Transportation from IAH to Bayport Cruise Terminal (Ride Share, Taxi, One-way rents?)

Hey everyone,

Suffering some of the consequences of late surprise trip planning...

We're headed on a cruise on the NCL Jewel on October 18 out of the Bayport Cruise Terminal. Little did I realize what an impact sailing from a new-ish port would be. So few affordable transportation options!

Talking directly with Norwegian, their shuttle service is $45pp/one way. That's painful. And of course the hotel they partner with (hotel + shuttle) is already sold out for the night prior.

I looked at one way car rental, but the nearest location that accepts one way is a Hertz or Budget 20+ minutes away! So then you're talking car rental + taxi to the port.

At this point, I'm looking for ideas. I'd prefer avoid the $100 taxi fare, or $90 Norwegian shuttle if I can avoid it.

Any recommendations you have would be appreciated. Thanks!

Hey everyone,

 

Suffering some of the consequences of late surprise trip planning...

 

We're headed on a cruise on the NCL Jewel on October 18 out of the Bayport Cruise Terminal. Little did I realize what an impact sailing from a new-ish port would be. So few affordable transportation options!

 

Talking directly with Norwegian, their shuttle service is $45pp/one way. That's painful. And of course the hotel they partner with (hotel + shuttle) is already sold out for the night prior.

 

I looked at one way car rental, but the nearest location that accepts one way is a Hertz or Budget 20+ minutes away! So then you're talking car rental + taxi to the port.

 

At this point, I'm looking for ideas. I'd prefer avoid the $100 taxi fare, or $90 Norwegian shuttle if I can avoid it.

 

Any recommendations you have would be appreciated. Thanks!

We are looking at super shuttle which quoted us $75. For 2 of us. Hope that helps

I googled Houston Car Seat Taxi (because I'm travelling with kids). I see there are a number of services that all seem to be charging from $85 and up for flat rate transport IAH to Bayport. Any reviews or comments on using one of these services? Paying NCL $45pp (that's $180 for us :eek: each way) isn't sounding great!

I hear ya sunquest76! These guys just don't seem to have shuttle transportation down yet. I chose to sail out of Houston because I could get some cheap direct flight tickets. Little did I know I'd be making up for it in cab fare :eek:

I have used the cruise line transfers in the past, and liked the security and relative luxury of the big bus. If I were only transporting 2 people in Houston - that is for sure the route I would take. But paying for 4 pax at a per person rate isn't logical for me (yet). I might break down and "borrow" from hubby's casino fund if I can't find a suitable alternative :D

If you're looking for affordable, there is this that I just found this evening -- public transit to close-ish the port. It'd get you to the space center, which by Google estimates is ~15 min away from the port. Of course...it's also a ~3h bus ride with the little ones. So there's that.

Of course, on further inspection it's still $50+ for a taxi from there. I suppose it is a savings over the $180 for you, though!

We are looking at super shuttle which quoted us $75. For 2 of us. Hope that helps

After a painful evening of searching, this looks like the best rate so far. Would be interesting to see if others sailing on the Oct. 18 Jewel could finagle a group rent of a Super Shuttle. Add't $10/pp isn't too bad if you get a near-full van!

Trying looking up Houston lyft* they are like personal taxi services done by regular people who are certified by the company.

... Would be interesting to see if others sailing on the Oct. 18 Jewel could finagle a group rent of a Super Shuttle. Add't $10/pp isn't too bad if you get a near-full van!

Howdy reticentwebdev!

The specific Cruise Critic Roll Call thread for your cruise is the ONLY place on the Cruise Critic message board where you and your fellow Roll Call members may post personal ads about sharing tours, excursions or transportation with each other.

Please note the following portion of the the Sticky titled What is a ROLL CALL and how do I find mine? at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=44773 about share requests:

... Shore Excursion/Tour Shares in ROLL CALLS

 

This is an excellent benefit of participating on your ROLL CALL. If you are sailing on a specific ship and departure date, you may post your share request on the specific Roll Call thread for your cruise. You are targeting the specific group of people who would be most inclined to share since they are already sailing with you. Please remember, do not start a new Roll Call thread with your share request. Use your existing Roll Call thread to post your share request. Please note, our Guidelines do not allow personal ads looking to share shore excursions/tours, transportation, etc. anywhere else on Cruise Critic.

 

I'm New Here, Can I Post Looking for a Shore Excursion/Tour Share?

 

Technically, the answer is yes. However, our ROLL CALLS are not a classified ad area for your tour share. They are, as mentioned above, a place for cruisers to get to know one another before they sail. You will receive a much better response to your TOUR SHARE REQUEST if you take some time to read the entire ROLL CALL; get to know the other members and allow them to get to know YOU first! That is the spirit of our ROLL CALLS...

The following is a portion of the Roll Calls section in the Guidelines:

SHORE EXCURSIONS

- Sharing shore excursions is fun and can help you save money.

- Get to know the other members in a Roll Call before attempting to get them to tour with you.

- Shore excursions should be arranged so that payment is made directly to the tour operator, do not be the collector of funds for a shore excursion.

- Do not arrange any shore excursions/tours if you are not going to be taking them yourself. In other words NO THIRD-PARTY arrangement of shore excursions are allowed. This includes people who are not participating on the Cruise Critic ROLL CALL *for whatever reason*.

- Travel agents may not arrange shore excursions on ROLL CALLS.

- Anyone attempting to "fill a bus" or making money from the sharing of shore excursions on our forums runs the risk of losing their membership.

- Do not post your email address so that someone can email you information about a shore excursion. If they have important info, they should be willing and able to post this information on the forum. We will remove posts, at our discretion, that are nothing more than requests for emails OR posts providing email addresses.

- Do NOT arrange to collect funds for shore excursion shares at any Meet & Mingle or Meet & Greet so graciously provided by the cruise lines. In the case of Princess Cruises, they have stated you cannot solicit other passengers for any reason once you have booked your cruise. If they observe you arranging tours on board, you run the risk of being asked to debark your cruise at the next port (verified via Princess Cruises March 2013)

Yes, only tour/excursion share requests are mentioned, but transportation requests are included.

Hopefully, one of your current Cruise Critic Roll Call members will want to share. And remember, as your sail date approaches new Roll Call members will be joining the thread.

I sincerely hope this information will be helpful and glad to have you aboard Cruise Critic!

Kat

Trying looking up Houston lyft* they are like personal taxi services done by regular people who are certified by the company.

There is another ridesharing option in Houston called Uber. I haven't used either Lyft or Uber, so I can't tell you what the cost would be.

I googled Houston Car Seat Taxi (because I'm travelling with kids). I see there are a number of services that all seem to be charging from $85 and up for flat rate transport IAH to Bayport. Any reviews or comments on using one of these services? Paying NCL $45pp (that's $180 for us :eek: each way) isn't sounding great!

just curious as to what you ended up doing? we will b cruising with kiddos and have the same carseat situation... not planning on bringing them. all our other cruises we rented them with the car but cant really do that on taxis and shuttles.

just curious as to what you ended up doing? we will b cruising with kiddos and have the same carseat situation... not planning on bringing them. all our other cruises we rented them with the car but cant really do that on taxis and shuttles.

We used a taxi to get to the port from our hotel. Cost about $95 - they didn't even ask about car seats, we just belted the kids.

Funny story about SuperShuttle. They are private contractors. We decided to share a ride to IAH from the cruise terminal with another family of adults. THe cost quoted for us (6 adults 2 kids) was $115 - and confirmed three times. We got in the van and got on the road with no car seats, no questions asked. The funny part came when he printed us an invoice for $137! We were already half way to the airport on the highway when the price suddenly changed. We "negotiated" it down to $127, but be sure to verify price with the driver. So, no problem without a car seat on the SuperShuttle blue van to return to the airport.

Maybe we got lucky, or maybe it's not as big of a deal as we thought.