Are Bayport cruises always problematic?

[tgmtgm]

Received a casino offer today from Princess, and one of the sailings that caught my attention is the Emerald out of Houston on 11/23/14. Are sailings out of Bayport always affected by fog? I've read numerous posts about numerous delays/disruptions over the past couple of months. The itinerary is appealing, as well as the perks offered. My only concern is that fog seems to be the thorn in Bayport's side.

 

Tony

[RickEk]

Received a casino offer today from Princess, and one of the sailings that caught my attention is the Emerald out of Houston on 11/23/14. Are sailings out of Bayport always affected by fog? I've read numerous posts about numerous delays/disruptions over the past couple of months. The itinerary is appealing, as well as the perks offered. My only concern is that fog seems to be the thorn in Bayport's side.

 

Tony

 

Not all the cruises have had problems... we were on the December 7th cruise and we were late arriving about 3 hours. If you take the cruise, plan on leaving late the day you get back or the next day, just in case...;)

[Cruzman]

Fog isn't always the primary issue. It's the location of the cruise port. Sometimes takes a couple of hours and a big cab fare to get to the port from the airport. There are few hotels anywhere near that one would want to stay in also.

[caribill]

Fog isn't always the primary issue. It's the location of the cruise port. Sometimes takes a couple of hours and a big cab fare to get to the port from the airport. There are few hotels anywhere near that one would want to stay in also.

 

No need to spend big bucks on a cab.

 

On the day of the cruise, can take Princess Xfer.

 

Other times, use SuperShuttle van service.

 

Several nice hotels in the Clear Lake area, about 8 miles from the port.

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

Both the 1/11 and 1/18 cruises arrived on time. Fog was not an issue.

 

Now we were delayed on 1/18 as they were cleaning for Noro but that's not the ports fault.

 

The main thing I didn't like about Houston was the the limited alcohol at the port due to Texas laws. Only limited beer and wine and only limited generic liquor. No champagne for our first drink ritual or any pre dinner martinis. Did it ruin my cruise, of course not. But between that and the possible fog issues on both ends of the cruise plus the port location, I will not be sailing out of Houston again.

 

I had a wonderful cruise but I'm going back to FLL. Did it (and really enjoyed the NASA museum) but won't be back.

[satxdiver]

NCL sailed from the port of Houston for several years before leaving. They used the old cruse terminal further up the channel without any significant problems. Bayport si experiencing its first season of having a cruise ship and has had a leaning curve. As for weather/fog it can impact both Bayport and Galveston. I intend to book a cruise on the Emerald next spring. I already have sailed from Bayport last November without any problem and will be back in March for another cruise.

 

Texas liquor laws are convoluted at best. At least in south Texas we do not have to belong to a "club" to order a drink in a bar or restaurant like they do in many areas of north Texas.

[cruzrbachoua]

Anyone know why the current sailing of Caribbean Princess looks like it is on its way back to houston instead of calling on Belize today?

Edited January 29, 2014 by cruzrbachoua

[Dudleydog73]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1980590

[cruzrbachoua]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1980590

thanks i guess i did not look that closely for a thread on it........

[tgmtgm]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I'll digest all the pros and cons and take it from there. I've sailed once before out of Galveston and encountered no problems. Gotta think positive despite all the strikes against this new embarkation port. ;)

 

Tony

[Times Prince]

Received a casino offer today from Princess, and one of the sailings that caught my attention is the Emerald out of Houston on 11/23/14. Are sailings out of Bayport always affected by fog? I've read numerous posts about numerous delays/disruptions over the past couple of months. The itinerary is appealing, as well as the perks offered. My only concern is that fog seems to be the thorn in Bayport's side.

 

Tony

Tony, the weather overall in Texas has been somewhat unusual this year. Both Houston/Bayport and Galveston are affected when there is fog and, out of the 4-5 cruises we've sailed from these ports only one was affected by fog, and it was January 2013 and the port was Galveston.

 

Fog isn't always the primary issue. It's the location of the cruise port. Sometimes takes a couple of hours and a big cab fare to get to the port from the airport. There are few hotels anywhere near that one would want to stay in also.

Bayport is much closer than Galveston to the airports. After the Caribbean Princess repositioning cruise this past November our Princess Transfer took an hour (as predicted by Princess) to get to IAH. Princess says Hobby is about 15 minutes closer.

 

This is one port where the Princess transfer may be the best way to go.

[5:00_Somewhere]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1980590

 

Yup. We were very lucky that our 1/18 sailing had no weather-related issues and only a delayed boarding to sanitize due to Noro. But, there have been so many weather-related problems with this sailing - including this week's cruise, as referenced in the link above - as much as I enjoyed the itinerary, I can't imagine that I will ever sail out of Bayport again. Too bad, because it's a nice terminal. But, stressing about whether or not you're going to get back to port on time (and make your flights) is no way to end a cruise, IMHO.

[gooch47]

We will think long and hard before booking another after being delayed 24 hours on our Christmas cruise with our granddaughter and her parents.

 

At least we still made three ports even though Costa Maya was substituted for Roatan.

[Colo Cruiser]

We did have a Feb cruise on CB on hold and just canceled it after weighing all the pros and cons.

We ended up booking the Sapphire for the same time.

 

Granted its the MR but hey its a cruise with a wider Promenade deck!! :D

[Dudleydog73]

Yup. We were very lucky that our 1/18 sailing had no weather-related issues and only a delayed boarding to sanitize due to Noro. But, there have been so many weather-related problems with this sailing - including this week's cruise, as referenced in the link above - as much as I enjoyed the itinerary, I can't imagine that I will ever sail out of Bayport again. Too bad, because it's a nice terminal. But, stressing about whether or not you're going to get back to port on time (and make your flights) is no way to end a cruise, IMHO.

 

 

I agree wholeheartedly. On our cruise we went to bed Saturday night still at the bagport dock and woke up the next morning looking at our car in huge parking lot. The inane alcohol rules and weather issues, not to mention Princess HQ giving all of us on this voyage the "weather happens, we owe you nothing" response will keep us from trying this again.

 

We had 4 brand new cruisers with us and constantly felt like we had to apologize for the way the week played out, but we are thankful that Princess sails from many other ports offering us lots of choices.

 

C'est la vie as they say in France.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk 2

[jean s]

Sailing out of Bayport in February but already have next cruise booked out of Fort Lauderdale. There are just too many variables with this port.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Maybe the cruises out of Bayport should be advertised as "cruises to somewhere" with a more flexible itinerary? :D

[bargainbev]

Fog isn't always the primary issue. It's the location of the cruise port. Sometimes takes a couple of hours and a big cab fare to get to the port from the airport. There are few hotels anywhere near that one would want to stay in also.

 

There are a number of really great hotels/chains near the Johnson Space Center which would only be about 25 minutes away from the port. There are also hotels in Seabrook, TX on NASA 1 that are quite nice and located near restaurants and the Kemah boardwalk (that also has restaurants and rides).

 

Fly into Houston Hobby instead of Bush International and it won't be as expensive for transportation, but I thought they were working on a shuttle.

 

Good luck!

[bargainbev]

Received a casino offer today from Princess, and one of the sailings that caught my attention is the Emerald out of Houston on 11/23/14. Are sailings out of Bayport always affected by fog? I've read numerous posts about numerous delays/disruptions over the past couple of months. The itinerary is appealing, as well as the perks offered. My only concern is that fog seems to be the thorn in Bayport's side.

 

Tony

 

We will be going on the Feb 1st cruise and think the fog is due to the chillier weather along with precipitation that is in the area these past couple of weeks. Usually it is rather pleasant and beautiful this time of year.:rolleyes:

There are plenty of hotels/chains in the area plus the Johnson Space Center to see if you are going to stay on an extra day after OR beforehand.

[KruzPrincess]

I keep reading how much trouble the Caribbean Princess is having sailing out of Houston. (I know that some of the recent issues are due to Norovirus. I'm not talking about Noro.) I have friends in TX and always think about going on a cruise out of TX with them. Now, I've read a lot about the strategic problems with these sailings. For those of you who sail out of TX a lot, are some of these problems due to changing from Galveston to Houston? Would they still be having the same problems in Galveston? Just curious. I know a lot of people want a Princess ship in TX, but do you think they'll keep one there? Thanks for your opinions.

[LARGIN]

Did it on a b2b starting 1/11... No more... :eek:

[tgmtgm]

Well despite the overwhelming consensus that Bayport is jinxed, I put a deposit down. Hopefully I won't regret doing so. :eek: It was only $100 due to Princess's current promotion, and I received a very attractive solo rate on an obstructed OV cabin. Combined with the casino perks, it should make for an enjoyable cruise.

 

Again, thanks to everyone who took the time to post their experiences and offer first hand suggestions.

 

Tony

[Cruzman]

Bayport has issues. Just come prepared for them. It is what it is.

[iceleven]

I've tried several times to book a cruise out of both Galveston and Bayport but every time that I look for flights, I find that flying costs are much higher than any other U.S. port. I can fly from SFO to NYC, Boston, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and New Orleans ALL for less than out of the Texas gulf ports. Apparently Texas (maybe it's just Houston) has airport rates, perhaps due to taxes that are higher than most all other major airports.

 

I have many more options and variety out of other east coast ports so I'll not bother with Houston just to go to Mexico.

 

If anyone can explain to me why Houston airports cost more to fly into than others, it would be gladly appreciated if you could share your knowledge.

[jsea]

Regarding airfare, my guess is that it's due to less competition. United is the only carrier who flies nonstop from SFO to any Houston airport, I think. And Southwest only has two OAK-HOU (Hobby) nonstops daily.