All Things Galveston (Updated - 5/21/14)

ok gang, anyone know if there is a scooter rental company servicing the terminal?

thanks

John
 
Is Gaidos as wonderful as it used to be? I haven't been to Galveston in 7 years... we moved away from our home in Texas when Hubs started preaching. Oh MAN I miss Galveston. It's truly a town that is a balm for the soul, IMO.
 
We are flying in on Friday night to Houston. There are 31 of us all coming in at different times so we need to stay where there is an airport shuttle. I have arranged a shuttle to pick everyone up on Saturday morning and take them to the port. Me, DH and two children are staying in Houston Saturday m0orning for some a work conference my husband has to attend. We will be done by 1:00-1:30 and then we have rented a oneway rental through enterprise. (Rate was $80 for oneway. I realize they close at Noon, but they said I could drop off the car and they have a key box to put the keys in. They will get it Monday morning. Then we need to take a taxi to the terminal. I know we are pushing it close on time--but it is something he needs to do. Should I have DH husband drop us and luggage off at terminal or should I we go to enterprise and all of us take the taxi?
 
We are flying in on Friday night to Houston. There are 31 of us all coming in at different times so we need to stay where there is an airport shuttle. I have arranged a shuttle to pick everyone up on Saturday morning and take them to the port. Me, DH and two children are staying in Houston Saturday m0orning for some a work conference my husband has to attend. We will be done by 1:00-1:30 and then we have rented a oneway rental through enterprise. (Rate was $80 for oneway. I realize they close at Noon, but they said I could drop off the car and they have a key box to put the keys in. They will get it Monday morning. Then we need to take a taxi to the terminal. I know we are pushing it close on time--but it is something he needs to do. Should I have DH husband drop us and luggage off at terminal or should I we go to enterprise and all of us take the taxi?

I am afraid that you may not make the ship. Depending on WHERE in Houston you are meeting, it may take 2 or more hours just to get to Galveston. Houston is huge, the freeways are crowded and it is not uncommon for one of them to be closed due to an accident.
 


I am afraid that you may not make the ship. Depending on WHERE in Houston you are meeting, it may take 2 or more hours just to get to Galveston. Houston is huge, the freeways are crowded and it is not uncommon for one of them to be closed due to an accident.


I have to agree with Piper -- that's pretty much a "no way." Even if you're estimating being done by 1-1:30, you have to bank on 2 just to be safe. Then unless the conference is way on the South side of town, you're looking at potentially quite the drive -- and with the construction on 45S, traffic has been even more hellish than normal. If the conference is near Hobby Airport, you need to allow 45 minutes-an hour to get to Galveston. If you're talking about Intercontinental Airport, a good hour and a half.

So it's potentially already 4:30 at that point -- and you have to be on board by 4pm (which might have actually changed to 3:30pm since they recently changed sailaway from 5 to 4:30.) And you haven't even drooped the car off yet and taken a taxi to the terminal. (And Enterprise is nowhere near the terminal.)

All of the above is based on "normal" conditions -- if it's raining, if anyone is playing smash-'em-up on the freeway, anything not optimal, add a bunch more time.

I'm not trying to be a downer, but hubby really needs to finagle his way out of that conference thing if y'all want to make this cruise. :(
 
We are flying in on Friday night to Houston. There are 31 of us all coming in at different times so we need to stay where there is an airport shuttle. I have arranged a shuttle to pick everyone up on Saturday morning and take them to the port. Me, DH and two children are staying in Houston Saturday m0orning for some a work conference my husband has to attend. We will be done by 1:00-1:30 and then we have rented a oneway rental through enterprise. (Rate was $80 for oneway. I realize they close at Noon, but they said I could drop off the car and they have a key box to put the keys in. They will get it Monday morning. Then we need to take a taxi to the terminal. I know we are pushing it close on time--but it is something he needs to do. Should I have DH husband drop us and luggage off at terminal or should I we go to enterprise and all of us take the taxi?

Is there anyway you could do a towncar instead of the car rental? If not, I think I would have your DH drop you off first and then take the rental car back. I also have to agree with others that depending on where you are coming from there could be a serious issue with traffic going down to Galveston. :crazy2: I also just wanted to let you know that we are on the Oct 13th sailing and about 3 weeks ago they sent us an email to say that all aboard was now 3:30 pm not 4:00 pm. As Gina said, they changed the sail away time. Don't know if this will apply to your cruise, but just a heads up as it appears to be applying to several.
 


We are flying in on Friday night to Houston. There are 31 of us all coming in at different times so we need to stay where there is an airport shuttle. I have arranged a shuttle to pick everyone up on Saturday morning and take them to the port. Me, DH and two children are staying in Houston Saturday m0orning for some a work conference my husband has to attend. We will be done by 1:00-1:30 and then we have rented a oneway rental through enterprise. (Rate was $80 for oneway. I realize they close at Noon, but they said I could drop off the car and they have a key box to put the keys in. They will get it Monday morning. Then we need to take a taxi to the terminal. I know we are pushing it close on time--but it is something he needs to do. Should I have DH husband drop us and luggage off at terminal or should I we go to enterprise and all of us take the taxi?

The best solution here is for DH to excuse himself from the conference a little earlier.
 
CeCeGarrett said:
Is Gaidos as wonderful as it used to be? I haven't been to Galveston in 7 years... we moved away from our home in Texas when Hubs started preaching. Oh MAN I miss Galveston. It's truly a town that is a balm for the soul, IMO.

It's still yummy and had the best Mac and cheese in the world. We were there 3 times this week.

If you want to save I also ate at Casey's and the club sandwich. I have to work in the area off and on.
 
Brooke3L said:
Is there a convenience store with in walking distance from the port?

There are some shops on the strand. It's close to the train Museum. If you walk out of the museum go straight down a block then the left hand side. Beware, it's retarded expensive.
 
We are flying into Houston on Thursday for our Friday Cruise. WHat's the best way to get to Galveston? When I first looked at super shuttle I swear it said $170!

Any hotels have shuttles to pick up in Houston? Or anyone know of a cheaper shuttle? Train? Bus?

Our flight comes in at 6pm and my TA hasn't gotten back to us on what hotel Disney *must* have a deal with in Houston which would then allow us to take the disney shuttle.
 
We are flying into Houston on Thursday for our Friday Cruise. WHat's the best way to get to Galveston? When I first looked at super shuttle I swear it said $170!

Any hotels have shuttles to pick up in Houston? Or anyone know of a cheaper shuttle? Train? Bus?

Our flight comes in at 6pm and my TA hasn't gotten back to us on what hotel Disney *must* have a deal with in Houston which would then allow us to take the disney shuttle.
We are flying into IAH and Disney offered rooms at the Marriott hotel and then said we could add Disney transfers for $30 each way per person. I've checked several other options (one-way car rental, Super Shuttle, taxis, limos, etc.) and couldn't find anything better.
 
Do you recall the price of the rooms? When I looked online they were $250 a night. For that price I'd rather pay the $170 super shuttle to Galveston!
 
Do you recall the price of the rooms? When I looked online they were $250 a night. For that price I'd rather pay the $170 super shuttle to Galveston!

I did an online quote and got $170 also, but it was round trip. Thats for all 8 of us, the towncar at super shuttle was only $135, but only fit 3. Look again and see if its round trip.
 
Do you recall the price of the rooms? When I looked online they were $250 a night. For that price I'd rather pay the $170 super shuttle to Galveston!
The Marriott at IAH was $118. Also, I just checked Super Shuttle again and it is $170 one-way or $338 round-trip before tax and tip.
 
We are flying into Houston on Thursday for our Friday Cruise. WHat's the best way to get to Galveston? When I first looked at super shuttle I swear it said $170!

I really hate to be a bearer of bad tidings, but we've had terrible luck with Super Shuttle in Houston. We had a rude driver who played loud, obnoxious music and angrily turned it down only a small amount when we mentioned that it was loud. He took a very strange route to the airport during the middle of rush hour, that added something like an hour to the drive. Seriously, the man detoured to go straight through downtown on surface streets during rush hour. (We were trying to catch an international flight, so we'd allowed extra time, but we were pretty panicked by the end of the drive.) He was not just unfriendly, but rude.

It was such an awful and stressful experience that my mom canceled our prepaid super shuttle return and hired two towncars from a service she has used often for work, since the whole reason we decided to try super shuttle was that our favorite towncar service couldn't handle our group in a single car. I don't recommend our local super shuttle to anyone after that.
 
The Marriott at IAH was $118. Also, I just checked Super Shuttle again and it is $170 one-way or $338 round-trip before tax and tip.

So that must have been the rate Disney secured then? I'll have my TA look because again this morning I checked and the rate was $259!
 
I really hate to be a bearer of bad tidings, but we've had terrible luck with Super Shuttle in Houston. We had a rude driver who played loud, obnoxious music and angrily turned it down only a small amount when we mentioned that it was loud. He took a very strange route to the airport during the middle of rush hour, that added something like an hour to the drive. Seriously, the man detoured to go straight through downtown on surface streets during rush hour. (We were trying to catch an international flight, so we'd allowed extra time, but we were pretty panicked by the end of the drive.) He was not just unfriendly, but rude.

It was such an awful and stressful experience that my mom canceled our prepaid super shuttle return and hired two towncars from a service she has used often for work, since the whole reason we decided to try super shuttle was that our favorite towncar service couldn't handle our group in a single car. I don't recommend our local super shuttle to anyone after that.

Which towncar service did you use?
 
Does anybody have a experience with the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort? I have that booked mainly because I was able to get it on points.

My sister stays there EVERY time she is in Galveston. I have never stayed there, but she LOVES it !!!
 
We drove down Saturday to welcome the Magic to Texas. The girls had a great time around Galveston Saturday and I got some nice pictures of the Magic in Galveston to add to my collection of Magic pictures.

The weather was perfect, the water was warm and everyone was super friendly.

We drove down to the pier and parked near the Strand. We walked around the Strand where they were having a shrimp festival. We took a harbor cruise and toured the maritime museum. The dolphins were our in full on our cruise so we got to see the dolphins and take great pictures of the Magic. We had lunch on the Strand and then went to the beach for a bit before heading down to wave at the Magic as she left.


IMG_5729 by peachygreen2010, on Flickr

Due to the dresses the girls had on, I think everyone we passed in Galveston asked if we were going on the Disney cruise? I responded "No, we are just here to Welcome her to Texas."

When we were in Galveston last March we spent a lot of time on the Strand. The Railroad museum was excellent. The Pirate museum was fun but a little pricey for what you get. The Elissa was very cool (unfortunately she wasn't there this weekend, I think some of that had to do with the ceremony for the Navy Ship (the Fort Worth I think))

I loved the cowboy hat that the Mickey on the smokestack was sporting when we pulled in. Unfortunately they took it down before we could get a picture of it. I was hoping they would leave it up at least for her to pull out of Galveston, but I think it was down before they even started boarding.
 

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