Sailing from Galveston

[Mike45]

Has anyone sailed from Galveston and how was it? Was the gulf rough? Also got a booklet from TA for carnival and it showed super saver fares for booking early. How "early" do you need to book for these rates. Never see them on carnivals web site.

[crystalblue0610]

I thought it was smooth sailing. The only "bad" thing is how nasty the Galveston harbor water is:eek: that brownish mix is enough to make me lose my breakfast right now.

 

But we got on the ship at a good time, long lines naturally but smooth sailing.

 

It's amazing to see the color change in the water...one minute you're in brown the next your in a cerulean like blue:D

[parrotthead]

Right. Its smooth. That is one of the cool things about sailing out of the gulf is watching the color change. The farther out the blue-er it gets. Its pretty cool.

The only thing I dont like is the smell of the oil churning up from the bottom as the ship leaves dock and then on the return trip you know vacation is almost over...:(

But Overall I Love sailing out of Galveston! I'd do it anyday! (oh, Im doing it in September!) :)

[Newcastle]

It is not bad sailing out of Galveston as long as you don't plan on staying in Galveston. I found it to be dirty and what I would call "low rent", not the most pleasant place I have stayed.

[Mike45]

Thanks guys. Just wondered if the gulf was rough being kind of land locked. i know when there are storms its different.

[Nuttycruisegirl]

It is not bad sailing out of Galveston as long as you don't plan on staying in Galveston. I found it to be dirty and what I would call "low rent", not the most pleasant place I have stayed.

We found this to be true as well in some areas....Much like any other city. If you stay on Seawall the Hotel Galvez is really nice. The Hilton and neighboring hotels are fine as well. We enjoyed our time in Galveston....as long as your not going expecting pretty water, you'll be OK.

[ctr5000]

OK, I live in Fort Worth and have for some time, but I am not a native Texan. I'm from NJ so I feel I can be objective. I agree that the water is horrid in the Galveston Gulf and it's not much better in Corpus Christi or Padre Island for that matter. However the city of Galveston is not that bad. A bit humid, but that can't be helped. It is mostly residential but there are some great B&B's and I would hardly call it "low rent". I spent the night at one of the B&B's and it was great. Cruise parking & a wonderful breakfast was included too. I spent the evening prior to the cruise on "The Strand", had some good food and fun shoping. Google Galveston and "The strand" to find the website for more info. It's not Disney Land, but it's a good place to spend the nite prior to a cruise and I wouldn't avoid it at all. In fact, I've already booked a B&B for my October cruise.:D

[futaba951]

It is not bad sailing out of Galveston as long as you don't plan on staying in Galveston. I found it to be dirty and what I would call "low rent", not the most pleasant place I have stayed.

 

I bet you're real popular with the Galveston chamber of commerce and the convention and visitors bureau. :D

[Budman1]

I live about 35 miles north of Galveston, and go there numerous times during the summer. I have never cruised from there. Unfortunatly, the water is usually a browninsh color. This is not due to pollution as much as it is due to the silt that comes out of the Mississippi River. There are numerous eating locations that have wonderful food, as well as great mom and pop type shops that are on the Strand.

[SoonerOne]

Thanks guys. Just wondered if the gulf was rough being kind of land locked. i know when there are storms its different.

 

It was smooth sailing all the way for us......we went this past February, and yes we are going again next February...we love the fact that we can jump in our car and drive to Galveston, it works for us:D

[big_duck]

There are numerous eating locations that have wonderful food, as well as great mom and pop type shops that are on the Strand.

 

Yeah like "Joe's Fresh Seafood and Bait Shop" :cool:

 

Still cracks me up 2 years later. :D

[islandchicklet]

Only sailed out of Galveston once - and will be doing it again in September. I thought it was very smooth on our sailing and I do tend to get queazy at the begining of a cruise.

 

Came back to add that I find Willie G's usually has good food - you can see the ships (when they are there :) ) right from the pier.

[jabberman_76366]

Just came back from sailing on the Conquest. Had a blast. The water in Galveston was yucky, as the sea weed was washing up on the shore. The motels are ok. we stayed at the Ramamda on Sea wall blvd. Last year we sayed at the Super 8, both are ok. We siled out on %/4 and the water was calm. However coming back in the water was a little choppy, but not too bad.

[joejakegrace]

It is not bad sailing out of Galveston as long as you don't plan on staying in Galveston. I found it to be dirty and what I would call "low rent", not the most pleasant place I have stayed.

 

Funny! - no offense but this is why I take "reviews" for the perverbial grain of salt. I've cruised out of Miami, FTL, New Orleans and Galveston and I'd take Galveston ANY TIME!

 

Miami is god forsaken if you look around. New Orleans has issues and is no place for the kids to be with you, Fort Lauderdale is nice but is still congested, tourist trap South Florida. My wife and I and all three of our kids generally loved Galveston. We're from a generally snooty part of New England but found Galveston refreshing - To me, it was a blue collar, non-pretentious beach town - AND THAT'S WHAT WE LIKED ABOUT IT! We stayed at the Marriot which was fine but there were any number of satisfactory places on the Seawall. The Strand was GREAT. Not crowded, lots of mom and pop storefronts - a great Army/Navy store to just hang out in and look around and a good, solid variety of food at reasonable prices. The people were much nicer than they are in South Florida or New England for that matter. There were oil wells in the distance and the water in the harbor was silty. And.....??? If you look at where the harbor is geographically, it's to be expected! The beachfront was just fine and the hurricane history was interesting, even to my kids. We felt very safe (more than I can say for Miami) and we think it was. If we could find another cruise we wanted out of Galveston (a different one) we'd do it again in an instant!

 

I would guess people who like Disney, casinos, shopping malls, South Beach....they wouldn't like Galveston. Folks who like American history, old fashioned beach resorts, drive in restaurants, dinner without reservations and good old folks.....they'll be fine with Galveston.

[floatingaway2525]

Funny! - no offense but this is why I take "reviews" for the perverbial grain of salt. I've cruised out of Miami, FTL, New Orleans and Galveston and I'd take Galveston ANY TIME!

 

Miami is god forsaken if you look around. New Orleans has issues and is no place for the kids to be with you, Fort Lauderdale is nice but is still congested, tourist trap South Florida. My wife and I and all three of our kids generally loved Galveston. We're from a generally snooty part of New England but found Galveston refreshing - To me, it was a blue collar, non-pretentious beach town - AND THAT'S WHAT WE LIKED ABOUT IT! We stayed at the Marriot which was fine but there were any number of satisfactory places on the Seawall. The Strand was GREAT. Not crowded, lots of mom and pop storefronts - a great Army/Navy store to just hang out in and look around and a good, solid variety of food at reasonable prices. The people were much nicer than they are in South Florida or New England for that matter. There were oil wells in the distance and the water in the harbor was silty. And.....??? If you look at where the harbor is geographically, it's to be expected! The beachfront was just fine and the hurricane history was interesting, even to my kids. We felt very safe (more than I can say for Miami) and we think it was. If we could find another cruise we wanted out of Galveston (a different one) we'd do it again in an instant!

 

I would guess people who like Disney, casinos, shopping malls, South Beach....they wouldn't like Galveston. Folks who like American history, old fashioned beach resorts, drive in restaurants, dinner without reservations and good old folks.....they'll be fine with Galveston.

 

Bravo well said!!

We just had our first sail out of Galveston and loved the town. The water when we were there was darker green/blue, it changes color a lot with the weather and the silt like many gulf coast places....

We are happy to find this port, hope Carnival provides more cruising choices as it grows...:D

I have a link to photobucket pics if anyone wants it.

[mzloolue]

One really cool thing about Galveston is the dolphins.

 

We came in on the ferry and got really excited seeing the dolphins.

 

Then, as the Ecstasy pulled away from the dock, we looked back and saw several dolphins that appeared to be fishing where the ship had been.

 

My theory is that it was very hot (August) and fish may have congregated in the ship's shade, so when the ship pulled out it was like a buffet for dolphins.

 

And it was also fun to see the gulls and dolphins following the fishing boats.

[Cruiser from MS]

I have to admit Galveston is not my favorite beach town, but that being said it is where I went out of on my first cruise and we loved it. Galveston is a very interesting place if you have the time to look around. The Cruise Terminal is very easy to get to and the staff there are extremely friendly. I would sail out of Galveston again and have been back twice for day visits since my first cruise.

[bobar]

Galveston is a wonderful sleepy beach town with great mom and pop eateries and fun neighborhood bars. the beach is raked almost daily but due to where it sits versus the mississippi river it can be real brown.. there are random times during the year though that the water is beautiful.

have lived in texas for 28 years and been going to galveston since. i love it there. it's really what a beach town should be. the bowling alley right off the seawall has the best hamburgers you'll ever find..it's not glamerous,but layed back and friendly and the easiest port of all of them to sail out of..have done it 6 times now...and you can walk from the ship right into downtown ,which is much different than any other pert other than nyc....:cool:

[travel girl23]

We have sailed out of Galveston 6 times in every kind of weather. It's always fairly smooth even when we had a front come through and the thrusters wouldn't work against the wind and a tug boat had to pull us out into the channel. Still wasn't very rough.

We love Galveston. There are a lot of nice hotels along Seawall Blvd. They have some very good restaurants and the Strand is a great place to shop. We like to spend the night before the cruise in Galveston and get up early and drive out to the South Jetty and watch the ship come in.

We always book through our PVP (personal vacation planner) with Carnival so don't know anything about super saver fares.

[allgeeteredup]

I am anxiously awaiting my first cruise out of Galveston. It really bothers me that someone would call another city "low rent". If you don't like the port town, go to another one. How horrible for the unknowing group that will be going to Galveston. I'm sure there are places that may not be the best, but even in New York City or Paris, France, there are "low rent" places. Give me a break. Cruisers like myself consider visiting a new city part of the adventure. Don't try and ruin our time by sloping your crude around. Give Galveston a break. The water may be cloudy and the people may be southern (myself included) but hey, they have a cruise port and we don't!!!! :D

[CanTex]

Ok, so the Mississippi is where half the nation's toilets dump into, and guess what happens when it reaches the Gulf of Mexico? Think about that the next time you flush!

 

I'm mostly kidding, but as others have said, the silt plume is most of the problem. We make the best of it and happy to be able to drive only 30 or 40 minutes to get onto a cruise ship.

 

Take a drive down the Seawall (and past it to the end of the island), and you would hardly call those homes low rent. Don't be misled by the heavy industrial setting of the port area and the Harborside Drive area leading to the cruise terminal.

[Grits53]

I have cruised out of Galveston 3 times, New Orleans once, and Port Canaveral once. The terminal and parking at Galveston leave some to be desired. I much prefer being able to walk to the ship from the parking garage, as in NOLA and Canaveral. Parking at Galveston is "do-able", and we will continue to deal with it, since that is where our favorite ship (Conquest) docks. But I prefer the other terminals mentioned.

 

As for the city of Galveston, I can't really comment on that, because we always drive straight to the terminal when we arrive in Galveston. On our first cruise, we did eat at Joe's, which is right next to the cruise ship dock. We enjoyed watching the pelicans and sea gulls while dining there. It was a typical Joe's, could have been anywhere and would be the same, except for the view.

 

One interesting thing about cruising through the gulf is the night time view of all those drilling rigs. We find it fascinating to sit on the balcony and watch the lights, which seem so "out of place" so far from shore. The sad part about these drilling rigs is when you see them on your return trip, you know your cruise is almost over. :(

 

Sometimes, the gulf IS rough. Sometimes, it's foggy. Sometimes, it's rough and foggy. And sometimes, it's glassy smooth. That all comes down to how lucky you are with the seas and weather you get on your cruise. ;)

[TEXASMUNK]

#1 No massive traffic jams

#2 Friendly locals

#3 Fair prices for food, hotels and bars

#4 Water is clean, but brown because there is no SAND bottom to reflect and the silt comes from the Mississippi (yeah, it is hundreds of miles away, but water flows)

#5 The Strand

#6 Moody Gardens

#7 The Galvez

#8 tons of Texans onboard, friendly and smiling, very few 'attitude' passengers that you can get from 'some' regions of this fine country

 

and cruise ships!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[firefly333]

Im another who kinda takes umbrage (is that a word) with saying Galveston is low rent. We used to go down on the weekends and rent a house on stilts on the beach. Maybe Im easy to please. We loved going into town to pick up shrimp and cooking those huge dinners and playing on the beach.

 

Each to his own :(

[sewut]

It is mostly residential but there are some great B&B's and I would hardly call it "low rent". I spent the night at one of the B&B's and it was great. Cruise parking & a wonderful breakfast was included too.

 

Caroline, can you give more info on that B&B? I didn't know you could park your car for a cruise at a B&B.

Sewut