Newer ships & different ports for Galveston

[blyle]

Today I happened to have a conversation with a Carnival employee whose name and location will go unmentioned to protect the innocent. I inquired as to why Texas gets the older smaller ships and a not too interesting itinerary. He told me the stats.

First of all 85% of Texas residents have not cruised and therefore have nothing to compare the ships to. Secondly the ships are leaving Galveston full week after week. Third , Carnival does not need to do anything as long as the ships leave at capacity week after week. To them it means that everyone is happy! Fourth Galveston needs to improve the port to handle larger ships and more passengers. He claims that they cannot handle the thousands who would cruise on the larger ships all on the same day. He said that they are conveying the concerns of past cruisers regarding the need for some different ports but that the class of ship cannot go much faster and therefore cannot reach the other ports. So........ it seems to me that we need to send some emails regarding the need for some newer, larger ships and some variation in the ports. Otherwise as I told him many of us will have to sail on the other line just to see some other ports for a change. I just thought that he was very honest and upfront and made alot of sense. I love carnival and the convenience of leaving out of Galveston. But after my third trip to the same ports on the same ship I am ready for a change.

[corina27]

If emails is all it would take we would email away....:D

[blyle]

Well he said that most people tell them and when they relay it Carnival tells them the stats. So I think that if we were to inform them that there are now many past cruisers and we would like to go to some new ports and try another class of ship instead of Fantasy class perhaps they would get the message.

[NoNoNanette]

I love carnival and the convenience of leaving out of Galveston. But after my third trip to the same ports on the same ship I am ready for a change.

 

Hi there!

 

You might want to consider driving into New Orleans for your next cruise. We're from the NOLA area, and have cruised out of Galveston and Houston, as well as our "local port".

 

Personally, I love a "road trip", and we make it a point to get there a day or two early. Give it some thought. The Conquest is relatively new, and quite nice. (Have you sailed the Grand Princess out of Galveston yet? That was our favorite cruise, thusfar!)

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[corina27]

okay silly question time..Does the conquest have the carnival funnel? Or is she not a carnival ship? I couldnt tell be your pictures, she is a awesome ship.

[blyle]

My son has taken the conquest and loved it and we are looking at the Grand Princess. Right now the prices were rather high but I am always on the lookout for a good deal. We have cruised from FLA but that is a long trip. Perhaps the Conquest will be our next.

Conquest is a Carnival ship.

[NoNoNanette]

My son has taken the conquest and loved it and we are looking at the Grand Princess. Right now the prices were rather high but I am always on the lookout for a good deal. We have cruised from FLA but that is a long trip. Perhaps the Conquest will be our next.

Conquest is a Carnival ship.

 

I'm guessing that you'll love the Conquest. If you have time, I can turn you onto a lovely little bed/breakfast cabins in Breaux Bridge, LA. It might make a nice break in your driving. The owners are friends of us. Lovely, warm folks.

 

The cabins are on Bayou Teche, and you can walk to Mulate's original restauraunt for dinner.

 

(We go to this place probably 4 times per year..... it's just "this" side of Lafayette).

 

By all means, keep your eyes open for deals on the Grand Princess. We ended up with a MINI SUITE for about 850.00 per person, and got a room credit from our travel agent. Talk about being spoiled!;)

[TXRoo]

The Grand Princess is larger and cruises out of that port and seems not to have this problem.

 

Fourth Galveston needs to improve the port to handle larger ships and more passengers. He claims that they cannot handle the thousands who would cruise on the larger ships all on the same day.

[pholter]

I will be trying the Grand Princess or RCCL out of Galveston, but only because Carnival won't put a bigger ship with balconies there. I really enjoy Carnival, but we deserve a bigger ship! I think Texas has proven the demand- can't they send the old/small ships to some place else??? Even if it's only a few months out of the year, I would certainly appreciate it :)

[blyle]

Well I agree about the size of the Grand, I think he was referring to the ships leaving on the same day, Sunday. He seemed to know something about that fact. Maybe there is some technical problem regarding the days for each ship. I for one have never seen a problem at the port but there were only 2 ships in on the same day.

I just hope that Carnival gets smart and realizes that once they lose customers to another line due to the ships and ports it will be very hard to get them back. Perhaps they are forgetting how they came to be the worlds largest cruise line when the other lines did not take them seriously.

[Cathys Cruising]

Most of our cruises have been out of Galveston. It's so easy to drive to the port and nice to save $$ on the air fare. Did the Conquest out of NOLA and that was a fantastic road trip and cruise. Enjoyed the Grand Princess so much we've booked her again. Guess we'll have to try the Rhapsody next. While we have very much enjoyed our Carnival cruises, we love driving to the port even more. We're running out of choices!

[blyle]

THere is an article today about Galveston and the need for newer ships. It is in the travel section

[aggieastrosfan]

Well, the desire to try something new is the reason I ended up on the Grand the first time. I was all set to take my mom on a 5-day on the Ecstasy, when a friend found pricing on the Grand at the same price per day for an inside that the outside on the Ecstasy was costing me. It was a no-brainer to take the IS on the Grand for less than $200 more pp over the OV on the Ecstasy!

 

Well, now I'm hooked, and as you can see below, it's the Grand DH and I are taking my in-laws on for their first cruise. I still like Carnival, and really want to try their newer ships, but Galveston is too convenient, and airfare adds so much to the cost of your vacation. We'll probably try the Rhapsody before we'll drive to NOLA for the Conquest. We're not too keen on a 6-hour drive, we'd rather fly to Florida than do that.

 

I love the Elation, but the newer and bigger ships can't compete with the Fantasy-class.

[Forchunut1]

Boy, I would just be happy with ANY ship within easy driving distance of me! I am jealous of all of you even if you do have to sail on older, smaller ships! :D

 

Actually, I was on the Rhapsody last month and enjoyed it just as much (and more in some respects) as the Valor which we were on in January. I think it is great that cruise lines are seeing the benefit of coming up with new ports for everyone.

[travel girl23]

Blyle, I tend to agree with you. We would like to try the Conquest out of N.O. but we have already taken two cruises out of N.O. with the exact same itinerary so it would only be to try a newer ship. We have been on the Elation twice out of Galveston and have been to Cozumel 5 times. We are looking at other cruise lines simply to go to some different ports but we love Carnival. We really prefer to drive to N.O. or Galveston and save that air fare.

[pnjkeith]

I only cruise Carnival. I have done Galveston and New Orleans both. Both were great cruises. But we go to Florida a lot because I like variety. I too wish that Carnival would change the routes in New Orleans and Galveston. Who do we e mail at Carnival for a change. Next cruise back to Florida, rather give Carnival money for nicce cruise, than give it to the airlines!

[The Cruisers]

Carnival is following their plan on how they place ships in new home ports. Galveston is still a fairly new market to them and they are still trying out the waters. If you think about it, Galveston has already gotten an upgrade in ships. The Celebration use to sail from there (my wife and I sent her mother and her best friend on this ship out of Galveston and they loved it). Look how long it took New Orleans to get and upgrade from the Fantasy and Holiday Class ships to the Conquest and Los Angeles to get upgraded from the Fantasy Class Ships to the Pride. Just be patient. With a new year around port in Mobile (the Holiday) and other ports that are being used at various time (Jacksonville, FL, Charleston, SC, etc.) and the new ships that will be coming out, it won't be long before Galveston gets an upgrade. You better believe that Carnival has recognized the fact that a lot of people sail out of there and that there will be the need for a newer, larger ship.

 

As far as the itentiary, you may be stuck. Do to Galveston's location it's hard to get ships to the many ports that are available from Florida. That's why Carnival is trying to develop Costa Maya, Progresso and other new ports in Mexico.

[ppeckham]

First of all 85% of Texas residents have not cruised and therefore have nothing to compare the ships to.

 

Does Carnival realize that Texas has a higher population than most states? Plus it's not just Texans who cruise out of Galveston. Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana citizens come down to Galveston to cruise.

 

They may need to upgrade the port. However it's easy to get to! So far I've cruise out of Galveston, NO, and Gulfport. Galveston has been the best. We'll see how Tampa is this summer.

[Stircrzy]

...They may need to upgrade the port.

 

A third cruise terminal is in the works already, with more being planned.

 

Galveston knows what a boon to it's economy the cruise industry has been and is working toward more and better terminals.

[gtalum]

Since pretty much every cruise out of every port is going out full, Carnival has no incentive to move bigger, newer ships to Galveston. Generally, if a company is very successful at what it's doing, it won't shake things up until that changes. There's an expression: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". You should consider other home ports or other cruise lines sailing out of Galveston if you wish to experience different ships and different ports.

[L2J]

Fourth Galveston needs to improve the port to handle larger ships and more passengers. He claims that they cannot handle the thousands who would cruise on the larger ships all on the same day.

 

 

If I'm not mistaken the Grand Sails out of Galveston so I don't think it is an issue of improving the port.

[Ship Addict]

I have been reading some interesting news in the Galveston newspapers lately. They (The powers that be) are trying to generate some new tax revenue to provide funding for work that needs to be done around Galveston, including some of the work that needs to be done in the ports and other places in Galveston. They are considering trying to pass a tax on cruise ship passengers -- I think it's about $20 -- but all the cruise lines are balking at this. They don't think it's fair that out of town cruise passengers should have to bear the burden of work that needs to be done in this city. They have flat out told Galveston that if they do pass this tax, they will pull out of Galveston completely. I am sure none of the cruise lines are going to consider moving larger ships in at this point until they know whether or not this is going to pass.

 

Here is a link to some of the articles I read:

Galveston County Daily News first article

Galveston Daily News cruise ticket fees

Galveston Daily News cruise tax link

[Stircrzy]

I have been reading some interesting news in the Galveston newspapers lately. They (The powers that be) are trying to generate some new tax revenue to provide funding for work that needs to be done around Galveston, including some of the work that needs to be done in the ports and other places in Galveston. They are considering trying to pass a tax on cruise ship passengers -- I think it's about $20 -- but all the cruise lines are balking at this. They don't think it's fair that out of town cruise passengers should have to bear the burden of work that needs to be done in this city. They have flat out told Galveston that if they do pass this tax, they will pull out of Galveston completely. I am sure none of the cruise lines are going to consider moving larger ships in at this point until they know whether or not this is going to pass.

 

Here is a link to some of the articles I read:

Galveston County Daily News first article

Galveston Daily News cruise ticket fees

Galveston Daily News cruise tax link

 

It isn't the "powers that be" in GALVESTON that ran this bad idea up the flagpole, it was Jerry Patterson, the Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office. Mayor Thomas and the City Council of Galveston OPPOSE this bad idea and want to see it dropped.

[Splatitudes]

if i recall, they did some extensive work (dredging, remodeling, etc) on the port just to be able to fit the Grand in there....

 

...as for the ports, the previous poster is right... other than doing a longer-than-seven day sailing, Galveston's location is tough to do much more than a Western..

[pholter]

It looks as though Celebrity will also be bringing in a ship to do 12-15 day cruises... A ship with more balconies, too :)

 

I'd be happy if Carnival would just move the Destiny or Victory to Galveston and let us have balconies!