Liberty at updated Galveston Terminal #2 - any reports?

[39august]

The suite/gold card group follows the concierge in a different line than self-assist and by-passing those still in line, which on LB is a LOT. I have never seen other than self-assist called first. But, the gold card group is called shortly thereafter, thus many (most?) self-assists are still winding their way down corridors to actually get to the terminal once clocked out of the ship.

[ARCruisinNana]

In March, Gold card self assist met at 7:15. The Concierge led us off and then the other self assist started. Gold card holders who had baggage to collect met at 8:15 and were also led off by the Concierge.

[39august]

Carolyn, who was the Concierge at that time, please? I've never experienced that. That could be a real plus for those gold card holders driving home!

[ARCruisinNana]

Carolyn, who was the Concierge at that time, please? I've never experienced that. That could be a real plus for those gold card holders driving home!

 

 

It was Anis. We were parked at Galveston Park N Cruise. I waited with the luggage and grandchildren while my daughter got the car. We were on the road at 7:35.

[39august]

Wow! I believe Anis will be on vacation when we sail Aug 28-Sept. 18. So I will ask if Carlos also offers this. If we can get a shuttle or other transport at about 8 AM, we could easily make an 11:30 flight from Hobby.

[aggieteacher10]

Should we do self assist or not?

 

If we do self assist, do we have to be there at the time they say you can begin, or can we wait a little bit for the line to go down? With 3 kids (one who is only 1 yr old), I don't want to be standing in a forever long line, especially in the heat.

[Galveston Cruiser]

Unless I'm mistaken, I believe the Vision will be doing 4-5 day cruises and will embark on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

 

We have cruised round-trip from Galveston previously, and have always found it to be complete chaos with debarkation worse than embarkation. I was hoping the new terminal would provide enough space to improve both processes. I guess I will see for myself in December when we go on our Christmas cruise aboard the Liberty.

 

We will be on Liberty in October so will let you know.

In all the years sailing in/out of Galveston, we have only experienced a long delay once due to ICE being at Carnival first which made RCCL passengers back up in long lines. Have done both self assist and later baggage claim, closed loop and transatlantic.

[Galveston Cruiser]

Can't imagine what it will be like in Nov. 2017 when Vision also debarks and embarks on a Sunday!

 

Vision will not be docking on Sunday. She will be doing 4 & 5 day cruises.

[nealstuber]

Vision will not be docking on Sunday. She will be doing 4 & 5 day cruises.

 

 

The 5,5,4 rotation puts here in Galveston every other Saturday - No Sundays. Carnival used to do the same thing before they had three ships and two Berths at Galveston.

Edited July 21, 2016 by nealstuber

[JimAOk1945]

I came across this information about the Vision of the Seas on the RC website at the link below.

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruises?departureCode_GAL=true&shipCode_VI=true&currentPage=0&action=update

 

4 night sailings

 

Thu - 16 Nov 2017

Thu - 30 Nov 2017

Thu - 14 Dec 2017

 

5 night sailings

 

Mon - 6 Nov 2017

Mon - 20 Nov 2017

Mon - 4 Dec 2017

Mon - 18 Dec 2017

 

5 night sailings

 

Sat - 11 Nov 2017

Sat - 25 Nov 2017

Sat - 9 Dec 2017

 

We almost booked the 5 night, but decided the 8 night on the LOS would be nicer since it's longer.

[cruizinmimi]

Just got off the Liberty July 17th - we did walk-off (self-assist) departure. We are D+ and not in a suite. We simply left our cabin (Deck 8) and went to the Michelangelo Lounge Deck 4. We were there by 6:45 and had to line up with our luggage around the dining room wall. They started letting us off at 7:30. This was the easiest debarkation that we ever experienced. We were in our car and on the road by 8:00 a.m.

[39august]

Hi, Linda! Glad to hear things are improving with new terminal. Carla and Dave are on board this week and she tells me that embarkation was in the new terminal and went very smoothly. Apparently you still enter thru' the same doors, but there is an entry to the new terminal after you clear security. We shall see in 5 weeks. FYI for others: boarding is still by C&A status. After check in the waiting area is upstairs now.

[peach section]

We had 2 cabins on the Liberty of the Seas, a family oceanview deck 8 forward, and an oceanview 6 forward. Walk Off Group B was estimated 7:50 to 8:20.

 

we didn't hear any anouncements, and left both cabins at 7:45 to head to deck 4. Elevators were plentiful, no waiting, even with their 5 family members and 3 suitcases!

 

As we got out of the elevators, there wasn't a line at the theater, so we walked directly outside for a short line to scan off the ship. We were surprised how easy and painless it was. (this was still before 8 AM - not sure how later groups fared).

 

The line moved steadily down the ramp, past baggage area, to the customs area. There were 6 or 7 customs lanes open for US residents, and only 1 or 2 were designated for non-US. We were out of the terminal by 8:15. After about a 10 minute wait for Port Lot B Parking shuttle, we were in our cars and ready to go by 8:30. Very pleased, a smooth departure!

 

I hope those with later departures also had an easy time.

[nealstuber]

I've never understood the "no baggage on the escalator rule." I have to do it all the time at almost every airport.

[ARCruisinNana]

I've never understood the "no baggage on the escalator rule." I have to do it all the time at almost every airport.

 

 

You can take baggage down the escalator, but must have one hand free.

[cruisinlife]

Yesterday, Sunday, August 7th, we purposely got the last luggage tag # that Royal Caribbean had (#50), because our flight wasn't until 3:45 pm out of Hobby and our shuttle reservation was for noon. Our # was called around 10 am and once we got off the ship the line never stopped moving. We collected our bags and went straight to customs line without using a porter. We were outside in the heat and humidity by 10:20 am. Not only have we heard the horror stories of Galveston departures, but we have experienced them as well. I was expecting 45 minutes to an hour of wait time inside the terminal and the only time we even stopped walking was to collect bags and gather our group back together.

 

I give a thumbs up to the new terminal if for nothing else but spreading people out.

[JimAOk1945]

It's great to read about someone having a positive experience. Thanks for taking the time to post your comments.

[Cgaope]

Embarkation Aug 14th - first time RC cruisers arrived around 11:30 and were onboard by 12:00. We have been told that if we do self serve disembarkation we will be assigned a ticket with a specific time to leave our cabin and disembark.