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The new Galveston terminal is fantastic


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1 hour ago, Anika Celestine said:

Does anyone know if Royal has their own parking at the new terminal? We’re on the allure sailing February 19,2023. 

I am assuming that the parking is dedicated to the terminal which happens to be Royal right now. I’m leaving in 2 weeks for my December 12 cruise and will let you know what I learn about parking if someone doesn’t answer with certainty before then.  I did reserve covered parking in the north lot which I understand is right next to the terminal entrance. 

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We are currently on the Allure now.

Some observations about the new terminal:

Directional signage could be better coming down Harborside Drive.  Once you turn left the very first entrance was the South Lot, I believe. Signage is located on the traffic lights and lots are identified by N, S.  Noticed several drivers having difficulty navigating and then changing lanes, two drivers almost hit us.

We had reservations in the North Lot. Attendant at the gate took our QR code and scanned it for us, great service. If you have Premium, it looked as if you entered the same gate and then proceeded to the covered parking and another gate. 

From the North Lot it is a very short walk with your luggage to the terminal. We were quickly met by a luggage porter, who provided great service.

We had family parked in the South Lot. They caught the shuttle with their luggage, wait was minimal.

So far so good!  

Terminal is beautiful, and spacious.

Once upstairs to check-in things started to slow.  

We had an 11:00am arrival, which was postponed by an hour by RCCL the night before, so were about an 11:45am arrival.

In my opinion, somewhat chaotic as far as what lines to get in for check-in, seems they are still working that out.   We had 3 different reservations checking in; one went really fast, another so-so, and the third had several computer issues.  They had a RCCL tech guy trying to handle multiple issues with agents. New terminal you just expect it, no big deal.

Then it came to a crawl getting through security check, line was super backed up!  If I recall, there are about 8 luggage screening machines with 4 walk through people screeners, think TSA at airports.  They only had 2 of the people screeners and 4 luggage screeners opened initially. 

We will reach Diamond status in January and we've embarked from (FLL, Miami, San Juan, Rome, Barcelona, New Orleans and Galveston), this was the longest check-in that I can remember.

Once through security the process was much faster and better.

All in all, super glad to have an Oasis class ship and new terminal in Galveston!  They will get the kinks worked out and I'm sure it will be a super smooth process!

 

 

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Just got off at the new terminal last Thursday and it is a great improvement over the older terminals. Our check-in was quick and easy, the only caveat is we HAD to give our luggage to a porter to check it in. The "labeled" area for luggage drop off is not for you to carry and drop off your luggage but to hand it to to a porter. No problem just a little deceptive as the personal drop off area you can use is on the other side of the terminal. There are two sets of escalators, one for Pinnacle and Suite guests and the other for all of us little people. At the top of the escalator is the first check in point where they will scan your Set Sail pass and check your data entry and photo. Proceed on to the luggage and people scanners. This was the only slow down and it seemed that the personnel there were all brand new and they kept checking our backpacks (or at least mine) although it contained exactly the same things that I always carry on and not place in the luggage. Once through there, and it really did not take long. you proceed to the waiting area which is very large, roomy and a huge improvement in ambiance department. Once boarding commences they have re-instituted the tier boarding they had prior to COVID. Key, Pinnacle, Suite entered and then Diamond+ (Yay, we finally moved up in the line) followed by the others.  The ramps to the ship are straight without the switchback or turns, are wide and are nearly level. Overall it was only 20 minutes from the time we rolled up to the terminal until we were walking on the ship.

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I boarded Adventure a couple of weeks ago. The security screening (and everything else) was very fast. Maybe because it's a smaller boat, so fewer people using the terminal at the same time. I parked in the north lot, short walk to the terminal, porter asked for my bags, I asked if he worked here. Haha. Up an escalator, showed my ticket to someone, scanned my luggage, then walked onto the boat. They had a ton of staff working, probably more than they needed.

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19 hours ago, BrianB8 said:

Directional signage could be better coming down Harborside Drive.  Once you turn left the very first entrance was the South Lot, I believe. Signage is located on the traffic lights and lots are identified by N, S.  Noticed several drivers having difficulty navigating and then changing lanes, two drivers almost hit us.

 

That's just normal Texas driving LOL 🙂

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We were on Adventure last week and it was the fastest boarding process we've experienced. We were on the ship about 10 minutes after our parking shuttle dropped us off at the terminal. We were in a suite and there was only one family in front of us. We didn't even really have time to look around at the new terminal before we were onboard. Disembarkation was just as fast. From the time we left the lounge where suite guests were waiting until we were in our car was about 20 minutes and that included waiting for the parking shuttle driver to load everyone's luggage. 

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2 hours ago, kadmgs said:

We were on Adventure last week and it was the fastest boarding process we've experienced. We were on the ship about 10 minutes after our parking shuttle dropped us off at the terminal. We were in a suite and there was only one family in front of us. We didn't even really have time to look around at the new terminal before we were onboard. Disembarkation was just as fast. From the time we left the lounge where suite guests were waiting until we were in our car was about 20 minutes and that included waiting for the parking shuttle driver to load everyone's luggage. 

Where did you park? I'm assuming not on-site? We usually park at Lighthouse, and I'm curious if there is any noticeable difference using a 3rd party parking lot from the old terminal. 

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4 hours ago, melmar02 said:

Where did you park? I'm assuming not on-site? We usually park at Lighthouse, and I'm curious if there is any noticeable difference using a 3rd party parking lot from the old terminal. 

It's a little further distance for the shuttle from Lighthouse to the new terminal, but otherwise should be similar. I was previously a big believer in the 3rd party parking lots because they were cheaper and more convenient than the Port of Galveston parking. For the new terminal I parked in the Port's North Lot and really loved the convenience of a short walk to the terminal, even though it was a little more expensive. 

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5 hours ago, melmar02 said:

Where did you park? I'm assuming not on-site? We usually park at Lighthouse, and I'm curious if there is any noticeable difference using a 3rd party parking lot from the old terminal. 

We use Port Parking, as usual, and they are only a couple of blocks away now. It was extremely fast a week ago with Adventure as the new entrance is an extreme improvement in traffic flow. Plus they do not have any other cruise line traffic at the terminal to interfere. They drop you off in a dedicated area and the porters are right there. it is a short walk around the corner and you walk into the HUGE lobby to get onto the escalator (or elevator) and right up to the check in area. We absolutely love it. Will be back this next Sunday to try our first Oasis ship. Will see how Embarkation is with a Gianormous ship.

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20 hours ago, melmar02 said:

Where did you park? I'm assuming not on-site? We usually park at Lighthouse, and I'm curious if there is any noticeable difference using a 3rd party parking lot from the old terminal. 

Same as @CrznTxn https://www.portparking.com/ I like that we parked in a warehouse and the shuttle service was included. It was super easy and they give a better discount than the Port of Galveston for disabled veterans. 

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16 hours ago, Galveston Steve said:

It's a little further distance for the shuttle from Lighthouse to the new terminal, but otherwise should be similar. I was previously a big believer in the 3rd party parking lots because they were cheaper and more convenient than the Port of Galveston parking. For the new terminal I parked in the Port's North Lot and really loved the convenience of a short walk to the terminal, even though it was a little more expensive. 

3rd party lots seem to have gone up in price too.  I used to use EZ Cruise Parking and just walk to the old terminal after dropping off my bags and wife, but now their prices are comparable to the new terminal parking.  I booked the north lot parking for my December 12 cruise, glad to see it is an easy walk to the terminal.

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9 hours ago, kadmgs said:

Same as @CrznTxn https://www.portparking.com/ I like that we parked in a warehouse and the shuttle service was included. It was super easy and they give a better discount than the Port of Galveston for disabled veterans. 

I agree... www.portparking.com is my favorite 3rd party provider in Galveston. It is owned and operated by good folks who I know personally.

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29 minutes ago, BD1157 said:

We were on the first Allure cruise for the public. They were having trouble getting the luggage onboard it delayed the departure by 2 hours.

Does anyone know if Royal has gotten that smoothed out yet?

We were booked on the first revenue sailing for Allure...but then they ended up sailing 1 week earlier than expected.  They asked if we wanted to move our reservation up by 1 week but we already had airline reservations for the following week so we just kept our original booking which was now the second revenue sailing.  It was our first Oasis class cruise and boy were we blown away by that ship !!  Even after all of these years, the O class is still impressive.  We had a Boardwalk balcony.  It was so much fun.

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1 hour ago, Brando95 said:

How did you enjoy the boardwalk balcony? How was the noise factor? Staying in one on deck 9 in a few weeks. 

The Boardwalk balcony was great. I enjoyed watching the people below and you could enjoy the aqua theater to some extent. Yes, there was noise from the Boardwalk but it never negatively impacted us.  We booked another one for our next cruise on Allure and then another one but that third one ended up being upgraded back in “the day” when C&A upgraded were actually a “thing”. I would recommend the Boardwalk Balcony for sure-especially on Allure where you can still see the Aqua Theater

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