Embarkation and Debarkation at Port of Galveston?

We are cruising for the first time out of Galveston on 3/29. Any tips on Embarkation in the terminal? I can only find older posts on debarkation so any current tips would be appreciated.

We are cruising for the first time out of Galveston on 3/29. Any tips on Embarkation in the terminal? I can only find older posts on debarkation so any current tips would be appreciated.

I would get off the ship as soon as possible. Delays get worse as time goes on.

We disembarked around 9:30 am just a few weeks ago from the Navigator and were through Customs and Immigration and on the street waiting for our ride in 20 minutes.

It took us over an hour to get out of the terminal after disembarking Navigator late last year.

Disembarkation procedures and immigration procedures have improved greatly!

This is without new terminal improvements due to be finished in the summer.

Disembarkation procedures and immigration procedures have improved greatly!

This is without new terminal improvements due to be finished in the summer.

That's good news!:)

If you are able to carry your own bags, self assist debarkation will get you off and out quicker as well.

We disembarked around 9:30 am just a few weeks ago from the Navigator and were through Customs and Immigration and on the street waiting for our ride in 20 minutes.

To add to this we were not waiting until 9:30 to disembark ,

we were casually enjoying a served breakfast in the main dining room! :)

My tip would be…….chill out, don't let the madhouse ruin your day and have a stiff drink when you get home.

Galveston is my home cruise port and even if it is getting better, it's the minor leagues compared to Ft. Lauderdale or Miami.

Good luck!

We are cruising for the first time out of Galveston on 3/29. Any tips on Embarkation in the terminal? I can only find older posts on debarkation so any current tips would be appreciated.

Thanks OP for this thread!! Great debarkation tips!!

We are cruising out of Galveston for the first time and also are intersted in any thoughts on embarkation.

Our two cabins have FTTF and it is my In-laws first cruise and so want to make the whole process of getting on the ship as easy as possible....

Thanks!!!

FYI

By November 2015,

Terminal #2 will be doubled in size with major improvements.

New ships will be arriving November 2015,

and by March 2016 there will 5 ships in Galveston. :)

Carnival Liberty

Carnival Breeze

Carnival Freedom

Royal Caribbean Liberty

Disney Wonder

The three Carnival ships alone will carry 600,000 passengers annually.

We'll be cruising from Galveston in April, and I was wondering about what time to get to the port. We'll be staying nearby, so besides the standard time printed on the cruise documents, what is a reasonable time to get to the terminal? We'll be cruising on the Freedom. Thanks in advance for any tips.

We will be cruising in 30 days from Galveston as well. Any advise on boarding after a disembarked cruise from Belize? I have read over the last few months that boarding behind this destination can be challenging/delayed. Any updates?

You asked about EMBARKATION ... ... when we boarded there 2 years ago it was a NIGHTMARE. Upon arriving outside of the terminal, it appeared to be a cattle corral, people just standing around in no particular order. Some of our party attempted to get in line while the others had to take our luggage inside the building and find the appropriate holding area themselves - porters did not take your luggage or assist in any way. And as for a "line", there was none - no ropes, lines or other way to discern where the line formed. The "line" was blocking the entrance to the luggage drop off which made it all the more difficult to know where to go. It was an absolute mess. I want to think we arrived there about 11:30 or 12:00. Once inside, it flowed much better but was still very slow compared to the operations in New Orleans. Maybe someone who has cruised out of Galveston more recently can give better information. Hopefully they have corrected this problem and it won't be so bad. DISEMBARKING was about twice as slow and twice as confusing as New Orleans as well. I believe we eventually walked the entire ship twice over after being directed and re-directed to line after line just to get off the ship.

You asked about EMBARKATION ... ... when we boarded there 2 years ago it was a NIGHTMARE. Upon arriving outside of the terminal, it appeared to be a cattle corral, people just standing around in no particular order. Some of our party attempted to get in line while the others had to take our luggage inside the building and find the appropriate holding area themselves - porters did not take your luggage or assist in any way. And as for a "line", there was none - no ropes, lines or other way to discern where the line formed. The "line" was blocking the entrance to the luggage drop off which made it all the more difficult to know where to go. It was an absolute mess. I want to think we arrived there about 11:30 or 12:00. Once inside, it flowed much better but was still very slow compared to the operations in New Orleans. Maybe someone who has cruised out of Galveston more recently can give better information. Hopefully they have corrected this problem and it won't be so bad. DISEMBARKING was about twice as slow and twice as confusing as New Orleans as well. I believe we eventually walked the entire ship twice over after being directed and re-directed to line after line just to get off the ship.

Thanks CruzieSue for this information. Has anyone been at the port more recently and can provide the same sort of information for Embarkation? Looking for general information on where to drop off bags for the porters, how the lines work for Priority vs Non-Priority boarding, time to get the port, etc. I'm familiar with how NOLA works (very well, in my opinion), so comparison to Galveston is very helpful. Thanks in advance!

I cruised on the Magic on 2/14 which was also Mardi Gras so lots of parades and closed roads and additionally we were moved to terminal 2 since the Freedom was making it's Texas debut.

We had trouble finding a porter so we just walked our bags from the shuttle lot to the area where the porters were coming out of the building and handed them off to the first porter we saw walking out.

Customs was a breeze, it took maybe 10 minutes to get past them and into the Carnival area. Their computers were having problems but it still took less than half an hour to go through the line and get on the ship. Most of that time was waiting for our S&S cards to print out.

Now they did warn everyone to show up at the assigned time because the terminal was smaller than usual. Between that and traffic in town I'm sure it helped keep the crowds down inside. Luckily I had a plan and it worked out well. We showed up at 11:30 and beat the early and late rush.

As for disembarking I've always done self assist because we were usually crunched for time but since we had nicer cabins this time we ended up with zone 6 tags. The mad rush off the ship seems to be the self assist folks because it was pretty smooth this time. We had a nice breakfast but did have to wait a while to be called but it was still better than carrying luggage down the gangway. Even the line for customs seemed to be moving faster than usual.

We are cruising for the first time out of Galveston on 3/29. Any tips on Embarkation in the terminal? I can only find older posts on debarkation so any current tips would be appreciated.

Embarkation: spend the $5 on a porter who will take you luggage straight away to the loading area. if you try and do it yourself, you could end up behind Family X with 12 bags, none of which had luggage tags already on and thus got sent to go get them( at table Y at the other end of the building) and not be allowed to bypass Family X to drop your bags off which DID have tags on.

( no I am not bitter. really) it takes 30 seconds to put the luggage tags on at the hotel or at the parking lot/garage you park at for the week. yes even with the 'hassle' of printing them off at home.

Debarkation: we sail suites so we were the first group called after self disembark. luggage was fairly easy, arranged neatly in sections just remember where to pick up your parking lot shuttle. they all seem to run several vans continuously so you won't be waiting long at all. it looks worse than it is as far as getting out of the terminal area and back onto the main drag. there are not too many gas stations though, so either top off before you park on your way onboard, or suss out where the nearest one is on your way off the island.

* this pertains to Navigator of the Seas on Royal

I will add this after reading bptex's post ... he/she was at the Carnival terminal. I don't know what the difference is/was, unless it's the difference between Carnival and Royal's operations, but at the time we were there, things did appear to be running quicker and smoother on Carnival's side of the terminal. There was no chaos or unorganized lines outside their terminal. I remember thinking we should have cruised Carnival ;)

It took us over an hour to get out of the terminal after disembarking Navigator late last year.

Took us two hours to get through customs when we sailed in August 2014. It was miserable and chaotic, the RCL folks were little help. My wife and I vowed to never leave from Galveston after that experience.

Took us two hours to get through customs when we sailed in August 2014. It was miserable and chaotic, the RCL folks were little help. My wife and I vowed to never leave from Galveston after that experience.

Immigrations have changed for the better already

and when the new terminal is completed it will even be better.

I've never had a problem finding a porter. As soon as we turned in to the terminal they were there. We usually arrive about 11:30.

Read this from thread on

March 8 Navigator

On Royal forum

No problems on embarkation or disembarkation :

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Just back from Navigator Cruise - March 8th trip (Multi-page thread 1 2)