Returning from a Royal Caribbean cruise is usually the bittersweet end of a great vacation — but for at least one couple docking in Galveston, Texas, recently, the journey home took a genuinely creepy detour. When they returned to their car in the cruise terminal parking lot, they found it overrun with tiny newborn spiders, and they weren't the only ones. According to a local Uber driver named Donnie L. Broussard, who shared the story on Facebook, a few other vehicles in the same lot were dealing with the same uninvited guests.
Broussard said the couple hired him to take them to a nearby Walmart to pick up pesticide before they felt comfortable making the drive home. He noted that in his eleven-plus years of working near that lot, he'd never encountered anything like it — though wildlife experts say the timing makes perfect sense.
September falls squarely in Texas spider season. Young spiders, called spiderlings, use a technique known as "ballooning" — releasing thin strands of silk that catch the breeze and carry them to new locations. Tim Bryce of the Dallas Zoo explained to CBS News that this dispersal behavior is common in late summer and early fall, and stressed that the traveling spiders are not dangerous. "They're not going to be some dangerous, venomous problem flying through the air," he said.
Royal Caribbean currently sails from Galveston's Terminal 10, which opened in 2022, with Symphony of the Seas and Mariner of the Seas operating from that port in September 2026. Liberty of the Seas is scheduled to join the Galveston lineup in October, and Icon of the Seas is set to make its Texas debut in August 2027.
If you're parking at the Galveston cruise terminal this fall, a quick check of your car before settling in for the drive home might be worth adding to your post-cruise routine. This story was originally reported by Royal Caribbean Blog.
