Regal Boarding in Galveston

[dpalmquist]

On my travel summary, I noticed it says Your ship begins boarding at 12:00 PM on Feb 04 and sets sail at 03:00 PM on Feb 04.

Does anyone have any recent experience in Galveston? I have heard about the lines outside and wanted to know a good time to arrive at the port.

 

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, dpalmquist said:

On my travel summary, I noticed it says Your ship begins boarding at 12:00 PM on Feb 04 and sets sail at 03:00 PM on Feb 04.

Does anyone have any recent experience in Galveston? I have heard about the lines outside and wanted to know a good time to arrive at the port.

 

As early as you like up to 2:00pm.  Is 3pm the actual sailing time or is it the end of check-in?  If the latter, sail time will be more like 4pm.  They will open doors more like 10am and could begin boarding by about 11am.  For certain, they will begin check-in process well before 12pm.  Same everywhere.

 

PS - Depart is 3pm.  No way they are going to be processing a ship of guests in a 2hr window.  

Edited January 16 by Steelers36

[dpalmquist]

9 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

As early as you like up to 2:00pm.  Is 3pm the actual sailing time or is it the end of check-in?  If the latter, sail time will be more like 4pm.  They will open doors more like 10am and could begin boarding by about 11am.  For certain, they will begin check-in process well before 12pm.  Same everywhere.

Thanks. Everyone is talking about the long lines and that stresses me out. 3pm is the actual sailing time. We got an emergency notification for change of itinerary. Don't know if it has to do with Mardi Gras or not.

Edited January 16 by dpalmquist

[CC Rider 69]

This past weekend's (1-14-24) sailing was lines down very close to 3pm.

[Paula_MacFan]

4 hours ago, dpalmquist said:

3pm is the actual sailing time. We got an emergency notification for change of itinerary. Don't know if it has to do with Mardi Gras or not.

 

We sail on the Regal this Sunday and got the 'emergency notification' email about the change in departure time on 9/13/23.  The official cause was 'operational reasons' which is vague, but it seems to be due to port congestion in general this season in Galveston.  That makes a quick turnaround day for the crew, but I'm happy to be on our way as soon as possible 🙂  

Edited January 17 by Paula_MacFan

[eclue]

Better to go around 1pm. We boarded on Dec 24th at 10:30 and it was almost a 2 hour wait due to security ...they had only 3 security lanes opened and then finally opened two more to speed things along.By 1pm, the line will be shorter..IMO....

[dpalmquist]

21 hours ago, Paula_MacFan said:

 

We sail on the Regal this Sunday and got the 'emergency notification' email about the change in departure time on 9/13/23.  The official cause was 'operational reasons' which is vague, but it seems to be due to port congestion in general this season in Galveston.  That makes a quick turnaround day for the crew, but I'm happy to be on our way as soon as possible 🙂  

I look forward to hearing about your experience on this cruise.

[atakkat]

We boarded on 1/14. We had a mix of blue and green line and lined up at 1015. The message board stated they started boarding at 1015 according to someone doing a BRB. 10 minutes total. Easy peasy.

[like2cruise]

21 minutes ago, atakkat said:

We boarded on 1/14. We had a mix of blue and green line and lined up at 1015. The message board stated they started boarding at 1015 according to someone doing a BRB. 10 minutes total. Easy peasy.

So you were onboard by 10:30?  That's awesome if you were!  By any chance do you have remember the "short list" of drinks available?  If you departed at 3pm...were you in International waters around 6pm?  Did you get the $25.00 per person credits for the delayed use of the Princess Plus?  Any info is appreciated!!

[ScottsdaleSteve]

Currently on Regal Princess out of Galveston.  Here is the drink menu til you get to international waters.  Sailed at 3:30pm and the drink package kicked in around 5pm. Also, the ship adds 18% gratuity and Texas adds another 8.25% sales tax on these Galveston drinks.   But as others have mentioned, each person on a drink package gets a $25 credit on their ship account.  So about 3 “free” beers per person.  
 

We sailed Jan. 14.  Arrived at the port at 9:55, and we were on board by 10:15AM!

[pb2819]

Does anyone know if whatever balance is left of the $25 goes away in international water or does it stay as OBC?

[helenb]

8 hours ago, pb2819 said:

Does anyone know if whatever balance is left of the $25 goes away in international water or does it stay as OBC?

 

Our OBC for the 'Galveston inconvenience' stayed on our accounts the entire cruise. We actually did not purchase any drinks while in Texas waters, and it ended up applying against our gratuities daily charges.

[Trevelbond]

I'm standing in baggage claim at IAH right now. The transfer setup is totally disorganized. One person is checking in multiple ships and lines, and I have seen nobody with a Princess sign at all. The passengers have figured out where they are supposed to check in by noticing the tags on baggage. They handed me a blue ticket once checked in and told me to just stand "over there."  No estimate on departure time. Not much seating, even less information. 

 

Disney and Royal Caribbean have people down here to answer questions at let nervous travelers know that they're in the right place. An RCI rep is talking to a group of Princess passengers right now. Why doesn't Princess have anybody here? 

 

I'm a really easygoing traveler, but looking at the faces of fellow passengers this is a poor first impression. 

[dpalmquist]

I am feeling much better seeing the responses. Most people posting today were on in 10 - 20 minutes. Last year when we boarded the Ruby a car crash had knocked out power to the port. It was a disaster and so frustrating. I know not the norm but my only experience since pre-covid.