Cruiser 23218

We used Galveston Park & Cruise 3 times now. We opt for the indoor parking. We pull up at the port in our vehicle and drop our bags with a porter and then go park the car. They lock your vehicle in building. Once you park they will take you to the corner on a golf cart and then it is just a walk across the street to the Carnival terminal. We cruise with Royal Caribbean so once you get to the Carnival terminal you just walk down the sidewalk to terminal 2 where RC leaves from. We love using them and will continue to with any return trip to Galveston.

People who are getting these upgrades, did you book "guarantee" type staterooms? Is that how it works?

I was not booked on a guarantee. Just booked normal.

To the OP, do you remember what showed up on your Caller ID?

Sorry I dont. I know it was an 800 number. When I called it back it was just the main people answering but they looked at my account and told me who was trying to call me.

So just got off a call with the upgrade fairy. We booked and interior for the 27th of this month back earlier this year on Liberty of the Seas. A few months back we took advantage of the kids sail free deal and rebooked to an ocean view room and they had to refund us $280. Today while I am in the pickup line at school to get my daughter the upgrade fairy called and we are now in a D1 balcony for only $100 more. We are still $180 ahead of our original booking. So if anyone wants to know if it can happen, all i can say is yes it can!!! :D

CBP is short for US Customs and Border Protection. With the times listed above I don't think you will have a problem but that all depends on if the boat returns to port on time. We have been out of Galveston twice and we did self assist both times and even the one time we were delayed getting off we were on the road by 9am. We drive to the port and park in the indoor parking across the street so we take our luggage across the street and once loaded we hit the road. that may be a little quicker since we don't have to wait on any kind of shuttle or transportation.

We went out on this very weekend 2 years ago. Due to the price increase on hotels we stayed around the space center for a cheaper room and then drove in the morning the ship left. The interstate to the island was no problem at all as all the bikes were heading the other way. Once on the island there was some extra traffic but it was not bad at all. The worst part was right down next to the port. There was a bit more traffic there due to where some of the biker events were going on in that area but it was nothing that bothered us. Seems as if most people were packing up and leaving the island that morning and so a lot of them were already gone by the time we got to the island at about 9am. Other cruisers pulling u-turns and cutting in the traffic line were more of a problem than any of the bikers were. Just allow a little bit more time and you should be fine.

We use Galveston Park & Cruise. Have done so twice now and will in the future. Love the indoor secure parking. It is an easy walk but the last time we were there they were even shuttling people down the alley on a golf cart then it was just a walk across the street.

Shouldn't be a problem. Our 5 year old daughter slept on one and our 2 year old son would climb on it during the day while we were there to watch him. He was only 2 months away from being 3 years old. If they can climb playground equipment pretty good you shouldn't have a problem. I think it will all depend on the kid. We did have rules. Our son was not to climb unless mom or dad was there and even our daughter was told if she needed to use the restroom to wake us up and we would turn a light on and help her down so she was not climbing down in the dark.

We have gone on that ship twice now. It is a very nice boatand I don’t think you will be disappointed. We do more shopping in the portsbut have bought a few things in the stores on the Promenade. We love the openfeel it gives the boat, although we have not been on any other boat so I feelsomeone else that has been on other ships can give you more about that. We havetaken our cruises from Galveston due to being closer to home and able to driveand save on transportation costs. We were planning to take our 3rdcruise out of NOLA and do the Key West/Bahamas route but since RCI is pullingout of NOLA we are booked on Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston later this year. Itwill still be an itinerary that we have been on but it will give us a biggerand different ship to experience. I don’t think you will go wrong with thatship so if it works best for you, go ahead. No worries!

They are both great in my opinion. My wife and I have beenon both. We did Roatan/Belize route the first time and then did the oppositethe next time to give it a change. I say do the same as we did and do the otherrotation and see how you like it. Since you are in Houston you will know bothroutes and it will let you choose which one you liked best for the next timearound.

Roatan is a beautiful island with great diving and snorkeling.If you go to Belize I would recommend the cave tubing. We loved it and I willdo it again one day with my kids. There are several things that I have seen onboth routes that I want to do so I see us doing both itineraries in the future.We are already going to do the Jamaica/Cayman route again this year. We kind oflike that route a little better, but there is nothing I can see that will keepme from the other. It will mostly depend on what works best for our scheduleand what we want to do in port. And we love Coz so we think it is great that itis on both routes.

Thank you both. The picture does help. I think I will go with the 2 interiors.

We are going to book at cruise on Liberty of the Seas out ofGalveston next year on Nov. 29th. I have been crunching numbers andchecking available rooms to try and decide what to do and I am down to 2options. We have 6 people going. Me, wife, our son (will be 2 almost 3), ourdaughter (will be 5), my mother in-law, and my aunt.

Option 1, book 2 connecting interior rooms. We will getrooms with pull down beds for the kids, and each set of adults gets a regularsized bed. Benefits of this option are 2 bathrooms and 2 regular beds for theadults.

Option 2, book one of the deck 8 family ocean view rooms allthe way forward, 8500 or 8200. These rooms have separate room with bunks for thekids, master bedroom, and pull out sofa in the living room. Benefits of this room are a wonderfulview out the windows and it is $500 less than 2 interior rooms.

Biggest question of concern is, how big is the pull out sofain 8500/8200? I am worried it will be too smaller than me and my wife wouldlike. Have any of you used the pull out sofa bed in either of these cabins andhow big was it?

I know the extra bathroom is a huge benefit but to help thisissue some of us would take showers in the spa/gym to help with that issue.

Main question, in your opinion is the extra bathroom andextra regular sized bed vs the sofa bed a big enough benefit to spend the extra$500 on the connecting rooms?

Thanks, Curt

I appreciate all of the veteran cruiser info. I was wondering about your opinion on parking at the hotel vs using a parking area. Where will my car be safe? Where will be the least confusing for a first timer like me? I worry about having 4 bags and loading a trolly or something. Any thoughts?

We used Galveston Park and Cruise last year and again thisyear. Last year was our first cruise so we were new also. They have indoor andoutdoor parking. We opted for the indoor (about $70) that way our car is out ofthe weather and safely locked in a building. We just pull up at the terminaland drop our bags with the porter, pull back across the street (depending onhow the police are directing traffic you may have to turn right out of theterminal and go down and circle back), then we walk back across the street tothe terminal. We choose to carry our bags (2 regular and 2 carry on sized) offduring disembarkation and we take them with us across the street to our car,load up and hit the road. We like the fact that we don’t have to mess withshuttles and can be back on the road sooner since we drive from Arkansas. Hopethis helps.

We have used Galveston Park & Cruise both times out ofGalveston on the Navigator and love them. We will use them in the future. Likeothers have said they are right across the street. We have done indoor parkingboth times so our car is out of the weather and safely locked in a building.Indoor runs about $70-75 after taxes and everything. We just pull up to theport and drop off our luggage and then pull across the street, park, and thenwalk back across the street to get on board. We also choose to do self-assist disembarkationand take our luggage off with us across the street and then hit the road. It makesthings quicker IMO. If you choose this route, try and book as early as possible.I have seen some on here that wanted to park there but they were already fullwhen they tried to book. Hope this helps.

Shorts are a no go per the sign at the door of the dinning room. I did wear jeans every night but I am one that sends my jeans to the cleaners to be cleaned and pressed. Jeans and a nice western button down are about as formal as I get. Hope this helps.

We used Galveston Park & Cruise last year and were veryhappy with them. We loved the fact our car was inside out of the weather. As statedabove, we got there about 10:30 and pulled through the terminal and dropped ourbags off, drove across the street and parked and then walked back across withonly our carryon bag with what we needed before our room was ready. We areusing them again this year. Only 24 more days till my car is under their roof.Can’t wait!!

Edit: I almost forgot. It was also great to do self disembarkation. We kept our bags in our room the last night, took them off the ship with us and pulled them across the street, loaded them in the car and hit the road. No sifting through bags in the baggage claim and no waiting on shuttles. Just my opinion, as some don't like pulling their bags across the street.

28 days!! Just got finished upgrading from an interior to a D1 for only $234!!:D

We went down 59 this past December and it was fine. There were a few places with construction but since we went down on a Saturday we never had any bad traffic. The only problem on the way back was icy roads once we got back to Arkansas. They were fine till about Arkadelphia and then the sun went down and the wet roads were refreezing to black ice. But all went ok and we made it home.

Thank you all for your replies. As to the Windjammer hours, is it safe to assume that the times during the day that food is not available there is for approximately 1 hour during the changeovers, i.e. one hour when they switch from breakfast to lunch, and 1 hour when they switch from lunch to dinner.

Last year when we were on the NOS the change over was seamless. Normally there are 2 bars that have almost the same items for breakfast, one to port and one to starboard. We happened in late one morning and got a plate full of breakfast and as we were eating they shut one side down, took away the breakfast food and put out lunch food and after that side was done they started on the other, then they changed out the middle bar from breakfast fruits and cereal to fruit and desserts for lunch. It made it so there was always food out all the time. We actually went back again and got lunch right after a plate of breakfast.

Thank you, but I was wondering if drop off is crazy or pretty easy? I would hate to get stuck in a traffic jam, waiting to be dropped off, and thinking if we would have parked and we could have walked faster to the terminal.

Drop off was not bad when we were there last year. We went to the drop off area and dropped our checked bags with a porter and then pulled across the street and parked at Galveston park n cruise, we like the indoor parking there, then walked back across to check in. We were there by about 10:30 or shortly after and pulled right up to a porter with no wait.

My advise on parking is Galveston Park & Cruise. We did that last year and liked it so well we are going that route again this year. We could have parked at the hotel but I liked the fact of not having to shuttle anywhere. We chose indoor parking for the piece of mind that our car was out of the weather and locked in a building. We pulled up at the terminal in our car, dropped off our bags, and went across the street to park and then walked back across the street to the terminal. When leaving the ship we chose to do self disembarkation and pulled our bags across the street with us. No waiting for shuttles and was on the road as soon as we walked across the street and got in the car. This is just my opinion and you will have to choose what you think will be best for your situation. Hope this info helps.

We used Galveston Park & Cruise last year. $65 for indoor parking for a week. We were pleased enough we have booked them again for the cruise this year. We go to the terminal and drop off our bags and go park then walk back across the street to the terminal. When we got off we just rolled all our bags back across the street and left without having to go back to the terminal to pick them up.

This past Dec we stayed at the Courtyard on the seawall. It was very nice. We opted for the indoor parking with Galveston Park & Cruise since it is directly across the street from the port. It is $65 for the week indoor. A motorcycle rally has made the price of staying in Galveston for our cruise this year in Nov quite high. Due to this we are booking the Hilton at Clear Lake right next to the space center and just down from the Kemah Boardwalk. We are also going to use Galveston Park & Cruise indoor parking again. It was great to get off the ship and take your bags across the street to your car and not have to mess with a shuttle. Hope this may help in some way! Happy Cruising!!:)

Several of the posts above have great ideas. We are in kind of the same boat (no pun intended ;), ok maybe) in November. There is a motorcycle rally in Galveston the weekend we leave and the hotel rates went through the roof and I can't even book a room with Hilton the weekend we are wanting to go. We decided to book the Hilton right down from the space center and will be checking out the space center and the Kemah Boardwalk which is close by. It wouldn't be that bad of a drive to go into Galveston from the Kemah area to see the fireworks.

We got free Wi-Fi while there but we had just done the dolphin encounter so if the above poster is correct that is why it was free. We asked while eating lunch at the café. They never asked if we were a part of the dolphin group but they probably could have guessed by the stuff we were carrying.