Questions about getting to the Port of Galveston

For some reason airfare is nearly $1,000 more for my family of 5 to fly into Bush Intercontinental than it is to fly into Dallas. It looks like Dallas is only 3 hours and 26 minutes away from Bush Intercontinental, so I'm wondering if it would make sense to fly into Dallas, rent a car, and just park it at the cruise terminal. Has anybody done this before? Is the drive from Dallas bad? Are there a lot of tolls and/or traffic? Are there any fees to get onto Galveston Island or the Port of Galveston other than the fee to park?

For some reason airfare is nearly $1,000 more for my family of 5 to fly into Bush Intercontinental than it is to fly into Dallas. It looks like Dallas is only 3 hours and 26 minutes away from Bush Intercontinental, so I'm wondering if it would make sense to fly into Dallas, rent a car, and just park it at the cruise terminal. Has anybody done this before? Is the drive from Dallas bad? Are there a lot of tolls and/or traffic? Are there any fees to get onto Galveston Island or the Port of Galveston other than the fee to park?

No toll roads .. freeway all the way ,, No fees ... It does cost to park at the port .. We go down the night before ... We also stay at The Inn at The Waterpark .. Nice clean place 110.00 a night , FREE parking for the week at the hotel , They have a shuttle that will drive you to the port ,and will be there to pick you up and take you back to your car at the hotel

Stayed with them 3 times

Look into flying into hobby as well. Hobby is about an hour south of bush.

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Can you find any flights into Hobby on Southwest, Delta or AA? We live in the Houston area and it is usually cheaper for us to fly out of Hobby than IAH.

And 3 hours 26 minutes to IAH is interesting, must be with no traffic! On a good day with not much traffic it can easily take 90 minutes or more to get from IAH to the pier in Galveston.

Also, you did not mention what time of year you will be traveling. Dallas gets ice storms in the winter while Houston/Galveston gets lots of fog Dec-Feb. Flights were delayed last night and this morning into Hobby due to fog and the Valor, Freedom, Breeze and RCCL Liberty of the seas were impacted by the fog this week. Breeze and LOS had to overnight at the pier Monday night and left midday Tuesday due to the sea fog.

No toll roads .. freeway all the way ,, No fees ... It does cost to park at the port .. We go down the night before ... We also stay at The Inn at The Waterpark .. Nice clean place 110.00 a night , FREE parking for the week at the hotel , They have a shuttle that will drive you to the port ,and will be there to pick you up and take you back to your car at the hotel

Stayed with them 3 times

Now that is a bargain. At port of New Orleans it is 20.00 day to park in carnival garage.

We are going in April. What concerns should we be aware of this time of year? Also, we are leaving on a Sunday. Would the traffic be bad on a Sunday?

Traffic usually isn't bad on the weekends however bear in mind there is construction on 45 south of beltway 8 that can and will slow down traffic for a few miles until NASA.

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Hobby is much more expensive than even IAH from Utah.

Hobby is much more expensive than even IAH from Utah.

Have you tried southwest?

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We live about 3.5 hours from Dallas Love airport, and fly out of there 90% of the time because it is literally a fraction of the cost of Tulsa International, which is about 15 minutes from our house. It's ridiculous. If we flew into Dallas, we would get a one way rental, spend the night in Houston, drop the car at Hobby the next morning and catch the Carnival shuttle to the port. Coming back, we'd take the Carnival shuttle back to Hobby, grab a another one way rental and drive to Dallas, drop the car, and catch our flight home.

Also look into flying to San Antonio. About the same mileage and a very easy drive.

For some reason airfare is nearly $1,000 more for my family of 5 to fly into Bush Intercontinental than it is to fly into Dallas. It looks like Dallas is only 3 hours and 26 minutes away from Bush Intercontinental, so I'm wondering if it would make sense to fly into Dallas, rent a car, and just park it at the cruise terminal. Has anybody done this before? Is the drive from Dallas bad? Are there a lot of tolls and/or traffic? Are there any fees to get onto Galveston Island or the Port of Galveston other than the fee to park?

Dallas is at least 5 hrs away from Galveston. We live near DFW International Airport (about 20 min away) and it always takes us AT LEAST 5 hrs, sometimes more depending on when we leave because traffic can get snarled around here REAL fast and there's nowhere to go.

There is one upside to flying into DFW and driving down though...you have the opportunity (more than one actually!) to stop at Buc-ee's which is an experience NOT to be missed. :D Buc-ee's is a chain of gas stations with convienience stores that carry pretty much anything and everything you could possibly imagine. They carry more snacks than you could EVER even think of wanting and if you don't walk out of there with a bag of Beaver Nuggets (trust me..they're good. And there is no beaver in them. I promise) you ain't doing it right. And the bathrooms. Oh god the bathrooms! Buc-ees has the absolutely most clean gas station bathrooms you will ever see. :D

Ok..so there's actually 2 upsides to flying to DFW and driving to Galveston. If there's time on the way down or the way back, you can stop and visit Big Sam.

Agreed with above posters about looking into Houston Hobby, Austin, San Antonio also.

Airfare are usually lowest when booked 2 - 3 months out. Maybe there'll be better prices after the new yr.

Should be much less traffic on Sunday.

Agreed with above posters about looking into Houston Hobby, Austin, San Antonio also.

Airfare are usually lowest when booked 2 - 3 months out. Maybe there'll be better prices after the new yr.

Should be much less traffic on Sunday.

Agreed, with the above posters.

Also, when pricing airfare remember there is a cost to check bags on most carriers now EXCEPT for Southwest. So although it may be cheaper right now, add the cost of checking bags and you might find it to be the same price as Southwest or slightly cheaper. Unless your Elite with that carrier then the point is mute.

Same with the car rental. Be sure to add the cost of gas (a full tank to be safe) plus the rental of the car plus any insurance you may want to add.

In terms of flying into an alternative airport, I would do either Austin or San Antonio vs Dallas. IMO there just always seems to be issues there in terms of weather. As for Houston, Hobby is the way to go like a previous poster mentioned. IAH is SO far north of Houston and with the construction it can take quite some time.

Good luck and have fun on your cruise.

Being from Utah as well we've flown into IAH many times for cruises as well as to visit family since DH is from Houston ,we highly recommend checking flight costs to IAH daily and you'll find something reasonable. Also Hobby is the closer airport, but understand galveston is another hour outside of houston proper, across a bridge, with construction on I 45.

Another consideration, there is no rental car return or drop off in Galveston on a Sunday so you would have to pay for the rent car, gas from Dallas, a week in a parking garage, gas for return trip, to say nothing about the stress of the drive. Unless you had a night flight out of Dallas you couldn't get off ship and to DFW flight in one day.

Go to google flights.com and put in SLC to IAH and look for the best flights look at entire month's calendar. If price isn't good search again the next day, clear your cookies on computer so you don't get a cached record of searches. Good luck.

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For some reason airfare is nearly $1,000 more for my family of 5 to fly into Bush Intercontinental than it is to fly into Dallas. It looks like Dallas is only 3 hours and 26 minutes away from Bush Intercontinental, so I'm wondering if it would make sense to fly into Dallas, rent a car, and just park it at the cruise terminal. Has anybody done this before? Is the drive from Dallas bad? Are there a lot of tolls and/or traffic? Are there any fees to get onto Galveston Island or the Port of Galveston other than the fee to park?

Can you fly into Houston Hobby reasonably (maybe Southwest)?

For some reason airfare is nearly $1,000 more for my family of 5 to fly into Bush Intercontinental than it is to fly into Dallas. It looks like Dallas is only 3 hours and 26 minutes away from Bush Intercontinental, so I'm wondering if it would make sense to fly into Dallas, rent a car, and just park it at the cruise terminal. Has anybody done this before? Is the drive from Dallas bad? Are there a lot of tolls and/or traffic? Are there any fees to get onto Galveston Island or the Port of Galveston other than the fee to park?

Me personally, I would pay the extra $1000 than drive IH35 from Dallas to Galveston. But like the others said try flying into Hobby airport. It's the closest to Galveston. You can also get a Carnival shuttle from Hobby. Just look on Carnival website.

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Me personally, I would pay the extra $1000 than drive IH35 from Dallas to Galveston. But like the others said try flying into Hobby airport. It's the closest to Galveston. You can also get a Carnival shuttle from Hobby. Just look on Carnival website.

 

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Why would you pay that much? The drive on I45 is a straight shot to Galveston. Sure you will run into traffic in Houston but I've certainly experienced worse headaches in my life lol. Honestly I think the simpler solution is to just fly into hobby.

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Fly into Hobby !!!

Flying into Hobby from UT is even pricier than flying into IAH. Even on Southwest, it would cost my family of 5 about $3200. Currently flying into IAH is about $2050, and flying into Dallas is around $1100.

Flying into Hobby from UT is even pricier than flying into IAH. Even on Southwest, it would cost my family of 5 about $3200. Currently flying into IAH is about $2050, and flying into Dallas is around $1100.

Is that With the cost of checking bags, the Rental for the car for the week plus gas/insurance etc.?? You need to look at the bottom line. We are only trying to help you here.

Me personally, I would pay the extra $1000 than drive IH35 from Dallas to Galveston. But like the others said try flying into Hobby airport. It's the closest to Galveston. You can also get a Carnival shuttle from Hobby. Just look on Carnival website.

 

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If you take I35 from Dallas you are going to end up in Laredo not Galveston. :eek:

Look into flying into hobby as well. Hobby is about an hour south of bush.

 

 

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Hobby airport, mostly Southwest. Some American and Delta, Jet Blue

Do they give them a certain color arm band or something? Or do they just look for kids wearing swim diapers in the pools and ask them to get out?

Do they give them a certain color arm band or something? Or do they just look for kids wearing swim diapers in the pools and ask them to get out?

Huh?!?

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