Galveston Steve

Haha. A little hot water usually makes it better for me.

I've waited on coffee to be brewed on several ships. It's not powdered (or what I would call "instant"). It's brewed right there on the spot in many of the venues. Having said that, the coffee that they serve across the ship is terrible in my opinion, and I always express that opinion in the post-cruise surveys. Of course the specialty coffee or Starbucks, when available, is much better.

I don't know about the soaps/shampoos on Adventure, but if you just ask your stateroom attendant they will be very happy to provide extra towels and bath cloths. Just let them know what you need and I have found them more than happy to accommodate your needs.

Have used it several times and love it! From reading above posts, you need to follow the instructions exactly regarding whether you qualify to do it. Also make sure you put BOTH the printed airline luggage tags AND the brightly colored "luggage valet" tags on your bag. That has to increase your chances of getting your bags to the right place. We have had no problem with it in 3 times from Port Canaveral and Port Everglades.

We are taking a family group cruise to Alaska on Ovation next summer that will include our grandson. He will be 2-3/4 years at that time. We know there will be a few adjustments but think having him and our son/daughter-in-law there to share the amazing things that an Alaska cruise offers is way more important. We plan to use the nursery, take turns watching him, and hopefully take him with us on some port activities. Our strategy will be to have flexible plans in each port based on how he is feeling/acting. For example, we can certainly explore the town on foot with him in a stroller, stop for lunch, etc. Or we may take a taxi or Uber to explore some pre-determined attractions if we think he is having a good day. Good luck!

Yes! Snorkel equipment is included in the Coco Cay Cabanas. Towels and snorkel equipment were offered to us when we checked in at the cabana area. We declined the snorkel equipment because we just wanted to relax on the beach. They offered to let us use as many towels as we needed. The Cabana was as described on the Cruise Planner website: Your ocean view cabana is furnished with 2 luxurious resort-style lounge chairs , a sofa, and amenities that include a deluxe lunch buffet, 2 floating beach mats, 4 bottles of water, towels and 2 sets of snorkeling equipment. You will have a great time on Coco Cay! We loved it!

We didn't know to go to Shore Excursions until we got to our cabin just after 1:00 pm and the ticket for our cabana was there. It had a note with the instructions to go to Shore Excursions to pick out our cabana. So we got there around 1:30 pm or so. Shore Excursions was not crowded at all, but there were already 3-4 of the cabanas taken out of the 12 or so total available. Yes, I would go to both places as soon as you board. It only took me a minute to do the Shore Excursions selection. They were very helpful. The good specialty dining times fill up quickly unless you want to eat at 8:30!

My experience is with the "Ocean View Deluxe Cabanas" a few weeks ago: There will be 4 bottles of Evian water (1 liter plastic bottles) in a cooler with ice. These are included in the rental price and the attendant stocks these before you arrive, but they are not unlimited. There is a private bar and private lunch buffet for people in the cabana area. You can walk over to the private bar to order a drink or ask one of the cabana attendants to get drinks for you. The bar drinks are charged separately on your seapass card, but if you have a drink package it can be used on Coco Cay. The private buffet is complementary and was very nice. The buffet lunch included complementary iced tea, lemonade, and water. There are a maximum of six guests per cabana, per the Cruise Planner. Note: as soon as you board the ship on Day 1 you should go to the Shore Excursions desk and tell them you have reserved a Cabana. They will have you pick out your cabana location on a first come first served basis. That way you don't have to rush off the ship to try to get the best location.

Interesting. I was quoting my experience on Mariner out of Miami and Harmony out of Port Everglades. Both within the past month.

I have a separate post on this site called All Things Galveston which might be helpful. Although the original post was from a couple years ago, I update it regularly as things change in Galveston.

This is correct. We disembarked on cruises from both Miami and Port Everglades in the past month and you can do luggage valet from both ports to either airport. However if flying from the airport that is further away, your flight must be later but I don't recall the exact time.

I also see this in the fine print: "must be used by the final night of the cruise." Sounds like you can't use the chips on a future cruise. As long as you would play through that amount of chips anyway and as long as a winning hand is paid by taking your promotional chips and paying the full amount in real chips why not?

As heard live on RCperiscopers.live and as reported by @Matt on this website, Royal Caribbean has confirmed that it is their intention to put an Oasis Class ship in Galveston, but they are still working out the funding and approvals: @Matt quoted Royal Caribbean's Chief Marketing Officer: "It's being worked on by government and local officials in Galveston, but to Michael's point [referring to CEO Michael Bayley], it is our intention, but we need a few more things to go our way in terms of funding and approvals. We'd love to have an Oasis Class ship in Galveston."

Haha! Well done @twangster!

Thanks for posting this new information! I think this definitely lends credence to the story with confirmation that the Port and Royal Caribbean have signed a Memorandum of Understanding and are now working toward a firm contract. That's a typical sequence of events for something of this magnitude. From the article: "Rees said the port has a memorandum of understanding with Royal Caribbean and is working toward a contract. Royal Caribbean would build the terminal, investing about $100 million in Galveston." Regarding the size of the ship, the article does hedge a little by saying "one of" the largest ships.

Totally agree. We like the convenience of being near an elevator and have not had any issues with noise and traffic.

You're right about Galveston politics @twangster. It's been a crazy political climate with a thriving "good ole' boy (and girl)" network since the pirate Jean Lafitte arrived on the island in the early 19th century. It continued through the gambling and prostitution of the first half of the 20th century, and is alive and well today. Up until now the Port of Galveston has invested in improving the cruise terminal assets on a shoestring budget with local funding. Early this year the Port hired new Port Director Rodger Rees (the Deputy Executive Director and CFO at Port Canaveral). He's brought an outside perspective and knowledge of how to run a large cruise port. I think his leadership was key to Royal agreeing to build and pay for the terminal instead of the Port building and paying for it. Of course the Port being many months late on expanding Terminal 2 for Liberty of the Seas a couple years ago probably helped Royal decide they need to control the Terminal 3 project. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Thanks to @Wilson for tipping me off to this! Today's Galveston Daily News is reporting that the Port is near a deal with Royal Caribbean to bring an Oasis Class ship to Galveston in late 2020. The Port says Royal Caribbean would build the terminal on land leased from the Port of Galveston. The full article from the Galveston Daily News requires a subscription, but here is the full text: GALVESTON - July 15, 2018 Port of Galveston officials are nearing an agreement with Royal Caribbean to build a third cruise terminal at the Port of Galveston that could cost $85 million and bring the world’s largest passenger ship to the island in 2020. “We’re working toward a really good agreement,” said Ted O’Rourke, chairman of the port’s governing board. “It’s a great opportunity if we are able to put it together.” Port Director Rodger Rees in March announced that Royal Caribbean wanted to bring an Oasis-class ship to the island, but that doing so would require a new cruise terminal. The port already is home to two cruise terminals at piers 25 and 27, but the size of the Oasis-class ships requires additional support, officials said. Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class ships, of which there are four with more planned, are more than 1,180 feet long and capable of carrying more than 6,200 passengers. Officials are discussing putting the third cruise terminal at Pier 10, next to the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics and BMW vehicle processing plant, Rees said. “Right now, the talk is about having Royal Caribbean come in and build the terminal themselves, then we’d have them lease the land from the port, sharing in revenues with them. We’d control the parking aspect of it,” Rees said. Royal Caribbean officials did not respond to a request for comment by deadline Friday. The proposed facility would have to be about 155,000 square feet, port officials said. The BMW facility would not have to move under current plans, Rees said. The benefit of having Royal Caribbean build the cruise terminal would be that the port wouldn’t have to take on substantial debt and would, instead, be able to focus on its substantial infrastructure needs, Rees said. Ever since the Carnival Celebration made its first voyage from the island in September 2000, the port has come to depend more and more on the cruise business for revenues. The port depends heavily on revenues from cruise ships. Port officials anticipate about 55 percent of revenue budgeted for 2018 will be cruise related. Port officials are projecting operating revenues of about $37.4 million in 2018 against operating expenditures of $37.2 million, according to documents. “This doesn’t use up our borrowing power to build a new terminal,” Rees said. Addressing dilapidated facilities at the island’s public docks could cost as much as $250 million, a problem exacerbated by the fact the port is projected to bring in only about $250,000 in net income in 2018, port officials said. For a third cruise terminal to be ready to host an Oasis-class ship in the fall of 2020, officials will need a project planned and designed by about November, Rees said in a previous interview with The Daily News. There is not yet a final agreement with Royal Caribbean, and all details of the proposed third cruise terminal could still change, Rees said. The Wharves Board of Trustees must approve whatever agreement is eventually reached with the cruise line, Trustee Elizabeth Beeton said. The Port of Galveston is a landlord port, which generates much of its income from lease agreements with maritime tenants and fees related to ship calls. The port is home to three year-round Carnival Cruise Line ships, one year-round Royal Caribbean ship, one seasonal Royal Caribbean ship and a seasonal Disney Cruise Lines ship. The Carnival Vista, the cruise line’s newest and biggest ship, will arrive at Galveston’s docks Sept. 23.

Great advice @cruise-y! My favorites in Galveston are fresh Gulf Shrimp and Red Snapper. So good! My only caution is to ask the restaurants if the dish you are ordering is "fresh local seafood". There are some places on Galveston (Landry's Seafood for example) that are famous for seafood but most of what they serve is frozen or brought in from other areas. The restaurants I recommend in the original post do use fresh local seafood. Blvd Seafood for example serves shrimp and Red Snapper fresh from the docks every day (as @cruise-y points out above). Red Snapper at Blvd Seafood is one of my favorites. It's served with the "Gulf Wild" tag and you can enter the unique number from that tag at www.GulfWild.com to see when, where, and on what boat your fish was caught.

Enterprise is the only rental car company on the island. They are open 8 am to 1 pm on Sundays. I have seen their shuttle vans at their Galveston location on Sunday mornings loading up luggage. To be certain, I'd give them a call at 409-740-0400. Labor Day weekend will be very crowded on the island and the hotels will be full... you did well to book with points! Consider getting dinner reservations to avoid being disappointed and to avoid a long wait due to the holiday. Enjoy!

We were on Allure about a month ago. Here are the Diamond benefits information that they placed in our stateroom on embarkation day... We found the Diamond Lounge to be excellent on our cruise (friendly staff and not overcrowded like some other ships). Allure Diamond D Plus.pdf

Same here, although my half-marathon days are probably over. For me it's not the heat and humidity because I'm accustomed to Texas heat and humidity. I think it just reminds me of being on a treadmill and seeing the same scenery over and over. One of the great things about running is seeing the ever-changing scenery, especially on new routes. I'd much rather run on land in the ports of call where there is new scenery to explore, but I wouldn't be comfortable running in ports like Falmouth, Roatan, or Belize. Plus we normally have other plans and things to explore when in port. So running on the ship is the best option, but I find it boring after a couple of laps.

I have received the Shareholder Benefit only once in the many requests I have submitted. I normally receive this response: "As offers are not combinable, the requested shareholder’s onboard credit cannot be applied to reservation XXXXXXX because there is another discount or onboard credit offer already applied. If you wish to take advantage of the shareholder’s offer instead of the other offer, please contact your travel agent to have that offer removed. Once the other offer is removed, please resubmit your complete request." As @Matt said above, "it's often not combinable with anything" and "the reason to buy stock is because you think it's a good financial investment". In that case the Shareholder Benefit is insignificant compared to the potential share price movement. The Shareholder Benefit is a nice bonus, but you can only get it if you got a crappy deal on your cruise (i.e. you got no OBC offer, no C&A discount, and book it during a rare sale that is combinable with the Benefit).

Yes @Jjdslp122 you should be fine with the 11:50 am flight from FLL. On our Allure sailing from Ft. Lauderdale 3 weeks ago the Luggage Valet to FLL was for flights 11:30 am or later (up to 11:59 pm that same day). Cost is $25/person. We felt the cost was well worth the convenience. You put your bags outside of your cabin the night before disembarkation day and the next time you have to handle them is on the airport carousel at your destination. Very convenient. We've also done it at Port Canaveral.

How awesome it would be to have my kids trick me into going on a cruise as a surprise, and pay the bill! Good for you! Have a great time!