Galveston Tips and Tricks

[TXspartan]

Looking to take a trip on the Wonder leaving from Galveston. This will be our first time leaving from Galveston. Looking for recommendations on best places to park and any tips on what to be prepared for in the terminal and how it compares to Port Canaveral.

Also I've read that Fog can be a problem in Galveston, how concerned should we be about arriving back into port late?

 

[GoofyLovingFamily]

We parked at EZ Cruise Parking. Very convenient and a good price. The terminal is nice with lots of seats.

The fog is a problem in the winter. Our cruise on 12/2/16 was not affected by the fog. Friends of ours on cruises later in the month were affected.

 

[jrabbit]

The cruise before ours this year (it left on Jan 13 - and it was a Friday ... ) had serious delays. The ships were not allowed into port until at least 2pm. The Wonder wasn't allowed to leave until the following morning.

When it returned on the 20th, they were delayed a little while - DCL asked us to delay our Port Arrival by at least 2 hours. We left on the 20th close to scheduled sailing time.

 

[llachance]

Depending on the time of year - fog can be a problem. Experienced it for the first time this year. We drive to the port and have used Lighthouse Parking and EZ Cruise. Depends on whether you want to take a shuttle or just walk back and forth to where you are parked. The terminal is nothing like Port Canavaral partly because Disney doesn't own the warehouse that is used for processing. That said it isn't bad and they do put up all the disney "stuff" that they can. As I recall (and it has been a couple of years) there was a spot where they did character pictures and you could get the kids wristbands before you got on the ship. My family will be traveling again, from Galveston, in November and will see what happens. Since we are platinum now I will be looking for that "special" check in desk

 

[apathetic]

We were on the 13 Jan cruise that suffered fog delays. From my understanding, it happens but not all the time. We lost one port (Key West) and were delayed a few hours on return. That aside, the cruise was still great.

Galveston is a decent port. It is about an hour or so from Houston. Flying into Hobby is much closer than Bush, which means cheaper transportation to Galveston. The island is easy to get around. We had a crazy check-in because of the fog, but overall it looked smooth. There are tons of parking places near the port and all provide free shuttles. You drive up and drop off your checked bags then park. The check in seemed smooth, all things considered. The terminal was decent. Again, we didn't get the usual check-in because all 2,000 passengers showed up at the same time.

There are also plenty of hotels. You can find the usual chains for about $100-$200 during the off peak months. Or you can get the higher end ones above $200. It is your choice and you will find something that suits your needs. Some hotels have shuttles to the port and some even let you leave your car there (for a fee). Sign up for shuttles as soon as you can I recommend just parking at one of the port lots. You will get out of there faster when the cruise ends because the lots have tons of shuttles where hotels usually have only one. You can reserve a parking spot at the lots and pay up front for a discount. Note closing times on lots. They close early (as many on the 13th of Jan found out), because they expect ships to leave about 4. I think most lots close between 3-5pm. If you are delayed, remember to park early.

I would arrive in Galveston a day early. It is a bit of a journey from Houston and you don't want to rush to make the ship. Otherwise, it was a nice experience in Galveston. We plan to sail from there again. Had there not been any fog, it would have been a much more positive experience. However, that is something you can't control.

 

[TXspartan]

You can reserve a parking spot at the lots and pay up front for a discount. Note closing times on lots. They close early (as many on the 13th of Jan found out), because they expect ships to leave about 4. I think most lots close between 3-5pm. If you are delayed, remember to park early..

Thanks for the tip, never even considered that they parking lots would close early if the ships were delayed, wonder if anyone ever got stuck at the port b/c they couldn't dock and the parking lots closed for the day