HoneymooningAgain

Additional question: there are places to change, correct?

There is a great website explaining rates, how to get a taxi, and proper etiquette, etc. Just Google and you'll find a couple good ones with LOTS of advice. Also, friends just got back from Falmouth on same ship we are going on, Liberty of the Seas. They answered our questions and one was same as yours...taxis. They said there are plenty of taxi as you get off the ship, and YES, look for the red plates. My question, we are considering hiring a taxi for the day and going to several places. Anyone know if this is a bad idea; will the driver be willing to follow our agenda and not his (as heard from some cruisers).

We read recommendations to contact him. Tried over a month ago, no response.

The Galveston Express website has a "rates" link; there you will find several pricing variations.

As promised, here is my report on Galveston Express Shuttle. On Sunday, July 31st, our driver "Ben" was 15 minutes early for our 10:30 am reservation and when we got to the port area, traffic was backed up, but he knew a few of the tricks to get around the traffic and got us to the terminal fairly quickly. Today, August 7th, we were fortunate to have Ben as our driver again. He was almost 10 minutes early for our 12 noon reservation and had us to Hobby airport by 12:45 pm. I have nothing but great things to say about the promptness, the professionalism of our driver, cleanliness of the shuttles and the overall service. The only negative is that we got through customs so quickly (without using a porter either) and we had to wait outside for over an hour before our scheduled time. With all the horror stories of going through customs in Galveston, I was expecting 45 minutes to an hour and it was maybe 5 minutes at most.

 

So "Yes", I would use them again and "Yes", I would recommend them.

THANK YOU so very much! I was on the fence and so unsure. As we only need the shuttle to get us from the airport to Galveston (no time constraints-we are touring Galveston for a day before the cruise) I will not worry about time and go ahead and make a reservation. We, too, were nervous about the bad reviews of Galveston port, but hope we have the good experience you did. Much appreciation!

I read it all the time, and I agree; "This forum has some wonderful people!"

Just like family! Thank you for all the replies.

Ready2Go, Could not find Kent on FB, please send number.

crusinelife, Looking forward to see if shuttle was a good experience for you.

Any "recent" users of Galveston Express?

Between Yelp & Trip Advisor, it appears there are very mixed reviews, even recently. We still do not have a shuttle from IAH to Galveston in Sept.

Please help!

There is a retractable wash line on Royal Caribbean?

A copy of your passport may help you expedite the process at the Consulate if for some reason you don't have the original but it won't do much more than that. Some ports want to see your cabin card and a photo ID before letting you into the port area and I have read that a copy of the passport could be used for that, but I would rather have a regular ID like my drivers license. I have heard that if you miss the ship the cruise line will go through your cabin safe and turn your passport over to the port agent, but again there have been conflicting reports. If you know that you are going to miss the ship you could give the port agent a call and ask the ship to retrieve your passport. Best thing to do is to keep in mind that there are a lot of people that go ashore every year without a passport (either because they don't have one or they left in on the ship) and they have no issues at all.

Thanks everyone, for the passport advice.

1st cruise; RC; hope to snorkel for the 1st time.

Plan on Mayan Ruins tour, then day at Playa Palancar. Looking at reviews but confused; does anyone know - do we need to reserve a snorkel tour or can we do that right at the beach whenever we arrive, since we are not sure how long we will be at ruins?

We have our passports, but reviews have us confused.

We will be on RC and stopping in Cozumel, Falmouth, Grand Caymans.

Prefer not to take passport to beach - is a COPY of the passport acceptable if we leave passport in safe on ship?

And we keep our seaport pass/key with us, correct?

Thank you!! Husband is a gulf war veteran with a disability that causes hot flashes too!

Great idea; do I contact the cruise line prior to our cruise for that request?

Thank you; love the forums, what great help! And love your Will Kommen quote; forwarding it to friends who are cruising for the first time.

Thank you! For both ports we have some ideas of what we want to see, such as Mayan Ruins, and then we plan to stop at a beach until time to go back to the ship.

If it is a short stop, will the cab stay with you? And when we stop at one of the main beaches, will we be able to get another cab?

Great advice, thank you. As a new cruiser, just want to clarify; if we have MTD, does that mean we can eat as late as 8:30 in the dining room, or is that only for those with a set time.

Leaving on our first cruise (RC-Liberty of the Seas). We have decided to skip excursions and rent a cab in the ports of Cozumel and Falmouth. Reading a lot of reviews and they tell us to have plenty of change, so they don't scam you, (example) pretending they have to keep your $20, but otherwise reviews insist renting a cab (just 2 of us) is safe. Anyone have a different experience or advice?

Reading about the fans for noise and snoring; yet, wondering if one is needed for hubby who does not sleep well if warm. Leaving on RC/Liberty of the seas; balcony cabin.

Does anyone know if we should pack a small fan or do the cabins keep cool/warm as set by an individual thermostat?

Thanks to everyone; that was my first post and you all were very helpful. We've reviewed things to do in ports and even saw there are taxi companies where you can reserve ahead, some even get good reviews from TripAdvisor; however, we prefer the suggestions of bargaining for a price and keeping the driver with us. Thank you!!!

We are first time cruisers -can anyone tell us if we should make reservations for a taxi for these two ports? Reviews from cruisers seem to imply there are plenty of taxis available; however, we wonder if it is prudent to reserve prior to our trip.