2/15/2013 - 8 Night Western Cruise, Galveston, TX

[betsy2010]

Hi All,
I just rebooked on this date and saved $1k (even after taking into account our OBC & 10% off!) I would jump on it. I tried calling but was on hold so logged in and went the 'modify' route - entered "KFO" for the offer code and voila - same cabin, same everything but $1k less! Good luck!

 

[LadyMac428]

I think we will be joining you! We've booked through the "kids sail free" so I hope to see you in February!

 

[dismom73]

We just switched from the June 1st Med cruise to this one. Took advantage of the the kids sail free offer also, even though only one of our 3 kids will be free. The cruise itself is the same price as the 7 day Mediterranean, but the entire Med vacation was adding up to over $10,000 for our family of 5...not an option for us.

I can't believe how quiet this thread is! No wonder they opened up kids sail free! Anyway, it will be Myself(Andrea), my DH(Ryan) and our 3 DD's, Ashley, Riley and Bailey, 18, 13, and 8. We haven't told the kids yet, not sure how they are going to take it since we booked the Mediterranean the day it opened up and have been talking about it a lot. I think we will sell them on going to CC and WDW, plus one extra night on the ship wont hurt. And, they wont be missing that much school since they have the week of Presidents day off. They are just as addicted to DCL as I am, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

My brother and his family should be going with us also. So this thread should be growing...

 

[KPetty725]

Just rebooked ours as well! We lost the 10% and the onboard credit from booking on our last cruise but we saved about $1100 so it was definitely worth it! I'll use that as my new onboard credit! Vista Spa, here I come!!!!! :-D

 

[dismom73]

Wow, this really is a quiet thread....
We have always done our DCL cruises out of PC and have our system down there, ie where to stay, transportation etc. Galveston is new to us, I'm already running into car rental issues, it's way more expensive than PC and there is only 1 company to choose from. Any one have any recommendations of where to stay the night before? We are a family of 5, so bigger rooms are helpful.

 

[KPetty725]

Wow, this really is a quiet thread....
We have always done our DCL cruises out of PC and have our system down there, ie where to stay, transportation etc. Galveston is new to us, I'm already running into car rental issues, it's way more expensive than PC and there is only 1 company to choose from. Any one have any recommendations of where to stay the night before? We are a family of 5, so bigger rooms are helpful.

I'm really spoiled because although I live in San Antonio now, I have family to stay with in Houston so we won't be getting a hotel or rental car. I would suggest looking for rooms in Houston, though. Even from Spring, where my dad lives (a suburb north of Houston), it's only an hour and a half drive to Galveston with traffic. Even though there is ALWAYS traffic in Houston, you could sleep late and still make it to the port plenty early. You'll get much better rates than if you try to find something on the island (or near).

Also, not sure where you're coming from but you might consider just hiring a town car or limo if you're flying into Intercontinental. It's not too far from Galveston so it should still be less than a rental car for 8 days and parking. If you're flying into Hobby it might be cost prohibitive just because it's farther away.

Ok, not sure how much this helped. Hopefully a little!

 

[dismom73]

Thank you KPetty725...I think we might look into the limo option. We are coming from CA and my brother and his family will be meeting up with us at IAH, they are coming from Boston...it might work if we can split the cost of a limo with them. If we get a limo we will probably stay near the airport, for cheaper hotels, and a longer limo ride.

 

[FloridaFun]

Count is in too! We just finished the reservations this morning. We have all boys. 2 are close to the ages of DisMom73's kids as my older ones are 12 and 10 and my youngest is close to KPetty725's kids as he is 5.

To join in the onboard birthday celebrations, we have my husband's on the 17th on one of our sea days.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone here and metting all of you on the 15th of February.

Beth

 

[dismom73]

Count is in too! We just finished the reservations this morning. We have all boys. 2 are close to the ages of DisMom73's kids as my older ones are 12 and 10 and my youngest is close to KPetty725's kids as he is 5.

To join in the onboard birthday celebrations, we have my husband's on the 17th on one of our sea days.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone here and metting all of you on the 15th of February.

Beth

Welcome Beth
My nephew will be on this cruise as well and he is 10. My SIL should be chiming in anytime now....(where are you Laura?) They booked the same day we did.

 

[wdrl]

My wife and I just booked this cruise earlier this week. Although we've cruised many times before on other cruise lines, this will be our first time on DCL.

We live about an hour's drive from Galveston, so we don't have to worry about flights or overnight hotel stays. Hobby Airport (HOU) is on the south end of Houston and closer to Galveston than Bush (IAH). For those needing transportation to the pier, you might consider scheduling a van from Supershuttle. Its rates are reasonable and you have some flexibility in scheduling pick up times and where you want to be picked up from (airport, hotel, home).

I called DCL today to straighten out our online registration. While on the phone, I asked a question about the 1-day Parkhopper Pass we get while in Port Canaveral. We have Annual Passes and I asked if we could save the 1-day PH to use on another trip. Unfortunately, the 1-day PH we get on the cruise is "use or lose it"; it can't be saved and applied to another ticket or annual pass.

 

[samily]

Hi everyone,

We booked this cruise this week and are so excited with the Kids Sail Free!! We were previously booked on the 2/16 Wonder but switched over to this one. It is me, DH, DD (15), DD's BFF (14), DS (11), DS (8), and my mom. The kids are super excited for WDW and I'm excited for 8 nights!

We are from the Northeast, so the kids are on winter break that week, so they will only be missing 1 day of school.

Looking forward to getting to know you all and share in everyone's excitement!

Beth

 

[jzandmeplus3]

We switched yesterday from 3/31 4 night cruise on the Dream to this one. Kids sail free, and 4 more nights! Haven't told the kids we won't be going on Dream yet, but I think they will get over it when I tell them we're going o CC and WDW.

My boys will be 10, 8 & 5 when we sail.

Any suggestions of where to best fly in to and where to stay the night before would be great.

 

[dismom73]

Welcome to the new comers! It seems this sailing is starting to pick up since the kids sail free promo.
Beth, our kids are on winter break too, so they will only miss one day of school, except for our oldest DD who is in college, she will miss 2. Which part of the Northeast will you be coming from? My brother and his family are flying in from Boston, and my nephew is out of school that week also.
For those that have AP to WDW, I wonder if you have friends or family in the Orlando area that don't have passes if they could meet you there for the day and use your 1 day PH? At least with AP you will get a discount on food and merchandise. We have AP for DL, but I don't think that will work for us.
I know a lot of people on this cruise are from TX and are driving down, but those that aren't, has anyone figured out where they are staying the night before and how they are getting to the port?

 

[Gina]

Hi to all the new folks who have just joined in!! Looks like a lot of folks were able to take advantage of the KSF offer... I checked this morning for a co-worker, and there was nothing left. It's still available for this cruise, but it's only DS & I.

For anyone looking for airport/hotel/transportation help, you might try the "All Things Galveston" thread for some links and helpful tips from lots of people.

Is anyone interested in doing an FE gift exchange, now that we have actual people other than just Katie & I here?

 

[FloridaFun]

Hi to the other Beth (samily). It is always fun to have people with my same name as I am sure to not forget it. Your 11 year old will be perfect for my 12 and 10 year old sons.

jzandmeplus3 - Glad you switched from the 3/31 cruise. Your boys and my boys are also a nice fit for each other and I am sure our 5 year olds will have a great time playing.

I forgot to mention in my first post that we are also bringing my mom and my father-in-law. I see that Beth is bringing her Mom too. Anyone else bringing the grandparents?

My kids also only have 2 days of school that week, so will miss those 2 plus Friday. Trading in 3 days of school for an 8 day Disney cruise seemed to good to pass up.

We are still working on figuring out where we will be staying the night before the cruise. My husband has friends in Houston, but asking them to have all 7 of us may be too much. So, I am going to start looking into Galveston Hotels.

Gina - I am totally in for an FE exchange. I have never organized one, but would be glad to help. Just let me know if you already had any thoughts for it.

Beth

 

[the great cornholeo]

Hi everyone. We just booked this week. It will be me my son (10) and my dh(dismoms brother). This the first cruise that wasn't booked at least a year and a half in advance. In so excited. I haven't told our son yet. I'm trying to keep it a surprise but I'm not sure how this will go.

 

[samily]

Cool, there's another Beth I'm terrible with names, but that one I can remember! It looks like you have a travel party of 7 too - what are you doing to get to the port? Right now I have a minivan rental from IAH to the port, wondering if there is a better option...

Dismom & Laura, we are coming in from RI - we got lucky and got great rates flying in from PVD, so we don't have to make the drive up to BOS - saves us an hour drive time. We are flying in Thursday night.

Gina, I am reading your Galveston thread now - lots of great info there! We are flying home on Sunday morning, so we are looking for something fun to do on Saturday - looks like there are quite a few fun choices!

It looks like we've got quite a few boys in the 8-12 range - my boys are excited for that!

 

[samily]

For those that are interested, I called DCL today regarding transfers and hotels. They will transfer from either IAH or the Houston Airport Marriott to the port on the day of embarkation, and from the port to either the Hotel Galvez or to IAH on disembarkation. Transfers are 30.00 pp each way. She said they are not doing transfers between Hobby and the port.

The Houston Airport Marriott is 165.00 on 2/14.

The Hotel Galvez is 205.00 on 2/23.

 

[the great cornholeo]

Beth. What did you get for a rate from pvd. We might be flying standby so I think that we are going to try for wed night it early Thursday into iah. So much to do so little time

 

[samily]

Laura - 150.00 ea way. Flying out Thursday late afternoon, flying back Sunday morning.