Transportation to port

Hi, i will be leaving out of houston port on a saturday and flying into Hobby on friday evening. we will be staying the night ina hotel. what is the cheapest way to get from hotel to port, taxi, transer? if we take the transfer can we be picked up at the hotel, or do we have to be at the airport? do any hotels have shuttles to the port? thanks!

I'll take a stab a this one...I lived in Houston for 28 years, and although it's been a few years, I'm sure Hobby and the Port are in the same places. Anyone, feel free to correct or add on to my suggestions!

If you are trying to spend as few $$$ as possible in Houston, or if you fly in late in the day - find a hotel near Hobby airport, most of them have free shuttles from the airport. It is highly unlikely you will find a hotel that offers a shuttle to the Port. The area around Hobby Airport is not very nice, keep this in mind when choosing a hotel (you might want to consider a restaurant, maybe a pool, a central lobby) - so don't choose a motor-hotel type place, the security is likely to be non-existent. Then, call a taxi to go to the port the next day, it is about a half an hour south of the airport area.

If you arrive early in the day, or are up for a little adventure...and don't mind spending a few $$$, find a hotel in Kemah, maybe on the water. It's much nicer and a little touristy (walk to restaurants, shopping, etc.). A good second choice would be Clear Lake City - also a much nicer area than around Hobby. These towns will be about 35-45 minutes south of Hobby airport, a taxi will run you $50+. The next day you would take another taxi to the Port (10-15 minutes).

Whatever you do, DO NOT stay anywhere near the Port, this is a REALLY seedy, gross part of town, I can't even imagine how awful any motels would be.

Good Luck, :)

Jen

When are you going on the Dream? We are on the March 11th and have rented a car.

Lisa

i azm going feb 25th! :)

Well Cruisinjenny2, you asked for comments and corrections, here they come.

While I don't live in Houston, I have relatives in Texas City, near Galveston. I'll be cruising outta there for the 2nd time at the end of March. To call the LaPorte area "seedy" is kind of rough on them. To insist that you "DO NOT" stay there is totally unfair.:confused:

mmeb7882, here's what we did last time and will do it again at the end of March this year. We rented a vehicle from Enterprise at Hobby Airport when we arrived and dropped it off Saturday morning at their Seabrook facility, about 8 miles from the port. There were 4 of us so we took a minivan for about a hundred bucks. Enterprise at Seabrook will then drop you off at the port. I would suggest that you drop the rest of your party first with all the baggage, return the vehicle to Enterprise, then have them just drop one person off at the port.

This allowed us to visit the Kemah boardwalk for dinner Friday night and spend the night in a hotel in LaPorte, about 2 miles from the pier. There is a Comfort Suites and a LaQuinta Inn, both in Laporte, that are fine to stay in. In fact, a lot of the rooms will be occupied with other cruisers just like you. We had a great time at the LaQuinta 2 years ago sitting around the pool late Friday afternoon with some other Cruise Critic folks. The manager of LaQuinta opened the "hospitality suite" for us that night after our dinner in Kemah for a our cruise group. We ate lunch at a small restaurant right next to the hotel, had breakfast Saturday at the Waffle House, made a last minute grocery/drug store run, and NEVER felt threatened anywhere in the LaPorte area.

Just my .02 cents worth,,,any questions, let me know

Willy- we will be flying in on Friday night around midnight so will be going right to the hotel.

From the other post if the port is only 5-7 miles we'll just take a cab? Is that correct? I have conflicting reports on how far the port actually is from hobby airport area.

According to my map of Houston, it's 19 miles from Hobby Airport to the port in Morgan Point.

From Yahoo Maps:

Starting from: William P Hobby Airport HOU, Houston, TX

Arriving at: Barbours Cut, Morgan Point, TX 77571

Distance: 18.5 miles Approximate Travel Time: 43 mins

Here's two pictures of the Barbour's Cut port area.

Note: The vertical ship in the second picture is where the NCL cruise ships dock,

you can even see the covered ramp leading up to the ship.

Hobby and the port are in two seperate places, at least a 20 minute drive or so apart. The best deal is to rent a car from Enterprise (as mentioned by another poster). Since it is a relative distance from the airport to the port, taxi rides will cost $40-$50 each way, so a rental car winds up being cheaper and easier. Make sure you make your Enterprise reservations in advance.. the airport location is small and runs out of cars if you don't make reservations in advance.

The town of LaPorte is rather large. I can understand not recommending staying in the immediate area of the port, but there are no hotels right there anyway (it's all industrial and cargo storage areas).

Hey there electricron,,,that's a great photo of the port. The Comfort Suites and LaQuinta that I mentioned in the earlier post would be just south of the photo's edge, on the large yellow highway on the far left side of the photo marked 146,,,about 2 miles from the pier. I agree with the 18 to 19 miles from Hobby to the pier as well, it would be about a 30-40 minute drive.

mmeb7882,,,if you're getting in that late, I would just use a hotel near the airport and grab a cab the next day. It might be cheaper to try Enterprise for the car, but I don't think it's gonna work for you The Enterprise location at Hobby is only open till 11PM on Friday night, the Seabrook location closes at noon on Saturday. I was just quoted $56.99 for a minivan, pick it up Friday afternoon and drop it off Saturday morning, not bad for a one way rental. Since we get in early Friday, it gives us a lot of options

As a La Porte resident, I just wanted to clarify Cruisin'Jenny2's comments about La Porte. The Port where the ship docks is an industrial area, so there are no hotels, but it is certainly not a "seedy" area. La Porte itself is also not "seedy", we are a small little friendly town. We have 3 nice hotels to choose from for pre-cruise stays, and if you search the boards, you will find very nice reviews of the hotels. They are all about 3 miles from the port.