Rancher Dave

She is a fun ship. You know how to have fun as a solo cruiser and this is a ship with more to do. I think this shop may be better for many but not all sailing solo. If I go in near future it'd have to be solo due to family work and school schedules.

I'd not expect a 4 or 5 anytime soon. They require a lot of cash either from the bank account or thru financing which affects the balance sheet. Also, there is the whole issue of what ports would be used for embark/debark and where will the ship sail. Some of those factors take a lot of time to plan out and money to build in addition to the cruise ship itself.

Wish we had one coming to Galveston, brand spanking new and all...but alas it's not likely anytime soon.

Well the good news is Princess Cruises has refunded our cancelled cruise fairs, and we have just booked another cruise with Princess, using the free cruise credit given as part of the compensation offer. We have chosen a 10 day Australian cruise, sailing on the 11th November this year out of Sydney. Would you believe it ... wait for it, on the Sun Princess, just hope it sails this time.

 

After being stuck in Singapore last time due to the cancellation, and all the stress of that event, we figured if things go pear shape with the cruise this time in Sydney, we’ll just get back in the car and drive home. Won't have to rely on any help team !!

 

Still waiting for the out of pocket expenses compensation cheque to arrive, it’s been sent so we should have it soon. Cheers everyone and thanks for all your feed back, it’s been great hearing from you all.

Sailing from a nearby drive-to port is always nice when problems crop up.

We're actually booked on the Serenade...in 2015!:eek: We thought it would be something different, and believe it or not I've never been to New Orleans!

I was momentarily excited that HAL might be coming to Galveston to do some longer itineraries...I would probably book it immediately. However, I also realized over the weekend that as much as we loved our HAL cruise in the fall, at this point it's hard for me to think about booking a cruise with anybody other than Royal Caribbean or Celebrity. I like my perks and discounts too much!:o For me to do something different it's going to be an itinerary that entices me.

Wow so close and never to NOLA. Dw I think picked bigger planes this time to avoid terminal B this week after being in middle of shooting last week.

Interesting info dug up about HAL possibly here full time. Would be nice if Frey come and run ten to fourteen night sailings out of here on a long term basis.

I'm with ya on this one Becci--sure seems like there would be an easier traffic flow!! By the way, how was your Mariner Cruise? How was debarkation? We just got back from our Panama Canal Cruise and Princess has debarkation figured out!! We did self assist and had a group #, that's the only way it will work--everyone gets a number and they give you a ticket that you show when you debark so they know you are debarking with the correct group. We had 7:40 debark time--we were off the ship and at the airport at 8:15.

 

Leave next week on the Disney Magic--too good of a military discount to pass up!! An 8 day, going to Castaway Cay, Disney World and Key West.

 

Thrilled RCCL will be sailing out of Galveston year round!!

DW caught in middle of shooting at airport today...she would probably love to go on an 8 day cruise now. She is pretty stressed out over events at IAH.

Wish I had time to go on the 8 day sailing as I'd love to see Castaway Cay.

With Galveston committing 10 million for terminal

It's longer than a year.

I will try to find out.

totally agree, I would guess 3 years (or set # of departures within that time, so it could be year round or 2 ships part of the year if year round does not work?)

Excited to finally see a year round ship in the plans from RCCL for Galveston.

I checked one last time, and caught the departure. Bon voyage, Mariner...we'll miss you!

Now we wait on Navigator. Have it planned for NYE but dw hit a big bday so it may change to a different ship and route she is uncertain. We have a great suite at this time with the d+ max off for early booking.

Goodbye Mariner!

Get your first cruise worked out yet with your mom or dad?

Now I see movement. I'd be about in bed after a day of excitement for sail away day. Be a bummer to miss sail away though.

Looks like she is still there. Must be quite an operation today. Figure the crew will be really tired tonight.

Just my thoughts...I think a smaller ship would be more profitable for them out of Galveston. However, I think they all sail full out of Galveston on a regular basis. I've heard that ships sailing out of Texas don't make as much $$$ in the casino and on liquor (that one is really hard to believe!). And it is so much easier for us to sail out of Galveston, but we do tire of the same itineraries. Oh well...we'll just wait and see. We're taking a Hawaiian cruise in May and are looking forward to that. Not as easy as Galveston but I think it'll be worth it!

Totally agree smaller ship may be a better fit as it would lily sell out before hey have to discount too much any of the cabins. Maybe they could try that and see if it could be profitable on longer Galveston deployments.

Becci!!!!!

This year's short season ends on a nasty rumor that Royal may be giving up on Galveston.

 

Rumor says no Royal ship in 2015.

 

That would be a bummer!!!!!!

Agree

They do however have to put sips where they max returns for investors and if sailing from here is it as profitable we miss out on a ship. It would be sad as I really like to drive to the port as its so much easier.

If you can swing a car, go out to the end of the road, going south. Someone can tell you before you leave where to park and then walk out to the old WW11 bunkers and out looks. It really is a way cool place, and take a flashlight and look inside of the bunkers. Look for whales off shore along the way. :D

A launch site out hat way is among the things I hope o see.

The ship watching seems to be slow despite having more ships than in the recent past sailing from around here.

I will be glad to see sail away soon from the ship side of the equation. :D

Wow, I am envious. Kodiak is my favorite place to fish in Alaska as well as one of the neatest places to visit there.

Watching Coast Guard Alaska right now, and get to have a nice view of some nice scenes from Kodiak. The charter operator we are using is retired USCG with friends who are "stars" on Coast Guard Alaska. He indicated we will be able to get a personalized visit if we go over to the USCG station while there. I think we will do that since we will have 2-3 days where we have spare time on the Isle.

Thank you. Isn't there a few restaurants or bars or something down on the channel?

 

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The one area you may be thinking of which lined with places to eat and watch boats is Kemah. Years ago when we had a sailboat (when I was a teen) we would head out of Clear Lake into the bay and see all the folks eating on the side of the channel.

Galveston as GalvestonCruiser mentioned has places to eat (a few) along the port side of the island.

I do like the view from the East end of the Island since one can watch both the Houston and Galveston ship traffic transit the area.

Really glad that Mariner has redundancy on power distribution systems on the ship. Also, apparently the back-up power will provide power to many of the hotel operations to keep many critical hotel functions working.

All that said, I hope never to see it happen up closer or for that matter have anyone see it up close...other than if aboard at the dock when they do a black-out drill. Did see one of those and really it did not cause any real issues other than we lost the sat reception on TV for a short time.

This will be our 22nd year to go to Alaska. Watch out, you will want to go back again and again.

 

This year we are taking a break from our usual adventure in Alaska and doing a B to B on NCL. Time to keep it simple this year. If I can be of any help with your Alaska cruise ask away.

Fishing up there is addictive. We have 3 days of it planned in Kodiak.

Hey guys have you seen the news tonight? Carnival Triumph has had a fire in the engine room and is now adrift in the Gulf with no power. I have a friend onboard. They are going to be towed back to Galveston

A friend was aboard two weeks ago when they we're like eight hours late. Glad he is not on now and hope all is going well for those folks. Better this time of year that August when it would be super hot.

That's annoying when they do that. It feels like they're begging or pressuring me for more money.

Agree. I once had an extra delivering bags to cabins on day one. He made sure we came to door while he was there with cash in his hands begging. Oops wrong approach for my likes. Btw that was on Allure of the seas.

Saw Mariner leave while thinking about Super Bowl snacks etc.... Now have the good snacks out for the game. Wish I were sailing out today instead.

Off goes Magic

Where is everyone today? Got online after church to see if Mariner came in on time, etc, and couldn't find this thread because it was buried pages back! Hope everyone is having a great Sunday!

It's nice. Read about Paula Deen cruise. Chores mostly done. Fun time now.

Saw on CCL threads that Magic got a hole in the hull after hitting Cozumel pier.