Galveston cruising is $$

[Hutcherl]

Just an observation- We have a cruise booked out of Galveston for a June 2018 sailing.  After doing Harmony this year and my daughter just old enough to enjoy the slides,  that made a ship with slides a necessity for us on our next cruise.  So the cheapest fare on a ship with slides steered us to the LOS out of Galveston.  At least It appeared that way until I starting planning  the other aspects of our trip. With the cost of a one night hotel stay, ground transportation and extra flight cost being we are from Pa, the savings quickly have evaporated.  Looks like the allure out of ft lauderdale gives me a higher class ship with a better itinerary for similar money when taking all aspects into consideration. 

[jce2]

Alas, I must agree.  Galveston is certainly not a "friendly" port for folks that must fly in.  Between the cost of transport from Houston to Galveston, steep hotel prices, lack of hotel availability close to the port, exorbitant fees for shuttle entry into the port, and costs of moving around town.  It gets expensive fast!  My hotel is charging us $25 per room (we have 3) for a 2 mile ride to the port.  Turns out it's a fee the port charges.  Am tempted to use Uber-SUV (which prices at $28-$35, but so far have had no luck clarifying if and SUV will hold 6 people+driver+luggage (I suppose we might be able to hold luggage on lap.....) Still, quite expensive.  Will definitely look at other options before booking my second cruise.

[DocLC]

You could also look into the Anthem out of Port Liberty. Even though the fare would be higher, the transportation costs will be significantly lower. Plus, you'd get 2 extra nights plus a stop in Bermuda.

[Hutcherl]

 If Baltimore could handle bigger ships I would never consider another port because that would eliminate flying .   Flights to Florida are plentiful and sometimes reasonable.   Looks to be the way we are going to go.  I really like the oasis class ships anyway. 

[enjoylife5]

2 hours ago, Hutcherl said:

Just an observation- We have a cruise booked out of Galveston for a June 2018 sailing.  After doing Harmony this year and my daughter just old enough to enjoy the slides,  that made a ship with slides a necessity for us on our next cruise.  So the cheapest fare on a ship with slides steered us to the LOS out of Galveston.  At least It appeared that way until I starting planning  the other aspects of our trip. With the cost of a one night hotel stay, ground transportation and extra flight cost being we are from Pa, the savings quickly have evaporated.  Looks like the allure out of ft lauderdale gives me a higher class ship with a better itinerary for similar money when taking all aspects into consideration. 

You're right.  I hope Royal continues to add more slides to the other ships.  Adventure, the other ship with fun slides,  has more travel expenses associated with Puerto Rico as well.  I'm struggling with that as well.  We booked Adventure for Spring Break, because we have done Liberty's itinerary enough, but I might have to rethink it, I can't seem to find a plane ticket under $700 :(

[Hutcherl]

52 minutes ago, enjoylife5 said:

You're right.  I hope Royal continues to add more slides to the other ships.  Adventure, the other ship with fun slides,  has more travel expenses associated with Puerto Rico as well.  I'm struggling with that as well.  We booked Adventure for Spring Break, because we have done Liberty's itinerary enough, but I might have to rethink it, I can't seem to find a plane ticket under $700 :(

That's interesting because I followed the slides to the Adventure as well along with the awesome itinerary of the ABC islands out of Puerto Rico.  That is until I checked on flights! So I rebooked to Galveston and now I'm probably rebooking to go out of Florida. I guess prior research would serve me well before booking but with ability to cancel without penalty and rebook before final payment never caused me to pause.  Extra work in this case but I don't mind. 

[Hutcherl]

3 hours ago, DocLC said:

You could also look into the Anthem out of Port Liberty. Even though the fare would be higher, the transportation costs will be significantly lower. Plus, you'd get 2 extra nights plus a stop in Bermuda.

Good thought  DocLC,  I have thought of Cape Liberty and the Anthem.  Don't remember why I didn't consider it but I will explore that option.  Cape Liberty is still a fairly long drive(7 hours I think) so It would require a overnight stay and parking but does avoid the dreaded flights.  As to your point about Bermuda, I could go to Horseshoe Bay on every cruise and never tire of it. I did the Granduer to Bermuda out of Baltimore twice.  Again, for me, it's just too bad that cruising out of Baltimore has the limitations that it has. 

[DocLC]

Just now, Hutcherl said:

Good thought  DocLC,  I have thought of Cape Liberty and the Anthem.  Don't remember why I didn't consider it but I will explore that option.  Cape Liberty is still a fairly long drive(7 hours I think) so It would require a overnight stay and parking but does avoid the dreaded flights.  As to your point about Bermuda, I could go to Horseshoe Bay on every cruise and never tire of it. I did the Granduer to Bermuda out of Baltimore twice.  Again, for me, it's just too bad that cruising out of Baltimore has the limitations that it has. 

There are no slides that I'm aware of, but there are lots of other fun things to keep the family busy (sky diving, bumper cars, iFly).

[Guest toodle68]

We did Galveston in January from VA and it was expensive when everything was considered.  We decided we would not cruise of out there again.

[jce2]

Before I leave for Galveston a hotel in Denver will shuttle me and my family for free 10 miles tot he airport.  Once in Galveston I will pay $75 for the hotel to take me 2 miles....Go figure

 

[DocLC]

19 minutes ago, jce2 said:

Before I leave for Galveston a hotel in Denver will shuttle me and my family for free 10 miles tot he airport.  Once in Galveston I will pay $75 for the hotel to take me 2 miles....Go figure

 

Have you looked into a rental car? We found it was cheaper to rent a car for the week and leave it parked at the port than the transportation costs to and from the port through private transfers.

[Hutcherl]

For people within driving distance this isn't a issue.  For those who have to fly in,   I'm surprised that this port is successful considering the overinflated costs associated with cruising for there.  It's not like it gets the latest and greatest ships from Carnival and RC where the ships draw people in on their own.  Maybe with limited west coast cruising options it helps Port of Galveston stay viable to the cruise industry.  Just thinking

[DocLC]

1 hour ago, Hutcherl said:

For people within driving distance this isn't a issue.  For those who have to fly in,   I'm surprised that this port is successful considering the overinflated costs associated with cruising for there.  It's not like it gets the latest and greatest ships from Carnival and RC where the ships draw people in on their own.  Maybe with limited west coast cruising options it helps Port of Galveston stay viable to the cruise industry.  Just thinking

Because the costs are broken up, I don't think people are that rational about the costs. Half to 2/3 of the cost of a cruise for me is the air travel to/from the port. For Galveston, though, the cruise was a bit cheaper than out of Florida and from California the airfare was a bit less expensive. The transportation costs in Texas ran about $250 between the rental car, gas, and parking, but we also did a precruise stay, so that wasn't too bad.

[function12]

Because you have 4 million plus people 30 minutes away and that is just Houston.  It will still cost me $100 to park down there for the week unless I want to be that friend and ask for a ride.

[JLMoran]

20 hours ago, Hutcherl said:

Good thought  DocLC,  I have thought of Cape Liberty and the Anthem.  Don't remember why I didn't consider it but I will explore that option.  Cape Liberty is still a fairly long drive(7 hours I think) so It would require a overnight stay and parking but does avoid the dreaded flights.  As to your point about Bermuda, I could go to Horseshoe Bay on every cruise and never tire of it. I did the Granduer to Bermuda out of Baltimore twice.  Again, for me, it's just too bad that cruising out of Baltimore has the limitations that it has. 

Do you live closer to Pittsburgh than philly in PA? Just checked on Google Maps: it's 6 hours from Pittsburgh to Cape Liberty, but only 2 hours from Philly.

I sometimes forget how "wide" PA is, not to mention how much bigger than NJ.

[Hutcherl]

14 hours ago, JLMoran said:

Do you live closer to Pittsburgh than philly in PA? Just checked on Google Maps: it's 6 hours from Pittsburgh to Cape Liberty, but only 2 hours from Philly.

I sometimes forget how "wide" PA is, not to mention how much bigger than NJ.

Hour south of Pittsburgh.  I did check into a Athem cruise out of Cape Liberty.  I love the itinerary and the two extra days.  Also, priced going back on the Harmony, which we loved, and got us hooked on the slides.  All options are open at this point.  Even staying booked on the LOS I guess.  I think I found what might be a descent option of staying in Houston at a La Quinta which offers a cruise package with all transportation.  Pricing isn't out for our date yet but will probably still be a shocker.  We really wanted to stay in Galveston and be a close as possible to the port.  Which in the end is maybe what we end up doing. 

[Michael Vitale]

15 hours ago, function12 said:

Because you have 4 million plus people 30 minutes away and that is just Houston.  It will still cost me $100 to park down there for the week unless I want to be that friend and ask for a ride.

I use EZ Cruz parking.  I pay $48.  Very inexpensive and convenient.  Been using them for years

[Michael Vitale]

For me, Galveston is like driving to the grocery store.  "Just down the road a piece" (about 4 1/2 hours).  We leave on Saturday and meander down toward Galveston and stay in a town called Webster.  Great place, lots of hotel choices and every restaurant you can imagine.  Then Sunday morning we have about 30 minutes to the port.  We have coffee at Starbucks across the street then when its time, we drop the bags off, my wife gets in line, and I go park the car at EZ Cruz parking.  We have it down to a science.  So after the next 2 "flyaway" cruises, we will get back to this routine.  Maybe the occasional flyaway cruise, but the airfares are really causing me to reconsider.  $600 to Ft Lauderdale, $1300 to San Juan !!  I'd rather do a 3rd cruise each year than give all that $$$ to American Airlines.  

[jce2]

I am pretty much locked into Galveston at this point seeing as how air fare and shuttle form airport to Galveston are all paid for.  Now i am limited to "Do I stay at my current hotel?" (Doubletree) and "How do I get 6 people & luggage from hotel to port?".  Only one real consideration for changing hotels and that would be In at the Waterpark, but its reviews are all over the map and it is even further from downtown.  Transportation choices so far are hotel shuttle ($75), an independent shuttle (forget name right now, $72), or Uber ($35 but not sure it can actually take all 6 and luggage).  So right now its all about finances more than ability.  Suspect I will just go with the hotel shuttle.  Bottom line is that by 11:00 or so on January 7th I will be standing on the deck of my first cruise ship with my family and drink in hand, and life will be good!

 

[DocLC]

@jce2 You'd likely need to Ubers unless you can get an UberXL, so the hotel shuttle might be the easiest and most convenient. On a per person basis, there cost really isn't that bad at $12.50 each. 

Enjoy your cruise. 

[jce2]

Yea, I suspect in the end that is what I will do.  It's the least stressful too

 

[tiny260]

I live in NE Oklahoma, it's a 10 hour drive with stops for me, I'm like Michael Vitale, we take one day to drive down, this last June we HAD to stop in Waco (Wife insisted) then we drove to Houston and spent the night there, I travel to Houston a lot for business, so I stay by my office, that way I know where everything is, my wife loves Pappadeauz's sea food restaurant so it is always a win win for me, it's about an hour drive from the hotel to Galveston so not to bad, but that is only 2 people and not 6 so I see your what your up against. There is a real nice Courtyard by Marriott on Galveston beach that was reasonable, I had points so it didn't cost me anything, but I know the price wasn't bad. I also use EZ Cruise Parking, very close and efficiant.

My wife and I like Galveston and Liberty so well we already have 2 more cruises booked on her.

Hope you get there with no issues and enjoy your first cruise. Don't stress to much, it all eventually comes together... That comes from an OCD over-planner.

[Hutcherl]

We ended up rebooking and didn't end up on a ship with slides after all.  Picked a Oasis sailing out of port canaveral.   Was all set to switch to the Harmony(slides) until my wife brought a good point about seeing the same shows again as our April Harmony sailing.          We really liked the Harmony and feel confident the Oasis will be equally enjoyable being a sister ship from the same class.  Minus the slides of course!  Lol

[shady]

On 8/3/2017 at 4:04 PM, Hutcherl said:

Just an observation- We have a cruise booked out of Galveston for a June 2018 sailing.  After doing Harmony this year and my daughter just old enough to enjoy the slides,  that made a ship with slides a necessity for us on our next cruise.  So the cheapest fare on a ship with slides steered us to the LOS out of Galveston.  At least It appeared that way until I starting planning  the other aspects of our trip. With the cost of a one night hotel stay, ground transportation and extra flight cost being we are from Pa, the savings quickly have evaporated.  Looks like the allure out of ft lauderdale gives me a higher class ship with a better itinerary for similar money when taking all aspects into consideration. 

With our Liberty cruise coming up in two weeks, I certainly feel @Hutcherl's pain on airfare, pre-cruise hotel, and ground transportation. (My mom and I are coming from PA too but the other side; we're an hour north of Philly).

• We got what I think is a pretty good deal on airfare with Southwest (plus hopefully no bag fees!). Our flights home are weirdly timed but we can deal with that.
• Coincidentally, we are staying at the Inn at the Waterpark. They had availability for one night during the summer season whereas almost none of the other hotels in Galveston did. @jce2, I am a little concerned because I read the mixed reviews too. For one night, we can suck it up. After getting up before sunrise, driving to Philly, 2 flights, a layover in Dallas, and a shuttle, we'll need some place to crash.
• We booked Galveston Limo's shuttle service at a relatively reasonable rate. We'll be using Uber or a cab to get to the port.

Without ever having cruised but knowing what we ended up spending, I think I'd still book Liberty -- for a very specific and personal reason. Mom and I booked Liberty for the itinerary, not really for the amenities. Mom is celebrating her retirement from teaching Spanish, so we wanted to visit only Spanish-speaking countries. We wanted to cruise, but this time, it had to be special in that way. I doubt another ship could offer her that memorable experience and that experience is why we're cruising. (I joked a few weeks ago about switching to Oasis for the Total Eclipse cruise because we cruise on Liberty the same week. She didn't know what to say). 

[jce2]

Discovered some great news today.  Galveston DOES have a transit system that adults can ride for $1.  So the problem of traveling around Galveston on Saturday for food and touring is solved. Not sure it will be a practical solution for getting to the cruise with our bags but will figure that out when we get there.