Galveston Disembarkation Train Wreck!!!

[spongerob]

I was just wondering. Was this Galveston "train wreck" a Galveston problem or an X problem? I haven't seen any similar threads on the Princess or Carnival boards for this disembarkation yet.

 

There have been issues with Grand Princess, this year and last. Even without the problem referenced in this thread, Galveston can try your patience. We sailed from Galveston aboard the Grand last year and ran into traffic jams at embarkation and disembarkation. The biggest problem is that the terminal area has terrible traffic flow and precious little room to work with.

 

I think the shore staff in this case got caught out by an unusual circumstance. Unfortunately, their best efforts to correct the problems would not have prevented the ensuing mess. It would have been a bad hair day for everyone involved.

 

I think the best advice is to take this in stride when planning to sail from Galveston, and make your travel plans accordingly. If you aren't in a desperate hurry to get somewhere, there's no need to rush off the ship.

[Phyljim]

I will echo spongerob on disembarking the Grand Princess, we were on the same sailing with him last year. Since we live within 200 miles we drive to port, we were so glad we had no deadlines when we got off. We sat on the G Princess, and waited till most all had departed, then it was our turn. As I remember, we were the only ship in port that day. (I have slept a lot of nights since then, so may remember wrong)

 

Chris...other than disembarkation, how was the trip?. Since you sent us the wine menus, etc., we are very anxiously awaiting our first trip on Celebrity. We are doing the 29 Dec trip....loved what we did on the GP last year, but this year they are only doing 7 days. So we found Celebrity...and so sure that we will like Celebrity, we have another one booked right behind it. Checking the calendars, we will have 3 ships in port when we come back on 9 Jan, plus the Hurricane relief ship. We will just wait till are who have planes to meet are off, and hope for better weather than you had...

[ronhow]

Having experienced the train wreck on Saturday, I totally agree with Spongerbob....the pier folks were not ready for the rain, nor the crush of people or the congestion of vehicles trying to get to the pier. There were hords of people getting off the ship and others trying to get on....all this in freezing cold rain.

 

This was NOT a Celebrity problem...don't want anyone to think Celebrity was the issue here....it was the port folks at Galveston. Celebrity's staff was very patient and trying to help or so it seemed.

 

Phyljim....you will love the Galaxy. The itinerary is wonderful. Food was truly exceptional and service outstanding. We had a fantastic cruise in all aspects. Everything went extremely well until we hit the train wreck! If you have some specific questions, let me know. Have a wonderful cruise!

[Phyljim]

Ronhow--thanks for your good wishes, we are sure we will love Celebrity. Thats why we booked the Mercury so close behind the Galaxy trip. Love sailing out of Galveston, no airplanes. No problem with flying, my other half is a retired AF flyboy, but hate to have to rush deadlines.

Chucked someplace on this thread, someone said how nice FLL was. We came into there last April, and to say it was a total Zoo was an understatement. Made a vow, if we ever cruise from there again, we will plan on an overnight after disembarkation. We did make our flight, but only with a lot of help from the airline people.

Goodess--we also noticed that the Galaxy was not scheduled back next year..after discovering it, now it will be gone. We do like the longer cruises, now where do we go for New Years????

[canderson]

 

Chris...other than disembarkation, how was the trip?. Since you sent us the wine menus, etc., we are very anxiously awaiting our first trip on Celebrity.

As noted in the other thread, very good indeed -- up to my expectations for a Celebrity cruise, and somewhat beyond in several respects. BTW, I need to get the new wine list scanned and made available over the next week or so. We also snagged full copies of the entire 12nt dining room menus. I think that leaves us short only two out of 14 rotation. Will get those scanned as well. Since so many seem to have trouble with FTP, I guess I'll rearrange a few things and set up a proper web site at dinosaurboard.com for this purpose.

[canderson]

Goodess--we also noticed that the Galaxy was not scheduled back next year..after discovering it, now it will be gone. We do like the longer cruises, now where do we go for New Years????

You'll find that after a bit of an uproar regarding their dropping of the "Ultimate Caribbean" cruises this winter, they've been reinstated for next year. Perhaps we've been heard. You'll find cruises of 10+ nights again on M-Class ships. We've got one scheduled for Constellation.

 

Actually, it was the dropping of those cruises that put us back on the Galaxy from Galveston. We did the 12 nt on the Summit last December.

[Phyljim]

Chris, found your other thread, we read every word. We are really looking forward to the cruise. Will watch for your web page. The wine list you emailed had several Merlots that would make me very happy.

One thing we loved about Celebrity, when we found it, was the sailing out of Galveston.. no flying involved over the prime holiday time. Looke like we are going to have to look into airplanes again. Once we sailed over New Years, we made a NY resolution to always be at sea to bring in a new year!

[canderson]

Chris, found your other thread, we read every word. We are really looking forward to the cruise. Will watch for your web page. The wine list you emailed had several Merlots that would make me very happy.

One thing we loved about Celebrity, when we found it, was the sailing out of Galveston.. no flying involved over the prime holiday time. Looke like we are going to have to look into airplanes again. Once we sailed over New Years, we made a NY resolution to always be at sea to bring in a new year!

One thing I'd emphasize once again (among lots of other things already covered in these boards), is the positive brilliance of the T-Pool on the C-Class ships vs. those of the M-Class ships we'd been sailing recently. Over the cruise, I took time to make 4 visits, and now regret not making more. It's the cheapest massage on the boat, especially for lower and middle back (horizontal jets) and shoulders ("waterfall"). The "bubble bed" is SO relaxing. A reminder -- if you really want to take advantage of that last feature, be sure to bring a towel or something to rest behind your head -- the stainless steel starts to wear on a person just a bit if you plan a truly extended period there. I would do about 30~40 minutes in the pool, then a very short (1-1/2 to 2 minutes) visit to the sauna before a shower. The sauna was rarely used, so as often as not was not as humid as it might have been if people had been chucking water at it all the time. I prefer the dry heat, especially at 155 degrees.

 

If I hadn't had free access to it, I'd have gladly paid the $109 or whatever it is for the full-cruise pass.

[canderson]

Chris, found your other thread, we read every word. We are really looking forward to the cruise. Will watch for your web page. The wine list you emailed had several Merlots that would make me very happy.

Just for you, a hand typed list of the current Merlots on the new list. Mostly the same names with new dates. The Rutherford is also available by the glass. The only one we sampled on this cruise was the Matanzas.

 

Malbec, Famiglia Bianchi, Mendoza, Argentina, 2003

Merlot "Founders Estate", Beringer, North Coast, 2002

Merlot, Robert Mondavi "Private Selection", North Coast, 2002

Merlot, Rutherford Ranch, Napa, 2001/2002

Merlot, St. Francis, Sonoma, 1999/2000

Merlot, Matanzas Creek, Sonoma, 2002

[JimnKaren]

Does anyone have knowledge of how long the Sensation will be doing the Hurrican Relief job? Do they have refugees on board, or is it solely for those helping in the effort to clean up and stuff?

Would the elimination of the Sensation open up the possibility of cleaner flow of traffic? We are sailing on the Grand Princess out of Galveston on 2/11 and have a return flight from Hobby at 1 p.m. I am getting a bit nervous about making that flight (usually 1 p.m. is a safe time), but hearing horror stories like this make me wonder.

 

Jim

[prc]

The 3 ships doing hurricane releif are housing workers/firemen/police. Two ships are in New Orleans, and one in Gulfport, Miss. None are in Galveston...

[Phyljim]

Chris--thank you so much. I am preparing! We usually order a bottle for dinner, but when in the lounges, just order a glass or two. Not familiar with the Rutherford, but sure I will like it. It's wine isn't it?

Phyl

[DeepWaterMariner]

Phyljim, wasn't that debarkation in FLL off the Royal Princess a mess? We vowed never to debark there again on a weekend. Glad to hear you guys are still big time cruisers. We're going on the Galaxy in February, leaving on Thursday and returning on Monday so we should miss the weekend crush in Galveston. We've cruised out of Galveston many times and have never experienced anything like the mess reported on this thread, but can well imagine it given there are more ships sailing from Galveston this winter than ever before.

 

I wonder if RCI is moving the Galaxy out of Galveston next season because they will have two other ships operating there (both Royal Caribbean). You can bet they are tweaking their deployments and itineraries to make the maximum bucks.

[spongerob]

Hey Phyllis...I wish I'd known that you guys were cruising over New Year's again. It would have been enough to convince me to go. We're going back to the Grand in a few weeks just to take a little break. Margarett's business and her "real" job have left her frazzled. We'd like to have chosen a longer cruise, but I've got big plans later this year to celebrate our 5th anniversary and I'm pulling out all the stops on that one.

[sWampy]

We got back yesterday morning on the conquest, and we have NO complaints what so ever. We were off the ship and in our car heading home at 7:30 AM. We did the self assist so it was a breeze!!

 

You were damn lucky, shortly after that, someone's bag opened, spilled, broke the escalator, stopped everyone for an hour and a half. They finally started calling colored tags around 10:00 and everyone wasn't off the ship till 12:45, due to, according to carnival someone trying to walk out of the ship without going through customs. Wish I had been able to self assist, but with my 3 year old, boxes of liquor, bags of coffee, and all the other xmas presents I had there was no way.

[MiataKath]

Hi, Everyone,

 

We are sailing on the Feb. 2, 2006 itinerary out of Galveston, 11 night, Panama Canal, etc. We are flying in the day before, on Feb. 1 and doing the one-night Pre-Cruise at the Hotel Galvez. At the moment, we are awaiting our DOCS.

 

After reading about the "train wreck", etc., we contacted our air carrier and moved our 1:30 p.m. flight home to Philly to the 5:15 p.m., non-stop. All of this was done after much thought and consideration over the disembarkation process in Galveston.

 

We sailed in Feb. of this year, the Summit out of FLL for the 10 night Ultimate Caribbean. It was a wonderful cruise. We celebrated our 25th anniversary, etc. It all ended in shell-shock in FLL. I compare it to the, "Running of the Bulls in Pamplona". Trust me, there was a LOT of bull being tossed around (LOL)!!

 

After that nightmare, we swore we would never, ever sail out of FLL.

[Phyljim]

Deep Water---good to hear your "voice". Hello's to Margaret, wish y'all were on this cruise with us.

MiataKath sounds like she was in FLL with us-running of the bulls describes it perfectly!

Spongerob----thanks, but I think you are thinking you are talking to the "other" Phyllis, there were two of us on that cruise. She was getting married on board, Jim and I have been married a long time! Right!

[C 2 C]

We sailed in Feb. of this year, the Summit out of FLL for the 10 night Ultimate Caribbean. It was a wonderful cruise. We celebrated our 25th anniversary, etc. It all ended in shell-shock in FLL. I compare it to the, "Running of the Bulls in Pamplona". Trust me, there was a LOT of bull being tossed around (LOL)!!

 

After that nightmare, we swore we would never, ever sail out of FLL.

 

We have cruised out of FLL / Port Everglades dozens of times and have never had a real problem... other than the anger at being thrown off the ship because others wanted to have our cabin:cool:.

 

We are now worried because we get off Voyager on May 6th, arrive at IAH from Miami at 1:04 pm to get to the Galaxy for our transatlantic departing at 5pm..:(

[DeepWaterMariner]

C 2 C, you'll need to have your flight to IAH be on time or have very little delay. It's nearly a 2 hour trip from IAH to the pier in Galveston. By the time you pick up luggage and find your transportation you're looking at an arrival at the pier of about 3:45. Congestion at the pier should be mnimal by that time. May 6th is a Saturday which should help with the traffic getting through Houston.

[C 2 C]

C 2 C, you'll need to have your flight to IAH be on time or have very little delay.

 

Nail biting time....

 

52 and counting... we're two behind...

 

We had the May 6th crossing booked . Our daughter wants to get married in the VI while cruising on Voyager. In a pinch.. we could just fly back to Key West and catch Galaxy two days out..

 

Who would be the best source of transport for the XFR? from IAH to Galveston?

[canderson]

We have cruised out of FLL / Port Everglades dozens of times and have never had a real problem... other than the anger at being thrown off the ship because others wanted to have our cabin:cool:.

 

We are now worried because we get off Voyager on May 6th, arrive at IAH from Miami at 1:04 pm to get to the Galaxy for our transatlantic departing at 5pm..:(

Everything will depend upon the traffic. You don't say if you've booked air/ground through Celebrity or not -- at least there, they're pretty well obligated to get you on the ship.

 

What have you planned for ground transport? Galveston Limo is one of the more popular solutions. A taxi ride can be quite expensive ($135 or so). We've seen both the straight I-45 and Beltway options. Even on a Saturday, there's no guarantees in Houston! Being more direct, I-45 can shave some minutes off of the trip, but seems to have an inherently higher risk of delay than the Beltway. Coming in, we took I-45 southbound and got backed up for about 10 miles for something that was happening in the northbound lane! Houston seems to have the worst rubberneckers in the nation. Took us just over two hours in that directoin. Even with that traffic, you'd have made the ship with your schedule.

 

The Beltway is a bit longer, but after we finally did get transport, we made it from the pier to IAH in 1:20.

[C 2 C]

You don't say if you've booked air/ground through Celebrity or not -- at least there, they're pretty well obligated to get you on the ship.

 

What have you planned for ground transport?

 

Celebrity/RCI would not book the flight as being too risky for them. We are booked on AA to arrive at 1:04

 

I have not booked ground transport as yet... I could get X transfers.. they take flights up to 1pm.. (I'm four minutes over their deadline) or Galveston Limo.

 

by the way your Avatar from a post card.. is identical down to the waves for Summit and Constellation... someone did some name editing rather than take a separate picture..

[poetic license]

Whew! Based on some of these horror stories, I am glad I can drive to the pier in Galveston.

[C 2 C]

Whew! Based on some of these horror stories, I am glad I can drive to the pier in Galveston.

 

Why thanks for the offer. ;) My plane arrives from Miami at 1:04 p.m. at IAH on May 6th. Look for the stressed-out father who just payed for his daughter's (also a Nicky) wedding cruise to St Thomas. The Galaxy sails at 5 p.m. And here I thought Celebrity would not pick up pax with flights later than 1 pm.

[DeepWaterMariner]

Weekend traffic shouldn't be bad at all on your route from IAH to Galveston. I'm not aware of any construction areas which is the main issue for weekend freeway driving in these parts.

 

Galveston Limo is a long establish option for making the transfer.