Jump to content

Galveston Steve

Members
  • Posts

    649
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    21

Posts posted by Galveston Steve

  1. 2 minutes ago, wordell1 said:

    I love the new terminal and parking is much better than the offsite parking at the old terminal. My only complaint is that they force you to go all the way around the North Lot, past the terminal, just to enter the lot.  It makes no sense.

    I've had the same experience. But instead of turning left on Royal Caribbean Circle, you should be able to continue straight on Royal Caribbean Way and turn left into the North parking lot instead of going around past luggage drop-off. 

  2. On 2/29/2024 at 6:36 PM, Carlos A. said:

    How difficult is to get from Enterprise to the Port? I'm thinking on dropping off my family on the port and then return the car. Are there taxi or Ubers available for a short drive like this?

    I definitely recommend giving the local office a call to be certain, I believe they have a shuttle at their office but not sure if they currently make runs to the port.  There are definitely taxi's and Uber available at the Port for the return trip if needed.

    image.thumb.jpeg.6796edd59a25cf1c0cc73620386e7d50.jpeg

  3. 19 hours ago, CrznTxn said:

    Our parking shuttle driver pointed out that the old Del Monte warehouse was being converted into the MSC terminal last week. It is right next to the Galveston Dock 14 indoor parking for the Royal terminal. Will make for an even more interesting parking and travel experience to the Galveston cruise terminals when 4 ships are docked there. Especially if the Carnival Jubilee, MSC Seascape, Regal Princess and Royal's Oasis ships are there at the same time. About 21,000 ~ 23,000 passengers.

    According to the latest plans for the new terminal, the building that currently is used for indoor parking will be used for baggage claim, customs, and port offices. Looks like the indoor parking will go away. 
     

    IMG_1869.thumb.jpeg.f5337848e2dfd47f22ec69bcd721bf1c.jpeg

  4. 5 hours ago, Kathleen said:

    Going to be cruising out of Galveston in the future and have searched this thread and found that Tremont and Harbor House were walkable to the port. I could only find old posts so they may have predated the new port. I want to confirm this. There were also a lot of nice photos of the suite boarding area line but from 2015. My search of the blog only yielded these but I’m not the best at that! Any more recent advise on nearby hotels and suite boarding area would be much appreciated @Galveston Steve any hints?

    I try to keep my original post in this thread up to date on these details. 
     

    No hotels are within walking distance of the new Royal Caribbean Cruise Terminal 10. If Galveston hotels are within your budget then I suggest staying in Galveston. Otherwise I would stay in Webster or Clear Lake City. You don’t want to get caught in the construction traffic on the exits further south from Webster. 
     

    For Suites and Pinnacle boarding, enter at the right side of the building and go up the escalators on the right side of the entry hall. Ask any staff member inside or outside the building and they are glad to point you in the right direction. 

  5. 8 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

    Allure has the Suite Class (Sea, Sky, Star) so I think it may say that where it says "Suite" in your example.  Junior Suites would say "Sea".

    Ok, that’s right. Here’s what it showed on an Allure cruise from the new terminal in Star Class. Sea Class might have to go through the regular check in area but should be called first if there’s a wait. I guess the JS priority boarding benefit is being called to board first, not having access to the Suites & Pinnacles area. 
    image.thumb.png.74bed1500de5239c659668784315792c.png

  6. On 7/23/2023 at 3:55 PM, steverk said:

    My mother in law sailed in a Jr suite in March out of Galveston. She was in a wheelchair and even with that she wasn't allowed to board with the suite guests.

    I haven’t had a junior suite in Galveston since the new terminal opened but previously a Jr. Suite Setsail Pass just noted “Suite”.  We always walked in the Suites entrance like we were supposed to be there. Never had an issue in the old terminal. Do the Setsail passes say Junior Suite now?
    image.thumb.png.e4732a5b6d2ec50cf321a5a50772accf.png

  7. 9 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

    Nonrefundable deposit are forfeited if you cancel. Suites have been Nonrefundable for a while now.

    If you change a sailing you must pay a $100 change fee. If your deposit was $250 then $150 will go towards the new sailing. If you utilized NextCruise then it will take your whole deposit to cover the change fee. There aren't restrictions on types of sailings, ships, etc.

    This has been my understanding of the policy up to now.  I will say that in the past I have changed the ship/sail date on a number of cruises and the $100 change fee was not forfeited, which was nice.

    With the new 10% suite deposit policy I have not seen confirmation that there is still only a $100 change fee. With the drastic changes that RCG has been implementing I wonder if the change fee might increase?

  8. 4 hours ago, Pattycruise said:

    I did my first ever sailing out of Galveston on March 27.  I booked RC shuttle from Bush IAH and for the return as well.  
    RC had me going to customs for pick up- as if I was an international arrival. Luckily I flew in the day before and scoped out the “where”. -it was Terminal C for national flights.  I returned to the airport the morning of my shuttle (provided them a flight # for day of cruise) and they did not provide a 9 am shuttle.  We all had to wait for the 11 am. 
    btw, others had shuttle transfer instructions telling them terminal c, unlike mine which said customs.

    the return trip was ok.  Getting out of the terminal was quite a time consuming event with many saying they’ve never seen it this bad.  Return to the airport was interesting as it was supposed to be terminal A and C (United). The large bus could not pull into terminal A so we all got off at C. It was easy enough to get the subway shuttle to terminal A but IDK what those folks with loads of luggage did as they wanted porters and were told there weren’t any that go to other terminals.

    as for Uber/Lyft.  Someone in the FB group for the sailing reported there were no Lyft people available and Uber was on site -illegally-but not “in the app” and  they were charging 2 1/2 times the normal rate for rides.  That’s second hand info, no idea if it’s confirmed by others.  

     

    Wow, Royal has been operating in Galveston for years and they have such messed up bus transfer service? Crazy. I almost always drive to the port and it's very easy to park and get to the terminal so I haven't experienced the bus fiasco. I do recommend Galveston Saltwater Moms for transportation to/from the airport.  They are highly rated and also are legally operating at the Port. Follow the link I provided because there are impersonators with a similar name that are not as good. Just message them from their facebook page to arrange a reservation. Reserve well in advance because they book up early.

    I've sailed from the new terminal several times and it's always been very efficient for the arrival and departure process in the terminal, especially with the new security and check-in areas for arrival and facial recognition for departure. Too bad you had a different experience.

    Uber now has a contract with the Port, so that situation should improve very soon.

  9. On 3/27/2023 at 5:28 PM, Coda_Sarah said:

    I'm glad Uber got on board.  I have been reading on Cruise Critic that some folks are frustrated about getting rides from terminal to airports.  It doesn't seem as easy as other cruise terminals.  It's probably because the airport is so much further away. 

    Having Uber will help quite a bit. Doing your research as you noted above will also prevent frustration. Keep in mind that the driving distance from Port Canaveral to MCO is 45 miles. That’s 2 miles further than the distance from Galveston’s new cruise terminal to HOU. If someone chooses to fly into IAH then they probably didn’t do their research or ignored the advice in this thread. 

  10. On 2/19/2023 at 4:23 PM, Traveling Mike said:

    I am cruising on the Allure on April 2 and have done lots of research and am still looking.  From what I am seeing for a family of 4 your best bet is with Lift.  Uber is not allowed in the port right now.  They are working on a contract, but I see nothing that has said it is done.  The cruise line has shuttles (I think I am paying $45 per person one way), but it has to be the day of the cruise.  You can stay at one of the airport hotels and go back to the airport to catch the ride.  The ride shares they have been in two different groups.  Shuttle companies and small car groups that offer transportation.  Both of them end up being about $35 to $40 a person one way.

    For my weekend hotels near the airport were about 1/2 the price that they were at Galveston.  

    An Operating Agreement with Uber was unanimously approved by the Port of Galveston on 24 May 2023. Uber has finally agreed to the Port’s terms and the agreement is the same as Lyft's agreement, including a $2.00 fee for each pick up and drop off. I'm not sure if Uber will actually be ready to implement the agreement before your April 2 cruise however.

  11. On 3/6/2023 at 1:03 PM, Traveling Mike said:

    In my research the most cost-effective way seems to be Uber or Lyft.  One Question for someone that really knows... Can Uber get into the port of Galveston?  As of December, they still did not have the clearance to enter the port.  The difference is using Uber vs Lyft.

    An Operating Agreement with Uber was unanimously approved by the Port of Galveston on 24 May 2023. Uber has finally agreed to the Port’s terms and the agreement is the same as Lyft's agreement, including a $2.00 fee for each pick up and drop off.

  12. On 3/20/2023 at 1:06 PM, cruisellama said:

    May want to check of Uber can service the port.  I heard Lyft was credentialed for Galveston passenger terminal. (It may be an old rule and I don't know how they'd keep an Uber from the passenger drop).

    An Operating Agreement with Uber was unanimously approved by the Port of Galveston on 24 May 2023. Uber has finally agreed to the Port’s terms and the agreement is the same as Lyft's agreement, including a $2.00 fee for each pick up and drop off.

  13. A few items of interest from Friday’s Port of Galveston Board of Trustees meeting:

    • An Operating Agreement with Uber was unanimously approved by the Board. Uber has finally agreed to the Port’s terms and the agreement is the same as Lyft's agreement, including a $2.00 fee for each pick up and drop off.
    • The Port is expanding parking for Cruise Terminal 10 near Pier 12.
    • Trustees are receiving positive feedback from the community on the cruise traffic situation;  the new cruise terminal has not resulted in worse traffic.
    • Cruise Terminal 25 (primarily used by Carnival) is being improved to accommodate Carnival Jubilee.  Jubilee is Carnival's newest ship, LNG powered, launching in late 2023 and will be home ported in Galveston. 
    • They approved funding for preliminary engineering services for development of a potential fourth cruise terminal (Cruise Terminal 16) development. This is the cruise terminal location that MSC is interested in and would be located at the current Del Monte facility.
  14. 58 minutes ago, Plumlee2028 said:

    I have a hard time buying in to the MSC terminal.  I know they announced the LOA to look at doing it, but MSC doesn't have the best recent track record on this, that's why Royal is getting basically half a terminal extra in Miami.  They've generally struck me as a company big on press and announcements and quietly let the follow through lapse a bit.  This would be a big investment well outside their normal client base.  I know they want to build up their US customer base, but they haven't done so yet, and going straight into a new port with a custom terminal would be...unusual. 

    Fort Lauderdale is getting some growth too.  Princess will have larger ships there in the winter and Royal keeps the Short cruises there in the winter which pumps out a lot of passengers as well as a Winter Oasis class.  The article on Port Canaveral stated Florida Ports forecasts about 5.2 million passengers for 2027.    Galveston's big advantage is that the big players (Royal and Carnival) each keep large ships there year round (2 for Royal, 3 for Carnival).  Fort Lauderdale slows down a lot in the summer.  Im not sure what Royal Group has guaranteed Port Everglades for passengers, but with their Miami Guarantees, Celebrity will have to be part of that.  While their terminal in Port Everglades will be their primary, they will im sure also operate lots of sailings from Miami, impacting Port Everglades.  

    It will be an interesting tug of war for a while.  

    You have a good point on MSC actually following through on a Galveston terminal. Time will tell. I recently sailed on their newest ship, Seascape, and the lack of customer focus in how they operate on board will not go well in Texas. 

×
×
  • Create New...