Where do you stay when cruising out of Galveston

[deborahjo]

you cruise out of Galveston? There will be 6 adults and one 11 yo. Figured we could get by with 2 rooms.

[mutzy]

we stayed at the holiday inn express last yr- nice place- are staying there again in feb.

 

they were super helpful when i got sick and had to go to the ER.

[WisconsinFan]

Ditto with the Holiday Inn. It was right on the Sea Wall and with in walking distance to places like the Rainforest Cafe. They had a sleep and sail package and so we had a place to park for the week and shuttle transport as well. We had 6 on our trip- our family of four and my parents.

[jcross2]

We usually stay at the Hilton. They have great AARP rates, plus a shuttle to and from the pier. Also, they let you park for free during the cruise.

 

Walking distance to Rainforest cafe (for the kids) as well as the local grocery store.

 

Jan

[CINDYSUE]

We like Harbor House. Right on the pier where the cruise ship comes in. You can walk from hotel to cruise ship. We usually have too much stuff, so DH drops me and half our house off at the pier, then drives back to hotel and walks to ship. It is different. Looks like an old warehouse. Right next to Willie G's and Fisherman's Wharf, which are both excellent places to eat. About two blocks down from The Strand. Parking during cruise is $30, I think. Prices are around $100. Only downside, which I think is stupid is that you have to pay $10 a day, I think for parking while you are at the hotel.

 

Where ever you decide to stay, make your reservation early. They seem to fill up fast. I have already made mine for next November.

[ssb]

You need to decide if you want to stay on

1. Gulf of Mexico Beach Area (many hotels)

2. Historic Old Town Strand Port Area (Tremont and Harbor House)

3. Bayside Area (2) Moody Gardens Hotels

 

Tremont and Harbor House are 2-3 blocks to terminal.

Everything is close though!

All hotel/motels are just two or so miles from terminal anyway.

 

 

 

 

To get bearings of island

Look at FREE internet map

 

 

See Galveston.com

Interact and Discover

Maps

Galveston Fun Map

Click on the image of the Galveston Fun Map

 

 

Since your question is directly on hotel recommendations

 

In my opinion

St Luis, Hilton, Moody Gardens, Tremont, Galvez and Harbor House

are the better hotels.

Many other nice ones also though!

 

Two brand new ones are Country Inn and Sheriton Four Points

All hotel/motels are just two or so miles from terminal anyway.

 

 

__________________

We live in Galveston!

Just brought Voyager back from Barcelona to Galveston also.

Feel free to ask more questions!

__________________

 

With a couple of days only

There is plenty to do in Galveston/Kemah/Nasa area

 

Special events in Galveston in fall:

Dickens on Strand (1st weekend in Dec)

Lone Star Biker Rally

Art Walk

Loft Tour

Octoberfest

Greek Festival

Artists Festival

Wild Game BBQ Cookoff

Others (see galveston.com for your dates)

 

In Winter and Spring

Art Walk

MARDI GRAS

Many others see galveston.com for your dates

 

 

and more:

nasa space center

kemah board walk

 

galveston:

1894 grand opera house (a must see tour)

www.thegrand.com

live music and theater events

first class

 

 

ghost tours

old town galveston - on strand and post office streets(lots of shops and ice cream, old army surplus store, fine restaurants)

winerys

many live theater venues

museums

antiques and art Galleries

horse drawn carriage rides

galveston historical foundation properties

moody gardens (lots to do) (Imax Theater with lots of educational films)

schlitterbahn water park

airplane museum

restored tall ship schooner Elisa (wonderful)

1900 storm and pirate jean laffite documentary films at port

walks and shelling on the beach

shopping

dolphin watch and port tour

turtle rescue farm behind San Luis Resort

carved damaged trees from storm tour

kite flying on beach

free ferry ride

maritime museum

sea wolf park – wwII submarine and destroyer

many historical and Victorian homes

bishops palace (wonderful)

moody mansion (wonderful)

ashton villa (wonderful)

oil drilling rig museum

large souvenir shop over gulf water

duck tour (amphibious boat)

Galveston.com/ interact and discover / cams

[hillbillycruisers]

We've cruised four times out of Galveston in the last 5 years, and stayed in 4 different places. Casa del Mar, Bestwestern Beachfront Inn, Holliday Inn Resort on the Beach, and Gaidos Seaside Inn. We enjoyed staying at all 4...all 4 had free cruise parking, and the Holliday Inn even had a free shuttle to the cruise terminal. Casa del Mar was set up more as a place to stay while vacationing for a week or so, as it had a small kitchen in the room and bunkbeds off the main bedroom. Bestwestern had the best free breakfast of any place we've ever stayed..bar none. The view from our 4th floor balcony at the Holiday Inn was fabulous. As far as Gaidos Seaside Inn goes...it may have been our favorite, partly because we love eating there, and we had a 2nd floor room facing the water with a nice view. Its an older motel type place...not fancy, but nice enough for us and the price was right too. If you stay there, ask for the cruise special...you get a discount on your room and eating in one of their two restraunts. We will be cruising from Galveston again in this fall/early winter, and probably stay at Gaidos again. We like to stay an extra night or two and explore around Galveston a little...its an interesting place!!

[sassy12]

We like Harbor House. Right on the pier where the cruise ship comes in. You can walk from hotel to cruise ship. We usually have too much stuff, so DH drops me and half our house off at the pier, then drives back to hotel and walks to ship. It is different. Looks like an old warehouse. Right next to Willie G's and Fisherman's Wharf, which are both excellent places to eat. About two blocks down from The Strand. Parking during cruise is $30, I think. Prices are around $100. Only downside, which I think is stupid is that you have to pay $10 a day, I think for parking while you are at the hotel.

 

Where ever you decide to stay, make your reservation early. They seem to fill up fast. I have already made mine for next November.

 

Just curious on how you made your reservation for next November. I've been calling them for months now and they keep telling me they are not taking reservations because they don't have the rates for 2011 yet.

 

What is your secret, please? And, thank you.

[helicopter]

We love staying at the Harbour House, walk to terminal, Strand, and you can take the trolley to the beach area. We have been to Galveston maannny times over the years and stayed at many hotels, this is our favorite:)

[firefly333]

Just curious on how you made your reservation for next November. I've been calling them for months now and they keep telling me they are not taking reservations because they don't have the rates for 2011 yet.

 

What is your secret, please? And, thank you.

 

Hotels.com shows you can book harbor house thru Nov 21st right now. I think every day it adds one more day to how far in advance you can book, there is a set number of days in advance, not quite a year.

[sassy12]

Hotels.com shows you can book harbor house thru Nov 21st right now. I think every day it adds one more day to how far in advance you can book, there is a set number of days in advance, not quite a year.

 

Thanks. I'll give them a try.

[CINDYSUE]

I must really have a nice phone voice!!!!! I don't know why, but I just called the 800 number and she looked and said they were taking reservations. Good luck!

[DaNana]

Do to some changes in our travel we decided to not rent a car. That meant we would need some place to leave our luggage when disembarking from the cruise. DH contacted the Holiday Inn Express on the Seawall to ask if they could accommodate our luggage on our return (we are staying there the night before departure). Why yes they will gladly let us leave our bags there. Okay, now ride to the ship and back plus accommodate our luggage. Impressed! Now we will have time to explore before returning home later in the day! I know there is another hotel that accommodates anyone but my DH felt this was better since we were doing business w/them. Works for me!:)

[James in SA]

Firefly,

 

Does Harbor House still let you park free during your cruise? We stayed there last October and loved the place! I booked it for our Ecstasy cruise next week and the lady taking the reservation told me it was $20 to park for the cruise in addition to the $10 for the night of our stay. I am hoping she was misinformed. It is only a 4 day cruise.

[ddy123]

We were on the Feb 20 cruise out of Galveston and on Sunday morning due to fog did not know whether we would be able to board the ship so we were concerned about needing to stay in our hotel room so that we would have a room for the night. I thought the Hilton was extremely flexible. They offer a reduced rate for cruise passengers who can't embark as planned.....$69.95 which I thought was very fair. Then when we were sort of up in the air and not knowing what to do they allowed us to stay in our room after typical checkout. We stayed until 2:00 and there were no additional charges.

 

I also really liked the hotel itself. Rooms were very nicely decorated, very clean and everyone was extremely friendly. We really enjoyed being able to walk next door to Landry's for dinner too. Dinner was outstanding by the way! We debated going to Gaidos which I am sure is wonderful as well but decided we wanted the convenience of Landry's. Really glad we did.

 

I highly recommend the Hilton....was very pleased with them and will stay there again any time we cruise out of Galveston! Hoping to do so next year but after experiencing fog delays on 3 out of 4 legs of the last 2 cruises my husband is not so sure!

[timh111]

It might be a good idea to send a thank you letter to the Hotel AND to their corporate office.

[ddy123]

That's a really nice idea. Thank you for suggesting it. :)

[hywaybeachbum]

We stayed at the Comfort Suites on 89th Street recently during all the fog. Our ship, Conquest was delayed as was the Ecstasy and Voyager of the Seas. The ships didn't get to dock until Sunday the 20th at noon. What a crazy mess it was. We were supposed to be out of our room by 11:00 but since the ships were delayed we were allowed to stay until 4:30 that evening and they didn't charge us anything. So nice of them to accomodate us. We had chose to take their shuttle from the hotel and leave our car there. We used them last year. So just wanted to let anyone know as I know the fog will be a problem for some time. Also when we were picked up, another couple that had stayed there had put their luggage on the wrong shuttle. Comfort Suites is different that Comfort Inn. So they were trying to make a flight out to Alberta Canada, part of their group had took the Comfort Inn shuttle and didn't realize this until they were at the hotel. This couple's luggage was on that shuttle and our driver Chris was so good to call the other, I think there are two other Comfort hotels there on Galveston, to get their luggage back. He was able to locate the luggage and was going to pick it up with the couple after we were dropped off.

[timh111]

That's a really nice idea. Thank you for suggesting it. :)

 

Your welcome :) I have ALWAYS been the type of consumer that writes letters to companies about their products. I write, call or e-mail companies about everything from grocery products to cruises. At one time, I used to write lengthy compliment or complaint (or a combo of both) to cruise lines but it seems with the form letters I get back, they probably aren't even being read. So now, I just fill out the comment cards. In 99% of the cases, I get a favorable response, that other 1% is I get NO response from the company. A "Pat On The Back" is ALWAYS good!! :D