srlucado

While the I45 route is VERY boring......your alternate route is crazy. (for someone coming down from DFW airport). Plus you can just stay on TX6 and it ends right at I45 just before the bridge to Galveston in I45.

Your drive, your choice.

My drive, my choice.

My wife and I walked to Junkanoo Beach last month, and took a taxi back to the ship.

It was pleasant. Not a great beach, not pristine but not trashed. The water was quite warm, especially for December.

We went early in the day, and the beach became increasingly crowded. Still not too bad even when we left.

Kind of fun to watch a big Carnival ship pull in, do a quick 180, and back into the dock. Don't see that every day!

Last month, I stayed a night in LaPorte before boarding a ship the next day.

The hotel I chose was the Comfort Suites, right off 146, about 45 minutes straight down the road from Galveston.

Really had a pleasant stay, including a nice breakfast, and it was about $90. I'd definitely stay there again.

I have a different philosophy about driving to Galveston from Fort Worth (my home).

I don't like taking I-45 and I really, really hate driving through Houston.

The question is: How do you get to Galveston without driving through Houston?

Here's what I do:

Leave a day early.

I-35 South to Waco.

Texas 6 south to Navasota.

Texas 105 east through Conroe to Cleveland.

Texas 321 south to Dayton.

Texas 146 south to LaPorte. Spend the night. (Most recently at the Comfort Suites; reasonable and very pleasant.)

Continue on 146 south to the I-45 merge, then Galveston.

It may take a little longer, and the stretch through Conroe can be slow at times, but I arrive relaxed.

A lot depends on your personal taste.

Conventional wisdom is that dry reds are preferable for steak, and for once, I agree with conventional wisdom.

I've had excellent luck with cabernets from Chile (been drinking them for decades), so if it were me, I'd look for something along those lines.

That being said, dry wine can be an acquired taste. If you don't like dry wine, go with something more medium-dry, like a merlot. But an outright sweet wine does not pair well with a meal like steak. It's like putting ketchup on it.

One word of caution: In the meal, save any sweet stuff for last. If you drink a dry wine after eating a sweet appetizer or even sweet salad dressing, the wine won't taste right. (That "cleansing the palate" stuff about eating crackers before the wine has never worked for me.)

Good luck!

The link didn't work for me, and I tried two different browsers.

Thanks for posting!

We bring our own soap as well. It just works better for us.

Did a late-May / early-June trip. Wonderful weather. No crowds. Lower hotel prices in Anchorage, too. (We flew in a couple of days early to explore around on our own.)

Have a look at my photo album:

http://s582.photobucket.com/user/scottrlucado/library/Alaska%202008

I've had two cruises on Princess, and loved them both.

Excellent food, service, accommodations, and entertainment.

If they were still sailing out of Houston, I'd pick them nine times out of ten over Royal.

Thanks for the report/review.

 

Did they say if they fixed whatever maintenance had delayed the ship's arrival?

I was on the prior week's cruise (two days in Nassau), and there were cascading delays. We were late leaving Galveston on 12/3 due to fog, and the ship never made up the time. The maintenance (something about the azipods) was completed, and then the ship faced strong headwinds on the way back to Galveston.

In a way, it's surprising the ship wasn't later when it docked in Galveston on the 10th.

We bring some "Thank You" cards on the cruise, and use them to write a note of appreciation to go with the extra tips.

We've learned that waiters and stewards greatly appreciate a personal touch.

I got a 10-drink card for $75 (plus 18%) about the 4th night. Worked out okay.

"Dress code" is a joke. Wear whatever you like. I saw men in shorts and t-shirts on formal nights.

OP here...

From my observation, this guy wasn't sharing. He didn't strike me as the benevolent type. He struck me more as the type who'd strike me. Not a happy drunk, in other words. Not that happy sober, either, near as I could tell.

As for the quantity, I had a brother who drank like that. Note that I say "had".

I hear this often, but its not true. Cruising on Royal Caribbean or Celebrity 15 years ago is nothing like Oceania, or SilverSeas today. Certainly I have nothing against those cruise lines, they offer a good product, its just NOT like what the mainstream cruise lines offered 15 years ago. That seems to be gone for good.

 

I'm also not saying the mainstream guys don't offer a good "value." McDonalds offers a good value too, but its sure nice restaurants exist between McDonalds and those 5 star places where you need to wear a suit. Unfortunately in the cruise world your choice is bargain basement or stuffy smaller ships.

 

 

The cruise industry's solution is to make every ship like a McDonalds, but sell high-priced add-ons to make you think your in a nicer restaurant. We'll just charge extra for padded seats, and if you are a "Diamond" member, we'll give you real silverware. You can also pay extra for the steak and lobster, and maybe we will hang a curtain around your table (Haven) so you don't have to watch the other guests eating their hamburgers, but in the end, your still in a McDonalds.

This is about how I feel as well. Thanks for posting.

I'm not a big drinker, so I've never been interested in an "unlimited" drink package.

However, on a recent Liberty cruise, I heard a passenger complain about being cut off.

That hardly sounded "unlimited" to me, but he went on to say that he'd ordered 31 drinks in a 24-hour period, and while trying to get the 32nd, he was stopped.

Anyone ever heard of anything like this?

There is no dress code anymore. I don't even know why RCI bothers.

Two "formal" nights on Liberty, and many men dressed like they were about to mow the lawn. On non-formal nights, they looked worse.

Dress code is dead.

On 12/3,my wife and I boarded the Liberty with a small rollaboard containing 2 12-packs: one each of Dr Pepper and Diet Dr Pepper.

We've done it before, and never had a problem.

Wow. Sort of like an online date where the profile pic and the actual person don't exactly match.

Just heard from Celebrity that both my brother and his wife were killed in the accident.

What an unspeakable tragedy.

May they rest in peace, and may God grant comfort to you, the families, and all loved ones.

I share your concern.

Something's changed at RCI, and not for the better, in my opinion.

I understand cost-cutting, but what they've done lately strikes me more as cutting corners, and I think a few too many have been snipped.

Strange people were not offered free internet to change flight plans for their returning flights.

 

That has happened a few times when our ship has arrived late for one reason or other.

 

 

Strange RCCL didn't do the same this time for this issue. For someone onboard you sure this wasn't offered by RCCL ?

I was on that cruise, and pax were given free internet access for that very reason.

Your comments really resonated with me, closely mirroring my 12/3 cruise on Liberty.

And there was no noro outbreak to provide an excuse.

To be fair, my cabin steward, Harris, was excellent. He made daily towel animals (which my wife loves), but overall there was a sense that service on RCI is slipping.

It was our 8th cruise on Royal, and it's the first time I've come off a cruise and thought, "Okay, my next cruise can wait a while. I'm in no hurry for another one."

Wow, the pictures are beautiful. Did you do the land tour through the cruise line?

Thank you!

Yes, we booked the whole shebang through Holland America...with one exception. A friend who'd worked on the pipeline suggested flying into Anchorage a couple of days early and exploring that area. An excellent idea, and it allowed us to see many of the places that are featured in the first few photos.

The first time we spotted a moose in the wild, it was pretty cool!

I did Alaska in May of 2008 (on Holland America). For me it was the trip of a lifetime, and decided to do more than just cruise.

So we did a long land tour ending with a 4-night cruise. If you really want to see something besides glaciers, that's what I'd recommend. Go inland.

We did Anchorage, Denali, Fairbanks, Tok, Chicken, Eagle, Dawson City, Carcross, and other stops.

Here's my photo album:

http://s582.photobucket.com/user/scottrlucado/library/Alaska%202008?sort=2&page=1

To simply visit the coast does not do justice to the unimaginable majesty of Alaska.