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Padgett is on board. I’m steering clear.

No elite amenities, no mini bar set up, no notice about drink package not working. We did get the patter and the elite events.

E514 obstructed oceanview

First choco banana and the first beer. Tradition.

Now the server came back with a small menu of drinks available in Galveston and confirmed that, yes, we need to pay for them!

Rooms aren’t ready yet so we headed to international cafe and found my favourite chocolate mousse! The server assured me I could use my drink package. We shall see. If I get charged for a beer, it’s not the end of the world…

On board!

Our Uber showed up at 9:45am and we were dropped off at 10am. Porters took our bags and it was a longish walk down to check in. The doors weren’t open yet and there were about 100 people waiting in the line up that already had medallions. We were sent to a line for medallion pick up with only 6 people in line. The doors opened at 10:30am and we quickly and easily picked up medallions and went through security. There was no line at check in but it was a slower process as the staff weren’t really sure what they were doing. We were then directed to the priority boarding area, where we are currently sitting. Estimated boarding is at 11am

Hotel: I would give the Homewood Suites a 6/10. We typically choose this brand as they are consistent, have a good (though basic) breakfast, and have a kitchen area if we get our own food. This particular Homewood Suites was definitely not up to the standard we are used to! My first issue with the hotel was actually more on me than the hotel - I should have researched better for the location. We could not have been further away from everything, and nothing was in walking distance. We had to Uber everywhere and it became “work” to plan out. I also should have researched food options - I just assumed that there would be a restaurant/bar in the hotel or something close by we could pick up. Nope. All the Uber rides sure added up! The kitchen in our room was very poorly stocked. We had three knives, forks, spoons (there were four of us), two glasses, no soap or sponge to wash dishes, one pot, no teabags, one pack of coffee. I asked for glasses and was told all they had was paper cups. I didn’t bother asking for anything else. There was no bedding for the sofa bed and a call to the desk got me “you will have to come down and get it.” I didn’t really expect “housekeeping” as it’s pretty standard that this no longer happens. However, in 3 days, no one emptied the trash or changed towels. I did go down and pick up clean towels on day 2. The breakfast was even more basic than usual and there were no pastries or grab n go items. There was always coffee but they were out of teabags and hot chocolate almost every time we went to grab some. On the plus side, the hotel was clean, quiet, and safe. The staff were helpful and friendly and it was easy to get Uber to/from the hotel. I would not stay here again if I returned. It’s not as if I got this at a budget price, so definitely don’t feel I got what I paid for.

It’s cruise day!!!! I had planned on waking to watch the ship come in, but that never materialized. Hopefully it’s here and waiting for us! I pre-booked an Uber as I wasn’t sure how hard it would be to get one - I know I paid over the odds, but we also watched pricing go up yesterday morning at the same time so it will be worth it. Pick up should be at 9:45am! We woke, packed , and had our last waffle at breakfast. I also had to stop by the desk and get parking charges removed from my bill. Now we are just hanging out until it’s time to leave…

It will be interesting to see how Princess handles this since they have already charged for the package as part of their plus/premiere packages. They certainly didn’t give any of us who are not currently on the ship a heads up about it and I can’t imagine they only just found out today…

Thanks for the info! That’s annoying…are they able to serve as soon as they leave port or do they need to be in international waters?

So will we be reimbursed $50 for that day? Or is it only while in port? That’s an odd rule - in Canada they limit how many bars are allowed to be open, but they don’t restrict it completely!

Can you elaborate? I’ve never sailed from Galveston before. Are we not able to get drinks in port?

Now back at the hotel for the night and planning on packing and getting ready for cruise day tomorrow. I REALLY hope we can just get on and relax without any delays or dramas. Our Uber is booked for 9:45am, we have arrival group A, plus we are elite so priority boarding. Keep everything crossed for us!

Some more Galveston pictures

The weather got better so we decided to make the most of our last few hours. The teen had been wanting to go to the Pleasure Pier so we got an Uber down there and paid $11 per person to walk on, plus three $7 ride tickets. This was definitely the biggest rip off of our time in Galveston! Firstly, nothing on the pier was even open and the rides that the kids wanted to go on were out of order! From the pier, we walked down to Murdochs but really didn’t find any souvenirs that jumped out. Then we continued walking and ended up at Saltgrass for dinner! I have to say, it was excellent!

Wow! That’s a lot of new cruisers! I’m surprised there are so many on an 11 day sailing! I’ve done several cruises since Covid but none over 60% capacity. It’s going to be strange with so many people again!

Impressions of Galveston: It’s an interesting place and has some great history and architecture. I’m not used to being anywhere that isn’t walkable so that’s a new experience for me. Our hotel is at the very far end of the island and has no restaurant or bar so even to go get lunch it’s an Uber ride. All those $12 fares start to add up! This morning we headed to target to pick up some last minute bits and pieces and then came back to the hotel to finish up the rest of our food we had bought. The weather got a little chillier so waiting to see if it clears up - if so we will head back out to the pleasure pier and have dinner somewhere in that area. Knowing what I know now, if I ever sailed from here again I would only stay one night pre cruise and would choose a hotel that is closer to restaurants etc or at least had its own restaurant!

Hoping for no delays tomorrow! Weather in Galveston is cold and windy right now!

Our friends from Prince George made it here safely but arrived to downpours at IAH and their drive to Galveston was very wet and windy. They had the same car service and driver as us and also found her to be excellent! Like us, they made a stop at Buc-ees and spent far too much money on items with a beaver picture (given that we are from Canada I find that quite ironic). After our return to the hotel last night we couldn’t summon the energy to go back out so we ordered pizza with Uber eats and enjoyed a few beers.

The teen does have a BFF sailing on this one but this is a friend we met on a cruise and the whole family is sailing, so no worries there! We were just saying today that sailing from Galveston is definitely a chore! For what it cost to fly in, take transfers to and from IAH, stay at a hotel (no way could you manage same day at this port), pay Uber to get around (walking really isn’t an option) we could easily have taken another one week cruise! It’s interesting to see Texas and Galveston but I don’t think i would cruise from here again any time soon.

After lunch we walked some more, bought peanut butter at The Peanut Butter Warehouse and ice cream at Hey Mikey’s. Then we decided to hop on the trolley to the Seawall. This was where things went sideways. We waited, and waited, and waited but no trolley ever came. In the end we just ordered Uber and headed back to the hotel. Our Uber driver was a little grouchy and scolded us for not ordering a bigger car - huh? There are four of us and we ordered an Uber XL that fits four? That’s what I always do back home but maybe Texas does things differently? Anyways, I told her that I would cancel and just reorder and I think she realized that she would be the one losing out so she said she would “take us this one time”…hmmm. We are back at the hotel now and exhausted, still full from lunch, and awaiting the arrival of our other friends who got into IAH this evening.

After dropping off our Walgreens purchases at the hotel, we ordered an Uber and headed for the Strand. Such a beautiful area with lovely architecture and cobbled streets. We browsed the shops and picked up some souvenirs. I was outvoted on the lunch stop - I wanted to do Katie’s as so many people had recommended it but no one wanted seafood. Instead the kids insisted on the Shark Shack. I wasn’t expecting much but was pleasantly surprised! I got a really good pineapple margarita, fish tacos, kids each had burgers, and friend had a huge salad. Total bill for all of us was just over $80 and it was all delicious!