Sailing out of Houston

[G.C]

We sailed out of Houston last February no fog or noro. We usually sail out of Fort Lauderdale when on Princess. We had a great time with some of the nicest passengers we have ever met on a cruise ship. We just returned from a sailing on the Regal out of FLL. One thing we both agreed on was that we are glad our next Princess cruise will again be out of Houston. Every port has it`s issues you`ll find folks who like and dislike them all winter cruises in Houston risk fog.

 

That said we`ll be booking another sailing out of FLL on the Regal this week. Great ship!

[GradUT]

Been out of Galveston many times, mostly during December, never had a fog problem. Will be going out of the Bay Port terminal this December. I have a sailboat down around Kemah that I sail on Galveston Bay, We watch the cruise ships at the Bay Port terminal all the time. While there is an chance of fog, it is not very common.

 

Thanks for the encouraging first-hand report, Casual Geek. I've sailed out of Galveston twice with no issues but was a little concerned when I booked a cruise out of Bayport for next month.

[Projunior]

We sailed on New Year's on the Caribbean Princess. Embarkation was a mess and the rumor was that there were stowaways aboard. There were no more chairs available to accommodate people in the main terminal building and the overflow was directed to an outside tent containing a couple hundred folding chairs. There were no more chairs available in the tent either. We, and many others, stood and milled around for two hours in the great outdoors waiting to board. The weather happened to be mild but it could just as easily have been cold or raining or both.

 

Going home we departed out of Houston Hobby on Southwest. We arrived at the airport via Princess transfer at around 10:30AM. There were hundreds and hundreds of people waiting on the sidewalk in an enormous line waiting to check their bags at the outside check-in counter. Inside the terminal was a second line, also with hundreds of people in it; they were waiting for the inside ticket counter. We inched along for 90 minutes in the outside line (luckily, again, it was not raining or cold) to check our bags.

 

Being the optimist, I am treating the embarkation issue as a one-off. Meanwhile, the chaos at Houston Hobby will remain a mystery. We have sloughed those off as flukes and will be sailing again on the Emerald out of Bayport this February.

Edited November 11, 2014 by Projunior

[AZPam]

Just my own opinion/choice, but it would take a heck of a deal to get me to sail out of Houston again. Just didn't like it and we didn't even have weather issues. Another thing to be prepared for that nobody has seemed to mention is the fact that 75% of the ship was made up of Texans. Nothing wrong with that, but I do enjoy an little variety in my passenger make up:rolleyes:

[RocketMan275]

Just my own opinion/choice, but it would take a heck of a deal to get me to sail out of Houston again. Just didn't like it and we didn't even have weather issues. Another thing to be prepared for that nobody has seemed to mention is the fact that 75% of the ship was made up of Texans. Nothing wrong with that, but I do enjoy an little variety in my passenger make up:rolleyes:

 

The good thing about being around so many Texans is that they can make any one feel better about themselves. (Go Sooners! Beat Texas!)

[RocketMan275]

Just my own opinion/choice, but it would take a heck of a deal to get me to sail out of Houston again. Just didn't like it and we didn't even have weather issues. Another thing to be prepared for that nobody has seemed to mention is the fact that 75% of the ship was made up of Texans. Nothing wrong with that, but I do enjoy an little variety in my passenger make up:rolleyes:

 

The good thing about being around so many Texans is that they can make any one feel better about themselves. (Go Sooners! Beat Texas!) :)

[mbrodrig01]

We're arriving in Houston tomorrow, at IAH. Using the Princess xfers to the ship, it's costing $48 for both of us to get from the airport to the ship. For 9 people, I wonder if it would be cheaper to use a car service?

 

It is not that far from IAH or Hobby. Some hotels close to the ariport offer free transfers if you let them know ahead.

[DannyMac]

We have sailed twice, both with Princess out of Ft Lauderdale. There are some nice itineraries and prices out of Houston for the Western Caribbean that we are interested in. Have read problems with fog out of there in the past, just wondering the experiences of others out of Houston....hotels nearby, cab ride in, proximity to airport, etc. Would you sail out of there again?

Thanks in advance.

 

My wife and I live about 20 minutes from the Houston cruise terminal. There are a number of small communities in the area, Webster, Shore Acres, Kemah, LaPorte, Deer Park, none of the hotels in the area offer shuttle to the cruise terminal. Suggest you check http://www.portofhouston.com for information.

 

 

FOG: YEP, could be a problem from December-April. I have fished Galveston Bay for 50yrs. and have encountered fog only a few times that forced me to cancel my trip. Usually shows up between cold fronts when it begins to warm-up! The GC makes the decision to close the channel

 

HOUSTON TERMINAL: is very easy to access, located between ShoreAcres and Webster/Kemah. Not much out there except an oil storage facility and container terminal. It is well kept and organized, much better than Galveston. The terminal is located about mid-bay from Galveston and requires about an hour and a half to reach the 5 mile buoy at the end of the jetties in Galveston.

 

WEATHER: The weather can change in 24 hrs. around here, freezing one day, 60-70 degrees and beautiful the next! Summers are HOT/Humid!

 

My wife and sister were on the noro/fog cruise last year and we sailed again in April. Just went with the flow!

 

Suggest you fly into Hobby and stay at one of the hotels that has shuttle service. Princess transfers may be the way to go!

 

We have the January 11, 2015 cruise booked.

[WannaCruise365]

We were also on this one (Hi, Jeanette!). We enjoyed Cozumel & Roatan, disappointed to miss Belize but made the best of it (we are Midwesterners, after all). We flew from Milwaukee to Hobby the day before, stayed at a hotel near the airport & took the Princess shuttle the next day. Met lots of great people & had a good time on the ship! That being said, don't think we'd go out of Houston again, decided we prefer Ft. Lauderdale as a departure port. Have a good cruise wherever you go!

 

Hi.. Can you please tell me what time you went back to the airport to catch the shuttle the day of the cruise? Thanks!

[satxdiver]

It is not that far from IAH or Hobby. Some hotels close to the ariport offer free transfers if you let them know ahead.

 

Comfort Suites in Seadrift is the only hotel in the area that I am aware providing transport to the port. The hotel is located out by itself in an open area so transportation is needed to go to dinner. I understand it has to be arranged ahead of time.

[Stevesan]

The bus drivers must suffer from dyslexia!

There is IAH terminal signage all along J.F.K. BLVD.

Edited November 13, 2014 by Stevesan

[WisCruiser2]

Hi.. Can you please tell me what time you went back to the airport to catch the shuttle the day of the cruise? Thanks!

 

I think we were "assigned" a time on our documents, but as I recall we went earlier with another couple from the hotel (hotel shuttle) & found the Princess bus, they let us get on then :D