Regal Princess Galveston Sailings Concerns

[cruisinsince75]

Having only sailed on smaller all inclusive ships recently, such as Seabourn, Silversea, and Regent, we have a few concerns after reading the past three Live from reports.  We are both mobility challenged and chose our upcoming cruise because we could drive to the port instead of flying.  So we have a couple of concerns.

 

Embarkation/Disembarkation.  I have read that there are horrendous lines at check-in.  Leaving people lined up outside of the building for over an hour.  That the Green Lane and handicapped access lanes aren't until you are inside the building.  My plan is to drop my DW with her scooter and luggage with the porters and park our car at the Express Lot next to the terminal and drive my scooter back to meet up with her ti board the ship.  Not sure if the logistics for that.  Same as for debarkation in reverse.

 

Medallion Issues.  Great that you don't need to sign for anything.  Not so great when the wifi is down or you get charges for drinks, etc that you didn't order and have to go to the hassle of trying to get them removed.  Like somebody charged $250 plus for a bottle of Dom Perignon that wasn't ordered.  I thought it was a repeat from Fletch, but his name wasnt Underhill. 🤣

 

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[reedprincess]

10 minutes ago, cruisinsince75 said:

Having only sailed on smaller all inclusive ships recently, such as Seabourn, Silversea, and Regent, we have a few concerns after reading the past three Live from reports.  We are both mobility challenged and chose our upcoming cruise because we could drive to the port instead of flying.  So we have a couple of concerns.

 

Embarkation/Disembarkation.  I have read that there are horrendous lines at check-in.  Leaving people lined up outside of the building for over an hour.  That the Green Lane and handicapped access lanes aren't until you are inside the building.  My plan is to drop my DW with her scooter and luggage with the porters and park our car at the Express Lot next to the terminal and drive my scooter back to meet up with her ti board the ship.  Not sure if the logistics for that.  Same as for debarkation in reverse.

 

Medallion Issues.  Great that you don't need to sign for anything.  Not so great when the wifi is down or you get charges for drinks, etc that you didn't order and have to go to the hassle of trying to get them removed.  Like somebody charged $250 plus for a bottle of Dom Perignon that wasn't ordered.  I thought it was a repeat from Fletch, but his name wasnt Underhill. 🤣

 

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Internet going down has no bearing on your medallion working or not. The medallion works exactly like an RFID/chipped card. 

 

Internet doesn't go down on ships very often. Haven't even heard of it since transatlantic sailings last year when out of range of a satellite - and the Internet provider has changed since then, Starlink now...

 

As for embarkation/disembarkation. If the systems go down, it screws everything up. Galveston does have facial recognition for disembarkation, but if it's down - that's not Princess fault. Princess has only been there 3 weeks or so, it's working out the bugs.

 

If you're worried about lines or such, just go later in the day and let those die down. Or go extra early, and be prepared to sit around for a while... 

[DUCHESSRN]

I can only tell you of our experience and hope things have improved . 

I dont think it matters anymore what color lane you are in , apart from Elite being separate you board in the group you are assigned at arrival .

We were in lines for over 90 min getting off , getting our bags was not too bad but then hauling them along in lines would not be easy for some people .

Guest Services are used to removing charges from Medallions I think ,we had no unusual charges on Regal .

Elevators may be tricky ...they seemed busy .

[BlerkOne]

On the Nov 5 Regal cruise, they were letting people with walkers etc. bypass the long lines to get through security, but some didn't realize it and waited forever. Check in time started at 11:30an, yet many people were lined up long before that. 

 

I didn't have any bogus charges on either of my cruises (I did a b2b). The Internet may not have been fast, but was never down in my experience. In any event, you don't need an Internet package to use the Princess app on the ship, and can check and question your account at any time. I did have an incorrect charge on Discovery Princess in October, which was easy for me to get removed 

 

I don't think I have ever seen more canes, walkers, or scooters on a cruise. It was not uncommon for someone with a scooter to drive it to their dining room table and for one of the staff to then valet park it.

 

I absolutely would have Medallions delivered prior to the cruise and be green lane. There were just more lines for those who weren't 

[Shippy]

We just got back from our first.....maybe last Galveston cruise.

We flew in from California & I was concerned about the logistics getting to Galveston

   We flew to DFW & then a short connection to HOU (Hobby) airport. We came in 2 days early & my daughter had arranged private transportation from HOU to Galveston.

  I was worried about many possible complications that could have come up but none did.

THEN>>>>>the way back.

  We had arranged for private transport from the ship at 8:30 in the morning to the airport. We were staying in a suite & carrying all our luggage off ourself. So, we hung out in the Concierge lounge to be escorted off at 8 am. I thought 1/2 hour would be plenty of time.

Did not start off to bad & I was happy there were ramps all the way instead of escalators.

BUT It was about how many ramps there were. I had heard the port gets backed up & I ASSUMED they meant outside, not inside.

     It took a very long time. Before I knew it, it was 8:30 am & we were still walking down ramps.  There was no separate line for people carrying out all their own luggage, so as people got their luggage along the way, it just slowed down the line. We panicked & called the driver asking him to wait as we were almost through the line.....or so we thought. Strange as people could get their luggage.

   Eventually, we got to the customs lines. Another nightmare. All the other ports we had been at had a separate line for U.S. citizens vs foreigners, this did not. SO... the customs lines moved VERY slowly as some people had to take out different paperwork like visas..

   Bottom line.....Moving quickly, it took us a little over 1 hour to get out of the port. Luckily for us, the driver was incredible & waited.

    It would have to be one hell of a cruise offer to get me to sail from Galveston again.

Almost forgot to mention. The ride from HOU was 1 hour & I know that was the closest airport.

 

[BlerkOne]

4 minutes ago, Shippy said:

 

  We had arranged for private transport from the ship at 8:30 in the morning to the airport. We were staying in a suite & carrying all our luggage off ourself. So, we hung out in the Concierge lounge to be escorted off at 8 am. I thought 1/2 hour would be plenty of time.

 

 

Express walk off began at 7:30. I would have done that and skipped the lounge.

[Shippy]

14 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Express walk off began at 7:30. I would have done that and skipped the lounge.

I would have if I had a knowledge of how bad it was getting through the port. We were up early enough.

[cruisinsince75]

19 hours ago, reedprincess said:

Internet going down has no bearing on your medallion working or not. The medallion works exactly like an RFID/chipped card. 

 

Internet doesn't go down on ships very often. Haven't even heard of it since transatlantic sailings last year when out of range of a satellite - and the Internet provider has changed since then, Starlink now...

 

As for embarkation/disembarkation. If the systems go down, it screws everything up. Galveston does have facial recognition for disembarkation, but if it's down - that's not Princess fault. Princess has only been there 3 weeks or so, it's working out the bugs.

 

If you're worried about lines or such, just go later in the day and let those die down. Or go extra early, and be prepared to sit around for a while... 

Good points.  Makes sense that the app is not tied to wifi.  Also, that Princess has only been sailing from Galveston for 3 weeks and facial recognition.  We sail next fall, so I'm sure they will have plenty of opportunity to get some of the kinks worked out.  Also, a good idea to wait until later to board.  Thanks!

[cruisinsince75]

19 hours ago, DUCHESSRN said:

I can only tell you of our experience and hope things have improved . 

I dont think it matters anymore what color lane you are in , apart from Elite being separate you board in the group you are assigned at arrival .

We were in lines for over 90 min getting off , getting our bags was not too bad but then hauling them along in lines would not be easy for some people .

Guest Services are used to removing charges from Medallions I think ,we had no unusual charges on Regal .

Elevators may be tricky ...they seemed busy .

Do they have porters to collect your bags for you when you debark?  Hadn't thought about the elevators.  Going from ships with 600 PAX capacity to a ship with potentially 3600 PAX, might be a bit tricky for us.  Thanks!

[cruisinsince75]

19 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

On the Nov 5 Regal cruise, they were letting people with walkers etc. bypass the long lines to get through security, but some didn't realize it and waited forever. Check in time started at 11:30an, yet many people were lined up long before that. 

 

I didn't have any bogus charges on either of my cruises (I did a b2b). The Internet may not have been fast, but was never down in my experience. In any event, you don't need an Internet package to use the Princess app on the ship, and can check and question your account at any time. I did have an incorrect charge on Discovery Princess in October, which was easy for me to get removed 

 

I don't think I have ever seen more canes, walkers, or scooters on a cruise. It was not uncommon for someone with a scooter to drive it to their dining room table and for one of the staff to then valet park it.

 

I absolutely would have Medallions delivered prior to the cruise and be green lane. There were just more lines for those who weren't 

Good to know that we might be able to bypass the lines going through security.  Yes we have ordered our Medallions to be delivered and are already set for green lane.  Thanks!

[cruisinsince75]

19 hours ago, Shippy said:

We just got back from our first.....maybe last Galveston cruise.

We flew in from California & I was concerned about the logistics getting to Galveston

   We flew to DFW & then a short connection to HOU (Hobby) airport. We came in 2 days early & my daughter had arranged private transportation from HOU to Galveston.

  I was worried about many possible complications that could have come up but none did.

THEN>>>>>the way back.

  We had arranged for private transport from the ship at 8:30 in the morning to the airport. We were staying in a suite & carrying all our luggage off ourself. So, we hung out in the Concierge lounge to be escorted off at 8 am. I thought 1/2 hour would be plenty of time.

Did not start off to bad & I was happy there were ramps all the way instead of escalators.

BUT It was about how many ramps there were. I had heard the port gets backed up & I ASSUMED they meant outside, not inside.

     It took a very long time. Before I knew it, it was 8:30 am & we were still walking down ramps.  There was no separate line for people carrying out all their own luggage, so as people got their luggage along the way, it just slowed down the line. We panicked & called the driver asking him to wait as we were almost through the line.....or so we thought. Strange as people could get their luggage.

   Eventually, we got to the customs lines. Another nightmare. All the other ports we had been at had a separate line for U.S. citizens vs foreigners, this did not. SO... the customs lines moved VERY slowly as some people had to take out different paperwork like visas..

   Bottom line.....Moving quickly, it took us a little over 1 hour to get out of the port. Luckily for us, the driver was incredible & waited.

    It would have to be one hell of a cruise offer to get me to sail from Galveston again.

Almost forgot to mention. The ride from HOU was 1 hour & I know that was the closest airport.

 

Shippy, flying adds an extra amount of stress.  How to get from A to B, transfers, etc.  So I know what you mean. The worst did happen to us last year on both ends.  We had a wonderful cruise, but the beginning and the end totally ruined it for us.  We are California transplants, living near Dallas.  We chose this cruise for one reason.  We could drive to the ship.  We won't be in a hurry to get off the ship, so hopefully we wont run into any issues.  Thanks!

[DUCHESSRN]

1 hour ago, cruisinsince75 said:

Do they have porters to collect your bags for you when you debark?  Hadn't thought about the elevators.  Going from ships with 600 PAX capacity to a ship with potentially 3600 PAX, might be a bit tricky for us.  Thanks!

I really dont know . 
The elevators on the ship would be tight for 2 scooters . Poor elevator etiquette when we were on board . 

[BabsinTX]

1 hour ago, cruisinsince75 said:

Do they have porters to collect your bags for you when you debark?  Hadn't thought about the elevators.  Going from ships with 600 PAX capacity to a ship with potentially 3600 PAX, might be a bit tricky for us.  Thanks!

On disembarkation day, it often is quicker to take an elevator up, then stay on for the ride down.

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, cruisinsince75 said:

Do they have porters to collect your bags for you when you debark?  Hadn't thought about the elevators.  Going from ships with 600 PAX capacity to a ship with potentially 3600 PAX, might be a bit tricky for us.  Thanks!

There are porters. There might be (shocking) a line for them. But it would be the shortest line of the day. And they will jump ahead of many passengers to the porter line to get through Immigration. I didn't need a porter, but started considering getting one.

[skynight]

I see you are on the Regal Princess.

Have you booked an HCP cabin?  Then no cabin issues.

If not then recognize that cabin doors for all other cabins are 22 inches wide. You have to be able to fit your scooters through the door. Scooters can not be left out in the hall overnight. There is no parking area outside the cabin. Inside & balcony cat. cabins have limited space to park scooters. Mini suites and full suites have more open space. If you have not done so you may wish to consider a full suite or a reserve class mini suite. There are some HCP reserve class mini suites on the Regal. Full suites and Reserve Class provide you with access to the Reserve Class dining area. No wait. Show up anytime the DRs are open. 

 

. 

 

[luv2kroooz]

Also remember, Galveston can be prone to fog. Recommend booking late flights out or even spending a night post cruise.

[satxdiver]

1 hour ago, luv2kroooz said:

Also remember, Galveston can be prone to fog. Recommend booking late flights out or even spending a night post cruise.

The fog issue is mostly in the first part of the year - February - April

[satxdiver]

6 hours ago, cruisinsince75 said:

Do they have porters to collect your bags for you when you debark?  Hadn't thought about the elevators.  Going from ships with 600 PAX capacity to a ship with potentially 3600 PAX, might be a bit tricky for us.  Thanks!

 

There will be porters in the baggage claim area available for a tip.  We use them due to walking problems.  There also will be porters if you are parking in one of the offsite lots and they will meet you at the shuttles.

[AlwayzCruising]

We just boarded on Sunday and the lines to get on took almost an hour and a half to get in to the building before we get to security. Then another 30-45 minutes once inside to get through the security line and luckily, we were green lane, cause the blue lane was probably another good hour to two before even getting their medallions and on the ship. Once we got past security and walked past all the blue lane people, the green lane took maybe 10 minutes before we were walking the 10 minute maze to get on the ship… I’m worried about what disembarkation is going to look like next Sunday. We were told that they were NOT using the facial recognition due to there being fake passports on previous cruise… I don’t know how true that is… they also, from what I heard, locked the doors at 2:30 and if you weren’t already in line and inside the building, they wouldn’t let you in… we ended up leaving an hour late… 

the internet did not work at all the first night once we got out in to international waters. I went and spoke with guest services and they said that there was some kind of block on the internet and they had to restart to router and everyone should be getting internet in the next 20-40 minutes (that was around 9 pm…) I still didn’t have internet when I went to bed around 11:30. But, the next morning I did … also, without connecting to the medallion net network, I was unable to load the app to even see what was going on and where. Couldn’t order a drink… nothing … 

they are working out some other kinks. I have seen posts of people saying that they would order on the app an 2 hours later they still didn’t have their food or drink. ..

I sure hope it gets better as time goes on!!

[dog]

2 hours ago, AlwayzCruising said:

We just boarded on Sunday and the lines to get on took almost an hour and a half to get in to the building before we get to security. Then another 30-45 minutes once inside to get through the security line and luckily, we were green lane, cause the blue lane was probably another good hour to two before even getting their medallions and on the ship. Once we got past security and walked past all the blue lane people, the green lane took maybe 10 minutes before we were walking the 10 minute maze to get on the ship… I’m worried about what disembarkation is going to look like next Sunday. We were told that they were NOT using the facial recognition due to there being fake passports on previous cruise… I don’t know how true that is… they also, from what I heard, locked the doors at 2:30 and if you weren’t already in line and inside the building, they wouldn’t let you in… we ended up leaving an hour late… 

the internet did not work at all the first night once we got out in to international waters. I went and spoke with guest services and they said that there was some kind of block on the internet and they had to restart to router and everyone should be getting internet in the next 20-40 minutes (that was around 9 pm…) I still didn’t have internet when I went to bed around 11:30. But, the next morning I did … also, without connecting to the medallion net network, I was unable to load the app to even see what was going on and where. Couldn’t order a drink… nothing … 

they are working out some other kinks. I have seen posts of people saying that they would order on the app an 2 hours later they still didn’t have their food or drink. ..

I sure hope it gets better as time goes on!!

what time did you line up to board?

[texswamper]

8 hours ago, AlwayzCruising said:

We just boarded on Sunday and the lines to get on took almost an hour and a half to get in to the building before we get to security. Then another 30-45 minutes once inside to get through the security line and luckily, we were green lane, cause the blue lane was probably another good hour to two before even getting their medallions and on the ship. Once we got past security and walked past all the blue lane people, the green lane took maybe 10 minutes before we were walking the 10 minute maze to get on the ship… I’m worried about what disembarkation is going to look like next Sunday. We were told that they were NOT using the facial recognition due to there being fake passports on previous cruise… I don’t know how true that is… they also, from what I heard, locked the doors at 2:30 and if you weren’t already in line and inside the building, they wouldn’t let you in… we ended up leaving an hour late… 

the internet did not work at all the first night once we got out in to international waters. I went and spoke with guest services and they said that there was some kind of block on the internet and they had to restart to router and everyone should be getting internet in the next 20-40 minutes (that was around 9 pm…) I still didn’t have internet when I went to bed around 11:30. But, the next morning I did … also, without connecting to the medallion net network, I was unable to load the app to even see what was going on and where. Couldn’t order a drink… nothing … 

they are working out some other kinks. I have seen posts of people saying that they would order on the app an 2 hours later they still didn’t have their food or drink. ..

I sure hope it gets better as time goes on!!

I hate to hear that since Regal has arrived in Galveston the embarkation & disembarkation process seems to be in disarray.  Having sailed out of Galveston many times and 3 times at the beginning of 2023 on the Ruby, I can attest to the fact that we had no such issues and things moved smoothly and quickly but facial recognition definitely makes things speedy.  Having the Regal booked in 2024 from Galveston, I hope this gets turned around and goes back to "normal" soon.  Any thoughts that doing away with boarding times could be adding to the long lines, at least for embarkation?  

[CC Rider 69]

1 hour ago, texswamper said:

I hate to hear that since Regal has arrived in Galveston the embarkation & disembarkation process seems to be in disarray.  Having sailed out of Galveston many times and 3 times at the beginning of 2023 on the Ruby, I can attest to the fact that we had no such issues and things moved smoothly and quickly but facial recognition definitely makes things speedy.  Having the Regal booked in 2024 from Galveston, I hope this gets turned around and goes back to "normal" soon.  Any thoughts that doing away with boarding times could be adding to the long lines, at least for embarkation?  

Yep, us too. 3X's on the Ruby last year, the on and off process was a breeze. Of course, we live close to the pier and opt for a 1-2 o'clock boarding time. 

[Dudleydog73]

We were on the November 5th sailing and embarkation was a breeze.  I think we were on the ship around 11:30am being one of the first in line and bags arrived in our cabin before we went to the dining room for lunch. 

 

Disembarkation on the other hand was an absolute s*** show.  We had an 8:50am disembarkation group with a 10:00am private shuttle scheduled for HOU.  We left our cabin around 8am and went to the Vista lounge where the Elite/Platinum lounge was.  They came on multiple times stating that immigration lines were backed up and that they were halting people leaving the ship and to just "hang out" in the lounge. 

 

Fast forward an hour later and we were just now moving off the ship.  We quickly found out that our Global Entry cards meant nothing at this port and between the long diverging lines which we chose poorly, we found ourselves literally at the end of the queue.  The staff managing the CBP queues did not have any rhyme or reason for who they allowed into the lines and we ended up outside the terminal at 11:30am.  Luckily the shuttle company had another one that they got us on as our original 10am shuttle was long gone.

 

Word to the wise in Galveston, do not try for any morning flights when making plans.  

[Kelownabccan]

Wow.....am now rethinking doing this cruise.....the prices seemed to be too good.....reading all this I can see why....lol.......for us up in the middle of BC it is a hassle to get to IAH or HOU and flights are not cheap....then need a hotel the day before the cruise....maybe one after...fog???......a long shuttle ride....1 hr??? and the hassle at the port....not a relaxing week trip....and the ship seems to have problems.....and not much of a Black Friday sale perk.....plus have been to the ports before.....oh well....back to the drawing board

[Saint Greg]

I had a really long embarkation line but once it started moving (11am), It moved fast. Let me check the time stamps on my pictures and I can give you exact times.

 

I got in line at 10:42.

Line started moving at 11:02.

I turned the corner at 11:18

In the building at 11:23

Through Security at 11:40

Checked in 11:43

Boarding 11:47

On board 11:50.

 

People who weren't in the green line had another long line to wait in. I would recommend making sure you get your medallion ahead of time.

 

Debarkation was another story. The word is they were not using facial recognition so it was taking longer. I have had other ports where they didn't use facial and it didn't take long. I have figured out what the differences are. Other ports separate passport from non-passport people. Here it was one line. Also here they were fingerprinting people. Electronic fingerprints. The thumb. Then the rest of the fingers. Both hands. I'm not sure if it was all non-passport people or what. But I saw a lot of them doing it and that was the major holdup. I took 30 seconds with my passport. The family of four in front of me took 10 minutes with their fingerprints. They were only using 7 of the 11 stations. Here are the times on debarkation:

 

I left the ship on my own leisure which was after coffee and breakfast.

 

I left the ship at 8:30

Got off the ram at 8:35

Luggage area at 8:50

Customs line at 8:53

Through customs at 8:38

 

 

Edited November 22, 2023 by Saint Greg