IntrovertCruiser

I got the passport card before my first cruise several years back. I've been on 3 cruises since, all closed loop all departing from Galveston. I've had stops in Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Belize, Mexico, and Honduras and have never had a problem. I originally got the passport card because it was cheaper than the passport and I was a poor college student at the time, and I'm a cheap skate.

Now when my card expires in a few years I'm going to get both the card and the book. The card is great for the convenience it can get wet its easier to hold on to etc etc. But it does have some limitations that have been lamented over in this threat.   Most people will be just fine with a passport card. There is the downside that you can't get your passport card stamped so there is that drawback.  If you have the card you have a 99% chance of being just fine. 

Just my 2 cents.

So usually I start planning our next cruise about 2 years out, looking at ships itineraries dates etc. I went to start planning our next cruise, and noticed Carnival doesn't have any cruises planned after April in 2020. Am I missing something? Or is Carnival playing a wait and see approach with the potential third pier in Galveston.

Also not sure if this should go here or the general Carnival thread, so I apologize if it's in the wrong place.

Weather happens every port has it's own quirks, Galveston has flooded twice in recent memory, but has a pretty stable record of not flooding enough to change cruise times. Whats next rigging up a giant fan to blow the fog back out to sea during the winter?

A premium buffet area, pay a little extra but you don't have to stand behind the person that takes 10 minutes to scoop out mashed potatoes. Seriously if Carnival had people serving the buffet food it would go so much faster.

I seem to remember the sky-walk ending in the waiting area for the cruise 1 terminal, but it looked walled off IIRC. Park N Cruise is a quick walk across the street and usually there is a traffic cop to stop traffic for you. He doesn't dance like the one in Georgetown Cayman Islands, but he gets you across the street safely.

One of the great things about Galveston if you're a nerd like me and enjoying learning is the Ocean Star Oil Rig Museum, you actually get to see it as the cruise ships leave port. We visited it before we cruised back in May and as you journey out into the Gulf of Mexico it's cool to see the different kind of oil rigs and see the real life examples of what you just learned about.

Being stuck in West Texas where rain is usually a myth, we love taking cruises for our vacation and have been wanting to try a Quantum or Oasis class ship and if we can do that without the added hassle of flying than awesome.

With the Texas economy continuing to hum along and diversify itself away from energy we can support a larger more robust cruise industry. I would like to see a more diverse itinerary, but being so much further away from the eastern Caribbean does hurt us from a geography position. I do like that it appears Carnival is going to be doing more southern Caribbean trips over the next few years, as well as some panama canal cruises.

I wonder what they plan to do for parking? Probably will have to build some parking garages but how big can they build on Galveston Island?

We're coming for you Florida. (that last line was a joke we have a long way to go to catch the Florida ports, but we can continue to solidify our spot as number 2.

I had my honeymoon on The Breeze in 2016 early November, we had an aft facing balcony cabin on deck 9 and we loved it. Being one deck below the buffet I would go up and grab a couple of cups of coffee, and some cold cuts and sit on the balcony as the sun came up, it was amazing.

We didn't have a problem with soot or deck chair noise for most of the cruise. We were also in the middle of the ship. The only time we had a problem with deck chairs scraping was early morning on the last day as we were approaching our home port, as the crew began cleaning everything. We are going on the Breeze in a few months and have a Vista Balcony booked this time around, we'll see how that goes.