Back from our Cruise out of Galveston.. great except..

[texasnana]

Short note before i am off for jury duty. We left Jan 15 and sailed to Rotoan, Belize and Cozumel. Great cruise except for the fog yesterday morning and we were stuck because of closed port. Finally got to port 12 noon and took so long to get off.

 

More to come after jury duty.

[will773]

Glad you had a great cruise! At least you got to stay onboard a little longer, right? ;)

[hollon]

Please tell us about the ports when you return from jury duty, I've never been to thoses ports except cozumel, thanks :)

[JMG680]

Seems the fog is always messing with the port times. I hope RCI does not feel it is not cost effective to keep a ship there. It is the best port for us to leave from, and not sure I would be so loyal to Royal with out it. Can not wait to hear about your trip.

[GXmanDC]

Seems the fog is always messing with the port times. I hope RCI does not feel it is not cost effective to keep a ship there. It is the best port for us to leave from, and not sure I would be so loyal to Royal with out it. Can not wait to hear about your trip.

 

I hope most passengers realize that it is a force of nature and nothing the cruise line can do. It can delay debarkation/embarkation, but never by more than a few hours, right?

[Galveston Cruiser]

I hope most passengers realize that it is a force of nature and nothing the cruise line can do. It can delay debarkation/embarkation, but never by more than a few hours, right?

 

OP wish for warm weather on the island, but when the Gulf waters cool off and it is warm on land - FOG:eek:

It does not occur everday; but have travel insurance and book a later flight in Jan. Feb and March - even better stay Sunday night in Galveston and enjoy the City:)

[T_Bone2012]

Great cruise except for the fog yesterday morning and we were stuck because of closed port. Finally got to port 12 noon and took so long to get off.

 

I Was on the same cruise - looked at it differently. We had a nice relaxing breakfast, went ice skating, watched a movie, then had lunch! We enjoyed our extra 4 hours on the Mariner! We were off the ship by 1:00 with the other C&A members who went to the dining room to wait (there were only about 30 of us in the dining room). We actually made it off the ship before our luggage. After a 30 minute wait in the hallway, we were let into the luggage room, processed and on our way by 1:45. The self disembarking passengers were already cleared by then.

 

The secret is to make sure you get a porter - they have their own line for processing, and we only had 1 person in front of us.

[allesonwonderland]

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the ship! We're looking at booking a March 2013 sailing. (But it'll be the Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel itinerary--we just did Belize, Roatan, etc. last year. AWESOME!)

 

What a bummer to have jury duty right after you get back from a cruise! :(

[jonbgd]

I Was on the same cruise - looked at it differently. We had a nice relaxing breakfast, went ice skating, watched a movie, then had lunch! We enjoyed our extra 4 hours on the Mariner! We were off the ship by 1:00 with the other C&A members who went to the dining room to wait (there were only about 30 of us in the dining room). We actually made it off the ship before our luggage. After a 30 minute wait in the hallway, we were let into the luggage room, processed and on our way by 1:45. The self disembarking passengers were already cleared by then.

 

The secret is to make sure you get a porter - they have their own line for processing, and we only had 1 person in front of us.

What time do you have to be out of your cabin when the ship is delayed??

[T_Bone2012]

What time do you have to be out of your cabin when the ship is delayed??

 

They let us stay in our cabins until we docked in Galveston. I think the passengers who are waiting to get on the ship get the short end of the stick.

[Carguylee]

Looking forward to hearing more

[jonbgd]

They let us stay in our cabins until we docked in Galveston. I think the passengers who are waiting to get on the ship get the short end of the stick.

K thanks, I figured they would, but glad to hear they actually do

[texasnana]

They let us stay in our cabins until we docked in Galveston. I think the passengers who are waiting to get on the ship get the short end of the stick.

 

 

I guess i should have said we did enjoy the extra time and free internet and cell phone use while waiting. I enjoyed the time and not being off at 7:30 am. We had to go back to our cabin when it was time to get off as hubby could not find his keys to our car. We thought we would be last off but it seems everyone was trying to get off with luggage and one Elevotor.

 

What i mean was this was the only BAd part of the cruise the fog. But then again it is Winter in Texas.

[Darkwolfe]

I looked in on the Galveston webcam just before 11am yesterday. No Mariner. Thought to myself, "Hmm.. I have a 2:30pm flight scheduled for going home after cruising Mariner this next week. I see a missed flight unless I reschedule". Bounced over to SW and changed it to 7:30pm. That should leave plenty of leeway for fogginess.

 

Plan ahead for trouble spots and then hope they don't happen. :)

 

Not worried about the departure. We'll be in Galveston by noon Friday. :D

[riofriotex]

I think the passengers who are waiting to get on the ship get the short end of the stick.

 

I actually enjoyed our delay (January 8 Mariner did not board until 6 PM and departed around 8:30 PM). We had brunch at the Hotel Galvez, walked and waded along the Seawall, and toured the tree stump sculptures before heading to the ship around 5:15.

 

Darkwolfe, I think you were very wise to move to a later flight home! Have some fun in Galveston when you get back!

[Darkwolfe]

I actually enjoyed our delay (January 8 Mariner did not board until 6 PM and departed around 8:30 PM). We had brunch at the Hotel Galvez, walked and waded along the Seawall, and toured the tree stump sculptures before heading to the ship around 5:15.

 

Darkwolfe, I think you were very wise to move to a later flight home! Have some fun in Galveston when you get back!

 

We're going to goof off around the island a bit Friday and Saturday. Going to go over to Moody Gardens. I haven't been over there since '99.

[lrn2cruise]

My sister is on the Mariner now. I text her around 12pm Sunday and she told me that she was delayed because of the fog.

[sherilyn70]

I hope most passengers realize that it is a force of nature and nothing the cruise line can do. It can delay debarkation/embarkation, but never by more than a few hours, right?

 

Actually about this time last year, I remember Carnival being 1 day late docking due to fog. So sometimes it can be more than just a few hours at that port.

[Doug S]

Actually about this time last year, I remember Carnival being 1 day late docking due to fog. So sometimes it can be more than just a few hours at that port.

 

Yup. I was on the Voyager on a Valentine's Day cruise last year, and as the fog cleared out at sea we saw the Carnival ship materialize across from us (along with about 50 other assorted ships). It had been there since the day before, but we were only delayed until mid-day. I drive a few hours home, so for me, no worries.... Felt bad for all those that had to scramble to make new plans though...

[kkestone]

Please tell us about the ports when you return from jury duty, I've never been to thoses ports except cozumel, thanks :)

I went to Roatan last year on Carnival. We took a private tour with Victor Bodden. Roatan is a beautiful place and the beaches are great. I believe that Royal docks in Coxen Hole (or something like that) our driver took us to a semi private beach club $ 5 admission fee but it was a great place to hang. Some in our group Zip lined withan outfit called South shore. They were a great out fit with 12 lines. It was a blast zipping over the jungle. We were supposed to go to Belize and had a cave tubbing adventure booked there but Carnival canceled our stop and we ended up going to Costa Maya where we went to the Mayan Ruins. I know that if you wanted to see the ruins you could do that in Belize. When I was researching Belize everyone said that it was a depressed area unless you went inland on an excursion. All I can say about the ruins is if you've never seen them they are truly amazing.

[1948buddy]

Please tell us about the ports when you return from jury duty, I've never been to thoses ports except cozumel, thanks :)

 

Hi, it will be our first Belize, but have been to Roatan. You will love it. We use Victor Bodden tours. He is really good. You can have a private cab $40 ea for two, or $25 each for four. They will take you wherever, whatever. He has some extras also . Check out his web site..You book on line and pay nothing till he gets you back to your ship. We are going again in March. Tabyana beach is beautiful, half moon bay resort is a great place to eat. If you like beer, get a Salva Vida, $2....This time we will explore the untraveled east end, Punta Gorda and Oak Ridge, Hole in the Wall restaurant that you get to by boat. Victor's driver just waits for you while you do what you want..Have a great trip!

[T_Bone2012]

We also used V Bodden on Roatan - Larson was a fabulous local tour guide. we Zip lined, then went to Half Moom bay for lunch and snorkeling.

 

In Belize we used Coral Breeze Tours and went out to Shark Ray Alley and snorkeled on the Barrier reef - incredible!

[BecciBoo]

The biggest disappointment for us in December (that rain cruise:mad:) was we had to cancel our Goff's Caye excursion through Coral Breeze..booo hisssss! When you say incredible, can you elaborate or include a link to pics Terry?

[critterchick]

I looked in on the Galveston webcam just before 11am yesterday. No Mariner. Thought to myself, "Hmm.. I have a 2:30pm flight scheduled for going home after cruising Mariner this next week. I see a missed flight unless I reschedule". Bounced over to SW and changed it to 7:30pm. That should leave plenty of leeway for fogginess.

 

Plan ahead for trouble spots and then hope they don't happen. :)

 

Not worried about the departure. We'll be in Galveston by noon Friday. :D

 

I think Galveston will join Barcelona on my "book your flight home for the day after" list.

[T_Bone2012]

The biggest disappointment for us in December (that rain cruise:mad:) was we had to cancel our Goff's Caye excursion through Coral Breeze..booo hisssss! When you say incredible, can you elaborate or include a link to pics Terry?

 

The water out there was incredibly clear - it was a 40 minute boat ride out to Caye Caulker. I'm putting a video of our snorkel trip together - I'll come post a link to it as soon as it's done. here is our photo album from belize:

 

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150506055636889.358647.651271888&type=3&l=51612e78b3