Liberty at updated Galveston Terminal #2 - any reports?

[vettecruiser1]

Did they sell the 10 drink package and if so what day and price?

[dna1990]

Last week on Liberty, 10-drink coupons went on sale Day5 for $75. I don't know details of gratuities and final price etc.

 

 

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[ssb]

Additional changes and completion of all renovations to OLD terminal will not be completed until End of July. New terminal building addition had to be completed first for transition to using both buildings at terminal # 2 concurrently , and old building being used functional for all services until new building was completed.

Edited July 4, 2016 by ssb

[39august]

I heard from someone I know that today's embarkation was awful. They are Pinnacle members. and instead of being first to board along with suite pax, all "gold members" were called for first boarding. What a downer for priority eligible cruisers! Also the staff didn't seem to know anything about how the process was supposed to work. All new to everyone! The 10 drink card for the last two weeks was on day 5, and $75 PLUS 18% gratuity. Not much of a savings.

[kontraxed]

What do the porters do and how much do you tip them?

[Clarea]

What do the porters do and how much do you tip them?

The porters gather your bags, put them on a cart, and push the cart with you in line for customs. After customs, they will them push the cart to your mode of transportation. Tip them whatever you like.

Edited July 4, 2016 by clarea

[widallas]

Last week on Liberty, 10-drink coupons went on sale Day5 for $75. I don't know details of gratuities and final price etc.

 

 

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How did you know they were available...was it promoted in the compass, or just for sale in the promenade or at the bars? Thanks!

 

 

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[vettecruiser1]

I heard from someone I know that today's embarkation was awful. They are Pinnacle members. and instead of being first to board along with suite pax, all "gold members" were called for first boarding. What a downer for priority eligible cruisers! Also the staff didn't seem to know anything about how the process was supposed to work. All new to everyone! The 10 drink card for the last two weeks was on day 5, and $75 PLUS 18% gratuity. Not much of a savings.

 

 

$75+18%=$88 for 10 drinks. If most drinks are between $10-$12 before 18% then it seems like a 25-35% good deal to me. At 10 drinks regular $10 plus grata $118 and 10 at $12 plus tip $141. So a savings between $30 and $53. I will take that everyday, I will be on in 13 days to take advantage of that deal. The key is not to get beer with it or just straight cocktails.

[vettecruiser1]

How did you know they were available...was it promoted in the compass, or just for sale in the promenade or at the bars? Thanks!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

It will be listed in the compass, but if not just go down to the hoof and claw. They have always sold them there. I even once seen it for sale on day 3 you just have to keep an eye out and it never hurts to ask.

[widallas]

It will be listed in the compass, but if not just go down to the hoof and claw. They have always sold them there. I even once seen it for sale on day 3 you just have to keep an eye out and it never hurts to ask.

Thanks for the info!

[CruzinSuz]

Hoping you can give me some insite on what perks suite guest get from boarding to anything else. Did you feel it was worth the extra money? Our first RC cruise. Thank you!

 

You will get priority boarding along with Pinnacles. The best thing is departure, Suites/Pinnacles get off right after the walk off's, bags are in a close area to customs and you get priority in customs...it works beautifully.

Enjoy your cruise.

[JimAOk1945]

You will get priority boarding along with Pinnacles. The best thing is departure, Suites/Pinnacles get off right after the walk off's, bags are in a close area to customs and you get priority in customs...it works beautifully.

Enjoy your cruise.

 

This is great news! We will be in a Suite and are cruising for the first time as Diamond. Thanks!

[camtheriot]

It was neither. The port stops were Roatan, Costa Maya and Cozumel. No Belize.

 

You wouldn't happen to have the cruise compasses would you??:D:D we are going on this itenerary in Sept and I would love to start planning activites onboard. ;)

[CruzinSuz]

This is great news! We will be in a Suite and are cruising for the first time as Diamond. Thanks!

 

Congrats on being Diamond, enjoy the lounge and other benefits. And the suite perks are for Grand Suite and above, so you will enjoy that too!!

[JimAOk1945]

Congrats on being Diamond, enjoy the lounge and other benefits. And the suite perks are for Grand Suite and above, so you will enjoy that too!!

Thanks! We are looking forward to the whole experience. We enjoy cruising over Christmas week and now have even more reason to be excited.:D

[BlueCollarCruiser]

Embarkation was fine, was probably 30 minutes I guess. Maybe 40. We're talking Gold here.

 

Disembarkation was a spitshow. We self-assisted off as we always do. They lined us up on the outside of deck 4 where you do a muster drill. It was a huge loop that went down the length of deck 4 and doubled up on itself. I didn't time this line but it felt like it took 10 hours plus or minus 9 hours or so. We were hot, sweaty, irritated and it took forever to snake all they way down deck 4, up deck 4, then snake through the ship, then up the deck on the other side, then up the gangways, then snake all the way through the port building, then through customs.

 

The time spent in the actual terminal was short but jesus christ, if you say self assist is starting at 7:30 then start letting people off the ship. Don't line them up in the heat for an hour. What is wrong with you?

 

Or wheel a cart of $30 Evian bottles around and give people a drink or something.

[PCWalton1]

Embarkation was fine, was probably 30 minutes I guess. Maybe 40. We're talking Gold here.

 

Disembarkation was a spitshow. We self-assisted off as we always do. They lined us up on the outside of deck 4 where you do a muster drill. It was a huge loop that went down the length of deck 4 and doubled up on itself. I didn't time this line but it felt like it took 10 hours plus or minus 9 hours or so. We were hot, sweaty, irritated and it took forever to snake all they way down deck 4, up deck 4, then snake through the ship, then up the deck on the other side, then up the gangways, then snake all the way through the port building, then through customs.

 

The time spent in the actual terminal was short but jesus christ, if you say self assist is starting at 7:30 then start letting people off the ship. Don't line them up in the heat for an hour. What is wrong with you?

 

Or wheel a cart of $30 Evian bottles around and give people a drink or something.

 

The ship's love the increase in people wanting to use self assist as it's just that many fewer passengers they have to herd off the ship. But as you saw they are not set up for the increase. To be honest it will probably get worse as more people opt for what they think will be easy. Unfortunately they view the passengers in the self assist line as already gone. :(

[wolfganghowell]

I think the great problem with self disembark in Galveston is that the vast majority of cruisers do drive in and they think this is the fastest way off. Not when half the ship does it. :eek: I really wish Royal would limit the number of self disembarkers. The line has been insane for years. We usually are in a GS and most of the time we are walking PAST a long line of "selfers". It looks like it would end the trip on a down note.

[39august]

Absolutely agree Mrs. Wolf. Way too many self assist in Galveston. I remember a few years ago that NOS tried to limit by asking for sign up. However, those who were too late to sign up, or just didn't bother, did it anyway. The only way I see to limit this is to assign tags and check for them before allowing anyone to check off of the ship. Yes, have always found that the suite departure guests are guided to by-pass those still in line to the terminal. Unfortunately, two weeks ago, using the new terminal for the first time for us, the LOOONG trek from ship to terminal luggage area was disrupted by several self assists to break into the line in front of us, cutting off some of the gold card group. At least Carlos managed to be in the luggage area and point us to a priority customs line. I found the debarkation to take longer by quite a bit than it used to. Have friends who boarded Sunday and hope for some positive info about embarkation from then. Can't imagine what it will be like in Nov. 2017 when Vision also debarks and embarks on a Sunday!

[BlueCollarCruiser]

Absolutely agree Mrs. Wolf. Way too many self assist in Galveston. I remember a few years ago that NOS tried to limit by asking for sign up. However, those who were too late to sign up, or just didn't bother, did it anyway. The only way I see to limit this is to assign tags and check for them before allowing anyone to check off of the ship. Yes, have always found that the suite departure guests are guided to by-pass those still in line to the terminal. Unfortunately, two weeks ago, using the new terminal for the first time for us, the LOOONG trek from ship to terminal luggage area was disrupted by several self assists to break into the line in front of us, cutting off some of the gold card group. At least Carlos managed to be in the luggage area and point us to a priority customs line. I found the debarkation to take longer by quite a bit than it used to. Have friends who boarded Sunday and hope for some positive info about embarkation from then. Can't imagine what it will be like in Nov. 2017 when Vision also debarks and embarks on a Sunday!

 

Which departs first, Self Assist or Gold cards?

[Clarea]

Which departs first, Self Assist or Gold cards?

Our experience is that self-assist goes first. However, every once in a while we run into a ship that gives priority within self-assist, so that Gold card self-assist would be first.

[BlueCollarCruiser]

Our experience is that self-assist goes first. However, every once in a while we run into a ship that gives priority within self-assist, so that Gold card self-assist would be first.

 

I ask because the Liberty flyer last week said Self Assist was first, it didn't say that golds could skip past anyone once their group started. Was curious about that comment because it seems like the golds would be the ones cutting the line. But I guess ships do things differently.

[Clarea]

... But I guess ships do things differently.

Yes, the one thing you can count on is inconsistency.;)

[JimAOk1945]

Unless I'm mistaken, I believe the Vision will be doing 4-5 day cruises and will embark on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

 

We have cruised round-trip from Galveston previously, and have always found it to be complete chaos with debarkation worse than embarkation. I was hoping the new terminal would provide enough space to improve both processes. I guess I will see for myself in December when we go on our Christmas cruise aboard the Liberty.

Edited July 19, 2016 by JimAOk1945

[wolfganghowell]

On the May 29 sailing with partial terminal open, self assist was off first. We were in a suite so we were to meet in Schooner at 8:15, ready to leave by 8:30. Because of the large amount of self assist, we were escorted off around 8:45. We went past a long winding group of them still waiting. It's been our experience on several ships that self assist are always first, then suites/pinnacles.