Flight time from HOU after a Galveston cruise

[lornak]

Hi! Wondering if I could make an 11:25 am flight from HOU after our cruise docks on 12/14. I have read a lot of bad reports about customs at Galveston but they are all from other cruise lines. Is Disney better? Could I make this flight?? TIA

 

[MichelleCanada]

It is a domestic or international flight? IMHO you need at least a solid 2 hrs to get to the airport and get where you need to be.

We unfortunately docked VERY late with DCL when we took a cruise out of Houston in the first week of January. There was some heavy fog and the port was closed for hours (no ships in or out). We ended up having lunch on the ship and didn’t clear customs until 3:30 pm. We missed our 5 pm international flight and couldn’t get out that day. I have no idea how common this is. We were sure that we had left ourselves tons of time to catch our flight....

 

[dcassetta]

Hi! Wondering if I could make an 11:25 am flight from HOU after our cruise docks on 12/14. I have read a lot of bad reports about customs at Galveston but they are all from other cruise lines. Is Disney better? Could I make this flight?? TIA

Maybe, but I'd be a little nervous about a flight that early. Make sure and book a direct car service, and do express walk off. Hobby is on the south side of Houston and about an hour from Galveston if there's no traffic. But, traffic can really be an issue in the Houston area. The other issue that sometimes affects Galveston is fog. So if your ship is late docking, that may create an issue with the flight also. What's your backup plan if you miss the 11:25?

 

[lornak]

It's domestic. Flying to MSP on SW. The nice thing with SW is that I could cancel or change my flight up to 5 minutes prior to take off. So I feel like I MIGHT have some back up options? Just trying to figure out if I can get home for my son's basketball game that evening

But I don't want to make a bad choice on this if it likely isn't going to work! Has anyone made it to HOU that early???

 

[AgentMama]

You can cancel or change your flight, but if you book "wanna get away", you're still going to pay the fare difference, and that is only if there are seats available on the later flights. I'm not sure I would risk that, but you have to do what you're comfortable with.

 

[FluteTuba]

It's domestic. Flying to MSP on SW. The nice thing with SW is that I could cancel or change my flight up to 5 minutes prior to take off. So I feel like I MIGHT have some back up options? Just trying to figure out if I can get home for my son's basketball game that evening

But I don't want to make a bad choice on this if it likely isn't going to work! Has anyone made it to HOU that early???

Oh ok, HOU is Hobby airport which is at least feasible from Galveston. Also coming up 45 on any weekday morning can be frustratingly slow. If it were me I would go for it. Best case scenario you make it back in time for the game. Otherwise you get put on standby until you make it back. If you just shift your flight you will miss the game anyhow, so no guts no glory.

 

[Carrie in AZ]

Our experience is you could make it. A few years ago, we booked the 1:30 flight and ended up sitting for a few hours. If I was booking again, I would def consider the earlier flight. Good luck!

 

[mmouse37]

It is a domestic or international flight? IMHO you need at least a solid 2 hrs to get to the airport and get where you need to be.

We unfortunately docked VERY late with DCL when we took a cruise out of Houston in the first week of January. There was some heavy fog and the port was closed for hours (no ships in or out). We ended up having lunch on the ship and didn’t clear customs until 3:30 pm. We missed our 5 pm international flight and couldn’t get out that day. I have no idea how common this is. We were sure that we had left ourselves tons of time to catch our flight....

This sounds like our cruise last January (2017). We were docked offshore until 2:30 pm due to fog...port was closed to all marine traffic. They started letting people off the ship around 3:30. We just barely made our 6:00 pm flight out of Houston. Fog can often impact the port during the winter months.

MJ

 

[apathetic]

Shouldn't have any problem. I'd keep it. If you play the "what-if" am you'll never fly out.

 

[meliscan]

The good news is that is a week day so hopefully the construction won't be terrible and freeway shouldn't be closed.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

This sounds like our cruise last January (2017). We were docked offshore until 2:30 pm due to fog...port was closed to all marine traffic. They started letting people off the ship around 3:30. We just barely made our 6:00 pm flight out of Houston. Fog can often impact the port during the winter months.

MJ

We were getting on the ship that day that you were getting off. Then when we got back to Galveston, fog delayed us and we were off around 11am. We're going again in January and booked flights for our out-of-town family around 4pm.

 

[ChasingDreams]

Any recs on private transfers that have car seats that anyone has used? We will be needing a booster seat traveling from hobby to the port and back.