July Cruisers

[lele100]

Everyone who is booked for July, how are you handling airfares?  Most everyone is waiting on the protocols and to see if this cruise is going to actually happen.  I can see the airfare being very high in price because of waiting for last minute.

 

If I am not mistaken, I don't think any of the cancellations that have happened through this year have ever been so close to the cruise date, by now they would have cancelled the July 3rd cruise,  which happens to be only 1 month away. am I correct in saying that?

 

I just wish they would just let us know, especially if they are going to cruise or not

[KatyDawn]

We're scheduled for the July 3 cruise on the Vista out of Galveston.  We've chosen to drive the 15 hours.  It's not ideal, but it's what makes the most sense financially for us.

[2Shoes2Go]

46 minutes ago, KatyDawn said:

We're scheduled for the July 3 cruise on the Vista out of Galveston.  We've chosen to drive the 15 hours.  It's not ideal, but it's what makes the most sense financially for us.

How about those hotel prices? 😳

[19cruiser59]

I believe they have every intent at this point to start sailing with the July cruises and they are currently finalizing protocols. I think we will hear something this week or early next week at the latest. ( fingers crossed)

I am booked on Horizon July 10.

Booked southwest airfare so i can cancel if needed.

[Lisa3635]

We’re booked on the 7/24 horizon. Airfare is booked with points on southwest, no loss if it gets canceled.  I can get my points and taxes back up to day of.  I wouldn’t feel confident to book right now with another airline. 

[KatyDawn]

1 hour ago, 2Shoes2Go said:

How about those hotel prices? 😳

Insane hotel prices in Galveston, right? We are fortunate to have enough Wyndham points to be able to stay in Galveston the night before the cruise for free.  I'm thankful for that, because even the Super 8 was going to be over close to $400.  Dare I say it would be worth it to spend that amount of money to get back on a cruise? 

[csm5986142]

We are booked July 15th/Galveston.  Airfare is booked on Southwest.  We have had so many cruises cancelled already, I'm a pro at cancelling and rebooking airfare at this point.😀  Thankfully I also booked the hotel (Harbor House) a while back  (I didn't realize prices were getting so high)! 

All of it can be cancelled without penalty (with a few days notice). 

[Stallion]

If you are driving you can always stay in a real 4 or 5 star in Houston rather than pay 2-3 times more in a 2-3 star in Galveston. Not ideal but I refuse to robbed by inferior hotels-most 4 stars in Galveston really aren't anyway-you are just paying for the location. Houston also is a pretty good city for well educated priceline or hotwire secret hotels. Just do a little research-I've ALWAYS gotten the hotel I bid on in both Houston and Galveston with a little research

Edited June 3, 2021 by Stallion

[BlerkOne]

8 minutes ago, Stallion said:

If you are driving you can always stay in a real 4 or 5 star in Houston rather than pay 2-3 times more in a 2-3 star in Galveston. Not ideal but I refuse to robbed by inferior hotels-most 4 stars in Galveston really aren't anyway-you are just paying for the location. Houston also is a pretty good city for well educated priceline or hotwire secret hotels. Just do a little research-I've ALWAYS gotten the hotel I bid on in both Houston and Galveston with a little research

I really don't like dealing with Houston traffic. I might try around NASA instead.

[Stallion]

Traffic is horrible on Friday afternoon-not so bad early on weekends. Lately I've motored down on Friday afternoon and stayed in an Omni, Galvestonian or other great hotel with a great pool for about $130 on hotwire bid and then head to Galveston Saturday morning. If its a Sunday cruise I usually stay at Moody Gardens and usually get Moody Gardens for Saturday Nite for right at $200 on hotwire bid. Then I hit their pool early afternoon. I realize this year MIGHT be more problematic-but there still won't be as many cruise passengers so I'm not so sure prices might still drop. I've got about 20 years of experience dealing with Galveston/Houston hotels. Logically, if less ships are sailing with 1/2 the passengers can Galveston maintain those prices without their secret deals programs?

[BlerkOne]

2 minutes ago, Stallion said:

Traffic is horrible on Friday afternoon-not so bad early on weekends. Lately I've motored down on Friday afternoon and stayed in an Omni, Galvestonian or other great hotel with a great pool for about $130 on hotwire bid and then head to Galveston Saturday morning. If its a Sunday cruise I usually stay at Moody Gardens and usually get Moody Gardens for Saturday Nite for right at $200 on hotwire bid. Then I hit their pool early afternoon. I realize this year MIGHT be more problematic-but there still won't be as many cruise passengers so I'm not so sure prices might still drop. I've got about 20 years of experience dealing with Galveston/Houston hotels. Logically, if less ships are sailing with 1/2 the passengers can Galveston maintain those prices without their secret deals programs?

Less cruises, but prime summer vacation time with (unvaccinated) kids this year. I think many are staying closer to home but still looking for a vacation. Driving saves on airline tickets 

[BlerkOne]

How is the road to Galveston these days? Still never ending construction?

[firefly333]

10 hours ago, RunnerGirlCindy said:

We are booked July 15th/Galveston.  Airfare is booked on Southwest.  We have had so many cruises cancelled already, I'm a pro at cancelling and rebooking airfare at this point.😀  Thankfully I also booked the hotel (Harbor House) a while back  (I didn't realize prices were getting so high)! 

All of it can be cancelled without penalty (with a few days notice). 

I'm not even 60 days behind you. Though by then I hope we are sailing. I was over confident and booked nonrefundable and told myself I need a vacation anyway and will use the room. They promise a ocean view. I had paid for parking for my april 2020 cruise, before the pandemic hit. Who knew booking early for parking was such a bad idea. They have let me move parking twice.

 

If they cancel more cruises I bet there are others like you who will cancel their hotel rooms. There will be some good deals! ..though I'm on the beach, not next to the port. Would love harbor house for a cruise. Not so much if my cruise isnt a go. I'm determined to see the beach in sept no matter what. Yep hotels now are sky high. And I'd hate to have to move cruise parking again. 

 

Puuussssh...let's resume already. At some pt we have to get back to living life and free to make the choice to cruise. 

[Gameck]

Already booked airfare and hotel for Galveston - sail the Vista the 17th - hope and think it will go.

[sushitex]

Hubby was offered a comped cruise by Carnival a week ago, and we jumped at the chance. We’re now booked on the Vista sailing from Galveston on July 17th. Hotels? Wow, our 2 favorites in Galveston, even though normally in the modest price range, not so for July 16  ( we only need 1 night since we live in TX.) I also asked our son, who works

for a large hotel franchise, for a Friends and Family rate, and no hotels in the franchise in Galveston are offering that discount during the summer, apparently. So I juggled my rewards points from my credit card, and found a hotel that will suffice. We also look for cruise parking and perhaps a cheap or free shuttle, but if our chosen hotel’s parking lot doesn’t look too good, there’s always the Port of Galveston parking. I’d imagine that it won’t fill up if the ships’ capacities are reduced. 

[SCBarker]

11 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

How is the road to Galveston these days? Still never ending construction?

There's some aggravating construction from Dickinson to the Texas City Cut-off (FM1764).  Just so happens to be where Buc-ee's is located (if you know, you know how bad that can make it).

 

HIE-type hotels are going for about $400 on the island now, without cruisers.  If I wasn't local, I'd stay the night before in the Webster/NASA/League City area and drive in before 10AM.  This is in reference to weekends. On weekdays you should be fine.

[firefly333]

46 minutes ago, sushitex said:

Hubby was offered a comped cruise by Carnival a week ago, and we jumped at the chance. We’re now booked on the Vista sailing from Galveston on July 17th. Hotels? Wow, our 2 favorites in Galveston, even though normally in the modest price range, not so for July 16  ( we only need 1 night since we live in TX.) I also asked our son, who works

for a large hotel franchise, for a Friends and Family rate, and no hotels in the franchise in Galveston are offering that discount during the summer, apparently. So I juggled my rewards points from my credit card, and found a hotel that will suffice. We also look for cruise parking and perhaps a cheap or free shuttle, but if our chosen hotel’s parking lot doesn’t look too good, there’s always the Port of Galveston parking. I’d imagine that it won’t fill up if the ships’ capacities are reduced. 

The family owned parking lots like ezcruiseparking.com need the business. I'd park with one of these before the port. Ezcruise has with and without shuttle. I think lighthouse has a shuttle, discount etc. They are all hurting.

[Radiioman46]

4 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

The family owned parking lots like ezcruiseparking.com need the business. I'd park with one of these before the port. Ezcruise has with and without shuttle. I think lighthouse has a shuttle, discount etc. They are all hurting.

I always use EZcruiseparking. It's convenient. They do a good job!

[sushitex]

15 hours ago, KatyDawn said:

Or the Insane hotel prices in Galveston, right? We are fortunate to have enough Wyndham points to be able to stay in Galveston the night before the cruise for free.  I'm thankful for that, because even the Super 8 was going to be over close to $400.  Dare I say it would be worth it to spend that amount of money to get back on a cruise? 

 I just read these posts again - I also shuffled  my Wyndham points around to book a hotel room for the night before our July cruise. I ended choosing the Super 8, Galveston, lol. It had the best reviews for the available hotels , plus free cruise parking, from what I can tell. So we’ll use a cab, I think it’s only a few miles from the cruise terminal, or just go park at the port parking lot. 

[sushitex]

3 hours ago, firefly333 said:

The family owned parking lots like ezcruiseparking.com need the business. I'd park with one of these before the port. Ezcruise has with and without shuttle. I think lighthouse has a shuttle, discount etc. They are all hurting.

Do you know if advance booking  (online) is available for EZcruise? We got burned by one of the private parking lots in New Orleans. We had to disembark from our ship the day after all cruises were cancelled by Royal ( lost the second leg of a B2B ) and they refused to give us anything back for the second week, which had been reserved in advance. I thought that they might have made an exception to their policy, but they wouldn’t budge, and Allianz wouldn’t cover it, boo on them, too. 

[sushitex]

15 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

How is the road to Galveston these days? Still never ending construction?

Last few times we drove up to the Houston area, we ended up taking a toll road that we got on not long after going by Wharton on 59. I don’t know if it was better than taking the regular roads; we thought it might save some time. This was in March of 2020. 
 

is this a recommended route - using the toll road to shoot east from that area to the Galveston area?
 

 

Edited June 3, 2021 by sushitex

[sushitex]

3 hours ago, SCBarker said:

There's some aggravating construction from Dickinson to the Texas City Cut-off (FM1764).  Just so happens to be where Buc-ee's is located (if you know, you know how bad that can make it).

 

HIE-type hotels are going for about $400 on the island now, without cruisers.  If I wasn't local, I'd stay the night before in the Webster/NASA/League City area and drive in before 10AM.  This is in reference to weekends. On weekdays you should be fine.

Is that the Buc- ee’s closest to Galveston? Yikes.

[SCBarker]

2 minutes ago, sushitex said:

Is that the Buc- ee’s closest to Galveston? Yikes.

Yes

7 minutes ago, sushitex said:

Last few times we drove up to the Houston area, we ended up taking a toll road that we got on not long after going by Wharton on 59. I don’t know if it was better than taking the regular roads; we thought it might save some time. This was in March of 2020. 
 

is this a recommended route - using the toll road to shoot east from that area to the Galveston area?
 

 

You're probably not doing anything but spending money by taking Sam Houston tollway. USUALLY it is just as fast to go ahead to I-610.  Google maps with traffic is a lifesaver though. Listen to it.

[firefly333]

49 minutes ago, sushitex said:

Do you know if advance booking  (online) is available for EZcruise? We got burned by one of the private parking lots in New Orleans. We had to disembark from our ship the day after all cruises were cancelled by Royal ( lost the second leg of a B2B ) and they refused to give us anything back for the second week, which had been reserved in advance. I thought that they might have made an exception to their policy, but they wouldn’t budge, and Allianz wouldn’t cover it, boo on them, too. 

Idk if they offer a refund, but you got a month to book. I could ask easily. The price isnt going to change between now and july.

 

I had parking booked as I said above, and instead of a refund I moved it and left the funds with them. 

 

I think its maybe $5 savings to book in advance .. even 1 or 2 days the same. They have 2 lots. Ships are reduced capacity. They wouldnt run out of parking.

Edited June 3, 2021 by firefly333

[winslow050]

20 hours ago, 19cruiser59 said:

I believe they have every intent at this point to start sailing with the July cruises and they are currently finalizing protocols. I think we will hear something this week or early next week at the latest. ( fingers crossed)

I am booked on Horizon July 10.

Booked southwest airfare so i can cancel if needed.

We are booked on the same cruise, we will be driving from Delaware,