Galveston TX - AVOID Extreme Elegance Limo!

Everyone

Just returned from a wonderful trip on the Galaxy out of Galveston, but the end of our trip left a bad taste in our mouth due to problems with Extreme Elegance Limo service.

I booked a town car through their phone reservation service (this is the ONLY number that is available for Extreme Elegance) just a couple of days before we left - a car to take us from IAH to Galveston pre-cruise, and a car to take us back to IAH post cruise.

Precruise - we arrived at airport, looked for the car, and could not find it. After waiting around for about 15 minutes (from the time they said they'd pick us up), we called the phone reservation service, and was told our car wasn't there yet. But they had a stretch limo that was at the next terminal, they'd send it over, and we could use it for the same price ($100 plus tip). This was not a problem for us, and they resolved this issue nicely.

On our return, they told us that no one got off the ship until after 10am (this turned out not to be true), so they'd pick us up at 11am outside the terminal. All passengers were off the ship by 10am, so we had a hour to wait - i called the the reservation service around 10:15 and let them know we got off earlier than they expected, and if they had something available, to please send a car sooner. They did not comment, didn't say they'd be able to send anything earlier, so we settled down to wait for the 11am pickup.

At 11:05, I called again, and was told the driver was stuck in traffic in Galveston, trying to get into the cruise terminal, but he should be there shortly. The reservation service said they had talked to the driver in person.

At 11:30, we were still waiting, so I called the reservation service again. At that time, they admitted that we needed to talk to the driver ourselves, and gave us another 800 number to call. This new 800 number turned out to be the Extreme Elegance dispatcher. This dispatcher said our driver had been waiting for us since 10:30, couldn't find us and had left around 11:15. This was NOT true, as I'd been approaching and talking to every single driver of a town car and/or limo that was at the terminal - they all line up in a particular place, and I stopped and talked to every single one from about 10:30 through 11:30.

Extreme Elegance said we should have called them sooner (before 11:30). When I told them I'd been calling, they said they hadn't heard from me (the number I'd been calling was the reservation number, and I wasn't given the Extreme Elegance number until 11:30), and they had no idea who I'd been calling. According to them, our only option was for them to get another car from Houston to us in Galveston, which was going to take 45 minutes. We'd already been waiting 2 hours at that point, so I decided to make other arrangements.

I was extremely unhappy at that point, and I admit I was less than polite to them on the phone. I finally hung up on them, as they were trying to explain to me it was my fault for never calling them until it was too late.

Luckily, our flight wasn't until late afternoon, but if we'd waited around for another 45 mins for them to get us the car they promised, then a 1 to 1.5 hour drive to Houston to teh airport, we would have missed our flight.

We took a taxi from the cruise terminal, which cost $110 plus tip - we only had to wait (at that point) for about 15 mins for a taxi.

It seems obvious to me that Extreme Elegance doesn't really schedule things as they should - our problems at the airport in Houston should have warned me. it is now obvious that they were not expecting us in Houston, but we were lucky that they actually did have someone in the area that was able to get us to Galveston. But that didn't work out post cruise, and it caused us a lot of time and angst.

The biggest problem is when I called the ONLY number that I was given, it wasn't really Extreme Elegance, it was the reservation number - but the reservation person didn't give me EE's number until it was way too late, and never even admitted that they were reservations only, and didn't have anything to do with dispatching the vehicles.

We certainly will NOT be using Extreme Elegance in the future, and I wanted to warn others about them as well.

FYI!!

Thanks for letting us know. I was thinking of booking a cruise out of Galveston on the Galaxy so I will make sure not to use them for arrangements. What time is a good time to be picked up? Will I make a flight out of Houston Hobby around 1:00-1:30? Thanks!

We deliberately were one of the last people off the ship, because it was obvious we'd end up waiting for our 11am pickup time.

I'd suggest having the driver meet you around between 9:30 and 10am - it should take you 30-45 mins to get to Hobby, so you should just make a 1pm flight (I always like to arrive at the airport 2 hours before my flight).

Have fun!!

Thanks for letting me know, at least I have an idea now on what time.

I used them and they were great. They even sent a huuuuuge limo, though I ordered a sedan (since it was just my sister and me) - and my flight was delayed - so they waited over an hour for me. (My sister was there at the airport already, having come in from another flight.)

The guy couldn't have been nicer. And since my flight was soooo late (we're talking, arriving at around 4:00 for a 5:00 sailaway - and Galveston is an hour from IAH) he drove very fast to make sure we made the ship.

And we did - with 10 minutes to spare. (Never again will I fly the same day - but that's another story!)

But I still have to stick up for the company. It sounds as if you could have sorted out the departure info a little better beforehand; not to blame you for your own problem - but there are two sides to every story. I doubt they would purposefully stand you up.