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*** The Galveston, Texas "Cruise Cam" Watch Group ***

Texas Teen

By Texas Teen,
in Royal Caribbean International

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Texas Teen

Texas Teen

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If y'all missed the ships arrive, y'all missed some GREAT arrivals! Disney Magic turned a little closer to the cam than usual, and Crown Princess turned right in front of the Cruise Cam.

But no worries if you missed it... I made a time lapse. :D Expect me to post it on Youtube within the next few days.

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Texas Teen

Texas Teen

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Anyone see anything about what time they are expected to turn these ships around?

 

Ships are typically in port 8 to 10 hours, so I'd say they'll depart between 10pm and 1am tomorrow (Magic docked at 2 and Crown docked at 3). If they're fast, maybe a little earlier. They both already turned.

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Tucker in Texas

Tucker in Texas

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I just got off the Crown Princess. Disembarkation did not start until around 4:00. I want to say that this disembarkation was the best we have had in Galveston from about 7 or 8 cruises. They really did a super job.

 

They, also did a great job keeping us informed of what was going on. We were in the Explorer's Lounge and a crew member announced about every 20 minutes the status. Unfortunately, the same--no new information, will let us know when it comes. We started moving in around 1:30 or so and our arrival was around 3:30. We had been anchored 12 miles out. They had stations of coffee, tea set up all over the ship. Lunch was served in the Horizon Court regular hours. Pizza station/hamburger/International Cafe were, also in operation. They scheduled activities throughout the time like Trivia, dance lessons, things on MUTS, and other things I can't remember as I was more interested in the Denver/Baltimore game which was on MUTS as well as in the Explorer Lounge. I knew we were in "trouble" when they scheduled and announced activities up to 5:00 p.m. (lol). The Captain addressed us several times, too. Disembarkation began around 4:30. I heard they were great assistance to people whose flights were impacted even if they weren't Princess Cruise Air. For those, they told them to hang on, they were rebooking flights, arranging hotel rooms for them.

 

When they issued the luggage tags, there was a stub we were to keep that you showed when you got off to "prove" you were disembarking in your assigned time frame. We had about the eighth one and got off around 5:00. We carried our luggage. The line to the passport control was just around the corner of the last "lane" until you got to where you stood in the passport line. We had been warned that passport control would probably take longer than usual as they are more careful with ships that have called in Roatan and Belize. I felt like the time was about the same at Passport control as it has always been. I didn't see them delaying anyone longer than necessary, though. We had people traveling with us who did check their luggage and they weren't that far behind us. They did check as we disembarked we weren't "jumping the queque" with our proper stub. For some reason, my computer won't let me back up and insert things. When I said we were in the 8th group, I would estimate there were at least 25 groups. I would think that those that had a later time slot and had a shot at making their flight, were bumped up to an earlier time slot. Even if you were self disembarking, you still had to get a time slot. They first gave us one that was kinda late because they saw we were "local." That didn't bother us but we needed to be with our in-laws, one of whom was from California, the other a drive in from Ft. Worth. When we asked if we could be given the same time slot they had (they were assigned three days ago), they had no problem moving us up.

 

The California in-law was really lucky. She has a granddaughter in Houston so she was not scheduled to fly out until Sunday so she could visit her tonight. I'm not sure she shared that departure information with Crown Princess just let them assume they had a flight to make today. Anyway, another grand daughter who lives in Phoenix was expecting a baby with a due date of two weeks ago. No one told the baby his due date and he didn't arrive until yesterday. The Houston granddaughter had gone to Phoenix to be with her sister until her mother could get there (Thursday before our cruise) and then planned on coming back to Texas so my SIL had arranged for her to pick them up for a quick visit and, thus, scheduled her flight on Sunday. She won't get to visit with her granddaughter but she wasn't scrambling like everyone else to make alternate arrangements either.

 

The other thing that impressed me was there was not the chaos outside the terminal we have encountered in the past. There was almost no car traffic at all. I asked an official where were the people who were waiting to board and she said they had them stashed at the end of the pier (we were at Terminal 1). I saw maybe two drop offs. However, there was a line of cars waiting to get into our parking area waiting for us to leave to get our spots. As we left the terminal area around 5:30, the new passengers were lining up to board in a very orderly manner.

 

I'll be writing a review of the cruise later but the short version is that it was very good in spite of the first two days being on the chilly side and a little rain in Roatan. I liked the ship, I liked the crew. Food was about average. My time dining or whatever they call it not so good. The only reservations you could make were 5:45 or 8:30. Other than that, you got a beeper. We waited 40 minutes the first night, 35 minutes the second night, ate at the food court the third night but the 4th, 5th, 6th nights no wait. I was surprised we had no wait on the second formal night--lobster night. Dinner service was spotty with a two hour time span.

 

Tucker in Texas

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golfpccc

golfpccc

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Could someone please tell me where you go to watch Mariner arrive/depart. It used to be at Pier 28 on Galveston cams, but that is no longer available. :confused:

 

Sally

You just have to wait for the Carnival Magic to get out of the way. Actually, today you can see the Mariner because The Magic didn't turn--go to the Magic Cam--it is listed with the Galveston web cams.

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Texas Teen

Texas Teen

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Could someone please tell me where you go to watch Mariner arrive/depart. It used to be at Pier 28 on Galveston cams, but that is no longer available. :confused:

 

Sally

 

They got rid of it. :( It got off-center and had a poor quality image, and I guess others like me quit watching it except to see if she was in port.

In addition to the Magic Cam that golfpccc mentioned, there's also the ABC 13 cam. But right now the lighting seems to be messed up.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/livenow?id=7292434

 

Also that cam is movable so it isn't always pointed towards the port like it is right now.

 

 

LOL, todays Mariner watching is brought to you by the strand cam and ..... the Carnival Cam. :D They need to dock that way more often.

 

That ship on the Strand Cam with the red and blue funnel is Mariner? :confused: I never realized that. :eek:

Edited by Texas Teen
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StingrayBob

StingrayBob

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A little somber today - we were supposed to be boarding the mariner today - but had to push it back a year due to work (or lack of!).

T Bone, sorry you didn't get to sail away today on Mariner. Hope things work out for next year and you have an awesome vacation then. Good things come to those who wait. :D

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Texas Teen

Texas Teen

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A pic of both ships on the Emerald Cam:

 

3169266.jpg

 

And last, a few pics from Magic's webcam:

 

3169254.jpg

 

3169256.jpg

 

3169257.jpg

 

3169258.jpg

 

If anyone knows of any good pic hosting sites without a watermark (besides Photobucket or Flicker, which blocks pics if they get too many views), please let me know.

Edited by Texas Teen
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Cindy

Cindy

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Wake up everybody. The Mariner is backing down the channel and coming to pick us up!! Starting our b2b today, really excited.

 

Howdy, Carla! Long time no "see!"

I'm up! We sail away today too--with you!! I thought the fog was going to delay the Ship coming in. Guess not.:D

 

The fog is pretty thick here in Houston...glad it didn't interfere with ship arrivals this morning!:)

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