GPMK

Thanks loads for the addition of the dining recommendations and for letting me know they were there! Have printed these out for review and saved them to my iPhone with links ;-) On a separate note, for anyone who is asking about transfers, we actually ended up hiring a car from IAH, as we have two nights before the cruise and most of a day after. It was only a little more expensive than the transfers - unless we went for pre-set times which wouldn't have worked for us anyway, so it seemed like the best option, to give us maximum flexibility. We're staying at the Galvez, so have parking booked there, and their shuttle will take us to the cruise port and back. So, given we have a car,and will be out and about in the Strand area mostly on the two evenings I imagine, what should we plan to do with our one full day in Galveston, so we see the most of it?! All suggestions welcome - we're more outdoors and photography people than museum people, but other than that, open to any ideas. Thank you :-)

Thanks Steve, all very useful info :-) I know last time we disembarked from a US cruise ship that had been out of the US and back again we had to wait ages to go through customs, so we're trying to avoid that as well. So we're really trying to decide between a) hire car, get off very early and make the most of our last day or b) book shuttle, get off as late as possible (as we don't need to be at IAH until 1pm) and avoid the lines that way! Can anyone give me any info/opinion on Island Breezes shuttles? Someone on another forum recommended them and they are definitely coming in cheaper than everyone else. Thanks for the info on the Galvez, we really were undecided about whether we should be nearer to The Strand, but knowing there is a shuttle helps also!

Definitely seems to be the way to go - though I wouldn't have thought of it I don't think unless I'd seen someone else suggest it on another forum!

Jan 16 - were doing the 3rd - 10th itinerary, so it will be her last hurrah before the refit!

There's an RCI group already that was started in Australia but is now expanding - called Royal Caribbean Fans Past, Present and Future. It's at - https://www.facebook.com/groups/788818574479629/ - I find it very good and the people are really nice. They have 5,800 or so members and are a mine of useful information. I don't have any affiliation with it myself though so just mentioning it if people might be interested in joining - though of course you might know about it already??

Liberty - Jan 16 to the Caribbean from Galveston (first time out of this port), Celebrity Eclipse - May 16 for husband's birthday to the Fjords (also just discovered we will be Elite on board as RCI loyalty points carry over) and Harmony - Oct 16, our first TA, so very excited about that as we love Oasis class :-) And we'll be Diamond by then, yay!

This is brilliant, I've done the same myself. So many cruises booked that you 'forget' one! Bring it on :-)

This is a really useful thread, and original post, thank you! We're from the UK and normally sail out of Fort Lauderdale when doing Caribbean itineraries, so our Jan 3rd cruise on Liberty will be our first from Galveston. We were worried about customs lines when getting off (had this problem before in LA) so definitely planning to self disembark - can anyone advise the latest we should aim to get off, to guarantee not getting stuck too hideously? Thank you. On a separate note, we have two nights beforehand in Galveston and we're thinking of hiring a car from IAH. It's almost cheaper than a shuttle, even if we leave it at the hotel while on the cruise - and gives us more flexibility beforehand and on the last day! Has anyone done this? We're staying at the Galvez, so a bit further from the port as well, so could be useful there too in terms of getting about.

Probably impossible! We tried it a while back for my husband's work and it just didn't happen - with remote access he needs a good ping rate and it was terrible, so if you need the same thing you might struggle. I did OK as I just use normal email, not remote access, but it was still horribly slow . . .

Hi all, I'm Gill and I'm in the UK. Signed up on here today - no idea how come I've never found it before! Just booked a last minute week on Liberty in Jan so very excited about that - and we have the TA on Harmony booked for Oct. I just updated my signature and realised I'm well into double figures on RCI! I'll also turn Diamond after this next one :-) In total I'm on about 25 cruises now, but (shhh) not all with RCI!

I read on the Tripadvisor forums that the tender ride to Belize port is 20 minutes and this means the tender queues are much longer - so it's best to do a RCI trip as they get you off first. We've actually booked a snorkelling trip that collects you directly from the ship - which seemed like a good idea to save time. The ruins do look good though if you like that type of thing!