Flight home out of Houston

[lovethekeys]

:confused: I am booking flights for our March cruise on VOS out of Galveston. We have to fly in and out of Houston-George Bush. My question is it too risky to book a 12:45pm flight back home or is there plenty of time to make that flight? I know we have about an hour drive from the port, but not being familiar with the Houston airport, not sure what security lines are like on Sunday afternoon. Any info w/b appreciated.

[wrp96]

The drive to George Bush IAH is more like 1.5 to 2 hours. You'd really be risking it.

 

Hobby is the airport that is about an hour from Galveston.

[meansun]

It can be done easily as long as you valet your luggage on the ship.

[lovethekeys]

Thanx for clearing that up, I'm going to see if we can get a flight out of Hobby, althouth the name kind of scares me! The difference in flight times is about 3 hours, which is no big deal, but the price is $150- that is boat drinks money! Thanx again.

[RoofingPrincess]

Just to ease your mind a little regarding the name of the airport.... Hobby Airport's full name is William P. Hobby Airport. William P. Hobby was the publisher of the Houston Post and the 27th governor of the state of Texas (1917-21).

It's a great airport! and a much better choice if you are sailing out of Galveston. The city of Houston is about 600 square miles, and Hobby (HOU) is on the south end of it, whereas Bush (IAH) is on the northeast corner.

I don't know where in Wisconsin you are, but coming from Mitchell Field in Milwaukee, Continental is the only carrier with nonstops to IAH; there are no nonstops to HOU. My mom lives near Milwaukee and her best friend now lives near IAH.

 

If you're going to rely on cruiseline transfers, be sure that they service Hobby before you buy your airfare. On my Carnival cruise out of Galveston, I went down to the desk onboard the ship to try to arrange transportation back to Hobby and found out that their bus only went to Bush. Or at least that's what they told me!

[bigpuma]

I was on Voyager last March and it was the worst debarking I have ever seen. We got in line to get off the ship at 10:15 and didn't clear customs until 12:30. Of course we waited until our color was called so if you carry off your luggage it will probably be much faster just get in line early.

[tahoemc]

I was on Voyager last March and it was the worst debarking I have ever seen. We got in line to get off the ship at 10:15 and didn't clear customs until 12:30. Of course we waited until our color was called so if you carry off your luggage it will just get in line early.

 

If you do self disembark, get your pass early - they had four groups (A,B, C and D) We also cruised Voyager last March, did the self disembark (2nd group called) and still took us about 1 1/2 hours to clear customs (about 9:00 am). Fortunately we had a noon flight out of HOU that we had no problem making, but the disembark was very long. A 12:45 flight out of IAH will be risky at best - try to book a flight after 2 pm if possible. We flew Southwest Airlines, so HOU was the airport of choice - worked out great.

[firefly333]

I was on Voyager last March and it was the worst debarking I have ever seen. We got in line to get off the ship at 10:15 and didn't clear customs until 12:30. Of course we waited until our color was called so if you carry off your luggage it will probably be much faster just get in line early.

 

I was on Voyager last March and it was the fastest Iv ever made it off a ship, 10 minutes before the scheduled time. We did carry off our luggage.

 

I think they were going to start debarking folks at 7:30 am and they started by 7:15 and we were about 20 back in the line at most, and whizzed thru by 7:20 to the Customs agent.

[TEXASMUNK]

we have been third or fourth color called, left ship and walked past the folks who carried their own stuff off the ship.

 

It has become so popular, and depending on the week, can be a snap or it can be a nightmare...

 

Please do not take the word of someone who says it is a snap or the person who warns you against it.

 

Make your own decision!

[satxdiver]

Hobby (HOU) is primarily serviced by Southwest Airlines although some other carriers do have a few flights that land/takeoff there. All the large carriers use Intercontinental (IAH) on the northeast side of Houston and IAH is the home base for Continental. It is a very busy airport. The gate can be a distance from the ticket/checkin area and on a Sunday it can be very busy particularly later in the day when business travelers hit. The highway to IAH goes through the middle of Houston meaning possible traffic delays.

 

I do not know what flight plans are available to you, but taking the 12:45 PM flight could cause you to get out the prayer beads and finger them heavily.