What time to arrive at Galveston to "wait out" the worst of the crowds on embarkation day?

[Eli_6]

After our last embarkation at Galveston, I want to avoid the morning rush.  Even with FTTF, it was incredibly stressful and I just don't want to do this again or go through this stress just to get on the ship an hour or two earlier.  How "late" do you need to arrive for a 3:30 debark to avoid the big morning rush?  Noon?  1 pm?  We are cruising again over the Easter weekend.  I don't want to plan to "push" it all the way back to 2 pm simply because there are too many variables with traffic coming from Houston, but I am definitely not going to "aim" for a 10 am arrival again since apparently Galveston isn't enforcing appointment times and there is a good chance everyone is just going to show up first thing in the morning regardless of their scheduled time.  

 

I am thinking about doing the same (arriving later in the arrival time frame) for our May cruise out of Barcelona since half the ship is diamond or platinum anyway and it will be the first sailing post-dry dock so there will be no B2B passengers and the entire ship will be boarding.

 

I do not like starting my cruise off stressed out and that is exactly what has happened on my last two cruises from a really stressful embarkation process. I would rather show up a little later, but not so late that I have to worry about missing the boat...

[AHS123]

With your prior experience at Galveston we should be asking you.

[Number12]

We recently had 12 to 12:30 boarding time in Galveston and pretty much walked on.  We are platinum so we did use priority lines, but didn't look like there was waiting for others either.

[ObstructedView2]

42 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

How "late" do you need to arrive for a 3:30 debark to avoid the big morning rush?  Noon?  1 pm? I don't want to plan to "push" it all the way back to 2 pm simply because there are too many variables with traffic coming from Houston

 

Hi 🙂

 

1pm is a good arrival time. 

 

 

🍹

[SailawayKC]

If traffic is bad it will affect others besides you. Last May they held the ship for 4 hours because of traffic. Also there is a 20 minute grace period past the last on board time. It's not worth the stress to find out about this. I would say 1-2 would be a good time.

[VIFP1987]

2 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

 How "late" do you need to arrive for a 3:30 debark to avoid the big morning rush?  Noon?  1 pm? 

Galveston is our home port. We choose the 1-1:30 check in time. Boarding has always been quick during this time. 

[Zachsmom]

We cruised on the Breeze back in September, 2022 and arrived at 12:30 and didn't have to wait long but I feel like the ship wasn't sailing at full capacity.  Fast forward to our cruise on the Breeze again (Jan 30-Feb 4) and it was stressful getting on the ship.  Arrived at 12:00 noon and didn't have to wait long to get on, but once we were on, there were people everywhere and could not find a place to sit and eat our lunch on the Lido or in the buffet area.  People were just sitting there waiting for their cabins to be open.  It was a little frustrating that we along with other people, were trying to find a place to sit and eat lunch but there was no open seating.  We finally gave up and just had to wait until after the cabins were open.  I will be on the Breeze again in April and we plan on arriving at the port at 1:00 pm - that way, we can do the muster, then go to our cabin to drop off our carry on luggage and then head to lunch.  Way less stressful for me.  

[scoobysnacks70]

We experienced this in 7/2022 as well.  They blamed it on the medical screenings.  I would think that would not be an issue now. I would think between 12-1 you would be fine.  When I was at guest services at that time people were pretty much just walking on

[CC Rider 69]

We arrive early 11, drop off bags then head over to the strand eat, have a drink, then go park our car at EZ cruise. It's usally around 1:30-2:00 when we catch the shuttle, by that time there is virtually no line.  There is a cut-off time to have your luggage handled by porters. 

[Doctorsbaby]

I normally aim for 1pm check in. My goal is to never stop moving from the time we get out of a car at the port until we hit our room.