Galveston Parking/porter question

[20165]

We are debating on parking at the actual cruise terminal or at one of the other off site parking options. Does anyone know if we park at the terminal if the porters will bring our bags to the parked car or do we have to get the car and bring it down to the terminal curb? When we use to cruise out of Ft Lauderdale, the porters would bring the bags to your car in the parking garage and you could just leave from there. If thats not the case in Galvestion, i might as well park at one of the less expensive off site parking if i have to bring the car around anyway.

 

Thoughts?

thx

[CGBCruiser]

We are debating on parking at the actual cruise terminal or at one of the other off site parking options. Does anyone know if we park at the terminal if the porters will bring our bags to the parked car or do we have to get the car and bring it down to the terminal curb? When we use to cruise out of Ft Lauderdale, the porters would bring the bags to your car in the parking garage and you could just leave from there. If thats not the case in Galvestion, i might as well park at one of the less expensive off site parking if i have to bring the car around anyway.

 

Thoughts?

thx

 

The porters will not bring your bags to your car. You'll have to drive your car to the terminal and they will put them in the car for you.

[CGBCruiser]

Let me also say this...the porters will take your bags to the bus that transports you back to your car. They will get them loaded on the bus for you and the bus driver will take them out when you get to the car. But, you're right...if you're going to do this you can park in one of the lesser expensive lots, i.e. EZ Cruise, and go through this same process.

[20165]

Let me also say this...the porters will take your bags to the bus that transports you back to your car. They will get them loaded on the bus for you and the bus driver will take them out when you get to the car. But, you're right...if you're going to do this you can park in one of the lesser expensive lots, i.e. EZ Cruise, and go through this same process.

 

Thanks CGBCruiser. I thought that might be the case from what i have been reading, but i wanted to verify. Trying to make embarkation/disembarkation as seemless as possible.

 

Thx again

[tinabinab]

Galveston's cruise terminal parking is not at the terminal, it is offsite, just like all the non-terminal options. Here is what you can expect no matter which parking option you choose:

 

Embarkation: The porters will pull your bags from your car for you - or if you have selected to have your bags transported from the parking lot with you, they will be pulled from the bus. My recommendation is that you drop your bags and most of your party off at the terminal and then send someone to park the car and meet back up with the rest of the group at the terminal. Just seems to be less stressful for everyone that way.

 

Debarkation: One person gets in the porter line immediately when departing the boat. Send someone else from your party to go locate / gather your luggage. Once you have a porter, take them to your luggage, where they will load it and then take you to the "shorter" customs line. Once through customs, if your car is not right there, right then, the porters will drop you and your bags off at the appropriate line / area. They will NOT wait with you for your car / bus. You can then either send one person to get the car and come back for everyone else, or you can opt to load all your luggage and passengers on the bus back to the car lot/hotel. Unless the line is short and moving quickly (not my usual experience), then I recommend sending one person after the car and loading the luggage directly to it from the terminal sidewalk.

 

We have used terminal, EZ Cruise, Lighthouse, and various hotel services and this is how it has been everytime...

[20165]

Thanks tinabinab. That sounds somewhat similar to what we have done in Miami and Ft lauderdale, however, the parking was within walking distance in both places in a parking garage.

 

Looks like we are sailing the same week, although on different ships. This is our first Galveston / Carnival cruise although we have done many cruises out of FL when we lived there. Mostly RCL, Princess and HAL.

 

thanks again.

[tinabinab]

We have family dropping us off and picking up this time, but if I had to park, I would use Lighthouse again. They seemed to have larger / more buses and a shorter line at debarkation than the others - at least that was our previous experience. (The EZ Cruise and Lighthouse lots are directly across the street from each other.) The buses are MUCH older, but we just pretended we were still in Jamaica and on another adventure. ;)

 

Happy sailing!