Galveston cruise question

[kurts mom]

Hello
I am looking at a cruise that leaves out of Galveston. We have never sailed out of this port
before and am unfamiliar with the area. We will be using Southwest points to fly and they only
go into Hobby airport. Disney only offers transfers from George Bush. Anyone have any experince
on flying into Hobby and getting to the pier TIA

 

[dcassetta]

www.galveston.com is the home page for Galveston tourism and they list some car services. Uber or Lyft might work, and you can rent a car, although one-way rates are usually prohibitive.

 

[MUN]

Hello
I am looking at a cruise that leaves out of Galveston. We have never sailed out of this port
before and am unfamiliar with the area. We will be using Southwest points to fly and they only
go into Hobby airport. Disney only offers transfers from George Bush. Anyone have any experince
on flying into Hobby and getting to the pier TIA

I am. We took a cab from Hobby to Galveston. Galveston only has 1 rental car agency and they charge a very steep fee for a one-way rental. Therefore, renting a car to get from Hobby to Galveston is impractical. We stayed in Galveston for 2 nights before the cruise 2 years ago. Our hotel was a short walk from the rental car agency, so we picked up a car for the day to explore Galveston. It's a lovely island with plenty to do before our after your cruise.

MUN

I will add that the Galveston.com site has the best web-cams available anywhere.

 

[cmph]

We rented a mini-van and booked the San Luis resort's stay/park/shuttle package. It was cheaper for 6 of us than any other option I could find, even though leaving a rental there for a week seemed silly.

 

[gotomu212]

We took a car service that I wouldn’t recommend. Uber is banned from the island of Galveston-technically you could still get someone to drive you there (someone needs to sit in front and act like it’s your friend dropping you off- they literally pull cars over if everyone is in the back) but if they get caught it’s a huge fine. We’ve resorted to taxis and just factored it in to the budget for transportation.

 

[dcassetta]

We took a car service that I wouldn’t recommend. Uber is banned from the island of Galveston-technically you could still get someone to drive you there (someone needs to sit in front and act like it’s your friend dropping you off- they literally pull cars over if everyone is in the back) but if they get caught it’s a huge fine. We’ve resorted to taxis and just factored it in to the budget for transportation.

The governor signed a bill last summer that essentially ended Uber/Lyft bans. Uber drivers are permitted in Galveston.

 

[BAIC03]

Since I do not like having to figure all that stuff out, I took a taxi from Hobby to George Bush and took the transfer from there. Must less hectic than trying to figure out how to get there, rental car, etc. same thing on the way back.

 

[mmouse37]

The governor signed a bill last summer that essentially ended Uber/Lyft bans. Uber drivers are permitted in Galveston.

We were told this past January that Uber was still not allowed on the island. It was by the Enterprise rep so who knows if the info was correct or not but they are the only rental on the island.

We took a car service from George Bush and then rented a car for our 2 nights before the cruise so we had a vehicle to get around. The one way rate was crazy but the rate I got for the 2 days while in Galveston was very reasonable. We stayed at the Hilton and Enterprise picked me up there and brought me to their office and then the morning of the cruise they drove me back to the Hilton after I dropped off the car. We took the hotel shuttle to the port. It went from the Hilton to the San Luis resort to pick up some people and then to the port. The hotels were next to each other.

MJ

 

[dcassetta]

We were told this past January that Uber was still not allowed on the island. It was by the Enterprise rep so who knows if the info was correct or not but they are the only rental on the island.

MJ

I think that was still true in January. The governor signed the bill in May or June, so it's only been a few months. I don't think I would take Uber from Hobby to Galveston, because you could probably get a scheduled car service for a similar price.

 

[Carrie in AZ]

In 2013, I spent days researching transportation options for our family of four from Hobby to the port with the added challenge of flying in the night before and selecting a hotel. In the end, renting a car for the week and parking it at the port was the cheapest option. We literally were in that car for about two hours total, an hour on the front end and an hour on the return. I think it is absolutely ridiculous to have a car sit there all week, but that is what we did. There may be better options nowadays. We like flying SW for several reasons, and we would sail out of Galveston again in the future, but it isn’t exactly easy.

Good luck!

 

[MUN]

In 2013, I spent days researching transportation options for our family of four from Hobby to the port with the added challenge of flying in the night before and selecting a hotel. In the end, renting a car for the week and parking it at the port was the cheapest option. We literally were in that car for about two hours total, an hour on the front end and an hour on the return. I think it is absolutely ridiculous to have a car sit there all week, but that is what we did. There may be better options nowadays. We like flying SW for several reasons, and we would sail out of Galveston again in the future, but it isn’t exactly easy.

Good luck!

If you have a 7 day cruise and you fly in the night before, you rent the car for 8 days not 1 week.

MUN

 

[gotomu212]

I think that was still true in January. The governor signed the bill in May or June, so it's only been a few months. I don't think I would take Uber from Hobby to Galveston, because you could probably get a scheduled car service for a similar price.

Awesome news! Our uber estimation had the fare at about 70% of our car service (which was horrible) before we found out they couldn’t operate at the time. Glad they came around.