steverk

I think that's 40 cents per quarter or $1.20 per year! Not as good as pre covid but still pretty nice

I saw a YouTube video yesterday that said Carnival is planning on 8000 passengers. Idk if that's max capacity or double occupancy

I'm not sure where you would stash our luggage, but there's a lot of museums and such on Galveston itself: Moody Gardens Seawolf park with a WWII Destroyer Escort and submarine available for self guided tours. Elissa tall sailing ship Several mansions open for tours (Bishop's Palace is the best of them) Railway museum Those are the ones that spring to mind, but there are probably more. Other things to do on the Island: Pleasure Pier amusement park on Seawall Blvd You can take a duck tour You can ride the trolley around Galveston You can watch for Dolphins from the Bolivar ferry between Galveston and the Bolivar peninsula (Free). Closer to Hobby airport, there is the Lone Star Flight Musuem in Webster. The Kemah Boardwalk with shopping, dining and amusements is a little out of the way, but not horribly so. There's always shopping. Baybrook Mall in Friendswood is a nice, but not spectacular mall

Princess largely avoided azipods as well. Last November I was sailing out of Galveston when a Princess ship nearly hit us while attempting a turn. I would have felt much safer if it had azipods!

So that makes it an 18 hour drive. Painful, but doable.

I'm not sure where you are flying from, but given how screwed up flights are right now, you might consider driving or taking Amtrak.

Unfortunately no.

How close in can you book a room, assuming one is available? I always assumed that once they submitted the manifest to the coast guard, that was it. No more passenger changes.

Pride of America does sail from Honolulu and probably will until it is scrapped. However, NCL America did declare bankruptcy. It may come as a surprise, but going bankrupt doesn't necessarily mean the company ceases to exist or operate. In fact, some notable companies that have gone bankrupt and then emerged include General Motors, American Airlines, Ashley Stewart, Kodak and Delta Airlines. There are many more. I'm not going to disagree that Royal could do this. However, it isn't as easy as it seems. The ship would need to be US flagged. That means the ship needs to be built in the United States. The USA has several shipyards, but they build ships for the US Navy or small coastal vessels. Building a state of the art cruise ship would mean developing supply lines and expertise that simply doesn't exist in the US. Developing or importing it is cost prohibitive. Further, the point of the video I posted is that the Hawaii market just isn't as big as you would expect. NCL was unable to make it work for more than 1 ship. Will Royal Caribbean try to outdo NCL in Hawaii? I wish they would (Pride of America is a pretty crappy ship), but I don't see it happening. Perhaps the PVSA will be revised or repealed to allow foreign ships to do Hawaii cruises. That might entice Royal Caribbean Group to enter the market, but once again, don't count on it.

I like your thought process, but Hawaii probably isn't in the cards. That would require a ship built in the USA and to follow all US gambling, tax and labor laws. NCL has a ship doing this, and it hasn't been the success they hoped for. In fact, they canceled the second ship they hoped to station there. Here's a pretty good video on the story

I think there's a lot of truth to what you're saying. In fact, I've bumped in to a lot of Pinnacles that are considering X now. For a different angle, I was on the Celebrity President's Cruise and the issue was addressed by Laura Hodges Bethage, President of Celebrity. She explained that many loyal Celebrity customers would sail on another line when travelling with their families. (She mentioned NCL, but I believe that was a stand in for any other family oriented line) The intention was to try and draw these cruisers in to the Royal Caribbean Group umbrella. That said, there are probably multiple reasons for the change and she couldn't say that they were trying to entice RCI passengers to X without irritating many people in the audience. Also, remember that SilverSea is included in the loyalty match now.

You can use your phone, but I'd have a backup of some kind. Some people take a screen shot. Some people print it out. It's up to you. Personally, I print it out. Call me paranoid, but I'm always afraid my phone will run out of battery right when I need it most.

I can't speak for your specific airlines, but I can say that on some flights I've been able to reserve seats immediately and on others I have not. On one recent trip, they booked us on United going and Air New Zealand coming back. We could book the United seats immediately. The Air New Zealand had to wait until we paid for it.

I think Mariner will arrive and depart as scheduled. If you're driving there, I would avoid Harborside drive. Instead, take Broadway (aka I45 after it ends) to 14th street and turn left.

According to the local news, all weather stations on the island have stopped reporting, so nobody seems to know how much wind and rain they are experiencing. They assume power is out. They keep showing what they claim is the only operating camera on the island. I think it's located on the far southwest end of the seawall. You can't see much Except big waves hitting the wall. It would be news to the local TV stations that the harbor house camera is working. Perhaps they have a generator. Radar indicates that the storm is now northeast of Galveston, so things should start calming down soon. I live 30 miles north of Galveston. Where I am the winds are still str, but noticeably weaker. Rain has reduced. In fact it has stopped for the moment.