Getting from Hobby airport to dock at Galveston

[sueernieb]

What is the best and/or most reasonable way to get to the dock at Galveston from Hobby airport? RCI's prices seem awfully high. Thanks

Edited December 19, 2016 by sueernieb

[gannk]

Don't plan to use Uber. It is pretty east to get them from Houston to Galveston, but I've read that it is tough to go the opposite direction.

 

 

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[sueernieb]

Surely they have cabs available don't they.

[es0]

It is a pretty long drive... I googled for "Houston hobby to Galveston" and found a shuttle, galvestonexpress .com

 

 

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[es0]

Perhaps you could do a one way car rental.

 

 

 

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[Clarea]

What is the best and/or most reasonable way to get to the dock at Galveston from Hobby airport? RCI's prices seem awfully high. Thanks

There are some shuttle services, we've used Super Shuttle in the past.

 

Check out the Gulf Coast Departures forum for more ideas:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=414

[ColoradoGurl]

We took a shuttle van, for a cost of around $150+ for 2 people one way. I feel like it would have been cheaper to rent a car and drop it off at a different location. I hadn't looked into options at the time because I didn't realize how far away and expensive it was and ended up taking the best option available at the airport. We lucked out and got a ride from someone back to the airport at the end of the week.

 

Cruises from Galveston seem like a good deal until you realize you have to tack on $300 to your expenses. The distance from the airport and the cost are why a lot of people won't sail from there even though it's a beautiful port and a lot closer to people on the west coast.

 

Edited to add: Keep in mind that we didn't plan ahead and there were only 2 of us in the shuttle, and it was booked at the airport which might be why we paid so much. I checked the link someone posted above and it looks like you can get a shuttle for $60/person round trip if it's a group shuttle. If it's private like the one we took, that same one costs $600/person (4 times what we paid, so I guess we got a good deal).

 

 

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Edited December 19, 2016 by ColoradoGurl

[es0]

The Laquita Houston Hobby offers transportation to the Galveston port. I am not sure of the details or fine print, but it would be worth checking into.

 

 

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[Clarea]

Perhaps you could do a one way car rental.

 

Tough to do at Galveston. There's only one car rental agency on the island, Enterprise. Last I heard they are either not open on Sunday and/or do not take one-way rentals. There is an Avis in Texas City that does have better hours and takes one-way rentals, but that's still around a $40 cab ride to the port.

[ColoradoGurl]

Nevermind

Edited December 19, 2016 by ColoradoGurl

[George C]

Don't plan to use Uber. It is pretty east to get them from Houston to Galveston, but I've read that it is tough to go the opposite direction.

 

 

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Uber is not allowed in Galveston, we get a private town car service for about 120 each way very comfortable but not cheap

[davekathy]

What does Royal charge for the trip?

[travelgoddess1]

A great resource for Galveston-bound cruisers is Galveston.com. The website is an all-in-one source for hotels, flights, shuttles, you name it. That is where we have started our search for transportation from Hobby. We ended up taking a private town car to Galveston, and booking the RCI shuttle from Galveston back to Hobby, which was not that expensive.

[CruiseCheapsk8]

We have been out of Galveston once and for many of the reasons above, we will never do so again. It is so incredibly hard to get to the port because the airports are far away. We actually rented a car, which was a nightmare trying to get things booked as there is only on rental car place in Galveston, Enterprise, and they don't like you to do one way. Anyway, that was a headache for months ahead of time as they couldn't find our confirmation number and reservation, we were told a number of things, etc, but it finally worked out in the end (at the price that we had booked). However, when we got to drop the car off, we tried to call a taxi, only to find that there were only 6-7 tax places in Galveston and it would take 45 mins to an hour to get one, with multiple ships disembarking (we arrived pretty early, like at 9:30/10:00 to drop off the car. Some people that had walked all the way from the Port to rent a car took pity on my wife and I and dropped us off at the port, as they were headed back that way to pick up their friend and all of their luggage. It took us about 45 minutes to get there, which is only about a mile and a half or two miles, because of all the traffic too. We ended up giving the guys money for taking us, even though they didn't want to accept it, as we were so grateful for their help. What a miserable experience!

 

Anyway, we would not recommend renting a car. The headache and hassle leading up to it and the day of was not worth it. I would first look at booking some sort of shuttle, as people have advised above, and then I would look at the cost of a taxi (I don't know how much they are from the airport, but might be pricey), then I would look at the RCI shuttle and compare prices. My guess is a private shuttle, booked well in advance, would be your best bet. But it might still be a little money, which is the downside of going out of Galveston, unfortunately. My wife and I just went on the Enchantment out of Miami and it was like $12 for an Uber (which you can't do in Galveston) and would only have been $24 for a taxi, which included both of us.

 

Galveston is just not a great port, in my opinion (and that's just one man's opinion). We have sworn never to go out of Galveston again, even if we can get a cheaper cruise, just not worth the headache. We much prefer the ease of other ports.

[39august]

Take Bob's suggestion and go to the Gulf Coast Departures forum. Lots of options that are not that expensive.

[Clarea]

What does Royal charge for the trip?

Last year it was $32 per person, one-way.

[Clarea]

... Galveston is just not a great port, in my opinion (and that's just one man's opinion). We have sworn never to go out of Galveston again, even if we can get a cheaper cruise, just not worth the headache. We much prefer the ease of other ports.

Pretty much agree with this. We are fly-in cruisers, and Galveston is last on our list. I cannot get my wife to consider it right now, no matter how good the price of the cruise.

[CruiseCheapsk8]

We have been out of Galveston once and for many of the reasons above, we will never do so again. It is so incredibly hard to get to the port because the airports are far away. We actually rented a car, which was a nightmare trying to get things booked as there is only on rental car place in Galveston, Enterprise, and they don't like you to do one way. Anyway, that was a headache for months ahead of time as they couldn't find our confirmation number and reservation, we were told a number of things, etc, but it finally worked out in the end (at the price that we had booked). However, when we got to drop the car off, we tried to call a taxi, only to find that there were only 6-7 tax places in Galveston and it would take 45 mins to an hour to get one, with multiple ships disembarking (we arrived pretty early, like at 9:30/10:00 to drop off the car. Some people that had walked all the way from the Port to rent a car took pity on my wife and I and dropped us off at the port, as they were headed back that way to pick up their friend and all of their luggage. It took us about 45 minutes to get there, which is only about a mile and a half or two miles, because of all the traffic too. We ended up giving the guys money for taking us, even though they didn't want to accept it, as we were so grateful for their help. What a miserable experience!

 

Anyway, we would not recommend renting a car. The headache and hassle leading up to it and the day of was not worth it. I would first look at booking some sort of shuttle, as people have advised above, and then I would look at the cost of a taxi (I don't know how much they are from the airport, but might be pricey), then I would look at the RCI shuttle and compare prices. My guess is a private shuttle, booked well in advance, would be your best bet. But it might still be a little money, which is the downside of going out of Galveston, unfortunately. My wife and I just went on the Enchantment out of Miami and it was like $12 for an Uber (which you can't do in Galveston) and would only have been $24 for a taxi, which included both of us.

 

Galveston is just not a great port, in my opinion (and that's just one man's opinion). We have sworn never to go out of Galveston again, even if we can get a cheaper cruise, just not worth the headache. We much prefer the ease of other ports.

 

Sorry if I was a debbie downer on this one. I didn't mean to be, just wanted to help you out on what not to do. That being said, I'm sure you can enjoy your experience by learning from our mistakes. Good luck and have fun!!!

[davekathy]

Sorry if I was a debbie downer on this one. I didn't mean to be, just wanted to help you out on what not to do. That being said, I'm sure you can enjoy your experience by learning from our mistakes. Good luck and have fun!!!

 

Not at all. I've read similar posts. We are also fly in Cruisers and have never cruised out of Galveston only due to the long travel distance to the port.

[davekathy]

Last year it was $32 per person, one-way.

 

Seems reasonable to me. When the OP posted RCIs "prices seemed awfully high" all I could think $100.00 P/P or more.

[travelgoddess1]

Pretty much agree with this. We are fly-in cruisers, and Galveston is last on our list. I cannot get my wife to consider it right now, no matter how good the price of the cruise.

 

We are also fly-in cruisers. After many years of trying to make it work out of Galveston, we gave up. We haven't gone back in 3 years.

[Clarea]

Not at all. I've read similar posts. We are also fly in Cruisers and have never cruised out of Galveston only due to the long travel distance to the port.

It's not just the distance, because MCO to Port Canaveral is a similar distance. The differences are in the hotel accomodations close to the port (less expensive in PC and not requiring a two day minimum on the weekend) and the 6 or 8 different rental car companies being open on cruise day, taking one-way rentals, and having free shuttles to the port. Throw in the odd Texas liquor restrictions on day 1 and the propensity for fog certain times of the year, and Galveston pales in comparison to Port Canaveral.

Edited December 19, 2016 by clarea

[davekathy]

It's not just the distance, because MCO to Port Canaveral is a similar distance. The differences are in the hotel accomodations close to the port (less expensive in PC and not requiring a two day minimum on the weekend) and the 6 or 8 different rental car companies being open on cruise day, taking one-way rentals, and having free shuttles to the port. Throw in the odd Texas liquor restrictions on day 1 and the propensity for fog certain times of the year, and Galveston in comparison to Port Canaveral.

 

Good to know. Thank you.

[Mellowjourney]

Galveston Limousine Service has very reasonable transfers from Houston Airports to the ship and back. We paid $50 round trip per person, so $100 total.

 

http://www.galvestonlimo.com/

[robtulipe]

This is what we did to get to our navigator cruise out of Galveston in January of last year.

We used Hotwire.com to get a package for our hotel and rental car to get around and to get to Galveston. As we were cruising with another couple, we booked two king bed rooms at Super 8 League City/Kemah Area along with a Dollar full size car for the night before our Jan. 11th Navigator cruise. Cost was $120US total for all on Hotwire.com and that hotel was really nice and modern with large rooms, included continental breakfast and is convenient to the I-45 Gulf Fwy. Hotel was approximately 15 miles south of Hobby and 25 mile from the cruise terminal.

If one selects a package, in this case a hotel and car, with Hotwire it shows the actual names of the hotel offered and you don't book blind as with the hotel only booking. Remember you can upgrade the car as the first offering is usually with a economy car.

To get to the ship we drove down with the rental car early on embarkation morning and drop off luggage and three of us. Then I return the car to Hobby and took the RCI's transfer back to the ship, cost $32 for one. This worked very well at a total cost of $170 (including gas) for the four of us which included our pre-cruise two rooms hotel stay. I kept the other advised of my progress by cell phone.

I didn't pre-book the ship's transfer. I just arrange the transfer with the RCI person in the baggage area when I returned to Hobby and you can charge it to your onboard account if you show your set sail pass. Dollar or other rental companies does provide shuttle service between their location and Hobby airport.

We were doing B2B2B cruises and our friends weren't so I rented a car from Enterprise, the only rental agency on Galveston Island, they pick you up and drop off at the port, to drive them to Hobby and to have transport on our turn around day. On the second turn around day we just wandered around the old downtown area of Galveston

We were just going to take the ship's transfer to get ourselves back to Hobby but another couple on our roll call offered to drop us off at the airport as they were driving right by it on their way to their home on the other side of Houston.

As there are typically lots of local people on cruise out of Galveston it may be worth while to post your transportation need on your cruise's roll call stating you would share expenses like parking and gas cost.