancy, but kids occupying third and fourth berths in staterooms can swell those numbers. We're way ahead of what we expected. The ship will depart the Port of Houston every Saturday. The River Explorer, an innovative 200-passenger barge vessel, will return to Galveston in December for a third winter season of voyages to and from New Orleans and Port Isabel.