Triumph in Galveston--Latest Debarkation?

[jarand]

CC experienced cruisers tell me my flight time home out of Houston may be too early, and the next available flight isn't until 7:00 p.m. We have two small children traveling with us.

 

Does anyone know how long we can wait before getting off the ship?

 

Thanks.

[firefly333]

You probably have to be out of your cabin no later than 9 am to wait somewhere, so waiting in a lounge isnt all that fun either to debark.

 

the last off the ship will be around 10 am or 10:30 if everything goes right. I was on ecstasy when we hit the pier and then carnival wouldnt let self disembark on the elevator on my deck (empress) you either had to walk down 4 flights of stairs with your luggage (we couldnt) or wait until all the wheelchair HC got off and 20 of their closest friends (one lady had two full elevators or three elevators worth, a whole bus worth).

 

You would have missed a 1 pm flight that day.

 

Been thru full customs and some other delays .. I wouldnt book a flight before 1 pm.

[jarand]

Thanks. The flight is 12:03, but I haven't booked yet. I could go ahead, and if we miss it, the travel insurance will cover it. But that will sure be stressful with a big group, including little ones.

[firefly333]

galveston is also prone to fog in the winter. Just so many things could go wrong. For a while there I was having a lot of bad luck.

 

I got off triumph and I dont know if they still do this, but they said every 3 months every ship has full customs. We stood in line for over 2 hours, I kid you not. Some on my roll call didnt get off until 1:30 pm. .. and thats with nothing else going wrong.

 

If it was Ft. Lauderdale, Id say go for it, out of Galveston which is further away, Id say you probably will make it, but some times you wouldnt have if you were on my sailings.

 

Of course I was on Conquest out of Galveston when hurricane Ike hit and we went into New Orleans one whole day late and that debarkation was in a port that they had closed due to some river thing, so that debark took 4 1/2 hours. they woke up the crew who worked that port and got in who they could to get us off. Debarks have not been my thing.

 

Ecstasy last January, I did self disembarkation and had good luck on Triumph so out of Galveston on a smaller ship should work faster right? Must have been a ton of people who told the desk they had early flights. Had to be 300 to 400 of us and they had us meet up on promenade in the back lounge and debark was from one deck down. Try to get over 300 people down one deck on elevators, finally some figured out they could walk down after they waited over 30 minutes.

 

But last Dec on Triumph we were off before 7 am .. never saw anything like it. My roomie said she grabbed a cab to the airport and was checking into the airport at 7:20 am and was able to move up her flight for a small fee. So, I had a really fast one too lately, but that was out of New Orleans.

[happy cruzer]

You did verify that your travel insurance will cover the early flight. Some say that you must experience a delay of 6 hours and often longer.

 

Sometimes it is better to book the later flight and try to standby on an earlier flight depending on the airline.

[jarand]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I wonder... what could we do to kill about 6 hours in Galveston, then just have the airport shuttle pick us up later?

 

Does anyone have any experience trying to rent a hotel room as a place to crash for the day?

[missypriss19]

It all depends on what day you are arriving and what airport you are leaving from. If you are leaving from Hobby then it could be done but if you are leaving from Bush; forget about it. On a good day it can 1 1/2 hours to drive to Bush from Galveston and if it is a weekday it can much longer with our wonderful traffic. And you need time for check in. I would definetly take the later flight.