Ships moved to different ports (merged)

[Sabi-chan]

Well, our Mariner cruise has been cancelled, and before making any decisions about what to do, I wanted to ask here about Galveston.... I seem to vaguely recall that it sometimes suffers from problems with fog. Is Jan/Feb typically a time of year that would have that kind of problem? What about flights into Texas that time of year??:confused:

[anotherdude]

Galveston is one of the harder ports to get to...you must fly into Houston and then Galveston is a ways away..I can't remember how far but its an ordeal....now what WILL happen for sure is a bunch of Texans will come on here and dispute this as they are VERY protective of their cruise port (and I dont blame them actually) BUT if you search around these boards you will find MANY threads complaining about cruising from Galveston...

[KEG21552]

First the disclaimer "I am a Texan", that being said, I am about 800 miles northwest of Galveston, so it is a flight, not a drive. We have sailed from Galveston 3 times in February. Though we have never personally encountered fog, we have encountered rainy, chilly weather for the first couple of days. We will typically fly in 2 days early, arrange for a shuttle from Houston Hobby to Galveston and stay in one of their many nice resorts for 2 precruise days. Our preference is the San Luis Resort. After the cruise, you can arrange for transportation from the ship directly to the airports. As I recall, it is about 45 or so minutes from Hobby and a little longer to Intercontinental.

We are actually booked on Voyager Jan 30 of 2011, so hoping that all of the fog this year, like all of the weird weather elsewhere this year was just an aberration.

Karen

[forecruiser]

Galveston is about an hour drive from Houston. Hobby airport is on the south side and closer to Galveston, but mostly served by Southwest airlines. Continental airlines is the major carrier from IAH which is on the north side of Houston.

[Cruisin Dave]

Galveston is one of the harder ports to get to...you must fly into Houston and then Galveston is a ways away..I can't remember how far but its an ordeal....now what WILL happen for sure is a bunch of Texans will come on here and dispute this as they are VERY protective of their cruise port (and I dont blame them actually) BUT if you search around these boards you will find MANY threads complaining about cruising from Galveston...

I am a Texan and agree that it is a pretty good drive to the Port of Galveston but it doesn't take much longer than a bad day from LAX to San Pedro to get there.:D:rolleyes: Houston Hobby Airport, SWA, is the closest, 31 miles, and Bush International, 54 miles, is the furthest. Galveston is a great port and great place to visit. I've sailed from there 4 times and will probably change my Mariner date to the Voyager. Check out Galveston.com for more information concerning the island.

Dave

[PhoenixCruiser]

Hard to get to and several of the ships arrive and leave late due to fog. Would not be one of our first five choices.

 

###

[ssb]

Come on to Galveston !

We can show you a good time

if you spend some time here!:D

[Pumbaamd]

The big problem that Galveston has is its long distance from Bush airport in Houston. Hobby airport is a little closer to Galveston, maybe 30 minutes, but flying from BC it is doubtful you have a direct flight to there.

We booked Galveston Limo service (shuttle van) RT for our transfer to/from. They did their best, but they include Hobby in with the Bush Houston and we visited both airports on our Texas tour to/from. We waited two hours for our airport to Galveston van, and than almost missed our flight on the port to airport return.

If we had to do it again, we would rent a car. Galveston, and its people, are very nice and we enjoyed our pre-cruise stay. They are still recovering from the hurricane and need all the tourists they can get. If you are patient, and can handle the pre-planning, you can make it work.

We sailed Voyager from Galveston last year and Mariner from LA this year. The Galveston port is very fortunate to get Mariner . . . too bad for LA.

Enjoy your cruise!

Rick and Deirdra

[goofygame]

I did the Voyager out of Galveston last year. Getting from the airport to the ship is a pain in the behind. If you use Royal's transfers you are suppose to come fly in at a certain time on Sunday. They don't like it if you fly in the night before and stay at a local hotel (and not use their hotel/pick-up option) so if you choose to fly in the night before just lie about your arrival information. Just pick a random flight and say that is your flight. If you can fly into Hobby it is a shorter drive to Galveston. But the area surrounding Hobby is crap -- unless you like stripper bars.

 

If you book a limo or shuttle privately it gets expensive if it is just two people. If more would probably be more cost effective.

 

I did the cruise the first week of February in 2009 and had no fog problems. It was cool the first and last day. But no different than you would experience on Mariner on the first and last day.

[CGBCruiser]

The big problem that Galveston has is its long distance from Bush airport in Houston. Hobby airport is a little closer to Galveston, maybe 30 minutes, but flying from BC it is doubtful you have a direct flight to there.

We booked Galveston Limo service (shuttle van) RT for our transfer to/from. They did their best, but they include Hobby in with the Bush Houston and we visited both airports on our Texas tour to/from. We waited two hours for our airport to Galveston van, and than almost missed our flight on the port to airport return.

If we had to do it again, we would rent a car. Galveston, and its people, are very nice and we enjoyed our pre-cruise stay. They are still recovering from the hurricane and need all the tourists they can get. If you are patient, and can handle the pre-planning, you can make it work.

We sailed Voyager from Galveston last year and Mariner from LA this year. The Galveston port is very fortunate to get Mariner . . . too bad for LA.

Enjoy your cruise!

Rick and Deirdra

 

I think you would be very impressed at how much recovery has occurred in Galveston during the last year. It's just a 40 min. drive from where we live down on the Texas Gulf Coast so we go fairly often. We were there last weekend and I have to say I was duly impressed with how much rebuilding has been done! I'm very happy for the Galveston! :)

[BecciBoo]

Galveston is one of the harder ports to get to...you must fly into Houston and then Galveston is a ways away..I can't remember how far but its an ordeal....now what WILL happen for sure is a bunch of Texans will come on here and dispute this as they are VERY protective of their cruise port (and I dont blame them actually) BUT if you search around these boards you will find MANY threads complaining about cruising from Galveston...

 

I am one of those Texicans who love her port, but I live here...just like those Floridians who love theirs and can drive down! But it is hard for people flying in and Jan/Feb is foggy down there, hit and miss.....see us Texicans are fair minded too!;) Our February cruise was socked in and we didn't leave until 3:00 the next morning, but it was still a swell cruise, fair skies the entire time after that. Still love my port:cool: Try it if you're from central or gulf coast USA.

[Pumbaamd]

I think you would be very impressed at how much recovery has occurred in Galveston during the last year. It's just a 40 min. drive from where we live down on the Texas Gulf Coast so we go fairly often. We were there last weekend and I have to say I was duly impressed with how much rebuilding has been done! I'm very happy for the Galveston! :)

We are very happy to here of the continued recovery in Galveston. We spent two days there pre-cruise and had a wonderful time. Our cruise group of 14 certainly helped the economy. We enjoyed every minute of those two days.

If the trip from Bush Houston airport DIRECT to Galveston was only 40 minutes that could work (as in Orlando to Port Canaveral). That inconvenient trip to/from the airport is the negative for Galveston.

Hope you are enjoying this spring weather.

R&D

[BecciBoo]

. The Galveston port is very fortunate to get Mariner . . . too bad for LA.

Enjoy your cruise!

Rick and Deirdra

Excuse me:confused::eek: Where did you hear this rumor???

[Cuizer2]

Well, our Mariner cruise has been cancelled, and before making any decisions about what to do, I wanted to ask here about Galveston.... I seem to vaguely recall that it sometimes suffers from problems with fog. Is Jan/Feb typically a time of year that would have that kind of problem? What about flights into Texas that time of year??:confused:

 

I took a cruise out of Galveston in April 2009. It cost as much to get from the airport to the cruise port as it did to get from Los Angeles to Houston.

 

I have seen several issues of delayed ships due to fog. We didn't have any delays, however, about one third of the passengers were from Mexico and clearing customs for the entire ship (US or Mexican citizens) took much longer than normal.

 

I will likely avoid Galveston in the future.

[ddled]

we like galveston too, but coming back from the

Voyager ta it took 4 hours to clear customs in the terminal. Never saw anything like it. I assume it is not the norm there, was not that way several years ago on the Rhapsody. Aside from the distance from Houston, it is small and fast to board from and a neat place rebuilding.

[Pumbaamd]

Excuse me:confused::eek: Where did you hear this rumor???

Not a rumor. Mariner is replacing Voyager in Galveston. Voyager is moving to NOLA. Both will do Europe in the summer.

Go here for official news straight from RCCL:

http://www.nationofwhynot.com/blog/

Rick and Deirdra

[dplusd]

Unless you can drive to the port, I do not recommend cruising out of Galveston. Event with the convenience of driving to the port (and we hate flying), I don't think we will sail from Galveston again.

 

Our cruise from Galveston last December was fogged in and we sat at port until the morning of day 3. Check-in was a disaster, but that's another story. Once we left Galveston, the first day out and last day in, the weather is too cold to enjoy the outdoor decks. This is definately not a good port for a short (7-day) cruise to the Caribbean. I also prefer the eastern Caribbean ports, so it's worth the hassle and cost of a flight to Florida for me.

[BecciBoo]

I saw it I saw it!:D Wow! I love it! Pardon me! Love being wrong sometimes too:o I like Mariner better than Voyager but sad to see the old girl go, Mariner is newer and has Vintages...whoopee!

[mikimous]

Excuse me:confused::eek: Where did you hear this rumor???

 

Unfortunately it is true... check out the CEO's blog: http://www.nationofwhynot.com/blog/

[Pumbaamd]

We have sailed Mariner (from LA) and Voyager (from Galveston). Galveston gets a good deal here. Evidently, RCCL feels that the Galveston airport inconvenience, the fog, and whatever else, does not keep them from showing a nice porofit in Galveston. Good for RCCL and good for Galveston!

Also, this chain of events brings Voyager to NOLA. These two hurricane stricken port cities have gained a lot today. Looks like we will next look for sailing Voyager again, this time from NOLA.

R&D

[Sargent_Schultz]

Hmmm. I might even have to give Royal another chance. Maybe. With NCL beginning to sail year round from New Orleans, it will be interesting to see what Carnival does with the increased competition.

 

Looks like New Orleans is finally returning to her pre-K cruise status. Almost.

[Host Kewlguy]

Galveston is great to sail out of if you live within driving distance of the port. If you have to fly into Houston IAH it's a real expensive hassle getting to the pier an hour away. We did it once and have no desire to do it again.

[rubrrick]

A temporary stop for the Mariner.

 

We knew that the Mariner was only a temporary ship on the West Coast...and it will only be temporary in Houston.

 

Hopefully, it will be a LA to Houston run.........around the horn.......#2 for us.:D

 

Rick

 

Do we really care what RCCL does any more?????:rolleyes:

[FireIce0010]

Hmmm. I might even have to give Royal another chance. Maybe. With NCL beginning to sail year round from New Orleans, it will be interesting to see what Carnival does with the increased competition.

 

Looks like New Orleans is finally returning to her pre-K cruise status. Almost.

 

Don't torture yourself. Please stay with Carnival.:rolleyes:

[Bakincakes]

Hmmm. I might even have to give Royal another chance. Maybe. With NCL beginning to sail year round from New Orleans, it will be interesting to see what Carnival does with the increased competition.

 

Looks like New Orleans is finally returning to her pre-K cruise status. Almost.

 

 

Seems like it.

 

Friends just returned from NO..3 days late. They were robbed and stayed a few extra days as the husband was beaten by the thugs and was in the hospital for 2 days.

 

Now he knows why NO is sometimes referred to as "The Big Sleazy".:(