From IAH - Carnivel port in Galveston

we land in IAH at 11:35 am and our boarding time is 1:30-2:00 on carnival cruise on Thursday. What would be the best way to travel from iah to Galveston? Uber/lyft or car rental at iah and parking at port . We are a family of 4. I would prefer renting s car but worried about the time crunch :(. Any help will be greatly appreciated!! First time cruiser here :o

I am interested in this question - we are flying in the night before and staying at a hotel in Houston. Car Hire is really expensive, I found only Enterprise do one way drop offs at Galveston and charge an extortionate fees for one way drop off. There will be 8 of us... I have emailed the hotel and had no reply. Would really like to compare, Uber, taxi, shuttle and car hire????

Anyone have any ideas please?

I would try Galveston Express Shuttle. they charge $30 per person each way. You can reserve through their website quickly and easily. Otherwise use an Uber.

Honestly, don’t rent a car. After you add up the rental cost, tolls, & gas you end up paying more than a shuttle service. Also the added hassle of dropping the car & then getting to the port. We did this in February & the convenience of having our own car wasn’t worth it in the end. We spent more & next time I’d use a shuttle, less money & less stress.

Your flight is cutting it close. IAH is at least hour away from Galveston port and sometimes longer because of traffic or construction. I would look on galveston.com and see what transportation services are offered from IAH. Hobby airport is much closer to Galveston.

You could always go back to your booking and book the ships transportation from IAH to the cruise port. When I checked prices from Hobby-Cruise Port, it was cheaper to use the cruise lines transportation. Keeping my fingers crossed, as your timeline is not ideal! You will have about 3 hrs to be on ship (no less than 1 hr before sailing). I always fly in the day before!

How did it go? We have a very similar situation coming up in a week? We plan to use a Lufthansa because we know we can get on the road 8 minutes after getting to the curb. I think last time I rented a car out of IAH it took about an hour because you have to shuttle to the car rental, and then wat in line etc.