Baby Spider Infestation Hits Cars at Port of Galveston Cruise Parking Lot
If you're parking at the Port of Galveston cruise lot for a Mariner of the Seas or Symphony of the Seas sailing, be aware that baby spider infestations in vehicles have been reported there recently, according to a local Uber driver. Check your car before driving off, especially in September and October when spiderlings commonly hatch in Texas. The nearest Walmart to Terminal 10 is about five miles away if you need pesticide.
This one's a parking-lot story, not a cruise-line story, and the article is careful to say so: the infestation happened outside Terminal 10, which Royal Caribbean opened in 2022, in a lot the cruise line doesn't operate. My read is that's the real takeaway here - port authorities, not Royal Caribbean, own this problem. Broussard's seven years driving that lot without seeing anything like it suggests this is a seasonal fluke tied to September/October spiderling hatching season in Texas, not a recurring hazard. With Mariner of the Seas and Symphony of the Seas the only two ships homeported there right now, the exposure is limited to their passengers. If I were parking there, I'd pop the trunk and check the wheel wells before loading bags - cheaper than a Walmart pesticide run five miles down the road.