Disney Leaving Galveston?

[LullabeeDisney]

Would love this! But am hoping they have cruises longer than 5 days (other than AK)! Flying from Pacific NW to FL is just an ordeal The flights (direct) either leave as a red-eye or early-early bird in the AM!! And the flights are LONG!! The time change is another thing!!! So while I can understand the OP hope that DCL continues to sail out of Galveston, Mid-west is at least closer to the east coast, where the ships tend to sail from. The San Diego cruises are too short and have terrible itineraries. AK is perfect for us but way to $$. Regardless, if DH continues to agree to fund my addiction, I'll be happy to fly to wherever!!

I mean y'all have DL in Cali . It sucks for cruises but if I want to go to either WDW or DL it's a 20+ hour trip. Flying is out because it's so expensive (my nearest airport that does direct flights is Dallas, which is a 4 hour drive). And long. Why pay $800+ for round trip tickets when we can drive and pay less than $400? It's a pain though. And means we'll probably get one cruise and one Disney park trip before the kid ages out and we're stuck on non Disney ships. Because all marvel/SW is out of Florida. Sigh.

 

[elvispursley]

I mean y'all have DL in Cali . It sucks for cruises but if I want to go to either WDW or DL it's a 20+ hour trip.

I'm assuming you mean driving? Driving from Seattle to DL is at least 20 hours (if not more). I think we can agree that travel these days can be expensive, regardless, of where you're flying to.

 

[LullabeeDisney]

I'm assuming you mean driving? Driving from Seattle to DL is at least 20 hours (if not more). I think we can agree that travel these days can be expensive, regardless, of where you're flying to.

Yes! I realised this morning my 2am post probably wasn't the nicest. I apologise

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

I read something somewhere a while back that said disney is not happy withgalveston because there was an understanding that certain investments would be made in the port and that those investments have not been made. Also, that dcl was just going to fulfill its contract and move on. Of course i have no idea where i read this. Also of interest is that ncl and princess pulled out of houston a year or so ago. Also isn't disney expanding at Canaveral ?

 

[Justacruiser]

I will have to say that I love the port out of Galveston now that they have updated. They have made the process super easy. Everyone has a seat while waiting to board, check in has plenty of staff and getting off the ship is so much better out of Galveston. I plan on taking another cruise out of there this year if they offer a nice MTO.

 

[sabrecmc]

We are in Dallas and while I would love the convenience of Galveston, the prices (partly due to the dates being around holidays) and itineraries have not been particularly interesting. We are a short/cheap flight from Orlando thanks to Southwest. Not a huge deal to get to PC, plus not having to fool with the drive and parking at the port is kind of nice.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I read something somewhere a while back that said disney is not happy withgalveston because there was an understanding that certain investments would be made in the port and that those investments have not been made. Also, that dcl was just going to fulfill its contract and move on. Of course i have no idea where i read this. Also of interest is that ncl and princess pulled out of houston a year or so ago. Also isn't disney expanding at Canaveral ?

The terminal Disney uses in Galveston has been improved significantly since 2013. We sailed Magic the first year then Wonder this past November. HUGE difference in the terminal. HUGE. Night & day.

NCL & Princess sailed from the Bayport Houston terminal, not Galveston. I live around the corner from the Houston/Bayport port. I can see & hear it sometimes at night if the wind is blowing the right direction. It's an industrial port. Not sure why a cruise terminal was ever built there. Doesn't make much sense. I've heard some relative of a councilman or something had the contract to build it so....you know how those things go. Anywhoo, heard it's a gorgeous terminal. It's being torn down, though. Make room for more docks for container ships, I suppose. The logistics of that terminal weren't ideal for passengers or the ships.

 

[dcassetta]

I read something somewhere a while back that said disney is not happy withgalveston because there was an understanding that certain investments would be made in the port and that those investments have not been made. Also, that dcl was just going to fulfill its contract and move on. Of course i have no idea where i read this. Also of interest is that ncl and princess pulled out of houston a year or so ago. Also isn't disney expanding at Canaveral ?

The Port of Houston and the Port of Galveston are not the same. The Port of Houston cruise terminal was in an industrial area with no real guest amenities nearby. The location also required between 2.5 and 4 hours through the shipping channels to reach deep water in an area prone to fog. The Port of Galveston's cruise terminal has many guest amenities nearby, and the ships usually clear Bolivar Roads within 30 minutes.

 

[ironz]

I live in Texas and I agree with this assessment. We always look and think it would be so much easier since we're only a few hours away but the itineraries are the pits and the cruises are all ridiculously priced. The only one I was slightly interested in ends in San Juan and that's tricky for us because then we have a car stuck three hours from home and I hardly want to fly back to Houston from Puerto Rico, pick up the car and then drive back to Austin. Bleh. They need to work out more compelling itineraries and lower the price quite a lot or provide some kind of incentive for Texas residents to snatch these up.

Agree 100%! We don't want to just sail to Cozumel. Wouldn't it be fun if there was a great cruise from Galveston that our families and the MG family could go on together?!

 

[wilkeliza]

I think Galveston doesn't sell well because of Carnival. I tried to get my grandma and cousins to do a DCL trip with me out of Galveston. They flat out refused. Same with the rest of my family. When they can get $250 each Cozumel cruises on Carnival why would they spend $1000 each on DCL? This is families with kids as well as single adults. They just don't see the "Disney difference" as being worth it. Heck I think they lucked out and got a $99 pp cruise a couple years back because of the issues Carnival was having.

 

[jujubiee4]

Well, they're already using Miami fairly frequently. And I think New York (or some other New England) port would also sell well.

I holding out hope that one of the classics will wind up permanently on the west coast.

I wonder if they will slowly start expanding the west coast schedule.

I did not start cruising AFTER the Wonder was pulled from Calif.

Those must have been the days to just drive to the port. My friend went on one
of the last MerryTime Cruises before they pulled out. I would love to do that
without having to fly cross country.

 

[dcassetta]

Agree 100%! We don't want to just sail to Cozumel. Wouldn't it be fun if there was a great cruise from Galveston that our families and the MG family could go on together?!

There are cruises from Galveston that are more than just Cozumel.

 

[LSUfan4444]

I think Galveston doesn't sell well because of Carnival. I tried to get my grandma and cousins to do a DCL trip with me out of Galveston. They flat out refused. Same with the rest of my family. When they can get $250 each Cozumel cruises on Carnival why would they spend $1000 each on DCL? This is families with kids as well as single adults. They just don't see the "Disney difference" as being worth it. Heck I think they lucked out and got a $99 pp cruise a couple years back because of the issues Carnival was having.

I definitely agree there is something to this.

We had a DCL cruise booked out of galveston but shopped around and ended up going on the Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas. For three of us and the premium alcohol package it ended up costing like $2600. More than $1k less than what DCL wanted for the same itinerary on what I thought was an inferior ship.

Hopefully we will see some more competitive rates once the fleet expands. There is little value in DCLs caribbean sailings.

 

[wilkeliza]

I definitely agree there is something to this.

We had a DCL cruise booked out of galveston but shopped around and ended up going on the Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas. For three of us and the premium alcohol package it ended up costing like $2600. More than $1k less than what DCL wanted for the same itinerary on what I thought was an inferior ship.

Hopefully we will see some more competitive rates once the fleet expands. There is little value in DCLs caribbean sailings.

Yep. In Florida and San Diego there are enough people making the Disney connection that makes it sail. In Galveston the $$ is a big draw. People don't care what ship they are on they just want something affordable that doesn't mean they have to spend their year slaving away to be able to afford vacation. Of course I only have a small pool to pull from but again most people I know who cruise consider us crazy for paying DCL prices.

 

[LullabeeDisney]

Yep. In Florida and San Diego there are enough people making the Disney connection that makes it sail. In Galveston the $$ is a big draw. People don't care what ship they are on they just want something affordable that doesn't mean they have to spend their year slaving away to be able to afford vacation. Of course I only have a small pool to pull from but again most people I know who cruise consider us crazy for paying DCL prices.

I get that. I have a friend who thinks I'm crazy for doing Disney (though she understands with our issues why I choose Disney). She travels CC all the time. She just got on one of their ships today for a cruise. But I don't trust CC - too many issues, too often on different ships for me to ever get on it. I get that we only hear about the bad but.. too many to name. Folks falling overboard, fires, the time the captain ran it into a rock and then abandoned ship, letting 32 people die.. nah.

I might consider RCCL later. I just really want the Disney experience as well, so paying $4,000 or whatever and having Disney + Cruise taken care of is amazing. A trip to WDW or DL is, if we stayed off site, for 7 nights, upwards of $5,000 just for the stay/tickets/food. Not adding in the $1,000 in car fixing (we'd have to have new tires, alignment, oil changed, everything) and the cost of getting there - it's a 20 hour trip before stops. So where as we can swing a Disney cruise in 18 months, a Disney Vacation wouldn't be possible for a lot longer.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

The terminal Disney uses in Galveston has been improved significantly since 2013. We sailed Magic the first year then Wonder this past November. HUGE difference in the terminal. HUGE. Night & day.

NCL & Princess sailed from the Bayport Houston terminal, not Galveston. I live around the corner from the Houston/Bayport port. I can see & hear it sometimes at night if the wind is blowing the right direction. It's an industrial port. Not sure why a cruise terminal was ever built there. Doesn't make much sense. I've heard some relative of a councilman or something had the contract to build it so....you know how those things go. Anywhoo, heard it's a gorgeous terminal. It's being torn down, though. Make room for more docks for container ships, I suppose. The logistics of that terminal weren't ideal for passengers or the ships.

The Port of Houston and the Port of Galveston are not the same. The Port of Houston cruise terminal was in an industrial area with no real guest amenities nearby. The location also required between 2.5 and 4 hours through the shipping channels to reach deep water in an area prone to fog. The Port of Galveston's cruise terminal has many guest amenities nearby, and the ships usually clear Bolivar Roads within 30 minutes.

I always thought it was weird that cruise ships left from the ship channel too, and I do not know anything about why they would have, but I also do not understand why there are less cruise lines leaving from Texas ports than there were a few years ago. It seems like Texas and nearby states would be a great market for cruise lines. It is also surprising to me that the Tampa port seems to be gaining business. It seems like Canaveral and Miami would cover Florida and that cruise limes would expand in Mobile, New Orleans, and Galveston, but they do not seem to be doing that. There are very limited options from those ports.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Folks falling overboard, fires, the time the captain ran it into a rock and then abandoned ship, letting 32 people die..

It's practically impossible to "fall" overboard. You'd have to work at it to do so. Most of the people who go overboard were doing something stupid (sitting on the railing, or drunk), or did so deliberately.

Fires onboard - Princess has had them, Carnival has had them, Disney has had them. I think you'd be hard pressed to find cruise line that hasn't had a fire onboard at one time or another.

Captain running into a rock, abandoning ship, causing multiple deaths - that was Costa. And really a bad egg captain. Certainly not the norm.

 

[kid-at-heart]

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

 

[Dug720]

It's practically impossible to "fall" overboard. You'd have to work at it to do so. Most of the people who go overboard were doing something stupid (sitting on the railing, or drunk), or did so deliberately.

Fires onboard - Princess has had them, Carnival has had them, Disney has had them. I think you'd be hard pressed to find cruise line that hasn't had a fire onboard at one time or another.

Captain running into a rock, abandoning ship, causing multiple deaths - that was Costa. And really a bad egg captain. Certainly not the norm.

Agreed re: the first point. Basically there are 3 ways you are going to go overboard on a ship: 1) doing something stupid; 2) you deliberately jump; or 3) someone pushes or throws you overboard. I suppose there *could* be the accidental slip if you were trying to escape someone who was blocking your way out of a cabin and you tried to climb from balcony to balcony, but I think I've only heard of that kind of case once - and she didn't fall.

Regarding Costa, *technically* Costa is under the Carnival umbrella, so you can say that was Carnival Corp and be correct. (Ditto the fires on Princess as it too is under the Carnival umbrella).

 

[BAIC03]

Man I hope they don't leave Galveston. I am in NW Louisiana and the easy drive saves me $1500-$2000 in airfare! It's so convenient and a nice little snapshot of Disney. Plus, they go to Castaway Cay!