Houston to Galveston

[seawyse]

We have just booked on the Disney Magic sailing 22nd September 2012.

What troubles me is getting from Houston Hobby airport to Galveston.

We are staying for 3 nights at the Country Inn and Suites near the airport and hiring a car but I cannot find a car hire company with a drop off in Galveston.

If anyone knows different please let me know.

We are so used to the ease of sailing from Cape Canaveral!

Any suggestions from fellow "Disneyholics" greatly appreciated.

"Hakuna Matata"

Chris and Yvonne

Emsworth, England

 

[joeyzqween]

Hello, I was just wanting to offer you some information on your question.

When you say ”hiring a car” I assume you mean hiring a driver to take you from the airport to the hotel? or do you mean renting your own car to get around?

I live in the Houston area and Galveston is a good 45 minute drive south of hobby airport. Knowing what I know about the area, I would get a car rental at the airport, (enterprise for example) drive myself to Galveston, (I'm pretty sure it would come out cheaper than hiring a taxi or driver to drive you from Hobby to Galveston) & stay in Galveston for 3 days. There is plenty to do in Galveston & alot of it is in walking distance. I would return my car to the car rental company in Galveston & just have a taxi drop me off at the cruise terminal on the day of embarkation. Hope I didn't confuse you :/

 

[alaskanabbott]

Hello, I was just wanting to offer you some information on your question.

When you say ”hiring a car” I assume you mean hiring a driver to take you from the airport to the hotel? or do you mean renting your own car to get around?

I live in the Houston area and Galveston is a good 45 minute drive south of hobby airport. Knowing what I know about the area, I would get a car rental at the airport, (enterprise for example) drive myself to Galveston, (I'm pretty sure it would come out cheaper than hiring a taxi or driver to drive you from Hobby to Galveston) & stay in Galveston for 3 days. There is plenty to do in Galveston & alot of it is in walking distance. I would return my car to the car rental company in Galveston & just have a taxi drop me off at the cruise terminal on the day of embarkation. Hope I didn't confuse you :/

I looked into this, since there are 8 of us, and DCL transfers are $60 pp, I figured a rental car would be cheaper. BUT since it's a one way rental, it was going to be $600 to do the rental car. Just FYI

 

[Piper]

I would not stay around the area of Hobby Airport. It isn't the best area of town. How many people are in your party? When I was young, we lived near there, but moved from the area 50 years ago because the area was beginning to go "downhill."

If you are going to stay in Houston, I would stay near the Galleria area. I would stay in Galveston personally. You will find a lot of things to do there--check out Moody Gardens, the strand, Schlitterbahn, Pleasure Pier.

Also, a lot of hotels in Galveston will take you to the pier. Some of them may offer free transportation from the airport, too. You might also want to check out SuperShuttle--that may be a transportation option.

 

[tajz90]

I've noticed a lot of Galveston cruisers are staying at/near the airport. Not sure why. I agree, I would get down to Galveston. It's fun and so easy to do stuff on the island.

At the airports, either one, you're going o have very limited options for anything.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I've noticed a lot of Galveston cruisers are staying at/near the airport. Not sure why. I agree, I would get down to Galveston. It's fun and so easy to do stuff on the island.

At the airports, either one, you're going o have very limited options for anything.

I've seen a lot of Galveston cruisers say they were staying near the airport, too. Every time I read one that states that my first reaction is "Oh no!". Not a good area at all. Galveston is a much better option. Seems like DCL hasn't been real fast or overly informative with info for transfers, hotels, etc. I think I read where the Hotel Galvez is going to be a "host" for DCL. Not sure if that means they'll be providing transport from that hotel specifically.

 

[tajz90]

I've seen a lot of Galveston cruisers say they were staying near the airport, too. Every time I read one that states that my first reaction is "Oh no!". Not a good area at all. Galveston is a much better option. Seems like DCL hasn't been real fast or overly informative with info for transfers, hotels, etc. I think I read where the Hotel Galvez is going to be a "host" for DCL. Not sure if that means they'll be providing transport from that hotel specifically.

And the San Luis. Both are more expensive, but ... Much better option. And if the cruiser is really motivated, they could take transport down to the Galvez and walk to the Hilton or Holiday Inn

And to top it off, most of the hotels on the sea wall have free transport to the pier (or so I've been told).

 

[Gina]

If you're going in a few days early, by all means get the $%#@ out of Houston and stay on the Island. SO much to do and see, so much history and eclectic sights. Galveston is small, so you could get away with just taking a taxi where you wanted to go, or Island Transit. Stay at one of the hotels that offers a free shuttle to the cruise terminal, and you're all set.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

And the San Luis. Both are more expensive, but ... Much better option. And if the cruiser is really motivated, they could take transport down to the Galvez and walk to the Hilton or Holiday Inn

And to top it off, most of the hotels on the sea wall have free transport to the pier (or so I've been told).

Oh! I didn't know that about the properties along the sea wall. Interesting. Yeah, I was thinking even if the cruisers didn't want to spend for the Galvez or San Luis (hey, they could say they stayed where Jim Cantore broadcasted from! ) there's less expensive properties within a block or two. The Hilton is a great location. The Rainforest with the raft ride (not Disney caliber but kitschy/cute) is riiiiight there.

 

[tajz90]

If you're going in a few days early, by all means get the $%#@ out of Houston and stay on the Island. SO much to do and see, so much history and eclectic sights. Galveston is small, so you could get away with just taking a taxi where you wanted to go, or Island Transit. Stay at one of the hotels that offers a free shuttle to the cruise terminal, and you're all set.

Heck, Sept thru May, they could walk just about anywhere on the island if they chose.

 

[AshleyD1983]

Have you tried contacting Carey for car service? That is who we always use, and we have had great service every time. As most other posters have replied, I would highly recommend going directly to Galveston when you arrive. The area near the airport is one of the sketchier areas of Houston. Going directly to Galveston would be a much better option.

 

[Fox Dad]

I tried looking for car rentals for dropoff in Galveston. None to be found. It appears that Enterprise is the only rental company in Galveston. The closest other one that I could find was in Texas City or League City, both a 20 mile drive or so away. Enterprise charges something outrageous, like $300 for a one way drop off fee.

 

[peachygreen]

From the airport itself it is about $115 for a taxi to the Galveston port.

You said there were 6 of you? You might not be able to do that in 1 taxi so that would then be double.

I found a couple of car services that offer cruise transfers.
http://www.houstontowncarandlimo.com/cruise_transfers_galveston.html
This one is $95 (presumably plus tip) for a 7 passenger SUV to the Cruise terminal from Hobby.

SuperShuttle also does round trip transfers from Hobby to the Cruise terminal. The round trip price for up to 10 passengers is approximately $245

 

[peachygreen]

I've stayed at a couple hotels near the airport. They are nice for one night before I fly out places. I most recently stayed at the Holiday Inn Houston Hobby using their park and fly services. It was easier/cheaper to drive down the night before and leave the car at the hotel and use their shuttle to and from the airport then to drive in the morning of our flight. The hotel was actually quite nice. The rooms were comfortable and clean. It was much nicer (by far) than the place we stayed at in Newark.

But if you aren't going to have a car and plan to stay more than one night I would look to leave the airport area. Getting around in Houston without a car is a challenge though as we don't have the best public transportation options.

 

[justmestace]

We used ExecuCar by Super Shuttle.

There are a couple of threads on here discussing transport & hotels.

I'll do a search for you and see if I can find them.

 

[justmestace]

Here's the one I started...there are a couple more.


http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2938150&highlight=just+back+from+cruise+out+of+galveston

 

[kristinfly2]

We are doing a one way rental with enterprise for our november cruise at it was $160. DH has to drop the kids and I off at the port then return the car, but it was the cheapest option I could find for a family of 6!

 

[woody73]

. . . DH has to drop the kids and I off at the port then return the car, but it was the cheapest option I could find for a family of 6!

Where does return the car? Will Enterprise take him back to the port?

Woody

 

[kristinfly2]

He has to take the car back to the enterprise rental place in Galveston. I called the Galveston office direct and asked if the could drop him off at the port and they said no. There was some kind of incident with the port and enterprise so they don't do it anymore. They said it is a quick 10 minute cab ride and they would call one for him when he got there to drop off the car. I am not thrilled with having to wrestle the luggage and 4 kids by myself at the port! Hopefully I can find a porter ASAP! We really want a car (minivan) for our day before the cruise. The only hotel I could find that had a room big enough for us and was family friendly did not offer cruise transportation.