GreenZolie Posted May 22, 2011 #26 Share Posted May 22, 2011 You can actually find hotels that are in the fifty to sixty buck a night price range and if you do some research you'll be very pleasantly surprised with the quality. Our group, the Crazies, have gotten rooms at the Hilton for several years at $99 with no problems. The only issues we had was that we couldn't bring our own drinking supplies to the pool and that internet access was $10 a night... Now I am wondering if the hotels offer discounts for cruisers? The times I have looked up room prices were for regular visits to the island for a long weekend stay, not for a pre-cruise or post cruise stay. If they do offer discounts for cruisers, that would be awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilcruisers Posted May 26, 2011 #27 Share Posted May 26, 2011 I would recommend staying in Galveston. There are many many hotels of varying price ranges and amenities. We stayed in galv last year and got the new Laquinta suites fir about 80 night. It was las minute drive. If you stay in Houston or even Texas city or kemah, you might get some traffic congestion on the way up. The seawall has some new and improved items like landrys seafood, rainforest cafe, street vendors an marketplace and is a great place to stay pre and post cruise. You can look up some of the chain hotels then try some discount hotel sites to negotiate best prices, shuttles and parking for your cruise. Can't you tell I am a native houstonian? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GayleR Posted May 26, 2011 #28 Share Posted May 26, 2011 We like Galveston also. You can also go to Kemah in addition to the Seawall. Galveston doesn't have the most beautiful beaches, but there is some great history there. You may want to consider staying a liitle further north on hwy 146 in Kemah instead of Texas City.It's just about 15 minutes further and much more to do.The Kemah Boardwalk is there and there are some new hotels in that area.The new Holiday Inn is right next to the Boardwalk shopping area.Lots of great restaurants within walking distance. Kemah is nice and Galveston is a fun town, but the beach....well, let's just say some locals call it the Gulf of Yoohoo as the water is brown. It's because we are on the "dirty" side of the Mississippi. :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7Flags Posted May 26, 2011 #29 Share Posted May 26, 2011 WE live just north of Houston (grew up there) in Nacogdoches and are obviously biased but we love Galveston. Lost to see and do and eat. We are going on Ecstasy in June and staying at the Harbor House and WALKING to the ship. Great place to stay right on the Ship Channel and a block from the Strand. Leaving your car costs $20. Book early though cause it fills up fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertieboop1 Posted May 26, 2011 #30 Share Posted May 26, 2011 I just booked With Quality Inn and suites for a few days before and a couple of days post cruise and the price was great $59 for feb 2012! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssb Posted May 26, 2011 #31 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Main areas to stay On the Gulf (seawall)(many) On the Bay (Moody Gardens) Downtown Historic District by Port - (Harbor House and Tremont) On highway coming into town see INTERNET maps for visual of Greater Houston Metro and to get bearings of island galveston.com ....interact and discover.... maps Houston Map PDF Download Houston-area map in PDF Format: Houston Metro Galveston Island Map PDF Download Galveston-area map in PDF Format (note: this is a large, 11' wide, print-quality map, so please be patient): Galveston (B&W) Galveston (Color Hi-Resolution) In my opinion San Luis, Hilton, Moody Gardens, Tremont, Galvez and Harbor House are the better hotels. Many other nice ones though! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ With a couple of days only There is plenty to do in Galveston/Kemah/Nasa area There are special events in Galveston area almost every weekend in Galveston area galveston.com (what to do)(calendar of events) you’re calendar dates Sign up on Galveston.com for email of weekly events galvestonhistory.org --------- Galveston Historical Foundation moodygardens.org ------ just look at site www.thegrand.com/calendar – 1894 Grand Opera House Clearlake nasa space center · kemah board walk - kemahboardwalk.com Galveston: old town Galveston *- on strand and post office streets(lots of shops and ice cream, old army surplus store, fine restaurants) wineries many live theater venues 1894 grand opera house * (a must see tour and/or performance) museums antique stores and art Galleries horse drawn carriage rides fine restaurants Galveston historical foundation properties moody gardens (lots to do) a must schlitterbahn water park airplane museum railroad museum restored tall ship schooner Elisa (wonderful) 1900 storm and pirate jean lafite documentary films at port walks and shelling on the beach cruise Ships fishing (piers and charters) walking on beach shopping dolphin watch and port tour turtle rescue farm behind San Luis Resort carved damaged trees tour from storm kite flying on beach free ferry ride and cruise 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 Better restaurants in Galveston in my opinion are Sunday Brunch at Galvez Hotel Rudi and Pacos...*white table cloths... no shorts..... central american seafood, and steaks.... 20st Post Office Downtown reservations recommended Gaidos ...... *legendary and wonderful ..Seawall Gaidos-Pelican Club-separate kitchen- if you are members of your local club, it is reciprocal Olympia Grill *views are great- wonderful greek food, seafood, and steaks. on Port Original Mexican .....14th….Great and Oldest Mosquito Cafe and new bakery across Street....14th The Best The Spot .hamburgers and cervezas, BEST PEOPLE WATCHING Family area and bars next door and above --new decks with new views of gulf Fishermans Wharf ....Port Willie G's ..... ...on Port Shearns - Moody Gardens views great....white table cloths..sunsets Saltwater Grill .....Seafood assortments, soups, bisques, gumbos 20th Post Office St Downtown Sky Bar ..... Sushi and Steaks........ 21st Post Office Downtown Steak Restaurant in San Luis Hotel ....Seawall Luigi's ......Italian .....Strand downtown DiBellas....... Italian …..31st and O..... locals haunt and in old house Le Croys Cajun... Strand Sunflower.... 14th Mosquito Cafe and new bakery across Street....14th The Best The Spot .hamburgers and cervezas, BEST PEOPLE WATCHING Family area and bars next door --new decks with new views of gulf Clarys Seafood - Offites Bayou Others: New York Pizza - Seawall Benos... Seawall Shrimp and Stuff.....39 and O Millers ....Seawall Fish Tales ....Seawall Joe's Crab Shack ....Seawall Landrys Seafood ....Seawall Saltgrass Steakhouse ....Seawall Rainforest Cafe ....Seawall Gumbos....Post Office M&M .....24th Mod Coffeehouse (Postoffice St, downtown) Lunchbox Cafe (23rd St, downtown, small eatery that serves locally grown food) Murphy's Pub (22nd St, downtown, TONS of beer on tap, including Texas favorites; ) LaKings Confectionary (The Strand, downtown; the aforementioned ice cream parlor and candy factory) top 10 restaurants list in Galveston in the Houston Press: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating...n_galvesto.php look on galveston.com/what to do/dining in galveston Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssb Posted May 27, 2011 #32 Share Posted May 27, 2011 I was not making a value judgement. I have research this issue before and since. When comparing apples to apple (three star to three star - four star to four star ...) the prices on the island are about double what they are in Houston. Whether or not any price is a good price or not, I am not offering an opinion. I am only comparing prices from one to the next. For example (using a common site geared to hotels) I found the following for late February 2012: In Houston there were 57 three star hotels ranging in price from $73 to $139 with an average of $95.91. In Galveston there were 15 three star hotels ranging in price from $81 to $249 with an average of $126.80. In Houston there were nine 3.5 star hotels ranging in price from $88 to $206 with an average of $124.11. Take out the one for $206 and there were eight 3.5 star hotels ranging in price from $88 to $149 with an average of $113.88. In Galveston I found one 3.5 star hotel for $294 In Houston I found 9 four star hotels ranging in price from $103 to $207 with an average of $142.11. In Houston I found one 4.5 star hotel for $199 Galveston didn't have any 4.0 or 4.5 star hotels. In Galveston there was one 2.0 star hotel that offered free cruise parking if you stayed two nights. However, the average price was $176 per night. Hotel pricing in Galveston is relative to seasonal and special events affecting supply and demand on the room rates. It can be very circumstantial!! Galveston for instance, if you were using February for comparison, you can't reach such general conclusions without all the facts. As an example! A fact and circumstance about February is Mardi Gras will usually fall in that month. A fact according to galvestonmardigras.com more than 250,000 people attend Mardi Gras Galveston each year. That event will affect pricing! Also according to Expedia there are four star hotels in Galveston! Tremont, Moody Gardens,and San Luis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galveston Cruiser Posted May 28, 2011 #33 Share Posted May 28, 2011 The Galvez is also a 4 star hotel. Most of the hotels/motels offer free cruise parking and transportation to the port. Mardi Gras will be held in Galveston February 10th to 21st in 2012. Rates always go up for special events as they do in any city anywhere in the world. It's called supply and demand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geckog Posted May 28, 2011 #34 Share Posted May 28, 2011 Hi. I recently left Galvaston on the Voyager O S-TA and returning on the Magic in Nov.We took Galveston Limo from IAH took 3.75 hrs to get to the hotel after going round all the terminals at both airports and dropping off people at various hotels.[advertised at 2 hrs] Also talked to a lady who had been on a previous VOS cruise out of Galveston she said there had been 50 % kids on board running about without parental control, mainly Mexican nationals. I was on my third trip on the Conquest the week before Easter. Did you leave on Easter Sunday? The week before Easter is Spring Break in Mexico. Our ship had 1500 Mexican Nationals. The kids were no different than during our Spring Break, but everything took twice as long because it was done in both English and Spanish, and customs got severely backed up at debarkation. I won't go again the week before Easter, but I never intended to be on any kind of Spring Break cruise to begin with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssb Posted May 28, 2011 #35 Share Posted May 28, 2011 The Galvez is also a 4 star hotel.Most of the hotels/motels offer free cruise parking and transportation to the port. Mardi Gras will be held in Galveston February 10th to 21st in 2012. Rates always go up for special events as they do in any city anywhere in the world. It's called supply and demand. Correct - the Galvez is a 4 star hotel, especially when all rooms floor by floor renovation is complete, if not already. It is operated by Wyndham Grand Hotels, that would not operating anything but a 4 star hotel. www.wyndhamhotelgalvez.com/hoteloverview - Galvez, Tremont and Harbor House Others: www.sanluisresort.com www.moodygardenshotel.com/ www.moodygardens.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfmeeks Posted July 22, 2011 #36 Share Posted July 22, 2011 I just booked 2 rooms for 1 night at the Harbor House for $125 each. We're leaving on 3/17/12 on the Triumph! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaylahszoo Posted July 24, 2011 #37 Share Posted July 24, 2011 we got rooms on Travel**** on lower floors of the San Luis Resort for $121. Looked yesterday and they were still offeing them. Going to have to take a cab to port, but no big deal. Will be seeing ocean for a week, so if we can't see them from our room, so no problem there. Every other site I looked at had a pricetag of $249 or more for the higher floors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CGBCruiser Posted July 24, 2011 #38 Share Posted July 24, 2011 we got rooms on Travel**** on lower floors of the San Luis Resort for $121. Looked yesterday and they were still offeing them. Going to have to take a cab to port, but no big deal. Will be seeing ocean for a week, so if we can't see them from our room, so no problem there. Every other site I looked at had a pricetag of $249 or more for the higher floors. You will still be able to see the ocean from your room. All the rooms at the San Luis have ocean views, even the one's on the lower level...you just might have a good view of the roof of the restaurant below you as well. That is really a good deal. The San Luis is very nice and has a wonderful pool area! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rusty0707 Posted July 25, 2011 #39 Share Posted July 25, 2011 dfmeeks - did you have to call harbor house directly, becuase it is not avaiable online. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfmeeks Posted July 26, 2011 #40 Share Posted July 26, 2011 dfmeeks - did you have to call harbor house directly, becuase it is not avaiable online. I reserved it off of Priceline.com . I just checked & it's still showing Harbor House for $125/night, at least for March 16th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvsullivan Posted July 26, 2011 #41 Share Posted July 26, 2011 And "Mexican nationals" has what do do with Galveston? In my experience, kids are kids, mostly because of their parents, nothing to do with heritage. The "Mecican" kids I know are the most polite kids anywhere, that is the way their parents have raised them. I will say your experience with the "nationals" you meet in Idaho are completely different than our experience here in Texas! I'd love to have you come down and spend some time with the "polite" kids that have been raised so well. I'd be glad to point you in the right direction to spend some "quality" time with some of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheepWrent Posted August 7, 2011 #42 Share Posted August 7, 2011 For our Jan. 8th Carnival Magic sailing, we are staying the night before at the Hotel Galvez. If you have any discount priv's or membership deals check those out, because we did and it saved us alot of money. We are staying at the Hotel Galvez, ocean view for $79 using our government discount. And we are putting our parents up at the newer Hampton Inn & Suites for free, using our frequent points. So it pays to shop around, using any type of discount you may apply for. I've sailed from several other ports and other than Vancouver, B.C. which was the prettiest (of course), the easiest to get in and out of as well as the most laid back, friendly atmosphere has always been Galveston!! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butlersplace Posted August 22, 2011 #43 Share Posted August 22, 2011 We are flying in to HIA due to nonstop. We decided to stay in SpringhillSuites by MArriott near the airport due to its high ratings and atmosphere. Then we do not have to get off a 4 hour flight and then ride in a car for 1.5 hours to Galveston. Plus our price was half what we orig booked in Galveston. Many hotels during high times have two night minimum (the ones by the pier all did) and with a family of 5 our choices were limited. Can someone reccommend a limo service to check prices on from HIA?? That would be very helpful. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuizer2 Posted August 22, 2011 #44 Share Posted August 22, 2011 We are flying in to HIA due to nonstop. We decided to stay in SpringhillSuites by MArriott near the airport due to its high ratings and atmosphere. Then we do not have to get off a 4 hour flight and then ride in a car for 1.5 hours to Galveston. Plus our price was half what we orig booked in Galveston. Many hotels during high times have two night minimum (the ones by the pier all did) and with a family of 5 our choices were limited. Can someone reccommend a limo service to check prices on from HIA?? That would be very helpful. Thanks. I truly hope you are not flying into HIA. HIA is Harrisburg International Airport which is in Pennsylvania - which is a long way from Galveston, Texas. The closest airports are in Houston. IAH is also known as Bush and is in north Houston. It is the major airport for Houston. HOU is also known as Hobby and is in south Houston. Most airlines fly into IAH. Just do a search for Houston limo services and find the one that is best for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusin okie Posted September 1, 2011 #45 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Love Galveston. We've sailed from LA, Miami and Ft. Lauderdale also but Galveston is our favorite. Definitely fly into Houston Hobby and go at least one day early. We've stayed at the Galvez and also the Hilton. The Tremont would be nice if you want to stay in the Strand district. Eat at Gaidos for good seafood. Hotel rates vary so check a number of travel sites Expedia or trip advisor,etc. Galveston is a great City! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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