Galveston

eeyorefanuk

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 6, 2009
Our flight out of IAH is not until the evening but I am not sure what time to book transfer from the cruise port to IAH

what is the latest you have got off the ship? 9am?

We don’t want to be standing around waiting for the transfer but not in a rush if that makes sense

Is there any cafes etc right by the port?

Thanks
 
You can wait on the ship until they throw you off at 9. That’s when you should ask your transfer to be there. There is a Starbucks across the road, but you would need to get there with your luggage.
 
Our flight out of IAH is not until the evening but I am not sure what time to book transfer from the cruise port to IAH

what is the latest you have got off the ship? 9am?

We don’t want to be standing around waiting for the transfer but not in a rush if that makes sense

Is there any cafes etc right by the port?

Thanks
I feel your pain. We had a 5:00 pm flight out of Hobby last month after our cruise. We took our time getting off the ship and caught a cab to the airport. I think we got to the airport before 11 am. We had a 2 hour wait until we good check in at the airport and go through security. Then just 4 short hours before our departure!

One-way car rentals involving Galveston are very expensive, otherwise we would have done that and killed the time by driving around.
 
Last January we had a 6:00 pm flight out of IAH and I too was wondering what we would do at the airport all day....well turns out we got fogged in and could not dock in the morning. We were anchored offshore until about 2:00 pm and then finally let off the ship close to 4:00 pm. Our transfer luckily accommodated our new time but we barely made it to the airport. They were already boarding when we were driven by golf cart down to our gate. I was actually on the phone with the airline in the car asking about later flights but they would not change anything until I actually missed our booked flight....luckily we made it.

From what I understand fog is fairly common in Galveston certain times of the year.

MJ
 


Thanks all
I have heard about the fog just hope and pray it is not as bad as yours was
It will Be November so not sure if that is a bad time for fog
 
Our flight out of IAH is not until the evening but I am not sure what time to book transfer from the cruise port to IAH

what is the latest you have got off the ship? 9am?

We don’t want to be standing around waiting for the transfer but not in a rush if that makes sense

Is there any cafes etc right by the port?

Thanks

The area near the port is very industrial.
 
Last January we had a 6:00 pm flight out of IAH and I too was wondering what we would do at the airport all day....well turns out we got fogged in and could not dock in the morning. We were anchored offshore until about 2:00 pm and then finally let off the ship close to 4:00 pm. Our transfer luckily accommodated our new time but we barely made it to the airport. They were already boarding when we were driven by golf cart down to our gate. I was actually on the phone with the airline in the car asking about later flights but they would not change anything until I actually missed our booked flight....luckily we made it.

From what I understand fog is fairly common in Galveston certain times of the year.

MJ


We had the same thing happen (or it was the same cruise!!) We had a flight out st 5 pm on the Friday and missed it! Our airline didn’t have another way of getting us home until Sunday.
 


I don't know exactly how it might work with your luggage, but Johnson Space Center and/or Kemah Boardwalk are about halfway between Galveston and IAH.
 
The area near the port is very industrial.

Only a portion of the area is industrial. I live in Houston and am familiar with the area.

OP, If you look at the map you'll see plenty of places to eat, shop and stroll. The "strand" is just a few blocks from the port and you'll find plenty of things to do there to kill your time once you debark. As for the latest time that we've gotten off, I think it was 9:30am in San Juan? It may have been 9 though... we simply sat in the lounge area and charged our phones and talked until we felt it was time to get off.
 
Thanks all
I have heard about the fog just hope and pray it is not as bad as yours was
It will Be November so not sure if that is a bad time for fog
If it makes you feel any better, we have cruised twice out of Galveston and have never been impacted by fog. However, if your cruise is impacted, it will be a mess! I mentioned to Guest Services that my flight wasn't until 5pm and I wouldn't mind staying on the ship a bit longer due to fog. She gave me the evil eye and said fog is their biggest fear. Any delay getting back really messes them up.
 
If it makes you feel any better, we have cruised twice out of Galveston and have never been impacted by fog. However, if your cruise is impacted, it will be a mess! I mentioned to Guest Services that my flight wasn't until 5pm and I wouldn't mind staying on the ship a bit longer due to fog. She gave me the evil eye and said fog is their biggest fear. Any delay getting back really messes them up.

This ^^ We've cruised in and out of Galveston 7 times and haven't encountered fog, but it is quite the ordeal if it does happen.
 
Only a portion of the area is industrial. I live in Houston and am familiar with the area.

OP, If you look at the map you'll see plenty of places to eat, shop and stroll. The "strand" is just a few blocks from the port and you'll find plenty of things to do there to kill your time once you debark. As for the latest time that we've gotten off, I think it was 9:30am in San Juan? It may have been 9 though... we simply sat in the lounge area and charged our phones and talked until we felt it was time to get off.

When we were there in December, there were numerous shops and such that were only open on weekends. Others had signs posting hours, but were actually run on "island time." This was on a Wednesday starting about 10:30 in the morning, ymmv.
 
Our cruise was January 6-13, 2017.

Yep...that was the one!!

We stayed (in case you are looking for hotel recommendations) for two nights pre cruise at the Hilton

http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/texas/hilton-galveston-island-resort-GLSGIHF/index.html

Enjoyed our stay there very much. We actually took a car service from the airport to the hotel late at night after our flight. Next morning I went to pick up my rental car (pre reserved) at Enterprise. I called them and they picked me up at the hotel and brought me to the rental office to get the car. When I returned the car the morning of the cruise I returned the car to their office and they drove me back to the hotel. We then took the hotel shuttle to the port (they also picked up at the San luis resort next door). I loved having a car to drive around for shopping/meals, etc. It was too chilly for us to use the pool but it looked nice!!!

MJ
 
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Wow - you have cruised with DCL 40 times!! That cruise was crazy with the amount of rocking for the first couple of days and the delay coming in! I'm a bit surprised that we are going for another one - but everything else was just that good! I have to guess that it was an unusual situation because even the crew looked quite surprised!
Yep...that was the one!!

MJ
 
Wow - you have cruised with DCL 40 times!! That cruise was crazy with the amount of rocking for the first couple of days and the delay coming in! I'm a bit surprised that we are going for another one - but everything else was just that good! I have to guess that it was an unusual situation because even the crew looked quite surprised!

Yep, just completed #40 on the January 28th to February 4th Southern Caribbean out of San Juan...had a great time!! Talk about rocky...the first night on that cruise was crazy! I loved it but people were having a hard time walking around.

MJ
 
Yep, just completed #40 on the January 28th to February 4th Southern Caribbean out of San Juan...had a great time!! Talk about rocky...the first night on that cruise was crazy! I loved it but people were having a hard time walking around.

MJ

It was our first cruise EVER and I really did not understand that first night what everyone liked about this type of vacation!!
 
Only time I could flight out after our NYE cruise was in the evening. 7:00 (Alaska) for one flight and 7:50 (AA) for another out of IAH. I was hoping we could get through checkin and use American Airlines Lounge as a resting point, but one thing I had forgotten about... They do not do airline checkin or baggage transfers from Glaveston ports, we had DCL transfers. We took our time to get off the ship and probably left about 9:10 and immediately located our luggage, sailed through customs and then boarded the DCL transports to the airport. We were at the airport by 11 am. Check our bags with AA and then went to the Alaska counter and it was closed and would not open until 4 or 5pm to check the bags So that foiled our attempts to get through security and use the airport lounge. There is nothing to do outside of security for that long, so we went over to Marriott (easy ride on the underground transportation) and got a day room and rested.
 

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