Liberty of the Seas - Galveston to Airport

[chenj78]

Hello all,

 

We're anxiously awaiting our cruise aboard Liberty of the Seas. We are scheduled to return to Galveston on Sunday, August 5 at 6:30AM. Does anyone know how long it takes to disembark on this particular ship and cruise? How smooth is the drive from Galveston into Houston on a typical Sunday, and how early of a flight out of IAH or HOU I can book.

 

Thanks in advance!

[blackshirt]

Getting off this ship and getting through customs can be very bad. This last October, we were stuck in the customs line for an hour and a half which caused us to miss our scheduled 10am pickup with Galveston Express. Thankfully they automatically put us on an 11am shuttle and we had no problem making our 2pm flight. You might want to plan on self carry off which will get you off the ship and through customs the fastest. Even with that, though, I still would not book a return flight before noon.

[GHarkness]

If it's at ALL possible, get in the self-assist debarkation. (IOW, bring no more luggage than you can handle yourself). I frequently am in my car driving away from my parking place by 8:00 from this cruise. It's all about getting off the ship quickly. And pay no attention to what time the self-assist people are supposed to be downstairs. Your getting there depends on your getting an elevator in time to get down there and get your luggage in line. Be early!

 

Also, traffic into Houston isn't bad at all on a Sunday morning. Of course, it gets worse as the day wears on and as more people debark.

 

That said, booking a plane ticket before noon is risky, as blackshirt said. Much better to be early unnecessarily. (And of course, HOU is much closer to port than IAH is).

Edited February 26, 2018 by GHarkness

[jamesr3939]

Don't book before noon. We did self assist and drove my brother and SIL to HOB. We were probably in the first group walking off. We parked just across the street and walked over. We were on the road by 8:20 AM. Sunday almost no traffic and we dropped them at the airport around 10:00 AM.

 

Now that being said, another cruise into Galveston the CBP decided to screw up the work schedule and we weren't off the ship until after 10:30 AM.

[Blackthorne]

We just got off Liberty yesterday. The Captain smartly had us docked around midnight to avoid fog delays the next morning like we had on embarkation day that delayed us 5 hours. Even with that, a very smooth disembarkation process and an early tag number (#3), our shuttle bus arrived at George Bush at 11:20am.

 

I would not book a flight before 1:30pm at the absolute earliest. And I'd still buy the insurance.

[Clarea]

Hello all,

 

We're anxiously awaiting our cruise aboard Liberty of the Seas. We are scheduled to return to Galveston on Sunday, August 5 at 6:30AM. Does anyone know how long it takes to disembark on this particular ship and cruise? How smooth is the drive from Galveston into Houston on a typical Sunday, and how early of a flight out of IAH or HOU I can book.

 

Thanks in advance!

Using a porter can help you go through the customs line faster.