Bayport (Houston) boarding question

[txgweedo]

Can anyone tell me of a recent experience boarding Princess at Bayport? Specifically, can you check-in before 12:30 PM? Do they check in by deck? Thanks in advance!

[JF - retired RRT]

Not a recent experience, but I have gone out of Bayport 3 times.

Really, the answer to your question is the same for every port I have gone out of...Bayport, San Pedro & FLL (so far). As a general rule, you can arrive around 10-11 AM. Give your checked luggage to the porter and get in line.

If you don't have "preferred" boarding (Platinum, Elite, suite), you will be given a boarding card with a number and sit in the large seating area. Once boarding begins around 11-12, the numbers are called in order. When a particular number has finished boarding, they will call the next group number.

Before the number groups board, handicap, weddings, BVEs, in transit, Platinum, Elite & Suites board.

 

The email Princess sends with recommended boarding times is a suggestion, rarely (if ever) enforced.

[JeffandMelissa]

Can anyone tell me of a recent experience boarding Princess at Bayport? Specifically, can you check-in before 12:30 PM? Do they check in by deck? Thanks in advance!

 

 

Hi there. We are currently on the 4-day November 4th cruise...disembarking on the 8th. We arrived at the terminal and was parked by 1030am. Very efficient. Where they loop you around to the front, drop off luggage, then loop you back into the parking lot. Was on the ship and in our room by 1130am. And our cabin was on the Fiesta Deck, and we were eating in the Coral Dining room for lunch at 1215pm.

 

The check-in guidelines by deck are just that....guidelines and I've never found them to be enforced at Bayport.

 

Have a great cruise!

 

Melissa

[srpilo]

Not a recent experience, but I have gone out of Bayport 3 times.

Really, the answer to your question is the same for every port I have gone out of...Bayport, San Pedro & FLL (so far). As a general rule, you can arrive around 10-11 AM. Give your checked luggage to the porter and get in line.

If you don't have "preferred" boarding (Platinum, Elite, suite), you will be given a boarding card with a number and sit in the large seating area. Once boarding begins around 11-12, the numbers are called in order. When a particular number has finished boarding, they will call the next group number.

Before the number groups board, handicap, weddings, BVEs, in transit, Platinum, Elite & Suites board.

 

The email Princess sends with recommended boarding times is a suggestion, rarely (if ever) enforced.

 

Exactly

My experience at Bayport mirrors this example

 

Srpilo

[txgweedo]

Thanks so much for the quick response! I'm trying to schedule transportation for 5, 2 different decks, 2 different stateroom categories, etc. Your information is greatly appreciated!

[satxdiver]

CB is currently on a 4 day cruise to Progresso and will return Sunday. The ship recently returned from the UK and several Canada/New England 10 day cruises. We were on one of them last month. We have been sailing out of Bayport since Princess started using that port and were on the very first sailing out of that port several years ago. I have never seen the boarding plan by deck to be used. Boarding usually is very efficient unless something happens like having to deep clean the ship (noro) which happened to us once, fog interfering with the ship returning, barge accident in the channel once etc. We will again be boarding the CB early next year.

[ekka49]

Not a recent experience, but I have gone out of Bayport 3 times.

Really, the answer to your question is the same for every port I have gone out of...Bayport, San Pedro & FLL (so far). As a general rule, you can arrive around 10-11 AM. Give your checked luggage to the porter and get in line.

If you don't have "preferred" boarding (Platinum, Elite, suite), you will be given a boarding card with a number and sit in the large seating area. Once boarding begins around 11-12, the numbers are called in order. When a particular number has finished boarding, they will call the next group number.

Before the number groups board, handicap, weddings, BVEs, in transit, Platinum, Elite & Suites board.

 

The email Princess sends with recommended boarding times is a suggestion, rarely (if ever) enforced.

 

Thank you for this information, as all our previous cruises have been out of Australian ports. We are on our first American cruise out of Bayport 20th of March on Caribbean Princess. Looking forward to our three days in Houston before the cruise.

[caribill]

Was on the ship and in our room by 1130am.

 

Have boarded at Bayport several times. but embarkation never started that early for us. More around noon to 12:15 PM.

 

The current cruise may have had an earlier embarkation because when it arrived at Bayport there were less passengers than usual (many had disembarked in Fort Lauderdale on the repositioning cruise to Houston), so the ship may have been ready for new passengers faster than normal.

[PenguinLife]

I am sure you will find much to see and do in and around Houston in your free time before your cruise, but I just wanted to prepare you a bit about Houston. It is an extremely expansive city, which is reinforced by its mostly flat terrain free nature, the greater Houston area is now about 75 miles across east to west and even more north to south in places, and on its west side is home to the widest freeway in the U.S. (the Katy freeway section of Interstate 10) a 20+ mile long section of highway, 26 lanes across at its widest point. According to the Houston chronicle, "

The Katy Freeway at Beltway 8 is 26 lanes across.

Here's how that breaks down: 12 main lanes (six in each direction), eight feeder lanes and six managed lanes."

 

 

If you want to see the Katy Freeway, I don't suggest trying it any time around rush hour.

 

 

 

Driving across Houston on any of the freeways (side note Houston now has a number of E-Z pass only toll roads, so if you rent a car you may want to opt for the E-Z toll option for the car) away from downtown you will feel like you are on an ever repeating expanse of urban sprawl, as you pass clusters of auto dealerships, office complexes, malls, and national chain dining options over and over again. Having said that here are a few things to see and do within fairly close proximity to the Bayport cruise terminal

 

 

The Johnson Space Center Museum and tour of NASA's Johnson Space center, this is about 10-15 miles from the port on surface streets, The museum was privatized about 20 years ago, and personally I feel it is a bit over priced for what you get, they even charge $6 for parking, then $24 per head at the door, but is still something worth seeing if it is your first trip to the U.S.

 

 

If the weather is nice during your visit and you enjoy historical spots, you should also check out the San Jacinto Monumnent / battleground as well as visit the Battleship Texas (just across the road), this is also about 10-15 miles from the Bayport terminal, The Texas is the only surviving Dreadnaught class battleship in the world, was built in 1912, and saw service in both world wars.

 

 

If you want to explore out a little farther, I would suggest driving down to Galveston (25 miles south of the Space Center), and while there go to Moody Gardens, a well kept secret with a world class indoor aquarium, also indoor tropical greenhouse, Imax theater and even a steamship style paddle boat ride that travels up and down the bayou along the intracoastal waterway. Cost for a day pas is $60 per person, this covers all the attractions including the Imax movie, it is easy so spend 3 -5 hours here and still not see everything, tickets are also available for the individual attractions, If you only have time to do one part I would suggest the Aquarium.

 

 

While there if you are interested in aviation you may want to go next door to the Lonestar flight museum, or if you have kids with you and need something a little more energetic to do there is also the Schlitterbahn Galveston water park, all 3 are within walking distance of each other.

Edited November 7, 2015 by PenguinLife

[caribill]

 

The Johnson Space Center Museum and tour of NASA's Johnson Space center, this is about 10-15 miles from the port on surface streets, The museum was privatized about 20 years ago, and personally I feel it is a bit over priced for what you get, they even charge $6 for parking, then $24 per head at the door, but is still something worth seeing if it is your first trip to the U.S.

 

 

 

Discount tickets are available at http://spacecenter.org/

[ekka49]

I am sure you will find much to see and do in and around Houston in your free time before your cruise, but I just wanted to prepare you a bit about Houston. It is an extremely expansive city, which is reinforced by its mostly flat terrain free nature, the greater Houston area is now about 75 miles across east to west and even more north to south in places, and on its west side is home to the widest freeway in the U.S. (the Katy freeway section of Interstate 10) a 20+ mile long section of highway, 26 lanes across at its widest point. According to the Houston chronicle, "

The Katy Freeway at Beltway 8 is 26 lanes across.

Here's how that breaks down: 12 main lanes (six in each direction), eight feeder lanes and six managed lanes."

 

 

If you want to see the Katy Freeway, I don't suggest trying it any time around rush hour.

 

 

 

Driving across Houston on any of the freeways (side note Houston now has a number of E-Z pass only toll roads, so if you rent a car you may want to opt for the E-Z toll option for the car) away from downtown you will feel like you are on an ever repeating expanse of urban sprawl, as you pass clusters of auto dealerships, office complexes, malls, and national chain dining options over and over again. Having said that here are a few things to see and do within fairly close proximity to the Bayport cruise terminal

 

 

The Johnson Space Center Museum and tour of NASA's Johnson Space center, this is about 10-15 miles from the port on surface streets, The museum was privatized about 20 years ago, and personally I feel it is a bit over priced for what you get, they even charge $6 for parking, then $24 per head at the door, but is still something worth seeing if it is your first trip to the U.S.

 

 

If the weather is nice during your visit and you enjoy historical spots, you should also check out the San Jacinto Monumnent / battleground as well as visit the Battleship Texas (just across the road), this is also about 10-15 miles from the Bayport terminal, The Texas is the only surviving Dreadnaught class battleship in the world, was built in 1912, and saw service in both world wars.

 

 

If you want to explore out a little farther, I would suggest driving down to Galveston (25 miles south of the Space Center), and while there go to Moody Gardens, a well kept secret with a world class indoor aquarium, also indoor tropical greenhouse, Imax theater and even a steamship style paddle boat ride that travels up and down the bayou along the intracoastal waterway. Cost for a day pas is $60 per person, this covers all the attractions including the Imax movie, it is easy so spend 3 -5 hours here and still not see everything, tickets are also available for the individual attractions, If you only have time to do one part I would suggest the Aquarium.

 

 

While there if you are interested in aviation you may want to go next door to the Lonestar flight museum, or if you have kids with you and need something a little more energetic to do there is also the Schlitterbahn Galveston water park, all 3 are within walking distance of each other.

 

We would like to thank you for the time that you have spent on this reply. I think that NASA will be one of our days. Thank you again

[ekka49]

Discount tickets are available at http://spacecenter.org/

 

Thank you we will take advantage of the discount offer

[EKELLEY]

We boarded the Caribbean Princess today before noon.

[Paula_MacFan]

We just got off the Caribbean Princes today. We arrived at the port at 10:30 and were on board in our cabin by 12:00.

[bluedevil72]

Get there early. We also just got off the four-day cruise to Progreso today. We got to the port after 1:00 and the parking traffic, the line outside the terminal, the line at security and the line waiting to check in were the longest we've experienced. We had to rush to eat and then get to muster on time. I'm glad to hear that it was just a matter of timing. We drove down the day of the cruise this time instead of spending the night.......never again. Enjoy your cruise.

[Paula_MacFan]

I think some of the problem with our 4-day embarkation was the fact that it was the first sailing from Houston. The staff made many comments about 'today being my first day with the computer system' etc and the lines were quickly backing up. My husband and I both kept saying we were glad we got there early. Muster was supposed to start at 3:30 but they announced that due to the amount of people still waiting in line to get onboard, muster would be late. It was about 30 minutes late if I remember correctly.

[PenguinLife]

Much the same happened to us on our 5 day aboard Emerald Princess last November out of Bayport, it was the first cruise of the year with the ship arriving from a TA so added coast guard inspection, etc.

[caribill]

Much the same happened to us on our 5 day aboard Emerald Princess last November out of Bayport, it was the first cruise of the year with the ship arriving from a TA so added coast guard inspection, etc.

 

I do not think there was a Coast Guard inspection as the ship had stopped in Fort Lauderdale on the way to Houston and I suspect an inspection was made there.

 

We approached the terminal that day last year at 11:01 AM.

 

We were through security and check-in by 11:33 PM.

 

After a slight delay in boarding starting, we were in our cabin by 12:35 PM.

 

As this was the first ship at Bayport for the season, I found those times to be quite reasonable.

 

As I remember it, people who arrived around 1 PM had much longer wait times to get checked in. Also it was raining by then.

[James in SA]

We were on the 4 day to Progreso also, and arrived at the port at about 10:15am. The terminal was not crowded and the lines not that long. We were on the ship by about 12 and enjoyed a delicious lunch in the Coral dining room. Returning to Houston, debarkation was the smoothest and fastest I have seen. Maybe 15 minutes from the gangway to driving away in our car.

 

Getting there a little early does not seem to cause them any problems. Be aware the parking lot does not open until 10, so you will not want to get there before then.

[bluedevil72]

I will agree with the debarkation comment. While the embarkation was the worst we've been through in 13 cruises. the debarkation was the quickest. We didn't have to be anywhere in a hurry so our time was 10:30 and they called our number at 10:00. There were no lines anywhere, either to pick up our luggage or customs. We normally use a porter at Galveston to help us through the custom line, but there was no need this time.

[patnfrank]

Although Bayport is a fairly new terminal, it sat empty for many years and appears to be closing again in 2016. Houston politics! The terminal is many miles inland requiring transit thru the often narrow & congested Ship Channel. Be prepared for boarding delays caused by weather (winter FOG), or ship and barge accidents blocking the channel. We have been thru there 3 times and once were delayed because the fog required the ship to stay in the Gulf for many hours. Information & status was poor but they did arrange for transportation to the boardwalk recreation area. No charge but food & drinks were on us. Galveston seldom has problems as the cruise docks are very close to the harbor entrance. Just be prepared to experience delays and remember most problems will be resolved. HINT: don't schedule something like a wedding for the first day.