Parking Galveston

We are sailing on the Grand, February 5th. Just curious if anyone has any suggestions as far as staying somewhere in Galveston where you can leave your car for a week, or find a spot for parking when on a cruise. Trying to figure out priceing, and what traffic will be like, since supposedly there is going to be a parade at 11:00 am the morning we are to board the ship.:( Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks

Smitty2

smitty2 ~

Check out the Galveston.com website.

A lot of the hotels will keep your car for free.

We are staying pre-cruise @ The Galvez.

I know the Hilton will also keep your car, too.

From the Galveston site.....the hotels may accept only a minimum 2 day reservation. Don't give up. Go to the hotel chain website....and try there.

This worked for me.

smitty2 ~

Here is another site: http://www.*****.com/galveston

Thanks for the info.

You should bear in mind that the Strand area of Galveston is the hub of Mardi Gras. It is also the terminus for the parades. The Strand is two blocks in from the pier. A several block area around the strand will be blocked off for the celebration.

We drove down to a parade last year and had no trouble driving across the causeway to the island. It was a Sunday and we watched the ships sail from the Harbor House. We were directly under the web cam.

If we were cruising we would plan on arriving early, perhaps by 10:00 AM. Strictly as a precaution. If an accident were to occur on the causeway traffic could be delayed substantially. You will have plenty of people watching to occupy your time till noon.

We have cruised from Galveston twice. The first time we used the port parking and rode their shuttle. I found this to be a bit of a hassle. The last time I dropped my wife off at the pier with the luggage and parked at the Dolphin lot and walked back. It was about a 10 or 15 minute walk. This was much easier from my perspective but others may prefer to wait for a shuttle.

I haven't checked but I would assume hotels are pretty full during Mardi Gras weekends so you might want to consider other options for your pre-cruise accomodations.

yst

EZ Cruise Parking will shuttle you and your bags to the terminal and if you make your reservation online it's $40 for 7 days

www.ezcruiseparking.com

Kballer, thanks for the info on the parking, I am going to check them out.

Yst347, I had heard about the parade that morning, so we are making plans to arrive early. Hopefully, won't be too much of a problem.

Today we booked a room at the Harbor House which is reportedly right next to the pier where the Grand is docked. With an AAA discount, we got the room for $104 and you pay $8 for parking the one night and $20 for the week. Evidently, you can walk from your car to the boat with no difficulty at all. We heard that there are other hotels which offer free parking, but I believe that the Harbor House is the closest hotel of all of them. I think this will be a good deal, because we spoke with another hotel that offered a shuttle, however, the first shuttle did not leave until noon. Hubby and I will want to come a little earlier, because we are eager to reserve Sabbitini's for our anniversary celebration. We sail 2/26/05. Hope this helps.