Hotel and tansportation question

Please bare with me. I have been searching for suggestions but keep getting distracted by all the great information out there and am having trouble locating answers to my questions.

I have only been on one cruise before through Disney that was a gift to us. We did not do any of the planning for it except picking excursions. We just booked a RC cruise on the Navigator for February 15-22 out of Galveston. I know nothing about Galveston and no one I know has cruised out of there. Here are my questions:

1. We are flying into Hobby the day before. I am looking for hotel recs and transportation from the airport. We would idealy like to stay in Galveston but are finding many of the hotels mentioned are booked. We aren't looking for anything fancy and do not want to spend a fortune. Ideally there would be a shuttle to the port either included or for a small fee. There are 2 of us. Any suggestions? I saw La Quinta West is cheap but the reviews are all over the place. Also, saw the Holiday inn Express West but wasn't sure about the shuttle. Another option would be staying near the airport that night.

2. Any recommendations for transportation to go from Hobby to a hotel in Galveston? We usually do a towncar when travelling so any suggestions and costs would be appreciated?

3. Port excursion recommendations? Our stops are Cozumel, Falmouth Jamaica, and Grand Cayman. We are thinking of only two times off the ship but are not familiar with these ports. We are beach relaxation people. Not much for the adventure tours. It doesn't have to be through RC but relaiable and safe options.

4. Finally (sorry for the long post), thoughts on the different drink packages? We are not huge drinkers but like wine at dinner and in the evenings...myself maybe a mixed drink once in a while if at all. My husband likes beer and we both love coffee. We are thinking the ultimate is not worth it for us but not sure if the others are worth it since we aren't sure what the pricing of drinks on board are like.

Thank you for all your help. I am sure I will have more questions, the closer we get.

Regarding the hotel and transportation, I've found the Gulf Coast Departures forum a great help:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=414

Hi there and welcome to Cruise Critic. First, here is the link to your Roll Call for your sailing ***Navigator, February 15, 2015*** Stop by, say hi and ask your questions. There are many knowledgeable folks signed up that will be more than happy to help you.

You will also find answers to many of your questions on Gulf Coast Departures Forums and Caribbean Ports of Call Forum.

Please bare with me. I have been searching for suggestions but keep getting distracted by all the great information out there and am having trouble locating answers to my questions.

 

I have only been on one cruise before through Disney that was a gift to us. We did not do any of the planning for it except picking excursions. We just booked a RC cruise on the Navigator for February 15-22 out of Galveston. I know nothing about Galveston and no one I know has cruised out of there. Here are my questions:

 

1. We are flying into Hobby the day before. I am looking for hotel recs and transportation from the airport. We would idealy like to stay in Galveston but are finding many of the hotels mentioned are booked. We aren't looking for anything fancy and do not want to spend a fortune. Ideally there would be a shuttle to the port either included or for a small fee. There are 2 of us. Any suggestions? I saw La Quinta West is cheap but the reviews are all over the place. Also, saw the Holiday inn Express West but wasn't sure about the shuttle. Another option would be staying near the airport that night.

 

2. Any recommendations for transportation to go from Hobby to a hotel in Galveston? We usually do a towncar when travelling so any suggestions and costs would be appreciated?

 

3. Port excursion recommendations? Our stops are Cozumel, Falmouth Jamaica, and Grand Cayman. We are thinking of only two times off the ship but are not familiar with these ports. We are beach relaxation people. Not much for the adventure tours. It doesn't have to be through RC but relaiable and safe options.

 

4. Finally (sorry for the long post), thoughts on the different drink packages? We are not huge drinkers but like wine at dinner and in the evenings...myself maybe a mixed drink once in a while if at all. My husband likes beer and we both love coffee. We are thinking the ultimate is not worth it for us but not sure if the others are worth it since we aren't sure what the pricing of drinks on board are like.

 

Thank you for all your help. I am sure I will have more questions, the closer we get.

We normally drive down so unable to assist with airport questions.

Regarding hotels, galveston has a lot of hotels that normally are only available to book online for two night minimum.

If you see a hotel you like, call them direct. They are able to override the system manually. Just mention you are cruising.

Hilton offers complimentary shuttle. Courtyard Marriott does as well as a cruise package. A lot of hotels do have shuttles, but unless you search the hotel and include shuttle in the search they don't always make obvious that the offer!!!!!!!

Good luck and enjoy your cruise:D

We just got off the Navigator this past Sunday, did the same itinerary as you listed. The only excursion we did was through RC and it was in Grand Cayman. Swimming with the stingrays was very a good experience.

We stayed at The La Quinta West. It is clean and quiet. Pretty dated and breakfast isn't great. Cold cereals, pastries and hot waffles. Coffee and Juice.

You can park and shuttle for $24 for the week. Don't know how much the shuttle is if you don't park. The Holiday Inn Express is next door and uses the same shuttle. I won't do that again. They have 1 24 seat shuttle, and when Carnival and RCI are in port, it goes to both, stopping at Carnival 1st. We were off the ship by 9am and had to wait until 9:45 for the shuttle. Driving back to the hotel the shuttle had 20 sitting and 3 standing in the aisles, with excess luggage in the aisles. Pretty dangerous situation.

Next time I'll pay more and park at the port, early disembarkation means nothing if you have to stand and wait for a shuttle.

Try Four Points by Sheraton. It's right on Seawall almost directly across from the Pleasure Pier. It's relatively newly refurbed and the location can't be beat. You can walk to everything (except the pier, though it has been done). They allow you to do a 1 night stay.

No shuttle to the pier, but a taxi is very inexpensive since it's maybe 2 miles.

Hilton on Seawall is pretty popular and you can do a 1 night stay. They have a Cattle Car... I mean SHUTTLE to the pier.

I personally prefer the La Quinta East (on Seawall and 14th street) but either of them are really fine. Also Baymont Inn. Assuming you'll only be there 1 night, I'd say any of those are fine.

As far as a shuttle from Hobby, try Galveston Limousine. Unfortunately there are no really inexpensive ways to get there and that's truly the biggest hitch to flying in for a Galveston Cruise.

Since you are flying in you should be aware that there are no rental car places in Galveston to drop off a car - you either need to keep the car for a week and stay in Galveston or stay up near Hobby and get transfers.

We flew into Bush, rented a car, stayed overnight at the Springhill Suites (around .7 mile from Hobby), dropped the car off at Hertz at Hobby, and then had Execu-car ($110 plus tip for two people) pick us up at Hobby. It would have been very easy to just take the cruise line shuttle down to the pier (first one left at 9 AM) and the agent in baggage claim walked around asking all the people waiting there if they needed a transfer. Springhill has a free shuttle to the airport but there really aren't too many places to eat around there. Nice hotel and good breakfast, though.

You could certainly take a town car to Galveston and many hotels there have transfers to the pier, but you still might run into 2-day limits on the hotel.

Going back, the ship transfer worked well ($37 to Hobby, $46 to Bush). Hint - walk off with your luggage if you can. The baggage handlers drop a lot of luggage off the open-sided carts and leave them in the puddles to soak. We walked off in the first group and were through immigration at 8:30 and the bus left at 9:00 (the Belize/Roatan itinerary takes longer to get off). Transfer bus is about two islands out from the terminal, with an agent checking you in by name on their list (no tickets - you just sign up on the ship a couple days before disembark).

We just buy a wine at dinner and if we don't finish it they save it for the next night. Prices are similar to Disney.

In Cozumel we went to Chankanaab twice with RCI tours (once for dolphins, once for snorkeling) but you can do this on your own. See the Cozumel board for discussions on some of the all-inclusive resorts with better beaches.

Tendering in Grand Cayman is slow (200 people on a tender) and priority is given to RCI tours. Beaches are nice but if you have never seen the stingrays, you should. RCI snorkel/ray tour had two busloads on one boat but it had three sets of stairs and worked well. Arthur took lots of photos with the rays and emailed them for $40.

While Jamaica isn't our favorite port, we tried the RCI Rose Hall all-inclusive. This is a Marriott hotel with lazy river, slides, pool, poor beaches, and really really good food. Again, see the Jamaica boards for more info.

My Time Dining works well on Navigator and they do encourage reservations (which can be changed easily). Ladies checking you in are very efficient. We ate with the same waiters for two weeks with no problems. Or you can just show up for dinner.

There actually a rental place in Galveston. Enterprise have opened up Sunday's till 1 pm and stay open till 1 pm on Saturday now.

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There actually a rental place in Galveston. Enterprise have opened up Sunday's till 1 pm and stay open till 1 pm on Saturday now.

 

 

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:D Thank you for this information! It so pays to be out on CC! Friends were just asking about car rental and I said no. Now we are going to look also! :D:D

:D Thank you for this information! It so pays to be out on CC! Friends were just asking about car rental and I said no. Now we are going to look also! :D:D

Be sure you check the Enterprise drop-off fee. I considered driving down from home and the drop-off fee was about $125.

We just completed a 7 night cruise on the Navigator out of Galveston. This is what we did:

We flew into Houston/Hobby airport on Saturday (the day before our cruise) and used the free hotel shuttle to get to the Marriott Springhill Suites near the airport. The hotel was very reasonably priced and was great for a one night stay. I had made a taxi reservation with Pink Galveston Taxi to get us to the port on Sunday. We scheduled the taxi to arrive at 10AM and they arrived as scheduled (a little early, actually). I highly recommend Pink Galveston Taxi! Our driver, Tate, was great! We arrived at the port in plenty of time -- around 10:45 or so. We let Tate know that we would love to use her company to get back to the airport after our cruise. On the morning of disembarkation I called Pink Galveston Taxi and gave them my best estimate of when we would be through customs and out the door. They were more than gracious with our ambiguous schedule and were there waiting for us as soon as we walked out to the taxi area. Here is where you have a real advantage over using the other taxi companies -- a bright pink taxi is very easy to find amongst all of the other regular yellow taxis! Our driver back to the airport was Tate's husband, John, and we had a great trip back to Houston/Hobby! Our group of 4 paid $95 + tip for each way.

So, if you are looking for a solution to getting to/from your Galveston port cruise please consider the above recommendation.

http://galvestonpinktaxi.com/contact/

One additional tip -- we got a last minute special on a car rental through Alamo -- total cost with tax: $24. These last minute specials are usually available 1-2 weeks ahead of time. We used the rental car from Saturday afternoon to Saturday night and were able to explore Galveston for a very cheap price (instead of just being "stuck" at our hotel for the day). Don't waste your money renting a car for a whole week AND pay for parking just to have the car sit there unused while you're cruising.

Please bare with me. I have been searching for suggestions but keep getting distracted by all the great information out there and am having trouble locating answers to my questions.

 

I have only been on one cruise before through Disney that was a gift to us. We did not do any of the planning for it except picking excursions. We just booked a RC cruise on the Navigator for February 15-22 out of Galveston. I know nothing about Galveston and no one I know has cruised out of there. Here are my questions:

 

1. We are flying into Hobby the day before. I am looking for hotel recs and transportation from the airport. We would idealy like to stay in Galveston but are finding many of the hotels mentioned are booked. We aren't looking for anything fancy and do not want to spend a fortune. Ideally there would be a shuttle to the port either included or for a small fee. There are 2 of us. Any suggestions? I saw La Quinta West is cheap but the reviews are all over the place. Also, saw the Holiday inn Express West but wasn't sure about the shuttle. Another option would be staying near the airport that night.

 

2. Any recommendations for transportation to go from Hobby to a hotel in Galveston? We usually do a towncar when travelling so any suggestions and costs would be appreciated?

 

3. Port excursion recommendations? Our stops are Cozumel, Falmouth Jamaica, and Grand Cayman. We are thinking of only two times off the ship but are not familiar with these ports. We are beach relaxation people. Not much for the adventure tours. It doesn't have to be through RC but relaiable and safe options.

 

4. Finally (sorry for the long post), thoughts on the different drink packages? We are not huge drinkers but like wine at dinner and in the evenings...myself maybe a mixed drink once in a while if at all. My husband likes beer and we both love coffee. We are thinking the ultimate is not worth it for us but not sure if the others are worth it since we aren't sure what the pricing of drinks on board are like.

 

Thank you for all your help. I am sure I will have more questions, the closer we get.

DON"T OVERLOOK

Mardi Gras dates are also for 2015

February 6 thru Fat Tuesday, February 17

see

http://www.mardigrasgalveston.com/

It can be a wonderful experience !!!!!:)

Mardi Gras!

Galveston 2014 brought the beads, revelries and music to Galveston Island. The Festival hosted 20 balcony parties, 21 parades, 44 concerts, 30 vendors, 2,314 Umbrella Brigadiers, 382 Jolly Jester Jaunt & Jr. Jester Jaunt Fun Runners and many thousands of Mardi Gras revelers over the course of both weekends!

And for a price most all Krewe's have events and available riding and throwing of beads on the floats in the Parades.

There is entrance fee to downtown events.

At this point any room is a deal for the event!

Especially one close to or on the parade route.

Balcony parties and like big one at Tremont on Parade Routes are wonderful at a price.

In general, watching Parades on Seawall and on Parade routes to downtown are free.

Ask questions if you like

SEE also about history

Mardi Gras in Galveston since 1867

in above site

General information

History

Be sure you check the Enterprise drop-off fee. I considered driving down from home and the drop-off fee was about $125.

DH called today. They are not taking ANY one way rentals. We are staying at Holiday Inn Resort and they have a shuttle that will take us where we want to go plus the port. We are now trying to determine our transportation to Galveston as we have return booked through RCI.

I like peter 1975 Pink Taxi post and that is a very good cost for 4. Was the taxi large enough to handle 8 bags?:confused:

DH called today. They are not taking ANY one way rentals. We are staying at Holiday Inn Resort and they have a shuttle that will take us where we want to go plus the port. We are now trying to determine our transportation to Galveston as we have return booked through RCI.

 

I like peter 1975 Pink Taxi post and that is a very good cost for 4. Was the taxi large enough to handle 8 bags?:confused:

The taxi was a mini van. On the trip from our hotel to the port they folded down half of the back seat to create more room for luggage. I think you could probably fit 8 bags if they aren't too huge. We had 3 large suitcases, 1 rolling garment bag, 2 medium carry-on sized suitcases, and a couple of smaller bags.

The taxi was a mini van. On the trip from our hotel to the port they folded down half of the back seat to create more room for luggage. I think you could probably fit 8 bags if they aren't too huge. We had 3 large suitcases, 1 rolling garment bag, 2 medium carry-on sized suitcases, and a couple of smaller bags.

Thank you! DH is seeking out what we will do and trying to finalize plans. Awaiting friends to finalize things. Others in our group are going to rent a car for the week. Do appreciate your input!

Thank you for all of the great advice. We actually decided to rent a car at Hobby and will be staying closer to Johnson Space Center (My husband is excited to be able to go there since we arrive the early on Saturday for our Sunday cruise) The hotels around there were so much cheaper for nicer hotels due to Mardi Gras in Galveston. I am a teacher and that is our vacation week so we had no date wiggle room. We will do the Kemah boardwalk at night then drive to the port and park on Sunday. We did the math and due to the limited hotels and the increased prices in Galveston, it will be cheaper or about comparable to rent a car and park at the port for a week and getting a hotel further away than it would be to get shuttle service from Hobby to Galveston, stay in Galveston, then shuttles back.

I am very excited now that we have reservations for everything. The only thing left is to prebook parking at the port. Any recommendations for parking lots? We would love to park close to the terminal and walk over. I know most are shuttles from the lots. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

i got off the phone with them just now, we are arriving two days early, into IAH which is hour or so drive from galveston port area from what i understand.

 

we pick up the vehicle at iah on Feb 28, and return it to Texas City on March 2 day of cruise, which is approx 14 miles from cruise terminal.

 

We will have to figure a way to get to the cruise ship, taxi i guess, but the rate for the car taxes and fees included $98 for entire rental period which includes drop off fee.

 

Galveston Enterprise will not take one ways from the airport so we had to return to texas city

 

this price beats any of our other options being book for whole time to drop off at galveston $981.00 ( pass on that) simply stay at the hotel area IAH which people do not recommend for two days as there is nothing to do, and get a carnival transfer day of the cruise simply go back to the airport ( pass, what would we do in that area for two days ( pass) or finally, arrive and stay in a hotel near IAH for one night, then pack up and travel to Galveston for our second night , which means we will spend most of our time moving around and seeing nothing

 

so now i have to figure a way texas city to cruise port, but for the $98 we have a vehicle for two days as well so that works great.

FYI, if returning a car to Avis or Budget at Mall of Mainland in Texas City, they will drive you (in your just returned rental car) the port of Galveston for $50. To save a few dollars, you can arrange to share with others from your roll call if you will all fit into one rental vehicle.