Supershuttle Galveston Any recent usage

[sbnuggie]

Howdy,

 

Just checking too see if anyone has used supershuttle in the past few months, did a search and my research, most recent article:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=885000

 

was from a year ago. Wanted to know if the call before clearing customs is still the shortcut route.

[sea_u_onboard]

I would be curious also. I did look them up and they have an A rating with the BBB.

 

How does this work if you are using them to return to the Hobby?

[sbnuggie]

Well, people use them, but don't return to post their experience unless its bad apparently. I found one cruiser who used them last week when conquest was delayed by fog, and asked if he would email me his experience which he did, here is his response cut/pasted:

 

My experience was awesome.

 

They called me on my cell phone a number of times… Informed me that they were at the port waiting for me. I called them when I got in line for customs and then when we walked out the door. They where there in 5 minutes.

 

We waited longer at the airport (probably 15 – 20 minutes) for the ride to Galveston the previous week.

 

I wouldn’t hesitate to use them again in a heartbeat.

 

Have fun on your cruise!!!!

 

Regards,

 

BKW

*****

 

 

We are going to use them for our cruise in a couple of weeks and I will be sure to post my experience with them. I already made the reservation and got an email from supershuttle for my confirmation. The only thing it doesn't have is the phone number to call while in line at customs. I'll wait to see if they send me another email with the phone number otherwise the few days before the cruise I'll start making some calls to get it. I would suspect you would need the local phone number and not the general 800 number.

[sea_u_onboard]

I will be sure to come back and post after my cruise in a few weeks. I'm a big "review" person and post a lot to sites like Travelocity - so I'll be sure to come back.

 

I did make a reservation and the gentleman that took my reservation seemed VERY knowledgeable. He told me to call when we hit Customs. We plan to grab a porter so even if they are packed it shouldn't take too long to get through. They said the longest wait is 45 minutes.

[sbnuggie]

I setup the reservation online and on the confirmation email it does not have the local phone number to call, do you happen to have that you could post here?

 

Thanks,

[sea_u_onboard]

I setup the reservation online and on the confirmation email it does not have the local phone number to call, do you happen to have that you could post here?

 

Thanks,

On my confirmation it shows 409.765.9321

[sea_u_onboard]

FYI for anyone booking this online - click Hotel and type in Galveston Cruise Terminal - that will get you the port.

[sbnuggie]

Well I'm back so I can answer my own question:

 

I had setup a reservation with supershuttle. When you do it on the webpage it asks for your flight information and then based on your flight departure time it gives a pickup time. We arranged a pickup time for 1015 - 1030 am figuring we would be off the ship and clear of customs by then. I even called Carnival and asked what time we would be off the ship and they said 1030am at the latest.

 

We were in zone 26 to be called off of the ship, there are only 30 zones. Sooo we were one of the last ones off the ship. At 945 am I got a call on my cell phone, it was Supershuttle, an automated phone call saying the driver was 15 minutes away and to be ready. Well, we were still sitting on the ship and they were calling the low teens to disembark. I knew this was going to be a problem. At 1000 am, get a call from the driver saying he is at the port and wanted to know where I was, I told him still sitting on the ship, we hadn't been called off yet. He told me to call him, caller ID on my phone had his phone # when I was out of customs, he did not sound happy.

 

1015 am, our disembark number was called, we walked off the ship into the cruise terminal and discovered that even though it was quick getting off the ship, Carnival just dumps you in the massive terminal building to wait in a loooooooooooooooong line of all the people that got off before you waiting to go through customs.

 

1030 am, standing in long line get a call from driver again, tell him we are off the ship but in a long line for customs, says to call him when we are in front, again, does not sound happy at all.

 

1100 am, get a call from the Houston Hobby Supershuttle main office on a blocked number, lady says driver is waiting and wants to know where I am, I tell her that I am still in line for customs which is quite lengthy and I guess another 30 minutes.

 

1130 am, get a call from driver wanting to know where I am, tell him we are inching along but getting closer, maybe another 15 minutes????

 

1150 am, clear customs over and hour and half since walking off the ship, call driver and meet him in front, he is visibly upset and does not say a word to us. We apologize and tell him we were told by carnival we would be off ship by 1030 am, he barely acknowledges our apology.

 

Arrive Hobby a little before one, drives us to the end of the Southwest terminal and drops us off, puts luggage at back of van for us to schlep over to the curb, we tip him extra $20 for his time on top of standard $2 per bag that I tip, he huffs and drives off.

***

 

In summary, I can understand the driver being upset, I probably would be too so I don't hold it against him too much. I'm upset with Carnival for telling us that we would be off the boat by 1030 am, they were in fact correct, we were physically off the boat by 1030 am, but what they don't tell you is they have dumped all 3000 passengers in the cruise terminal to wait in the cavernous area for customs, which took an additional 1 hour and 35 minutes which they didn't tell me about.

 

Would I use supershuttle again in Galveston, yes. We had 5 adults and 5 children and 10 pieces of luggage and it all fit, if there were 10 full size adults, you would fit but it would be tight. For $100, it's the best deal, but I would be conservative with the pickup time to account for Customs in Galveston. When supershuttle says they will be there, they will be there but there system is not designed for waiting for you, they expect you to be ready when they arrive and that is a hard thing to judge in Galveston, especially when you consider a cruise ship can be late, customs can take forever etc, etc, etc.

 

Oh and another thing, the phone number in the confirmation that is emailed to you is actually the Port of Galveston phone number not super shuttle. So I couldn't have called them to tell them we are delayed getting off the ship.

[sea_u_onboard]

I also just used Super Shuttle on Saturday for our return. I arranged for a 10:45 pickup for our group of 8 - BUT - we were one of the first off and no line at customs (FYI - when you get off the ship pay the extra for a porter - they skip a MAJOR portion of the line - allowing you to get through customs quicker). We were off by 8:45. I called the number of the confirmation also and got the port of galveston - BUT - I remembered from my confirmation call 1-800-BLUEVAN. So I called it and told them we got off early. Since they didn't have any arrivals coming from the airport they were going to have to dispatch someone from Hobby to come get us. It took about an hour, which wasn't bad considering the amount of rain Houston had gotten the night before (we found this out later).

 

There was plenty of room for 8 adults plus luggage. It just started raining when we arrived at the airport so everyone grabbed their bags and maade a dash for it. We each tipped around $4 - so he got about a $32 tip.

 

They told me when I booked to call when we got to customs but what I forgot was you can't use your cell phone in the terminal and I would have hated to call before getting off the ship without knowing how long the wait was going to be. It is very difficult to gage and SS should be aware of it.

 

We would use them again for a group of 5 or more. The $100 for the van is well worth it.

[sbnuggie]

FYI - when you get off the ship pay the extra for a porter - they skip a MAJOR portion of the line - allowing you to get through customs quicker.

 

 

Yeah....we figured that out about the time they were assigning us a lane position at the customs line, we were discussing how fair that was with others in line around us, one guy was yelling at the people and the porters about how we were standing in line and so should they, until a security gaurd asked him to keep it down, thats when I reminded the security gaurd about the 1st ammendment and to go back to gaurding the roll up door, I was not a happy camper and neither was all the people around us when we found out this little nugget of information............I told everyone I could see that was arriving for their departure to get a , I was calling it my personal bon voyage gift to them.

[sea_u_onboard]

Yeap - probably not fair - but the porters have to get through the line as quickly as possible. I discovered this here on CC and have always gotten a porter. It's worth the few extra bucks not to have to wait in the line. Now that we are Platinum and can get off early I don't think it's going to make much difference. Still needed the porter as there were 8 of us. We just all stacked it up on one cart.

[Jimnbigd]

I used a chartered SuperShuttle on my March 27, 2011, Voyager of the Seas cruise, Houston to Galveston. Return was on April 3, 2011, Galveston back to Houston. The March 27 pickup went smoothly. The April 3 pickup was a problem, partly mine and mostly Supershuttle. I forgot to bring the local phone number to call on the return. I called the 800 number instead, was on hold for 10 minutes, and finally got someone who said they were sending a 5 passenger car. Huh? We have 10 people plus luggage. I was transferred. Now the new person says they are sending a 10 passenger van like we had on the drive down. Great. We go through customs, the porter tells us where to wait. One SuperShuttle comes by -- we ask if ours, and no. Next one, no. 3rd one, no but gives me the local phone dispatch number so we can get the van number. I call. No shuttle dispatched for us. Huh? OK, they dispatch one. It arrives, It is an 8 passenger, not a 10 passenger. So either we wait another 45 minutes to an hour, or we take this one. We had 4 kids, so we squeeze 4 kids plus the skinniest adult into the 3-passenger back seat. Not very comfortable for them.

 

I will probably use them again next year since we will have 10 people again and SuperShuttle is about $100 cheaper each way (when you include tip) than other charters, but next time I'll print several copies of the local dispatch phone number.

 

Also note that SuperShuttle figures only one large bag or 2 medium bags per person -- not a lot of storage on the vans.