Galveston?

[hungry1]

8 hours ago, Sweetnspicy said:

I just put a deposit down for that exact cruise. 

Me too!  I'll see you around the deck.

[Liljo22]

Galveston officials said they are in talks with NCL to sail from the port starting November 2023. 
https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/ports-destinations/galveston-seeks-long-term-strategy-norwegian-cruise-line

[Tricialy]

I’d love to see them sail out of Texas again.  We sailed on the Jewel out of Houston when it was there and it was full, but it was TX Spring Break. 

[Liljo22]

15 hours ago, Liljo22 said:

Galveston officials said they are in talks with NCL to sail from the port starting November 2023. 
https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/ports-destinations/galveston-seeks-long-term-strategy-norwegian-cruise-line

Also found an article from Harry saying that they are looking at Galveston as a future port for one of the Prima ships.  Put two and two together and maybe the second Prima off the line will be in Texas.  

[MagnoliaBlossom]

We’re booked!  So looking forward to sailing from Galveston again.  Our daughter lived in Galveston for four years and we would sail out of G often.   On cruise days we could hear the ships blow their horns as they left port.  Always made me smile.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

2 hours ago, Liljo22 said:

Also found an article from Harry saying that they are looking at Galveston as a future port for one of the Prima ships.  Put two and two together and maybe the second Prima off the line will be in Texas.  

Great article, even if they didn’t get the cruise dates right.   I remember the Texaribbean logo was really clever - a rodeo cowboy riding a dolphin.

[coldferret]

On 5/12/2021 at 11:12 AM, bgTexasguy said:

The Port of Houston had a beautiful terminal that was utilized by  Princess and the NCL JEWEL (not , Jade) for two years, to the Western Caribbean.  Those cruises took place in 2014 and 2015.

During that time, both Princess and NCL terminated their contracts because of the many (and sometimes lengthy) fog delays that are common in the ship channel.  The problems were compounded by the fact that Container Ships have priority!

 

Previously to the 2014 - 2015 sailings, NCL did have the Dream cruising "Texaribbean Cruises" out of the older port (further up the ships channel).

We sailed out of Houston/Bayport in January 2016 on the JADE

[MagnoliaBlossom]

48 minutes ago, coldferret said:

We sailed out of Houston/Bayport in January 2016 on the JADE

I believe that during the last year of their contract, NCL swapped the Jewel for the Jade.

[MichiganBound]

7 minutes ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

I believe that during the last year of their contract, NCL swapped the Jewel for the Jade.

Jade was the last NCL ship sailing out of Port of Houston.  I was on the final Jade cruise.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

Thank you for confirming my recollection.

[zdcatc12]

On 5/14/2021 at 3:42 PM, MichiganBound said:

Jade was the last NCL ship sailing out of Port of Houston.  I was on the final Jade cruise.

I was on the first one. Came over on the TA from Barcelona in Nov '15.

[happy cruzer]

Those who booked Prima Oct 22, did you book air and transfers?  Wondering about the cost of the transfers?  To me that is one of the issues with Galveston or Houston, expensive and time consuming to get to the port.  Roundtrip allows options of parking at port which is affordable but leaving from Galveston and arriving Miami is harder.

 

Thanks.

[jaapie]

25 minutes ago, happy cruzer said:

Those who booked Prima Oct 22, did you book air and transfers?  Wondering about the cost of the transfers?  To me that is one of the issues with Galveston or Houston, expensive and time consuming to get to the port.  Roundtrip allows options of parking at port which is affordable but leaving from Galveston and arriving Miami is harder.

 

Thanks.

One option to consider is to fly into Houston Hobby airport rather than Houston George Bush InterContinental airport. Hobby is much closer to Galveston and you could just Uber from Hobby.

[Fabulous97]

We are also booked for the 11 nighter on Prima from Galveston. Never been to Texas before!

 

It means we have the 10 hour odd flight out and 8 hours on the return to London.

 

We will arrive the day before any recommendations?

[golf4me2010]

Are there any shuttles from the cruise port to GBinter?

[Paul Bogle]

5 hours ago, Fabulous97 said:

We are also booked for the 11 nighter on Prima from Galveston. Never been to Texas before!

 

It means we have the 10 hour odd flight out and 8 hours on the return to London.

 

We will arrive the day before any recommendations?

 

Houston is a large spread-out city. You really will not have much time to see things the evening before your cruise. Jet lag will probably reduce your activity level too. You will arrive at IAH which is 90 minutes from Galveston if traffic is flowing. With this in mind I suggest you arrange a car service to take you directly from IAH to Galveston and stay somewhere downtown near the cruise ship terminal like the Tremont. 

 

My thinking is that you will arrive early afternoon when most of the flights from Europe land. It will take at least an hour or more to deplane, clear immigration, retrieve luggage and move through customs. Figure another two hours to get to Galveston and it will be very late afternoon to early evening and I suspect you will be tired. If you do have some energy you can enjoy a stroll along the strand in Old Galveston, enjoy a fine meal at your hotel or dine at a local establishment. 

 

The Tremont is adjacent to the cruise ship terminals. When you wake in the morning you will see your ship just out your window if you are facing that direction. For more suggestions you should visit the Gulf Coast Departure board.

 

Have a wonderful cruise. We are considering the previous sailing from New York.

[bgTexasguy]

There are plenty of shuttle companies available from either IAH (furthest away) or HOU (closer).

A quick Google search should help you find the specific info that you seek.

...we drive to Galveston and park.  (For this trip we will park at HOU and UBER to the port for boarding).

[happy cruzer]

My TA came up with a very good suggestion for those of us a few hours from Galveston.

 

Use a rent car to get to Galveston.  Use one way air from Miami to home airport.

 

In our case it may cost a bit extra, because we still have to get from airport to house at the end but we don't have to park a car somewhere for 2 weeks.

[Fabulous97]

17 hours ago, Paul Bogle said:

 

Houston is a large spread-out city. You really will not have much time to see things the evening before your cruise. Jet lag will probably reduce your activity level too. You will arrive at IAH which is 90 minutes from Galveston if traffic is flowing. With this in mind I suggest you arrange a car service to take you directly from IAH to Galveston and stay somewhere downtown near the cruise ship terminal like the Tremont. 

 

My thinking is that you will arrive early afternoon when most of the flights from Europe land. It will take at least an hour or more to deplane, clear immigration, retrieve luggage and move through customs. Figure another two hours to get to Galveston and it will be very late afternoon to early evening and I suspect you will be tired. If you do have some energy you can enjoy a stroll along the strand in Old Galveston, enjoy a fine meal at your hotel or dine at a local establishment. 

 

The Tremont is adjacent to the cruise ship terminals. When you wake in the morning you will see your ship just out your window if you are facing that direction. For more suggestions you should visit the Gulf Coast Departure board.

 

Have a wonderful cruise. We are considering the previous sailing from New York.

This is very helpful thank you so much. USA passport control always takes us some time, jet lag will also factor in. 🙂

[MagnoliaBlossom]

Yes, we booked the airfare from IAH.  We will drive the four hours to IAH and find a hotel with a park and stay program, or use a long term lot, then shuttle to the pier the next day.

 

if you DuckDuck “Houston airport shuttle to Galveston” it will show you all the shuttle services from both airports.  The cost is pretty reasonable considering the distance.   Note that they usually quote RT prices.  Several of the shuttle services have positive review here on CC (check home ports page)

 

our cost for two people total, not each, from MIA to IAH is $74!   There is an extra charge of a transfer fee for ship to airport of $25/pp.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

On 5/12/2021 at 9:58 AM, valleyvillage said:

I love Galveston! How about a pre and post cruise stay at the wonderful Tremont House? Yes, please!

Or The Galvez!

[dmdiver]

Does Galveston have a car rental return?  Seems like we looked at renting a large vehicle for a family trip.  I can't remember if it had to do with returning the vehicle or if we just couldn't find anything suitable.  Ended up driving down in 3 vehicles & parking across the street from ship.

[happy cruzer]

On the Gulf Coast Ports board part of Cruise Critic there is good info about Galveston.  It is mentioned on there that Enterprise has car return in Galveston.  Will keep checking there closer to sailing.

Edited May 23, 2021 by happy cruzer