Best way to get from Houston airport to Galveston

[TiggerLuv2Cruise]

We are looking for the best way to get from Houston Hobby airport to Galveston. We are arriving the day before our cruise in February. Not sure if best to stay in Houston that night and travel to Galveston the next morning? but after reading several threads that mention shuttles not showing up is it best to get to Galveston the night before and take a cab to the pier? We have an early boarding time. Any advice/past experiences would be helpful.

[sadiecat]

We used Cool tours round trip. Hobby to the San Luis Resort in Galveston then they picked us up at the port back to the airport for $300 plus tip. The hotel had a shuttle to the pier.

[Banditswife]

We are doing this next month. We arrive at Hobby on the day of the cruise, so a bit different. Because we decided to fly in the day of, we chose to purchase Carnival transfers-$74. pp, round trip from Hobby to the port. I think you could stay in Houston pre cruise, then go back to Hobby the day of cruise & catch Carnival transfers.

[Banditswife]

We used Cool tours round trip. Hobby to the San Luis Resort in Galveston then they picked us up at the port back to the airport for $300 plus tip. The hotel had a shuttle to the pier.

 

Is that $300 for the shuttle? How many people?

[buddylover]

Do some research online and here on CC.....we are using the Galveston Express shuttle in Nov for $50 for TWO passengers. Check them out on their website www dot galveston express dot com (no spaces of course). They do come highly recommended. Good Luck!! :)

[crzndeb]

Do some research online and here on CC.....we are using the Galveston Express shuttle in Nov for $50 for TWO passengers. Check them out on their website www dot galveston express dot com (no spaces of course). They do come highly recommended. Good Luck!! :)

 

Hope your experience will be better than ours with Galveston Express. It was horrible.

 

I always suggest taking a look at Yelp also, before making any decisions. Cheapest doesn't always mean best.

[Buckeyes22]

Do some research online and here on CC.....we are using the Galveston Express shuttle in Nov for $50 for TWO passengers. Check them out on their website www dot galveston express dot com (no spaces of course). They do come highly recommended. Good Luck!! :)

 

I second this about the Galveston Express! We flew in a day early and stayed at one of the hotels by the airport (it was a Mariott I think) that had a free shuttle. Took the shuttle back to Hobby the next day and Galveston Express took us to the port. It was super easy and the cheapest option we could find! Good luck and have fun!!

[southbayer]

I hope they do day before drop offs in Texas City... The day of,. I can get a taxi or uber or something...

 

Thanks, I'll check them out!

[tgirl25]

I guess it depends on how many of you there are. In Dec we were a group of 7 flying in the day prior and staying the night in Galveston prior. We considered getting shuttles but the prices were crazy, though TBH they wee not bad for large groups. However where we were staying was not near anything we wanted to see and some of our travel mates refused to figure out the bus route.

 

So we tried to rent mini vans from Turo.com without success(1 cancelled with a couple months notice, the other cancelled with a couple days notice), and ended up renting a Tahoe for the 7(we barely fit) of us for more $. It gave us the freedom to goto Target and get some things we had forgotten as well as hit the liquer store so I could fill up my Rum Runners(they worked too! Was able to get 3 regular bottles on in 6 bags(16oz). They fit into my sons big shoes and others were wrapped in pool towels. Had Shipley's Donuts for breakfast(they have some non-sweet items. Took a self tour of the island and even had a nice dinner across from Pleasure Pier overlooking the Gulf and beach. Even goto run to the grocery to pick up snacks in case this person or that wanted favorite chips or a muffin or what not. Was pricey. We paid to park it for the week which off site at dolphin parking it was only like 45$ I think.

 

My suggestion is if you want to see Galveston, fill Rum Runners, have some decent dinner then see if Turo.com has any cheap car rentals for the week and pay to park it. Or you could stay near the airport, or port and use the shuttles. If you stay in Galveston without a car they do seem to have a very good busing system that hits most of the places you might want to see. Cool way did seem the most friendly of the shuttles I talked to, they struck me as close to family owned...

 

Personally I did not care for Galveston at all, didn't care for the port, and the hotel I stayed at was not very good(cheapest option Rodeway Inn, this 1 was pretty bad though I had a great experience with one in Ft Lauderdale). Good Luck

[winddawn]

We are looking for the best way to get from Houston Hobby airport to Galveston. We are arriving the day before our cruise in February. Not sure if best to stay in Houston that night and travel to Galveston the next morning? but after reading several threads that mention shuttles not showing up is it best to get to Galveston the night before and take a cab to the pier? We have an early boarding time. Any advice/past experiences would be helpful.

I flew in a day early and stayed at the Hobby Doubletree which is the closest hotel to Hobby. They have a free airport shuttle. The hotel shuttle driver dropped me at the baggage claim area the next morning, and then I took the Carnival transfer to the port in Galveston. The hotel has a nice pool and a restaurant on site.

 

If you decide to do this, just a head's up that the Carnival shuttle doesn't run early in the day, so there's no point in going back to the airport early on embarkation day to try to get an early Carnival shuttle to Galveston. For this reason, the value of being platinum, diamond, or purchasing FTTF is diminished when sailing from Galveston. They will leave you sitting in the baggage claim area until they have enough people to fill the bus and you will not be able to board the ship earlier. And quite frankly, I found the airport transfer staff in Galveston to be rude and indifferent.

 

That worked out just okay, but because there's no way to get to the port early without renting a car or making your way to Galveston the day before the cruise (which is a pretty expensive ordeal), or paying for an expensive shuttle, I won't cruise out of Galveston again. And from what I read here on this board a lot of others feel the same way. It seems the people that are happiest sailing from Galveston are the people who choose to drive to the ship. Those who fly into the airport, either Hobby or IAH, tend to have an expensive hassle on their hands getting to port. I'd much rather sail from New Orleans. New Orleans has a great shuttle to get to the downtown area from the airport the day before the cruise, and there is so much more fun to be had for a pre-cruise stay in New Orleans than there is in Galveston.

 

Hope you have a great cruise.

[tgirl25]

I hope they do day before drop offs in Texas City... The day of,. I can get a taxi or uber or something...

 

Thanks, I'll check them out!

Don't wait and get a taxi! I was quoted like 300$, trust me you don't want to pay that. Make sure you reserve something before you go and have the info on where to meet so you don't miss them

[tea4ular]

Galveston was our first fly into port - it was tricky at best. We flew in to IAH the day before. After a ton of research we opted for a one-way rental from Enterprise (the only car rental on Galveston island, BTW). There were 2 of us. The car cost under $100 but allowed us to be at our pace, not someone elses. Enterprise only offers a few of the one way, so we felt "lucky" to score one. Because we flew in, we needed a wine run, etc.

 

We stayed at Country Inn & Suites in Galveston (across the street from the Pleasure Pier) - booked through hotels dot com. We chose them for the free parking, free wi-fi and included breakfast. It was a nice and clean place.

 

In the morning we made another Walmart run, drove to the ship, dropped off our luggage, and then returned the car.

 

We used Galveston Express shuttle after the cruise to return to IAH. It was chaotic, and they were pretty disorganized. We did have a flight at around 2 pm, so for us, we weren't stressed about time, but others sure were. We had arranged a 9:45 am pick up, but didn't even leave the port until almost 11. You can see why some would be stressed!

 

Uber isn't "allowed" to do business in Galveston, so they're not an option. There are several taxi companies on the island, reasonably priced. It's getting to and off the island that's costly (or can be, anyway).

 

We kept thinking "if we'd known getting to Galveston was not a piece of cake we'd have never booked it!" - but by NOT knowing, it meant we had a great adventure, and sailed out of a port we'd never tried before!

[pjinaz]

We have cruised out of Galveston a few times and always used a different way of getting to the port. Last year we flew into Hobby, stayed at the Hobby LaQuinta booking their cruise transportation rate. They drive you to the port and pick you up and take you back to the airport. This was super easy. Not a lot to do around the hotel, but we arrived in the evening and only needed a place to sleep. We ordered pizza and there was a convenience store not to far to get soda and I think beer.

 

We have done a shuttle and the car rental route before and stayed in Galveston. I don't think you can do a one way rental to Galveston anymore but the shuttle worked out ok if you want to get to Galveston the night before.

 

Hobby hotels are quite a bit cheaper than Galveston Hotels, but Galveston has lots of restaurants to walk to if you stay in the right area.

 

I know a lot of people don't like cruising out of Galveston but I love it. Have fun!