Flight from Galveston (IAH) - Which one?

[Frozen2014]

We are booking a cruise and flying out of Galveston for the first time. We are coming from Toronto and direct flights are to IAH only with limited times. Our cruise is Christmas time 2025, and we return on a Sunday (i.e. end of Dec).

Going there is no problem (morning flight day before).
However, I've heard there can be fog issues, etc. and IAH isn't that close to the port. Which of the following flight times would you recommend for coming home?:

1. Sunday at 12:05pm.
2. Sunday at 6:10pm.
3. Monday at 12:05pm.

i.e. We're thinking the 12:05 same day as we disembark is too risky, but is even the 6:10pm too risky? We had friends fly out of IAH years ago mid January and they had fog issues and weren't able to get off the ship until 4pm. Not sure if this is a rare occurrence or not.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

I live in the Houston area, maybe only about a 15-20 minute drive to IAH, but I used to live closer to Galveston (maybe about 35 minutes away). I know for Hobby departures, some people chance it and go for things around noon. It's proven doable, but not advised by most. Still, IAH is significantly farther from the port than Hobby. So, I wouldn't even consider that Sunday 12:05pm from IAH. I do, however, think the 6:10pm is doable for IAH on most days.

I am in a Facebook group called "Galveston Royal Caribbean Cruises" which may help you get more specific passenger experiences. It's obviously not a DCL group, but you get a lot of people on there with info on cruising in and out of Galveston in general. I found a fog related post and have seen everything from people never experiencing any significant fog delays (after 30+ Galveston cruises) to people saying they had to wait until 11am to dock and leave the ship. I can't speak for DCL, but I see that RCCL usually allows guests to make free ship to shore calls to shift around transportation plans in these sorts of fog/weather delays. I know it's a little bit different in the coastal counties and near bodies of water, but fog generally burns off here by mid morning. I've never lived right on the coast, but 4pm sounds pretty out of the ordinary.

 

[wdrl]

We are booking a cruise and flying out of Galveston for the first time. We are coming from Toronto and direct flights are to IAH only with limited times. Our cruise is Christmas time 2025, and we return on a Sunday (i.e. end of Dec).

Going there is no problem (morning flight day before).
However, I've heard there can be fog issues, etc. and IAH isn't that close to the port. Which of the following flight times would you recommend for coming home?:

1. Sunday at 12:05pm.
2. Sunday at 6:10pm.
3. Monday at 12:05pm.

i.e. We're thinking the 12:05 same day as we disembark is too risky, but is even the 6:10pm too risky? We had friends fly out of IAH years ago mid January and they had fog issues and weren't able to get off the ship until 4pm. Not sure if this is a rare occurrence or not.

If I wanted to have a relaxing, stress-free vacation, I would book a return flight on Monday. If I wanted to save money and/or had to return to work ASAP, then I'd be willing to fly out on Sunday at 6:10pm. There is no way I would consider the 12:05pm flight on Sunday. But that is me and my comfort level.

The Port of Galveston experiences fog conditions from December to March. Every season there are a few days where cruise ships are delayed an average of 1.5 hours in arriving. Fortunately, the odds are in your favor that it won't happen to you. But every season there will be a very small number of cruises when the ships are delayed until noon or later before they can start the disembarkation process.

 

[Frozen2014]

I live in the Houston area, maybe only about a 15-20 minute drive to IAH, but I used to live closer to Galveston (maybe about 35 minutes away). I know for Hobby departures, some people chance it and go for things around noon. It's proven doable, but not advised by most. Still, IAH is significantly farther from the port than Hobby. So, I wouldn't even consider that Sunday 12:05pm from IAH. I do, however, think the 6:10pm is doable for IAH on most days.

I am in a Facebook group called "Galveston Royal Caribbean Cruises" which may help you get more specific passenger experiences. It's obviously not a DCL group, but you get a lot of people on there with info on cruising in and out of Galveston in general. I found a fog related post and have seen everything from people never experiencing any significant fog delays (after 30+ Galveston cruises) to people saying they had to wait until 11am to dock and leave the ship. I can't speak for DCL, but I see that RCCL usually allows guests to make free ship to shore calls to shift around transportation plans in these sorts of fog/weather delays. I know it's a little bit different in the coastal counties and near bodies of water, but fog generally burns off here by mid morning. I've never lived right on the coast, but 4pm sounds pretty out of the ordinary.

Thank you. If it's ok to say, our cruise actually Royal but I know that Disney has regular cruise ships out of Galveston so figured the Disney cruise board was a good place to get some advice. Good to know that if there is fog, it tends to burn off mid morning. Yeah , maybe my friend just had very bad luck.

 

[Frozen2014]

If I wanted to have a relaxing, stress-free vacation, I would book a return flight on Monday. If I wanted to save money and/or had to return to work ASAP, then I'd be willing to fly out on Sunday at 6:10pm. There is no way I would consider the 12:05pm flight on Sunday. But that is me and my comfort level.

The Port of Galveston experiences fog conditions from December to March. Every season there are a few days where cruise ships are delayed an average of 1.5 hours in arriving. Fortunately, the odds are in your favor that it won't happen to you. But every season there will be a very small number of cruises when the ships are delayed until noon or later before they can start the disembarkation process.

Thank you. I can't see being delayed by 1.5 hours being an issue but if we're talking half a day, that could be.

Question...if we were to take the noon flight back the next day, where would you recommend we stay? Near IAH (which I think has nothing around it)? Or somewhere else? For the same reason a noon flight the day of a cruise isn't a good idea, we would need to make sure we got to the airport in time for a noon flight the next day (not because of fog but bad traffic, etc).

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Thank you. If it's ok to say, our cruise actually Royal but I know that Disney has regular cruise ships out of Galveston so figured the Disney cruise board was a good place to get some advice. Good to know that if there is fog, it tends to burn off mid morning. Yeah , maybe my friend just had very bad luck.

I'm sure you're fine posting about it here. I know there's a RCCL specific subsection on the DIS, but it tends to be dominated by people cruising out of FL. If you are on Facebook, I would recommend looking into that RCCL Galveston group I noted. I've lived in the area for nearly 28 years, but more avid cruisers from our port might have more cruise specific insights than I can provide. That way you can search and see people's specific fog experiences with that port. The group is dominated by people cruising RCCL, but I've seen plenty of people posting about all of the cruise lines going out of the Galveston since questions like yours (and theirs) are more port and city based vs. cruise line specific.

Yeah, I'm hoping your friend's experience was just bad luck. The reality is that you just never know how these things will go. It's obviously in the cruise line's best interest to get you back into port as early as possible/allowed so they can turn the ship in a timely manner for the next sailing. In my small search, I actually saw more delays with departures than returns. Of course, they also won't return you to unsafe conditions. I had friends on ships set to return right in the middle of all of the Hurricane Harvey drama in 2017...which made for some epic delays. So, at least you're not sailing during hurricane season!

 

[Frozen2014]

I'm sure you're fine posting about it here. I know there's a RCCL specific subsection on the DIS, but it tends to be dominated by people cruising out of FL. If you are on Facebook, I would recommend looking into that RCCL Galveston group I noted. I've lived in the area for nearly 28 years, but more avid cruisers from our port might have more cruise specific insights than I can provide. That way you can search and see people's specific fog experiences with that port. The group is dominated by people cruising RCCL, but I've seen plenty of people posting about all of the cruise lines going out of the Galveston since questions like yours (and theirs) are more port and city based vs. cruise line specific.

Yeah, I'm hoping your friend's experience was just bad luck. The reality is that you just never know how these things will go. It's obviously in the cruise line's best interest to get you back into port as early as possible/allowed so they can turn the ship in a timely manner for the next sailing. In my small search, I actually saw more delays with departures than returns. Of course, they also won't return you to unsafe conditions. I had friends on ships set to return right in the middle of all of the Hurricane Harvey drama in 2017...which made for some epic delays. So, at least you're not sailing during hurricane season!

Yeah exactly. RCL is more out of Florida so that's why I picked this forum.

I'm actually already on the fb page you recommend so let me see if any fog specific posts.

With weather these days, you really don't know. Yes we should be past hurricane season, but didn't Galveston just have snow? Thought I saw airports were closed. Always some stress. It's our first cruise out of Galveston. It's a ship we are interested in and the cost was less than our of Florida so giving it a try.

 

[RedHead0186]

DCL recommends no earlier than 1:30pm https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/guest-services/ground-transportation/

 

[Mom2Anna&Elsa]

Disney Cruise Line’s website (I know you are sailing RCCL) advise flights no earlier than a 1:30 pm departure from IAH for 2025 on disembarkation day, so those are the guidelines I’m following.

 

[Frozen2014]

DCL recommends no earlier than 1:30pm https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/guest-services/ground-transportation/

Yeah, I noted the 12:05pm flight (in case any positive comments about that time) but it's pretty much between option 2 or 3.

 

[Frozen2014]

Disney Cruise Line’s website (I know you are sailing RCCL) advise flights no earlier than a 1:30 pm departure from IAH for 2025 on disembarkation day, so those are the guidelines I’m following.

Thanks. The time is a good guide for Galveston in general.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Yeah exactly. RCL is more out of Florida so that's why I picked this forum.

I'm actually already on the fb page you recommend so let me see if any fog specific posts.

With weather these days, you really don't know. Yes we should be past hurricane season, but didn't Galveston just have snow? Thought I saw airports were closed. Always some stress. It's our first cruise out of Galveston. It's a ship we are interested in and the cost was less than our of Florida so giving it a try.

Yes, the Gulf coast was just hit with cold and snow. Galveston got 1-2". Both airports closed. DD16 and I were actually trying to get back from the northeast ahead of the storm to avoid complications. Still, this is not the norm. So, it's just that general game of roulette you play when you travel. It is strange...sometimes the FL ports are cheaper and sometimes they're not. Galveston is really trying to step up its game. I know people were pretty excited when we started getting Oasis class ships.

 

[CarolynFH]

Question...if we were to take the noon flight back the next day, where would you recommend we stay? Near IAH (which I think has nothing around it)? Or somewhere else? For the same reason a noon flight the day of a cruise isn't a good idea, we would need to make sure we got to the airport in time for a noon flight the next day (not because of fog but bad traffic, etc).

While there's nothing to "do" around IAH, there are a number of hotels, many with courtesy shuttles, so you could take your cruise line's transportation to IAH and then use the hotel's shuttle round trip from IAH that afternoon and back again the next morning. From reading on the Cruise Critic Gulf Coast Departures forum (https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/316-gulf-coast-departures/) it seems that some cruise lines offer post-cruise excursions to NASA, etc., on the way to IAH, so you might investigate that possibility. That forum also is a good source of recommendations of where to stay, from experienced cruisers from many cruise lines.

 

[Frozen2014]

While there's nothing to "do" around IAH, there are a number of hotels, many with courtesy shuttles, so you could take your cruise line's transportation to IAH and then use the hotel's shuttle round trip from IAH that afternoon and back again the next morning. From reading on the Cruise Critic Gulf Coast Departures forum (https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/316-gulf-coast-departures/) it seems that some cruise lines offer post-cruise excursions to NASA, etc., on the way to IAH, so you might investigate that possibility. That forum also is a good source of recommendations of where to stay, from experienced cruisers from many cruise lines.

Sorry, not understanding your response. I'm not asking how to get to IAH. I'm asking if we get off on the Sunday and book the noon flight on the Monday, then it makes sense to stay at a hotel near IAH. But....what can we do for the day on the Sunday as there are no touristy thing in that area?

 

[CarolynFH]

Sorry, not understanding your response. I'm not asking how to get to IAH. I'm asking if we get off on the Sunday and book the noon flight on the Monday, then it makes sense to stay at a hotel near IAH. But....what can we do for the day on the Sunday as there are no touristy thing in that area?

I was confirming that there's nothing to do around IAH on Sunday afternoon. I was also suggesting that your cruise line might offer a stop at NASA or other touristy location on the way to IAH, if you use their post-cruise transportation to IAH. Once you arrive at IAH via cruise line transportation, if you book one of the hotels around IAH that offers a free shuttle from and to IAH, you could take that free shuttle from IAH to the hotel, spend the night, and then take the free shuttle from that hotel to IAH to catch your noon flight on Monday. You could even book a night at the Marriott in the airport and take the airport subway to and from. I live just north of IAH, so I haven't had direct experience, but on Cruise Critic at the link I posted I have read more than once about people doing exactly that.

 

[Frozen2014]

I was confirming that there's nothing to do around IAH on Sunday afternoon. I was also suggesting that your cruise line might offer a stop at NASA or other touristy location on the way to IAH, if you use their post-cruise transportation to IAH. Once you arrive at IAH via cruise line transportation, if you book one of the hotels around IAH that offers a free shuttle from and to IAH, you could take that free shuttle from IAH to the hotel, spend the night, and then take the free shuttle from that hotel to IAH to catch your noon flight on Monday. You could even book a night at the Marriott in the airport and take the airport subway to and from. I live just north of IAH, so I haven't had direct experience, but on Cruise Critic at the link I posted I have read more than once about people doing exactly that.

Ah ok. Now I understand your post. Our cruise does have Space Center and drop off at IAH but its over $300 per person. So that would be $1200 for our family of four. Way more than we want to spend. It seems to be the only IAH/place option.
Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[CarolynFH]

Ah ok. Now I understand your post. Our cruise does have Space Center and drop off at IAH but its over $300 per person. So that would be $1200 for our family of four. Way more than we want to spend. It seems to be the only IAH/place option.
Thanks for the suggestion though.

Wow - obviously none of the posts I’ve read mentioned the price! There may be more ideas on that Cruise Critic forum, or you could ask there.