Magic Late Departure out of Galviston

[wallawallakids]

Just curious, what are the foggy months off Galveston? Is it all winter? Spring too? Never been to Texas, so I would have no idea!

And for those whose plans were altered, I am sorry. That is a disappointing end to a trip for sure.

 

[MYo135]

Just curious, what are the foggy months off Galveston? Is it all winter? Spring too? Never been to Texas, so I would have no idea!

And for those whose plans were altered, I am sorry. That is a disappointing end to a trip for sure.

It's hit or miss, and can happen any time of year. It's rare actually for THAT much fog. Maybe once a year.

 

[tajz90]

Fog delays cruise ships out of Galveston frequently (IMO) 3 to 4 times in my recent memory in the last few years.

We don't live in Galveston, but live near on the coast and we quite often have fog so bad hat we can't see the car in front of us.

 

[wallawallakids]

It's hit or miss, and can happen any time of year. It's rare actually for THAT much fog. Maybe once a year.

Ok. Thanks.

 

[Candy Apple]

OK, now that really DOES suck. I remember hearing about a cruise in February being cancelled (either on CruiseCritic or here or in a Facebook group for the January 4 cruise that I belong too). I also remember when there was some talk about the January 4 cruise being cancelled, and how upset that made me, as that is the ONLY time I can cruise (out of Galveston, which is most convenient for me). That kind of soured me on Disney before the cruise even started.

I also agree with your earlier post that the crew could have done a bit better on keeping us informed. I also wish that it had been possible for the ship to be a little closer in, so internet and/or cell phones would have worked (that would have helped everyone). Not sure why we had to wait so far out.

This was a tough cruise weather-wise. I was very disappointed to miss Costa Maya, but I understood why we did. I was glad we were able to dock in Cozumel early.

I don't know either, but I will hazard a guess. We were in Topsiders at 7 AM. I was sitting there eating breakfast when all of a sudden a saw a ship very close to us. Then, it was gone again. Then, it was there again. That's how bad the fog was. It was a case of "Now you see it; Now you don't". I certainly didn't want the Magic to be moving so close to other ships that couldn't be seen. I also think that the Port Authority that closes the port may actually be telling each ship that wants to come into the port where it needs to stop, sort of like air traffic control when planes need to wait to land due to bad weather.

 

[gumbypee]

That much fog is definitely rare

 

[emma'smom]

Glad you got off quickly...because the last thing I would say is that it continued quickly. In fact, it slowed to snail's pace! We waited in long lines like it was Ellis Island. No announcements about getting in line for debarkation--so people waited and waited and finally mobbed up the lines in frustration.

Just some regular announcements of what the plans were (and when there was "no change") all the way through the situation would have made such a difference.

..and to whomever said "DCL didn't know...." Actually, the crew did know. They passed info along to the crew that was not publicly announced. Our server kept giving up updates as new information came out and the CM's running cruise activities would answer questions with more detail when asked, but no general announcements.

I believe it was a safety issue, more than anything else. The Coast Guard closed the channel from the Gulf of Mexico into the harbor area because of the fog. Once we were actually docked (and the passenger ramps were in place), disembarkation started pretty quickly. We did Express Walk-Off, were one of the first ones off, quickly through Customs, on our shuttle to Hotel Galvez (and the shuttle driver called ahead so our car would be ready), and on the road heading home by 3:05 PM.

 

[emma'smom]

You see...that possibility would have been great information for them to have shared....not at all is very different from 2pm in terms of planning/scheduling with airlines.

It was possible that they might not have even made it into to port that evening.

 

[tgch123]

bump... I think they come back today

 

[JackieO]

I would love to hear from some of the people who were on this cruise. I hope you all had a nice time!

 

[jnweinmann]

The ship arrived in port on time. Is there anyone that was on board that could tell us what happened the day of departure? Did Disney do anything for you to make your wait at the port a little easier?

 

[chimpwars]

We were told that Galveston is the foggiest port in North America by the crew and other port workers too. Apparently it is pretty common to have issues r/t fog there.
I hope the cruise going out had fun!!

 

[Rancher Dave]

I'd highly recommend that folks here on DISboards get on the forums in CruiseCritic.com as well. There's a real lack of information in here on anything non-Disney, such as information about ports of departure - particularly one that is new for Disney, like Galveston. Galveston "veterans" on CruiseCritic can tell you fog is a problem this time of year. If I had to fly to Galveston to cruise during fog season, I'd just plan on staying another night (lots of fun stuff to do in Galveston) and fly home the next day.

There's also a thread in CruiseCritic (in the Royal Caribbean forum, as they've been there a while) with people who specifically watch the harbor webcams for cruise ship arrivals and departures.

Some of us are in both places. It is good to read several sources of info. Two of I've Galveston cruises had fog coming in while I've been delayed leaving Tampa one of one for 100%.

 

[Rancher Dave]

Some of us are in both places. It is good to read several sources of info. Two of I've Galveston cruises had fog coming in while I've been delayed leaving Tampa one of one for 100%.

Edit. Two of five from Galveston.

 

[BeerManZ]

Does anyone know the earliest people leaving on the Jan 12th sailing were allowed to arrive at the port? I know people were notified to arrive later than usual, but what happened to people that didn't recieve notification and/or had prearranged hired transportation? Also, is February known for bad fog like January is?

I was on the Magic sailing out on the 12th. We drove in (all the way from Milwaukee, but had spent the night before at a friend's house in Houston). We were driving over the big bridge in Galveston when we got the automated phone call from Disney saying the ship was delayed due to fog, and we should arrive 4 hours after our selected check in time. It was around 9am (we were early) and we had a 11:00am check-in.. so we had a lot of time to kill! We found a Jimmy John's in town and sat there for a few hours. The parking lot was full waiting for passengers to disembark, so we couldn't just park the vehicle.

There is a website I was monitoring on my phone where you can see boats, their direction and speed. Once I saw out boat was coming in, I dropped my family off at the port and drove to park my car. The reps at the port said no one was being allowed inside the building until 4pm. Luckily, the parking company found me a spot and took me to the dock to hang out with the family. As a guess, this was around 3pm. Once I had arrived back at the port, staff had let people enter the building earlier than they said. As a bonus, this got us in boarding group 3.

We sat for some time and finally got another automated phone call from Disney.. this time it said to arrive 6 hours after scheduled check in time. After a couple hours, we were able to check in, then board the ship. Rooms were not ready yet, so we walked around the ship. We still had dinner (1st seating) which was pushed back a couple hours. No one was dressed well for that since they didn't have their baggage yet.

The captain said we would leave port around 4am I think. My wife and I awoke around that time, and we were still in port. I think it was around 4:30am by the time we left. Somehow, we still arrived in Grand Cayman on time. I am sad, though, that we didn't have the Sail Away party

 

[SoMosMom]

I was on the Magic sailing out on the 12th. We drove in (all the way from Milwaukee, but had spent the night before at a friend's house in Houston). We were driving over the big bridge in Galveston when we got the automated phone call from Disney saying the ship was delayed due to fog, and we should arrive 4 hours after our selected check in time. It was around 9am (we were early) and we had a 11:00am check-in.. so we had a lot of time to kill! We found a Jimmy John's in town and sat there for a few hours. The parking lot was full waiting for passengers to disembark, so we couldn't just park the vehicle.

There is a website I was monitoring on my phone where you can see boats, their direction and speed. Once I saw out boat was coming in, I dropped my family off at the port and drove to park my car. The reps at the port said no one was being allowed inside the building until 4pm. Luckily, the parking company found me a spot and took me to the dock to hang out with the family. As a guess, this was around 3pm. Once I had arrived back at the port, staff had let people enter the building earlier than they said. As a bonus, this got us in boarding group 3.

We sat for some time and finally got another automated phone call from Disney.. this time it said to arrive 6 hours after scheduled check in time. After a couple hours, we were able to check in, then board the ship. Rooms were not ready yet, so we walked around the ship. We still had dinner (1st seating) which was pushed back a couple hours. No one was dressed well for that since they didn't have their baggage yet.

The captain said we would leave port around 4am I think. My wife and I awoke around that time, and we were still in port. I think it was around 4:30am by the time we left. Somehow, we still arrived in Grand Cayman on time. I am sad, though, that we didn't have the Sail Away party

Ditto most of that. I'd like to add a little more though. We received several phone calls - some automated and some from the concierge (my parents and our daughters were booked in concierge, we had a regular stateroom with our reservations linked). When the concierge was unable to reach my parents, they called my phone and then DH's phone. It was basically the same message either way (real live person or automated voicemail) but the personal calls from the concierge were a nice touch. The parking situation was a bit unsettling... When DF called DH to say the line to park was 3 miles long, we did not fully understand the seriousness of the statement. The line was long, unmarked and, yes, at a dead stop. People were getting out of their cars and making friends like it was a street party (a very sad dismayed street party). We sat there for about an hour and a half but once it started moving it moved at a decent pace. For $60 a parking space, though, DH thought it would've been nice if the parking lot had sent somebody around in a golf cart to let us know that we were indeed in the right place. We contemplated going back to the Hilton where we had stayed the night before because they offered free parking and a shuttle to the port, but I figured that by the time we did that we would probably still get there at the same time so we stayed put. We enjoyed the quiet time together since our girls were with the Grammy at the port already.
The down side was that we were so far back in line that we were in boarding group 22 (not sure how many there were, but by the time we were boarding the port was fairly well cleared out so I'm guessing maybe 25?)

I thought I heard that we left port around 3:30 but we were asleep so who knows... 3:30 am, 4:30 am.... either way, we were hauling you-know-what the next day to get to Grand Cayman. It was windy and chilly, but heck, it was the wide open sea.... GORGEOUS, Relaxing and Wonderful... err, uh.. Magical!

 

[SoMosMom]

Did anybody else on this cruise feel like everything was extraordinarily LOUD? The restaurants, the shows, the FunnelTV on deck 9.... everything just seemed excessively loud.

Not meaning to complain... I mean, I was on the boat and it was indeed Magical, just wondering...

 

[BeerManZ]

Did anybody else on this cruise feel like everything was extraordinarily LOUD? The restaurants, the shows, the FunnelTV on deck 9.... everything just seemed excessively loud.

Not meaning to complain... I mean, I was on the boat and it was indeed Magical, just wondering...

It did seem loud, but this was our first cruise.. so nothing to really compare it to. Only thing not loud.. the announcements from the cruise director. Those need to be louder (and available at more areas around the ship).

As a side note, we parked at Discount Cruise Parking a couple miles from the actual port (next to the Exxon gas station). We only paid $30 to park for the week and had a quick ride back to our car after the cruise.. no waiting! Small lot, so there was no big line once they were able to park people. I would recommend it! They will also take you to and from with your luggage, so no need to drop everyone off.

 

[SoMosMom]

It did seem loud, but this was our first cruise.. so nothing to really compare it to. Only thing not loud.. the announcements from the cruise director. Those need to be louder (and available at more areas around the ship).

As a side note, we parked at Discount Cruise Parking a couple miles from the actual port (next to the Exxon gas station). We only paid $30 to park for the week and had a quick ride back to our car after the cruise.. no waiting! Small lot, so there was no big line once they were able to park people. I would recommend it! They will also take you to and from with your luggage, so no need to drop everyone off.

Agreed about the announcements. Our previous cruise on the Magic seemed more subdued - maybe fewer guests.
Thanks for the tip about parking - we will look into that next time!

 

[riofriotex]

Did anybody else on this cruise feel like everything was extraordinarily LOUD? The restaurants, the shows, the FunnelTV on deck 9.... everything just seemed excessively loud.

I was on the January 4 cruise and I thought the restaurants and FunnelTV were excessively loud (we did not go to any shows - after late seating dinner, we were too full and sleepy!). I just assumed the restaurants were noisy because of all the kids. The only one that was quiet was Palo.