Rancher Dave

I am a travel agent and you do realize it is very easy for the ship board crew to blame it on the TA because then they don't have to deal with it. A couple of times I have a problem and gone to CS and gotten the you have to talk to your TA about that and you should see their faces when I say I am the TA it gets handled very quickly then. So don't always assume the TA didn't do what they were supposed to because I'll bet 99 times out of 100 they did and the cruise line dropped the ball.

Exactly the truth! I've had that exact same conversation and after that the guest services folks changed their attitude. On a different line they messed up an OBC they were to have posted, by end of cruise it was posted. All due to one system not talking to another...in the end, the other system saved the OBC and posted it to a different cruise...so not even is everything the fault of the cruise line peeps, it could be a computer system issue which seem to be the cause of various issues.

Been several years since we did that cruise on the Legend, but found the food to be acceptable to most tastes. You can always ask the head waiter to work on special needs food if the menu is not acceptable to your taste.

If the fog doesn't delay you last March an oil freighter collision delayed our cruise for 3 days.

Was back home from the sailing before yours and caught a news flash about a crash in the ship channel and thought wow, what a mess...then after a while and heard all ships were stuck in port for a while, and that fog also was an issue thought gosh, glad captain crunch got us back several hours early so we would not be stuck offshore due to the fog...then thought how bad it was for those of yall expecting a cruise, but stuck at the pier. Was glad we got the ship there so you weren't stuck just in the port facilities.

Captain crunch...we crashed into the pier on departure from Cozumel because we cast off during a gust front moving thru, and taped the pier, scratched the paint in one spot that was painted over the next day in port, no damage other than the paint. Was so avoidable though.

Generally its a few hours until you can do all of the international waters things. It's worth seeing Galveston as you sail thru the Bolivar Roads area of the ship channel.

Many options on Baltic port stops to get luggage, some decorated for the country you are visiting.

Economic incentives from Port of Houston made the deal happen. Same reason NCL is sailing from that terminal.

Although the physical terminal itself is nice, there is nothing right by the port unlike in Galveston where the town is walking distance from the dock.

From my house the drive to one or the other is not too different because how far East I have to go to POH vs. South to POG facilities. Parking is easier at POH facility. It's a toss up in the end for which to sail from.

WOW, it has been quite a while since I visited this wonderful little group of people. I hope everyone is well and having a great time.

 

 

 

We went out of Houston at Thanksgiving on the Norwegian Jewel and had a wonderful cruise. We have been cruising more and more with NCL and really like what they have to offer. My last cruise on RCL last year was not stellar and it is a shame after all the years on RCL to find them moving away from us.

 

 

 

The Houston port sure is easy to use after the mess at Galveston. While Galveston is better than it was, it is still a horrid port to try to use from the standpoint of loading and unloading.

 

 

 

A very merry Christmas to everyone here.

I really enjoyed my NCL cruise last Spring. Looked at the Jewel for a getaway in upcoming months but found a better deal on Princess where we have Elite Status. Cost to go on GetAway was quite a bit higher although I'd choose it over Jewel but cost was too far over Princess for dates I wanted.

Heard a few too many complaints about service on RCCL ships lately. Latest complaint was about HAL on an Antarctica sailing going on right now.

Hopefully this Summer we will get to do Vietnam by river on AmaWaterways

Hope all enjoyed the holidays. One more day off for DD then back to competitive academics at DeBakey.

I met Galveston Cruiser (Mary) and SSB (Lee) at Pier 21 yesterday. Very nice people! :) Here are a couple of pics they took of me:

 

 

 

Yes, I cropped the pictures. I figured giving the thumbs up looks awkward when I'm standing at a slight angle to the camera. I look a lot less awkward in these pictures than when I met Rancher Dave a few years ago, though looking at my messed up hair in the first pic is bothering me. I guess it wasn't long enough for my pony tail.

 

I have no idea why my photo host made the annoying watermark is so huge in the second picture. I will see if I can post a picture of the three of us later...

Saw you were going to Galveston.

Rancher Tori kicked off her high school career today and because she was getting ready, including trying to read a book she had all Summer before class this morning, we stuck around in Houston. She did enjoy her first day at DeBakey HSHP. Guess tomorrow the full homework load hits.

Enjoy college. Soon enough you will be on a cruise for Spring Break with friends from college.

TAMU found out the can't bale the dried out sargassum, but the fresh, still wet, just washed up on the beach. The old, dried out does turn to mush.

Round or Square bales? Has to be interesting seeing them bale it.

Knew it was still busy down there...just know lots of folks complaining about the stink...but then again how many people brag about their good time...it's always the complainers that seem to get the most air time...

On a different thought did you catch the diaper story on khou website yesterday? The complainer was put in place by all of the commenting folks who said the complainer was wrong...

While I understand the complains about the weed on the beach...I also understand how it helps the sea life and the beach in the long run...even the turtles...so I don't worry about it being there. I am more of a boating person than a beach person anyhow.

Just returned last night from Galveston. We stayed at the San Luis.

 

About 20 feet from the water line back toward the seawall was solid seaweed. We watched it wash ashore all day Friday & again on Sat. The beach was never cleaned of it while we were there.

 

It was all in the water.... Live seaweed (green & soft) and dead pieces (black & brittle). There were large black mounds of it piled up all along the seawall (taller than me). It didn't smell tho. Never noticed that. We went down for about two hours... The kiddos didn't like it.... So we stayed at the pool.

 

 

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It's a huge invasion by the seaweed.

I saw a story about how the TAMU-G scientists predicted it quite some time back and how they can track it from offshore right up onto the beach. Sad that it comes and stinks the place up. Not so nice for the tourists coming into town to see the isle and beaches.

Hope you enjoyed your stay in Galveston despite the weed.

And why do people send their kids to hold the seats and fend off people? That elevates them to an even higher level of Jerk in my book.

Just the perfect lesson for kids...how to disregard the rules.

The train in Skagway may be tough on 6yo children unless they keep entertained easily. Fishing is an option in most ports. Ram to top of mountain in Juneau is nice. Helicopter rides, seaplane rides, whale watching are all fun. Dog sledding on a glacier can be a blast.

Regardless have fun as a family.

About to go see NOTS. Looking forward to seeing her new features. Hope weather stays nice in Galveston for next 24 hours.

Looks like a great weekend for those going to Galveston to cruise.

Yes... Only Texas residents. And it's such a tiny amount at that.... Ours was like $3.00.... And would have been soooooo easy to just walk out without paying it.... the set up is rather loose... It keeps the "honest" people in line.... ;-)

 

 

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Yeah. Honesty pays...

Big decisions to make!

The house over by the school and Med Center is nice inside but the front lacks character. May be able to fix that.

A condo closer to med center with one in Galveston and. House at ranch would be ideal but would likely be a year out goal since house at ranch would be build new while the condo and place in Galveston could happen in a couple of months.

Royal has a long standing contract with a Miami based beverage distributor. When they are in port, or within 12 miles of the Coast, they serve alcohol purchased in Texas, which is liable for taxation. The other end of the cruise, Texas only taxes residents for duty free purchases.

 

So, on sailing day, the stuff you drink is Texas based and purchased, so the sales tax gets added. Not that big a deal, except the selection is limited

 

 

 

I am very used to the "selection is limited" statement, my wife syas that a lot when asked why we got married.

Probably only three miles as federal waters are three to twelve, which creates issues for some fisheries as well. The booze laws could use some updating here in the Lone Star State. If would be nice to see local breweries be able to retail on premises like they can up in Washington for example.

You could always get a condo in mid-town or buy in Pearland if you want to be close to DeBakey. I bet your DD is very excited about going to school there!

Condos in each Med center area and on Galveston are possibilities or house on Tiki and condo in MedCenter. Or build at ranch and condos in Galveston and MedCenter. Probably spit the cats up where MS type A will be alone or just with her brother. Two places to split time is most logical but house at ranch would be really nice now, finally.

I found great fishing near rigs, about dawn.:D

Always hated when boats would tie up under our rig to fish. The fishing from rig was often real good.

Real estate prices in Austin have skyrocketed!

Yeah. We were looking there a couple years back but got things set where we didn't have to move.

Now just considering moving closer to DeBakey or combo of there and Galveston.

I'd vote for Westlake Hills but cost may be a constraint there. Last I looked at houses for sale there they had become very expensive. That said it'd be a function of where work is located...maybe West Bastrop so I'd be between ranch and work.

I guess CCL has done their homework prior to making the decision. In 2015 Carnival Freedom will be sailing 4 and 5 day cruises. There must be a huge market for those.

When I last looked, which was a long while ago, the four night over weekend cruises often were priced as much if not more than the five night and sometimes very close to the seven night price. Some five night were just under a hundred less than seven night and ultimately end up missing basically same amount of work.

The downside of four night cruises from here unlike say Miami area is only one port vs two down Florida way. Just depends the goal of the cruise.

I'm going on one night in a couple of weeks on NOTS and that's all about the ship. Maybe we can dock at an oil rig...lol. Really it'd be a great cruise to go DP open some of the level one doors and drop some fishing lines. Not gonna happen but it'd be the most stable offshore fishing platform around.

Should be interesting to see four FT ships sailing from Galveston soon. I suppose CCL figures they can sell enough high priced cabins to justify having three ships here.

Yep, we left two hours late. Didn't get to eat anything before dinner, so we were all pretty famished by then. But it was all uphill from there!

We were late getting on one afternoon and only got a note of a snack before muster drill so I know how tough that can be...had to be worse with No food

Happy Easter. looks like both ships on way to first foreign destination.