CGBCruiser

Anybody traveling to Galveston today DO NOT travel down I-45 through downtown Houston. The freeway is shut down beginning at I-45 and I-10 until Monday morning at 5 a.m. and the traffic is awful! Take Loop 610 around downtown OR take Beltway 8 around the city.

Several months back, I received an email from EZCruise saying that they were now offering parking in Houston. So you might check their website.

They do have EZ Cruise parking in Houston. We talked to Jason at the Galveston location and he was hoping with the new ships sailing out of Houston that their business would pick up. I'm sure it has!

Anyone know how the seaweed situation is now? Bringing the g-kids down in a couple of weeks for some beach time..... Sure hope it's letting up.....

 

 

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I was just over there last week. The beaches on the West end were still VERY full of seaweed. When you got down to the San Luis the seaweed had been piled up closer to the seawall. There were many signs along the seawall asking people to "excuse the seaweed as it rebuilds the beach!" So, you will still be able to find some places with no seaweed, or at least where it's been raked up.

No. They are sat a separate table after clearing Immigration and Customs.

It was at a window on your way out of the terminal...there was an officer asking people as they walked by if they had alcohol to declare and absolutely everyone just said no and kept on walking. :rolleyes:

We were there last month and took the ship's tour to Orient Beach. Yes, they were air conditioned coach buses. And yes, some of the road's were narrow and up some pretty steep hills. We had a good time and didn't think the excursion was overpriced. The lunch that was included was good and the beach was great. I think we had to pay $2 extra for the beach umbrella.

Hands down Mr. Sancho's!

Actually we only ate at a specialty restaurant once. There was no need to make reservations ahead of time. All of the specialty places were out hawking their places. The first day we were in the Viking Crown lounge and a guy came up from 150 Central Park. They were offering discounts and we got it for $30 p/p instead of $40. It was a great dining experience but we were miserably full! :)

We just sailed Oasis on 5/31. I got no text or e-mail. We were on Deck 12 also, but we had booked a suite. The transportation we had booked left the hotel at 11:00 a.m. We arrived at the port around 11:30. We did have to wait for probably 30 minutes to board the ship after check-in. It was very chaotic outside the port at that time.

We just sailed Oasis 3 weeks ago. We got into the port early...actually around 5:45 a.m. But, there was a delay in the Customs and Immigration agents and the walk-offs didn't getting off the ship 8:30 - 9 a.m. So, I think 9:30 a.m. makes for a stressful morning.

Yes, they show movies outside at the Aqua Theater and several times during the week at the main theater.

We enjoyed Nachi Cocem. The price included beach chairs, umbrella, food, and drinks. A snorkeling trip was extra.

After many trips to Cozumel, Nachi Cocom is also our favorite place to go. It's $55 p/p all inclusive! If you choose to do the snorkeling trip there it costs $38 p/p. Also you can rent snorkel gear for $8 p/p. It's a nice quiet beach and they only take 100 people per day. I think the food is good too.

Most of the time bad reviews come from someone who just had a bad _____ (something). You fill in the blank. For every bad review there are 1500 or so happy satisfied cruisers. We love all of the Vision class ships. What the smaller ships lack in fixtures they make up for in personality. We have never had a bad cruise because of RCI. That's why we come back over and over: the consistent fine product, especially the crew! It just doesn't matter which ship. Everything will be fine. Go and enjoy :)

This is so true!!!

We're flying out of Houston in the a.m. too. I've spent all day packing and doing last minute errands. Ready to go!

I took a few moments and read a few of the OP's other posts. I'm sorry that I took the bait.

For sure! I had seen him on another post stirring the pot.

We're sailing next Saturday too. I am so over formal nights! I'm packing a sport coat and he can wear some slacks with it. No suit! And I'm not getting super dressed up either. I'm tired of packing all those clothes.

Good luck apartment hunting!

We sail on Oasis next Sat! Can't wait!

So the initial hold on the first day is $100, is that per person or per cabin?

 

So if prepaying tips, that's the only hit on our credit card. Then whatever we spend at the end of cruise will be charged to our card.

 

When does the $100 (or possibly $200) get dropped from the hold?

I don't know when the hold is dropped. However, they immediately charged my credit card for every drink and/or purchase made onboard at the time of purchase. It was not all charged at the end of the cruise.

They do place a $100 hold on your credit card the morning of your sailing. That hold never shows up on your onboard account. Our tips were prepaid at time of booking and we never saw them on our sign and sail account. The only thing that appeared on that were purchases made onboard. In the past when we paid our tips onboard, they simply added the entire amount of the gratuities at one time.

Anyone know what shows they are showing on triumph? This is my 11th cruise and I hope they are shows I haven't watched before. Also do you know if they will be the same in Oct. (we are going again).

 

Thanks in advance

Just got off the Triumph on Monday a.m. I also sailed last October and the year before that. The shows haven't changed at all. They have been the same for three years.

I don't understand. She prepays her tips then has them removed? How does she do this? Aren't prepaid tips paid before you even sail? What do they do? Credit her credit card? Why does she bother prepaying them?

Yes she does. Then she goes and has them removed and they credit her card for them. I have no idea why she does it...it's just stupid. I guess she doesn't want to have to do it on a daily basis on the ship. I have no idea. But she never tips anybody.

But what cheapskate would do that?

I know someone who does this...not a friend of mine, but an older lady who prepays her tips and then goes down and has them taken off. She thinks that she pays enough for the cruise. It's awful.

I always watch for price drops and contact my TA if/when it happens. She always gets me the lowered price! Just call your TA and ask.

Just an FYI...it's Mr. Sancho's Beach Club.

Unless we are told by the ship we need to take our passport book with us in port, we leave ours locked in our cabin safe.

We take along our cruise card and a copy of our passport. We also take the name and contact information of the ship's agent in port which can be quite important to have.

LuLu

You should keep that passport locked up. You definitely don't want to have your passport lost or stolen while you're off the ship and you don't need it to get back on the ship as you're not going through customs. You should take your cruise card and a picture ID, i.e. driver's license, government issued ID card. Of course, a copy of your passport would be OK as well.