Is it easy cruising out of Galveston?

[KEG21552]

We just returned from a Galveston, not our first, I think we have about 8 under our belt.  We are usually picked up by my brother driving from Dallas, but that wasn’t possible this time.  We used a group called Galveston Saltwater Moms.  It is a group of ladies from the area who drive people to and from both Houston airports to Galveston.  It was $70.00 for my husband and I.  Great communication from our driver, Kay.  She monitored our flight and was waiting at the airport.  We always like to fly a day early and spend the day before in Galveston (rather than Houston).  She picked us up from Hobby, dropped us at the Tremont.  We took the shuttle from the Tremont to the port and then back from the port to the Tremont.  We had a late flight, so she picked us up around noon at the Tremont (they stored our luggage) and took us back to Hobby.  

You can only find them on Facebook.

[George C]

4 hours ago, KEG21552 said:

We just returned from a Galveston, not our first, I think we have about 8 under our belt.  We are usually picked up by my brother driving from Dallas, but that wasn’t possible this time.  We used a group called Galveston Saltwater Moms.  It is a group of ladies from the area who drive people to and from both Houston airports to Galveston.  It was $70.00 for my husband and I.  Great communication from our driver, Kay.  She monitored our flight and was waiting at the airport.  We always like to fly a day early and spend the day before in Galveston (rather than Houston).  She picked us up from Hobby, dropped us at the Tremont.  We took the shuttle from the Tremont to the port and then back from the port to the Tremont.  We had a late flight, so she picked us up around noon at the Tremont (they stored our luggage) and took us back to Hobby.  

You can only find them on Facebook.

I need lots of legroom is that available with them ?

[KEG21552]

Kay picked us up in an SUV,   I don’t remember what kind but we were comfortable.  We had two medium suitcases, one small, a backpack and another duffel bag.  She did offer to move seat up to accommodate my husband, he is right at 6’ but he was fine

[valerievol]

We have used Galveston Limo a couple of times from Hobby and From Bush with no problems. 

[RobInMN]

19 hours ago, KEG21552 said:

We used a group called Galveston Saltwater Moms. 

You can only find them on Facebook.

 

In the Gulf Coast Departures forum (I linked to earlier in this thread), there's many positive reviews for GSW, We used them in September. For those (like us), that don't do FB, there is a number you can text. I put it here:

 

[Tree_skier]

I have usually used Uber or Galveston Express but last time I used. Highroller By Shugg.  They had great communication and were more than reasonable with the price.  

[firefly333]

High rollers stood me up effectively. I texted 2 times, was already 15 later than agreed upon. So I went with someone else. Maybe they have improved. Note they are out of houston, not Galveston so that's why the excuses about picking me up from my Galveston hotel, they said it's a range of time. 

 

I have another shuttle i use but just a phone number, not a name. 

[Tree_skier]

8 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

High rollers stood me up effectively. I texted 2 times, was already 15 later than agreed upon. So I went with someone else. Maybe they have improved. Note they are out of houston, not Galveston so that's why the excuses about picking me up from my Galveston hotel, they said it's a range of time. 

 

I have another shuttle i use but just a phone number, not a name. 

Oh that's to bad... I used them for our family cruise in Dec.  They picked us up at Hobby Saturday night and dropped us off at our Galveston hotel no problem.  They were waiting for us when we got off the plane.  The next day they took us from the hotel to the port.  They did indicate a range of times and were at the tail end of that range but we were still onboard by 11:00 am.

 

I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. 

[firefly333]

5 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

Oh that's to bad... I used them for our family cruise in Dec.  They picked us up at Hobby Saturday night and dropped us off at our Galveston hotel no problem.  They were waiting for us when we got off the plane.  The next day they took us from the hotel to the port.  They did indicate a range of times and were at the tail end of that range but we were still onboard by 11:00 am.

 

I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. 

I took a taxi back after my cruise and had mentioned high rollers had a stand with their cards on the hotel desk. They said this is in violation of whatever and also reported them for violating Galveston codes. And the taxi driver removed their box and cards. If every shuttle was allowed to do this, would overflow, not allowed, so they are kinda aggressive. 

 

If it was a range, then they should have said this when I booked. Another miss. I texted so when will you be here, and they didnt know. And like i said already 15 minutes late. Clearly it didnt matter to them. 

[Tree_skier]

2 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I took a taxi back after my cruise and had mentioned high rollers had a stand with their cards on the hotel desk. They said this is in violation of whatever and also reported them for violating Galveston codes. And the taxi driver removed their box and cards. If every shuttle was allowed to do this, would overflow, not allowed, so they are kinda aggressive. 

 

If it was a range, then they should have said this when I booked. Another miss. I texted so when will you be here, and they didnt know. And like i said already 15 minutes late. Clearly it didnt matter to them. 

Wow, so sad! 

 

We were fortunate I guess. 

[firefly333]

Just now, Tree_skier said:

Wow, so sad! 

 

We were fortunate I guess. 

Like I said I think they want fares from the airports, not 3 miles or less.

 

I had a uber driver tell me same thing, that many uber drivers dont click on the short fares from Galveston hotels,, they wait for fares from the airports,, they want the longer trips. I know you stay in texas city so further away so they want ones like yours. 

[3red7s]

23 hours ago, KEG21552 said:

We just returned from a Galveston, not our first, I think we have about 8 under our belt.  We are usually picked up by my brother driving from Dallas, but that wasn’t possible this time.  We used a group called Galveston Saltwater Moms.  It is a group of ladies from the area who drive people to and from both Houston airports to Galveston.  It was $70.00 for my husband and I.  Great communication from our driver, Kay.  She monitored our flight and was waiting at the airport.  We always like to fly a day early and spend the day before in Galveston (rather than Houston).  She picked us up from Hobby, dropped us at the Tremont.  We took the shuttle from the Tremont to the port and then back from the port to the Tremont.  We had a late flight, so she picked us up around noon at the Tremont (they stored our luggage) and took us back to Hobby.  

You can only find them on Facebook.

awesome, however we are not on FB...do you have a phone number?

[KEG21552]

24 minutes ago, 3red7s said:

awesome, however we are not on FB...do you have a phone number?

Robin posted one for Lori 281-804-5901 The number I have for Kay is 281-389-3109.  I don’t do facebook either, but reached out to them through my husband’s acct.  After a few DM’s we started communicating by text

[Coralc]

2 hours ago, 3red7s said:

awesome, however we are not on FB...do you have a phone number?

SEE POST #30. 

[The Fun Researcher]

Just jumping in to say that, of all the cruise ports we've sailed from, Galveston is the biggest pain when it comes to the logistics. (We've sailed from Port Canaveral, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Bayonne NJ, Seattle, and Galveston)

 

We sailed new years 2017/2018 from Galveston.  Maybe this has changed but the primary problem is due to no good places to drop off a rental car near the cruise terminal.  We typically purchase a rental car from the airport the day before and drop it off near the cruise port the day of the cruise.

 

However in Galveston we ended up having to hold onto the rental car for an additional 7 days and pay for parking by the port because there was no good place to drop it off, or pick one up after the cruise.  We are a family of 5, typically with a set of grandparents with so shuttle costs really add up.  Plus we wanted a few nights before the cruise to tour and stay in Galveston and needed transportation. 

 

Typically, we rent a minivan that holds 7.  Yeah it's tight in the minivan getting to the hotel, or the morning going to the cruise ship.  However, once bags are dropped off to the hotel, the vehicle works great to have free reign to visit places the day before the cruise.  Galveston just took more work, and cost, for the ground transportation portion of the vacation.

[bilyclub]

It's a great port if you are driving in from Texas. Not so much if flying. Rental cars are a pain, especially because they are closed on Sunday and charge for an extra day plus drop off charges. I would never pay to park a rental for 7 days.

Edited April 19 by bilyclub

[The Fun Researcher]

25 minutes ago, bilyclub said:

It's a great port if you are driving in from Texas. Not so much if flying. Rental cars are a pain, especially because they are closed on Sunday and charge for an extra day plus drop off charges. I would never pay to park a rental for 7 days.

Yeah it only made since because we needed a way to get around and tour the island the three days before our cruise.   The rental was $480 and the parking was $90.  So $570 total.  When you consider the other option of paying for transportation from BUSH back and forth on the island for 7 people it made sense to do the rental and parking for not much more.  Galveston is the only port that has forced that issue though.

[time4u2go]

Do Galveston hotels still require a 2-night stay?

[not-enough-cruising]

1 hour ago, time4u2go said:

Do Galveston hotels still require a 2-night stay?

We cruise from Galveston 4-5 times a year; we stay on island, since the restart we have not encountered the 2 night minimum (unless it was a holiday)  that was standard pre-Covid. 

[KEG21552]

We just stayed 1 night prior to our Voyager cruise in late March.

[KEG21552]

It was at the Tremont.

[George C]

3 hours ago, time4u2go said:

Do Galveston hotels still require a 2-night stay?

I stayed in Moody Gardens, really nice upscale hotel with a couple of restaurants for a single night last november under 300 .

[ceilidh1]

On 4/18/2024 at 12:09 PM, Tree_skier said:

I have usually used Uber or Galveston Express but last time I used. Highroller By Shugg.  They had great communication and were more than reasonable with the price.  

We also use Highroller By Shugg - never had any issues with them and have them booked for our August sailing!

[Nebr.cruiser]

I feel the logistics of getting from the airport to Galveston is one of the wosrt we've experienced.  We've used the shared shuttle bus, which was ok but just took a long, long time.  Of course, the port is a good distancer from IAH, IT's not a port we want to use often, especially because itineraries from there are so limited and in winter the first and last day tend to be very cool.

[LuCruise]

Seems like most of you  use some sort of shuttle. Is there any reason not to just use uber (as long as you order a large enough one for your luggage situation)?  This assumes flying in the day before (IAH for us) and then needing transportation to a hotel (not sure at the moment if near the airport, near the port, or somewhere in the middle).A shuttle seems like a lot of coordination beforehand (but flights often change/delayed, etc...plus need to estimate time to wait for luggage, etc)

Edited April 20 by LuCruise