IAH Flight changed. What would you do?

[kywildcatfanone]

Folks,

 

I need some help from past cruisers out of Galveston. We are on the Grand at the end of March, booked 2 months ago. Anyway, while trying to help book today for friends to go with us, I found out the airline changed our return flight home from IAH from 1:30pm to 12:25pm. They didn't tell me , this is how I found out. Their next flight doesn't leave until 5:30pm, and I really wanted the earlier flight. I booked the shuttle through Princess and they can't tell me what time the shuttles to the airport will start I guess because they don't know when the ship will be disembarked. They recommend no earlier than 1:30pm, which of course, is what I had before the airline changed it.

Anyway, I guess I can leave it and take my changes, but I have seen several threads of late arriving ships and customs issues in Galveston and don't feel good about that. I guess I could cancel the transfer from the ship to the airport and try to get a taxi or something like that. Any advice!

 

Mike

[Shoalwater]

Less stress. Disembarkation in Galveston has been spotty. If no delays, you should be able to make a 1225 flight, but if anything goes awry it could be really dicey. Why put that stress on early upon your return. Let it wait till Monday!

[Colo Cruiser]

Do the express disembarkation and walk off with your luggage between 7:45 and 8:30 am. Make sure to sign up for this during the week of the cruise at the pursers desk. :)

[cherylandtk]

Either take the later flight, or don't use the Princess shuttle. Hire a car or limo or rent a one way car. If you can use the express disembarkation, that would be even better.

[Logie]

Either take the later flight, or don't use the Princess shuttle. Hire a car or limo or rent a one way car. If you can use the express disembarkation, that would be even better.

 

I would hire the car service and skip the Princess transfers. It is expensive but worth it.

[CAcruzfunatic]

We sailed the Grand out of Galveston Thanksgiving week and disembarkation was very slow. If you want to keep your early flight I would do as others have indicated. Carry your own luggage off and arrange your own transportation. Otherwise 5:00 isn't that late. We went to the Houston Space center on disembarkation day before the airport and had an awesome time. My kids said it was the BEST!

 

Have a great cruise!

[kywildcatfanone]

I suppose one option is to use the Princess transfer from the Airport to the Cruise ship (one way), and get a taxi or one way car rental from the ship to IAH. Is that even possible? Anyone done that, and how did it work out?

[Colo Cruiser]

I suppose one option is to use the Princess transfer from the Airport to the Cruise ship (one way), and get a taxi or one way car rental from the ship to IAH. Is that even possible? Anyone done that, and how did it work out?

 

If you want to take a chance of missing your flight then take the Princess transfer. :eek:

 

You will have to sit and wait while the bus fills up and that can be painfull if you are on a tight schedule. :rolleyes:

[Northender]

Folks,

 

I need some help from past cruisers out of Galveston. We are on the Grand at the end of March, booked 2 months ago. Anyway, while trying to help book today for friends to go with us, I found out the airline changed our return flight home from IAH from 1:30pm to 12:25pm. They didn't tell me , this is how I found out. Their next flight doesn't leave until 5:30pm, and I really wanted the earlier flight. I booked the shuttle through Princess and they can't tell me what time the shuttles to the airport will start I guess because they don't know when the ship will be disembarked. They recommend no earlier than 1:30pm, which of course, is what I had before the airline changed it.

Anyway, I guess I can leave it and take my changes, but I have seen several threads of late arriving ships and customs issues in Galveston and don't feel good about that. I guess I could cancel the transfer from the ship to the airport and try to get a taxi or something like that. Any advice!

 

Mike

 

Mike, is the 1:30 flight gone? This happened to us once, and we called the airlines to say we could not make the earlier flight as we were on a cruise. They were very helpful, put us on a later flight and gave us a voucher for future travel. In your case, perhaps they will foot the bill for a limo. You can only try.:)

[kywildcatfanone]

Mike, is the 1:30 flight gone? This happened to us once, and we called the airlines to say we could not make the earlier flight as we were on a cruise. They were very helpful, put us on a later flight and gave us a voucher for future travel. In your case, perhaps they will foot the bill for a limo. You can only try.:)

 

Yes, the changed the 1:30pm flight to a 12:25pm flight, and they didn't tell me. The only way I found out was when I went to help a friend book the same cruise and the TA didn't see the flight I gave them.

 

I will call the airline and ask if they will provide the cost of a taxi or something. Thanks for the advice!

[kywildcatfanone]

Mike, is the 1:30 flight gone? This happened to us once, and we called the airlines to say we could not make the earlier flight as we were on a cruise. They were very helpful, put us on a later flight and gave us a voucher for future travel. In your case, perhaps they will foot the bill for a limo. You can only try.:)

 

Yes, the changed the 1:30pm flight to a 12:25pm flight, and they didn't tell me. The only way I found out was when I went to help a friend book the same cruise and the TA didn't see the flight I gave them.

 

I will call the airline and ask if they will provide the cost of a taxi or something. Thanks for the advice!

[kywildcatfanone]

Mike, is the 1:30 flight gone? This happened to us once, and we called the airlines to say we could not make the earlier flight as we were on a cruise. They were very helpful, put us on a later flight and gave us a voucher for future travel. In your case, perhaps they will foot the bill for a limo. You can only try.:)

 

Yes, the changed the 1:30pm flight to a 12:25pm flight, and they didn't tell me. The only way I found out was when I went to help a friend book the same cruise and the TA didn't see the flight I gave them.

 

I will call the airline and ask if they will provide the cost of a taxi or something. Thanks for the advice!

[Northender]

Just be sure to tell them you are on a cruise and the late flight causes you difficulty getting home at a later time.:)

Good luck

[firefly333]

I just got off the Caribbean Princess and had a 12:25 flight and got there OVER 4 hours early :( I did the express walk off at 7:15 am. I was all worried when they told me that you have to board the shuttle and wait for it to fill up before it leaves for the airport.

 

Its about 30 miles from Galveston to Houston, so if you do an early walk off you will have tons of time. Do you have suitcases on wheels?

 

I still hope to do the Dream before it leaves Houston, but since I just got back Sunday, Im still gathering my energy back and dont want to book quite yet. I hope they have some good prices on the Dream for the 4/7 sailing.

[firefly333]

Just for the record, I was on the Grand in December and did the Express Walk off then as well and again they called us BEFORE 7:15 am to start walking off. We were in the Casino waiting and I had time to wait for the transport to my car to fill up, get to my car, and was on my way out of town by 7:50, I was already seeing the signs for Houston. I had parked in Galveston that time.

 

On the CB last Sunday the higher your floor the sooner you got off, my cruise roomie didnt do the express walk off, but she was off by 8:30 because our cabin was on Lido deck. You should be able to get an earlier time if you need it, but on our cruise, only flights that left BEFORE noon could get the earlier times to disembark. So you might want to consider the walk off.

[annemarie]

If I were you I would delay flight to the 530 flight. 1225 is cutting it close. I have not cruised out of Galvaston,but I do not think that makes a difference. I have been on cruise where the disembarkation was delayed many times. Once because drugs were found in some luggage and nobody was allowed off till this was cleared up which was 10 or 11 oclock. And just in December we were delayed again because they had somebody needing an ambulance so we did not get off till about 11. So I would change flights and not have to worry about it.

[Shoalwater]

Do the express disembarkation and walk off with your luggage between 7:45 and 8:30 am. Make sure to sign up for this during the week of the cruise at the pursers desk. :)

 

We arrived back in G'ton on 13-Jan 2007 on the Grand one hour late, delayed by fog. The first walk-offs were called at 0830 hrs, and the last walk-off color was called at 1000 hrs! Customs was moving at a snails pace so by the time you got bags and cleared it might have been 1030+ hrs. Now factor in time to get to your transportation (15-30 min?). If you are leaving G'ton at 1100 for a 1230 flight at Hobby (HOU) you can probably make it, but you won't make G.Bush (IAH, the north airport) in time for a 1230 plane.

[kywildcatfanone]

We arrived back in G'ton on 13-Jan 2007 on the Grand one hour late, delayed by fog. The first walk-offs were called at 0830 hrs, and the last walk-off color was called at 1000 hrs! Customs was moving at a snails pace so by the time you got bags and cleared it might have been 1030+ hrs. Now factor in time to get to your transportation (15-30 min?). If you are leaving G'ton at 1100 for a 1230 flight at Hobby (HOU) you can probably make it, but you won't make G.Bush (IAH, the north airport) in time for a 1230 plane.

 

Does anyone think that if I use Express Walk-Off and have transportation lined up, I could make a 12:25 flight out of IAH? If I am off the ship by 9:30am, would that be enough time to get there. I would assume I would want to be at the airport by 11:00am?

[CAcruzfunatic]

IAH is huge. We had to walk thru two terminals and one train to get to our gate in November. I think you will be erasing the week of relaxation with a long morning of stressed pace. Relax, it's vacation!

[kywildcatfanone]

IAH is huge. We had to walk thru two terminals and one train to get to our gate in November. I think you will be erasing the week of relaxation with a long morning of stressed pace. Relax, it's vacation!

 

Perhaps you are right. I can change my 12:25pm flight to a 5:30pm flight and simply take my time getting off the ship. I belive they serve breakfast the morning of disembarkment, don't they? So, even if we sit and relax and don't get off the ship until 10-11am, we still have plenty of time to get to IAH.

[CAcruzfunatic]

They do serve breakfast in the dinning room and the horizon court. There are a number of areas on the ship where you can sit around and relax. There were very few crowds anywhere on the upper decks. The attrium and lower decks were, however, very congested. I can never figure that out. Why do people want to stand as close as they can to the gang way just waiting for their color to be called. Can't wait to get on board, can't wait to get off! Aren't you still on vacation?

 

You can relax and enjoy the last morning and take your time getting to the airport! :)

[firefly333]

Perhaps you are right. I can change my 12:25pm flight to a 5:30pm flight and simply take my time getting off the ship. I belive they serve breakfast the morning of disembarkment, don't they? So, even if we sit and relax and don't get off the ship until 10-11am, we still have plenty of time to get to IAH.

 

On the last morning, the Princess Patter said breakfast at 5 a.m, however they did not open until 5:30 a.m.

 

But you will have lots of time to eat breakfast no matter what you decide to do. Really....you will have loads of time to get to the airport, it isnt that far. I think at most I waited 15 minutes or so for my bus/Princess transport to fill up and then we left for the airport the time I took it.

[firefly333]

We arrived back in G'ton on 13-Jan 2007 on the Grand one hour late, delayed by fog. The first walk-offs were called at 0830 hrs, and the last walk-off color was called at 1000 hrs! Customs was moving at a snails pace so by the time you got bags and cleared it might have been 1030+ hrs. Now factor in time to get to your transportation (15-30 min?). If you are leaving G'ton at 1100 for a 1230 flight at Hobby (HOU) you can probably make it, but you won't make G.Bush (IAH, the north airport) in time for a 1230 plane.

 

I have to admit that I signed up for the Express Walk Off immediately on both my recent Princess cruises, including the Grand.

 

If you sign up as soon as they mention it in the Patter, you will be in the first group probably. I was in the first group both times. This last cruise I got back from last Sunday, you just went up to the purser's desk and signed up and instead of a number like on the Grand (the first 100 were called first, but no one checked and lots got off with the first group who had later numbers).

 

Maybe Im just more confident having done this in December and again last sunday. Sure its possible to get fogged in, lots of things could happen. If you will feel better, for sure just delay your flight. I had the 12:25 flight and wished I could get on the 10:10 am flight, I was there way too early. Im a worrier too. Thats why I did the express walk off, so you dont have to wait for your luggage.

 

Princess lost my luggage until 8:30 pm the day we got on the ship...I was getting worried when they had to send someone walking the halls to find my suitcase with all my clothes. I dont chance getting off the ship and letting Princess lose my luggage for hours, I use wheeled suitcases and walk them off.

[kywildcatfanone]

I have to admit that I signed up for the Express Walk Off immediately on both my recent Princess cruises, including the Grand.

 

If you sign up as soon as they mention it in the Patter, you will be in the first group probably. I was in the first group both times. This last cruise I got back from last Sunday, you just went up to the purser's desk and signed up and instead of a number like on the Grand (the first 100 were called first, but no one checked and lots got off with the first group who had later numbers).

 

Maybe Im just more confident having done this in December and again last sunday. Sure its possible to get fogged in, lots of things could happen. If you will feel better, for sure just delay your flight. I had the 12:25 flight and wished I could get on the 10:10 am flight, I was there way too early. Im a worrier too. Thats why I did the express walk off, so you dont have to wait for your luggage.

 

Princess lost my luggage until 8:30 pm the day we got on the ship...I was getting worried when they had to send someone walking the halls to find my suitcase with all my clothes. I dont chance getting off the ship and letting Princess lose my luggage for hours, I use wheeled suitcases and walk them off.

 

So you think if I do the express walk-off, I should have plenty of time to get to the airport for a 12:25pm flight? What would be my travel options if I cancel the princess transfer? Taxi? One way car rental? Other transportation?

Thanks for the info. Mike

[Shoalwater]

So you think if I do the express walk-off, I should have plenty of time to get to the airport for a 12:25pm flight? What would be my travel options if I cancel the princess transfer? Taxi? One way car rental? Other transportation?

Thanks for the info. Mike

 

It's a long way away, and by taxi the fare is in the $150-200 range! Renting a car one-way from Enterprise can be economical, but then you have the logistic delay of getting the vehicle (they have a kiosk at the ship side, but don't know if they stage cars at the port, and their lot is about 3 miles away). There arer other transport services, but I don't know much about them never having had to use them.