Disney Leaving Galveston?

[KalamityJane]

So you are able to Ebpc stops at grand cayman 10/30 for 2018? Are you able to see when wbpc is in 2019?

No, the WBPC doesn't usually stop in Grand Cayman. Also, they only have the Fantasy on their schedule that far out.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Fabulous.

If I had any interest in going to Houston.

No thank you. Texas is NOT on my "places to visit" list. I might have been born there, but my parents were only there because of my dad's job and we escaped when I was 2.

Aww... what's not to like about Texas! Very, very productive state. 2nd in the US for fortune 500 companies. Some of the most international cities in the world are in Texas. Half the state of New York and California has moved there, so it can't be that bad. Here's my Texas plug: no income tax . Well, and everything's bigger!

 

[LullabeeDisney]

You're correct. Some of them do. Out of the 9 currently scheduled, four of them are scheduled to go to CC. That's less than half though. And all of them are the insanely expensive Christmas cruises. The cheapest of which starts at $4100 for an inside cabin for a family 3. For one of those 7 nights, for the same category we had in Alaska (deck 2 oceanview) it's nearly up to the same price we paid for Alaska. That's INSANE.

I haven't seen any Disney cruises for less than $3,000 that haven't been 2 nights out of like, San Diego. Family of 3 here. I even checked the past prices for cruises and they've all been around the same price. Even out of PC/Miami. I mean, I haven't been around for 'Day the dates were released' prices, so maybe that's why? I'm glad I found this forum/all this info prior to the May release.


I did have a question for you DCL veterans... it being in Grand Cayman on 12/24 means it'll more than likely be a western cruise where they hit Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica, vs the ones that would hit Castaway Cay, correct?

Also, can I just say thank you all? Legitimately I wasn't expecting this much digging etc for this thread and you all have answered my questions patiently and kindly and I really appreciate you all!

 

[KalamityJane]

I haven't seen any Disney cruises for less than $3,000 that haven't been 2 nights out of like, San Diego. Family of 3 here. I even checked the past prices for cruises and they've all been around the same price. Even out of PC/Miami. I mean, I haven't been around for 'Day the dates were released' prices, so maybe that's why? I'm glad I found this forum/all this info prior to the May release.


I did have a question for you DCL veterans... it being in Grand Cayman on 12/24 means it'll more than likely be a western cruise where they hit Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica, vs the ones that would hit Castaway Cay, correct?

Also, can I just say thank you all? Legitimately I wasn't expecting this much digging etc for this thread and you all have answered my questions patiently and kindly and I really appreciate you all!

Yes, probably Western. Looks like the one that hits Castaway goes to Nassau and Key West.

 

[KalamityJane]

While I was looking it up, I saw that the Galveston 7 night will be at Castaway Cay ON Christmas this year, how cool would that be?

 

[cmph]

Great photo. Dcl has transportation from IAH?

As of a few months ago, yes... I don't think they would have dropped it since then. Cost-wise, it made sense for a couple. For a larger family - nope. And that was even considering it was slightly cheaper for us to fly AA into IAH... we ended up booking SW via Hobby b/c the car rental was slightly cheaper from there vs IAH. They have hotels right there at IAH, connected via a tram, but the cost for that plus DCL shuttles for 4 was beyond the price of a rental car for a week plus the night at the San Luis resort. For convenience, if it was just DH and me and we didn't care about seeing anything in the area, I would go with the DCL shuttles and airport hotel. With the kids, that just made little sense, esp since they loved that pool area and we got in early enough to make good use of it. all of the rooms have gulf views and balconies, which we all appreciated more than whatever views the IAH hotels would have had, I'm sure! It was only 10min ish to the terminal, next to a Rainforest Cafe (that has a ride in it), a few restaurants and coffee shop in the hotel, just super convenient really. I actually wish we had booked an extra night, for more pool time.

 

[Flossbolna]

Also, can I just say thank you all? Legitimately I wasn't expecting this much digging etc for this thread and you all have answered my questions patiently and kindly and I really appreciate you all!

Hey, when waiting for those next cruises to be released this is great fun! It used to be more fun in the past. A lot of ports have taken the DCL ships out of their schedules before the itineraries are released.

 

[Mickeyhugger]

Aww... what's not to like about Texas! Very, very productive state. 2nd in the US for fortune 500 companies. Some of the most international cities in the world are in Texas. Half the state of New York and California has moved there, so it can't be that bad. Here's my Texas plug: no income tax . Well, and everything's bigger! [/QUOT..

You are very gracious, fellow Texan.

 

[cyclenut]

My reasons for commenting about Galveston being less convienient really was about transportation to the port from the airport. Because Orlando is basically owned by Disney it seems, they have that transportation thing down, especially if you stay on property and are not interested in handling your own luggage.

Galveston is a fun place though and I like it, I just can't see it being a place Disney considers a long term home. There would need to be more improvements to give families more to do the day the arrive, before cruising the next day. Transportation from the hotel to the port is also not as easy to manage since you've got to plan it with the hotel.

 

[kiapepito]

We drove from Southern California to Galveston this year for our Christmas sailing. We took our time getting to Galveston stopping in Phoenix, El Paso to visit with family and then we took our girls to the apartment where my husband proposed while he was stationed in the coast guard. We went through memory lane!

We had three sea days, Nassau, key west and castaway. Best cruise we've taken as its amazing attending Midnight Mass on the boat and opening gifts Christmas morning!

I'm waiting for 2018 Christmas date to book.

The hard part about port of Galveston are the people that work at the port... not Disney cm... but the port workers... not trying to be mean but not the brightest people...

2nd of all we did not board the boat until 4 pm because the sailing coming in was delayed because of the fog. Delays due to fog happened about three other times during the season.

.... now I'm intrigued that the schedule posted showed Cayman on the 24th... hmmmm

 

[cyclenut]

While I do look forward to a Christmas cruise someday, our kids are now young adults and tend to be working on Christmas week in some sort of retail job or another. Maybe someday we'll be able to book something like that.

We encountered fog in Galveston as well. We were unable to board until almost 6pm I think. I know that first seating dinner was just getting started when we came on board. What a mess that was. First seating, then muster, then second seating. With muster stations in the dining rooms, it was bad.

We didn't leave port until 7am the next morning, missed key west and then had to anchor outside Galveston on the way back in as well due to fog. That was in January.

I didn't have any trouble with the port staff in Galveston. Very friendly and seemed to know what they needed to know. I don't ask a lot of questions of them though.

 

[kiapepito]

The problem we had with the port staff was that they were the ones checking the alcohol. They opened up a bottle of wine and tossing it because we were told it smelled like alcohol....

 

[cyclenut]

The problem we had with the port staff was that they were the ones checking the alcohol. They opened up a bottle of wine and tossing it because we were told it smelled like alcohol....

Yikes! I guess they forgot they were doing security for a Disney cruise. They had a table set up for alcohol screening. I went over there and showed them what I had and they waved me through. I was clearly not the only one. Maybe they thought it was leaking? Who knows, but that's just wrong.

 

[gotomu212]

We find Galveston harder to get into because uber isn't allowed onto the island, taxis were REALLY expensive, and the private transportation we researched was all a lot more than MCO (and we had a really bad experience coordinating with them when we were delayed by fog). We fly into Hobby because the flight difference between there and IAH was $700 for a family of 3 which is insane.

 

[MUN]

While I was looking it up, I saw that the Galveston 7 night will be at Castaway Cay ON Christmas this year, how cool would that be?

Almost as cool as being there on New Year's Eve, which I have done, or on New Year's Day, which I will do next year.

 

[Quellman]

Was not Disney looking an New Orleans as a possible port a few years ago? Or was that just a rumor?

Karlo Holz was photographed with the New Orleans port operations manager at an event like 2-3 years ago. Now it was probably exploratory discussions if any. But I can't remember where I was reading, and if it was reputable or spitballing - but Disney was not interested in going to the city as its stigma for 'adult' activities doesn't go well with their Family branding. As far as I know, only Disney knows where to next!

 

[cruiser21]

We find Galveston harder to get into because uber isn't allowed onto the island, taxis were REALLY expensive, and the private transportation we researched was all a lot more than MCO (and we had a really bad experience coordinating with them when we were delayed by fog). We fly into Hobby because the flight difference between there and IAH was $700 for a family of 3 which is insane.

Use galveston shuttle it's 30.00 pp. We always rent a car. I can get it under 200.00 for the week and get free parking for the week at many of the Galveston hotels. The hotels runs around 100.00 per night. Of course you need to fly in the day before and stay at the hotel to take advantage of this.

 

[dcassetta]

My reasons for commenting about Galveston being less convienient really was about transportation to the port from the airport. Because Orlando is basically owned by Disney it seems, they have that transportation thing down, especially if you stay on property and are not interested in handling your own luggage.

Galveston is a fun place though and I like it, I just can't see it being a place Disney considers a long term home. There would need to be more improvements to give families more to do the day the arrive, before cruising the next day. Transportation from the hotel to the port is also not as easy to manage since you've got to plan it with the hotel.

Part of the transportation issue has to do with how few sailings Galveston has. If there was more traffic, transportation options would improve. The same is true for just Disney, if they sailed more often from Galveston, they could set up better transportation. The ease of Disney transportation in Orlando is a relatively new thing and developed in response to the growth at Universal. Prior to 2005 (I think), you had to make your own arrangements to get to the resorts.

I think there is quite a lot for families to do in the Galveston/Houston area - Schlitterbahn and Moody Gardens, state parks and beaches, various history and wildlife tours, tall ship Elissa and the seaport museum, NASA, Houston's museum district, Kemah Boardwalk.

 

[gotomu212]

Use galveston shuttle it's 30.00 pp. We always rent a car. I can get it under 200.00 for the week and get free parking for the week at many of the Galveston hotels. The hotels runs around 100.00 per night. Of course you need to fly in the day before and stay at the hotel to take advantage of this.

I looked into that- for us that's $180/roundtrip for a shuttle which I consider expensive and a $200 rental car that sits at a hotel doesn't make sense to me. We can get into PC for half that. Someone asked the question why people thought Galveston was hard to get into and That's why I consider it harder to get into Galveston than PC.

 

[laceltris3]

While I was looking it up, I saw that the Galveston 7 night will be at Castaway Cay ON Christmas this year, how cool would that be?

Yes! We are local and have done the cruise before Christmas (both of which coincided with the premiere of a Star Wars movie) for the last two years, but booked Christmas this year for that very reason. The cruises are not cheap, but taking out the hassle and airfare for my family of 5 makes it totally worth it. A 45 minute drive to the port and walking on the ship is incredibly fast. Our elf on a shelf has brought the cruises, and this year, our exact ports may be kept secret, so Santa can bring parasailing on CC.

There has been a lot of discussion about what a pain it is to get to Galveston, but on our cruises, it has been per the CD approximately 70% Texans. The Louisiana and Oklahoma people are another 15-20% and everywhere else was only 10-15%.

Now these were the cruises over Christmas break, so I cannot speak for the rest of the times that are generally lower season anyway, but it would seem that for the people that actually cruise out of Galveston, the vast majority drive in. There probably aren't many people doing Disney transportation at all, I would gather.