Rachipooh7

 

Us? We're new to Galveston as well. We opted for:

Flying in to IAH the day before we set sail.

Opted to stay in Galveston.

Booked a one way car rental because it was the same price (basically) as 2 one-way transfers (shuttle; or cab; or private service; or cruise sponsored shuttle) and provides us transportation during our one day in Galveston - wine run, some sightseeing.

Booked a queen double through Hotels dot com - found a place across the street from the pleasure pier - got a decent rate (we booked it 4 months out - same room is almost double now) - it includes breakfast.

We will call for a cab to the pier after dropping the car because it is 1/2 the price of the "shuttle" service from the car rental place.

At the end of the cruise we chose a one way shuttle with a new service provider that offers excellent rates.

 

Never worked so hard trying not to break the bank on the way to a cruise.

Pretty much spot on to what we are doing as well! :) When booking this cruise I didn't realize how much it would cost to get from the airport to Galveston via shuttle! OY :eek:

We opted to do the following:

-Fly into IAH (Seattle only flies into IAH) on Saturday (day before cruise)

-Got a rental car from Budget on priceline dot com (airport to texas city/sat-sun) then Uber/taxi to pier on sunday

*like you said ended up being much cheaper and we even got insurance on the car :D

-Decided to stay near Texas City since that's where the rental car is via Airbnb dot com vs hotel (but we have a car to zip around town and the time)

-also not flying out till the day after the cruise (monday night) so we have almost 2 full days so we decided to rent a car thru budget again after the cruise on priceline dot com :p

I leave this weekend so I can come and report back if anyone is interested :D

That is reasonable - especially when you consider the cost of transfers. Thanks!

yeah that is what we thought! :) Plus now we have a car to zip around Houston/Galveston area before and after the cruise :D

I leave this weekend...I'll come back and report how our experience with Budget was :)

Just wondering if you don't mind sharing the cost of that car rental. I'm thinking of doing something similar from Hobby. Thanks!

Hi Vegas Mark,

I believe we paid $100 on priceline... that includes insurance :) I'm flying into IAH airport so not sure what the prices are at Hobby... I would think around the same but not 100%

also that will be split between myself and my friend so for us it was worth it :)

has anyone done a one way rental from Houston to Texas City? How did you get from the rental company to the port? Do any of them offer shuttles?

Hi Taylors.... not sure if you still need info on this or not?!

We cruise out on Oct 25th and we will be doing the following:

Arrive at IAH Airport the day before the cruise (flight lands at 4:30pm)

Renting a car with Budget at IAH airport and Drop off at Texas City on the 25th @ 10:30am

Taking either a taxi or uber from texas city to the pier... Budget employee said its about 30 minute drive and taxi can run $45-$55 or you can request an uber (i assume would be around the same price). She said the terminal changed their policies and they are no longer able to drop off or pick up from the pier. :(

We also decided to stay near Texas City vs Galveston because its didn't make sense to drive from IAH to Galveston then Texas City back to Galveston..

we are staying with a host via Airbnb near Texas City

I'll report back and let you know how it went, if you are interested. :)

I'm looking to rent a car one way also, but I'm having trouble finding one. Where did you get yours?

we booked with Budget, they are in Texas City which is about 20-30 minute drive to the pier. I figure we can taxi or uber it to the pier once we drop the car off. Enterprise wanted to add $100 drop off fee so that's why we didnt use them. We booked thru priceline and got a pretty decent deal :)

our cruise is Oct 25th... I'll come back and let you know how it all went and if its worth it. :)

We are doing the Jade in Jan (I see others on here doing the same)

 

We would like to zip line, for sure, and even up for the combo with cave tubing.

 

Best to look for these excursions in Belize or Roatan?

 

Thanks

Hi Pooh/Tiger,

We leave for Cozumel, Belize, & Roatan in 2 weeks and I found that tripadvisor was a great source to look up information and companies. Especially if you aren't using the cruise ship excursions.

In Belize we decided to just do the cave tubing with lunch included. There are many companies and my top 3 were cavetubing.biz, butts up, charlies. We decided going with Charlies and its $45 with lunch included. Once we get back I can let you know how it was if you are interested. There are lots of reviews on here and they are all helpful.

I believe all the cavetubing companies also have zip lining options you can add on to your excursion. ;)

In Roatan we decided to book with Rony's Tour because we just wanted a freestyle tour... only thing we knew for sure we wanted to do was zip line... once again we went to tripadvisor and checked out the activities in Roatan and decided what worked best for us. I can also let you know how that went once we get back if you are interested.

Hope that helps :)

awesome review so far! Cant' wait for the rest! We sail NOS in 34 days (not that I'm counting!!!) :p:D

Just be aware that there are some beverages not included in the Ultimate package. Things like protein shakes at the Squeeze juice bar on Freedom class or the Vitality Cafe on Oasis class are not included. Also not included are milkshakes at Johnny Rockets.

Thank you Bob!! I did not think about that! :) We are sailing on the NOS so we will have to pay if we go to specialty restaurants or johnny rockets if my memory serves me correct :D

we decided to each get the ultimate package for all the perks... coffee, OJ, water, booze etc :)

This is only my 2nd cruise as we typically travel to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico to all inclusive resorts :) gotta change it up some times right!!! :)

ultimately for me: I just don't want to have to worry about anything... I want to just get up and eat/drink whatever I want and not have to think in the back of my mind ok where are we at price wise or always checking our account to see how much we are spending.. its a vacation and i just want to relax and enjoy myself and not have a care in the world! :) haha

some people break even and some people don't... I'm not going to make it a point to try and break even... some days I might not even drink but every morning you know I'll be getting coffee and OJ! :) mmmm

Hope you enjoy your trip whatever you decide to do! :) We leave in 38 days!

Cover up should be just fine :)

But I did just buy these are jcpenny's and I'm pretty excited about them! Going to wear them zip lining! :)

http://www.jcpenney.com/xersion-woven-capris/prod.jump?ppId=pp5005870689&catId=cat1003610095&subcatId=cat100250100&deptId=dept20000013&topDim=Product+Type&topDimvalue=capris+%2B+cropped&dimCombo=Product+Type%7C&dimComboVal=capris+%2B+cropped%7C&currentDim=Product+Type&currentDimVal=capris+%2B+cropped&_dyncharset=UTF-8&colorizedImg=DP0616201517015931M.tif

Wow, thank you all for the wonderful suggestions!! Our cruise is at the end of October :) so we have some time to figure out what we want to do! :)

I'll do some research on what you all suggested!! :) Thank you again! :p:D

Beach view? Or ocean view?

 

If ocean- I recommend Money Bar. Their food and drinks are excellent.

Personally, I've never been too impressed with Cozumel's beaches, so I can't help you there.

 

Most of the places I really drool over the food though are in town, no view.

Thank you for the recommendation!! Is the money bar walking distance or taxi?! :)

I'm pretty open to beach/ocean view or no view at all :) We just want to walk around and find good little hole in the wall places!! :)

Hey!! Does anyone have any recommendations for places to eat and drink with a beach view in Cozumel? That isn't senor frogs/charlies etc etc

we are just looking to gander around and find a good place to relax and enjoy the view! :)

much appreciated for the tips! :) :p

we just booked with Rony Tour's for our trip in October! :) I enjoyed reading all the reviews on TA for his company. Which is why we decided to go with him and that he does a freestyle tour which is what we wanted. We are going zip lining and we want to see as much of Roatan as we can with the time we have. :D He emailed me back within 24 hours and we are looking forward to spending time with his company and seeing the culture! :)

whatever you decide I'm sure you will have a fantastic time and just embrace the culture and enjoy yourself! :)

safe travels! :D

we just booked with Rony because we liked that we could choose the freestyle tour and his reviews on TA were excellent!! :p

I think it really just depends on what you want to do and how much you want to see :D

2 months exactly today!!!!!!!! :p:p (flying in the day before)

first time cruising with RCCL and celebrating my best friends 30th birthday! :D

Thanks Everybody for the nice comments :D We really like Houston, Great city and lots of things to do and see.

Thanks for the awesome video!! We have a few days in Houston and have never been before. Any suggestions would be much appreciated! TIA :D:D

]We went to the 3:30 p.m. Ice Show on Monday. It was a great show. Do not miss this show.

Where did you get the tickets for the ice show?! :) Cant wait to go in October!! :)

On a side note, how do you all keep your stuff safe at the beach while in port? This trip I'll be having several beach days (not on an excursion) and expect that most of the time, the whole group will be in the water. How do you keep your things safe then? Are you always having to keep an eye on your things or is there a special "beach safe" you can buy that locks to a tree or a pole

Or something? If not maybe I need to invent one :)

Hi Hi Hi!

I just ordered this from Amazon for my shore excursion:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AW2QT8I?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

I even tested it and put a paper towel inside and filled my sink full of water. Kept in there for about 20 mins and took the paper towel out and it was dry! WIN!!!

I also put my cell phone (samsung galaxy s5), passport (was a tight fit to get it in) and credit cards and everything fit perfectly.

You can also still you your phone while its in the case if you wanted to take photos! :)

My cruise isn't till October so I'll have a better review of it after that! :) Hope this helps!

I just logged in to do a reservation for sabor and it is not there. So when you called did they say you must make reservations when you get on board then? TIA :)

Thank you for your quick response! :) such a bummer that they have gotten rid of this package!!

sorry newbie here... we are cruising Oct 2015 and I was able to click on the wine and dine package hit add to cart and then it brought me down to select the guests and what package...

my question is... do both guest have to purchase the package? or can just one person and then share the bottle at the table? I don't want to assume anything as I know the beverage packages each person is supposed to order their own....

thanks in advance! :) still undecided if we are going to do it...

We have a cruise scheduled for Aug 2015. We are arriving a few days earlier and staying at the drury Inn Hobby. we're renting a car for a few days and going to JSC then turning the car back and taking the shuttle to the pier from the airport. it's only 2 of us so it seemed the most logical thing to do. Drury INN hobby really nice and offers free full breakfast bar and 5:30 kickback in the evenings. not the greatest food for the kickback but it is enough to fill you up and you don't have to buy dinner. (if you're on a budget like we are it's great)

Karessamom: are you taking the cruise shuttle from the airport?! May I ask how much it was? I can't decide if we should stay in Houston or Galveston the night before the cruise!! :)