Galveston disembarkation, Houston flight time

We are cruising on Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston later in January, return to Galveston scheduled for 6:30 a.m. on a Sunday. We've purchased our airline tickets independently of cruise. Problem is, airline moved up flight departure significantly to 12:30 p.m. Sunday. Flight is out of Bush Intercontinental.

We're traveling with friends from south Texas who have cruised from Galveston previously and will drive us to IAH. He says he thinks we "probably" can make our flight.

I'm looking for input. Would the carry-your-own-luggage early-departure be preferred? Or should we use the put your bags outside your cabin the night before arrival approach? We'll each have one piece of luggage on wheels, plus a carry-on bag each.

Will there likely be sufficient time to disembark, clear customs, get to airport and do the airport processing? (I know, can't predict if weather conditions will affect docking time.)

I thought I'd ask all of this before deciding whether to attempt to change our flight (with all that that might entail.) We cruised once previously but that was an Alaska sea/land tour, and flight deadline was not an issue. Thanks for any advice.

I would opt for self-assist disembarkation and also get a porter to help as the porter line is usually a faster way to get through customs. Pray for no fog.

Last time we went out of Galveston, we did the carry our own luggage thing and were home by 9am. We live in south Houston. We were off the ship and thru customs by 8 am. 12:30 shouldn’t be an issue

We are cruising on Liberty of the Seas out of Galveston later in January, return to Galveston scheduled for 6:30 a.m. on a Sunday. We've purchased our airline tickets independently of cruise. Problem is, airline moved up flight departure significantly to 12:30 p.m. Sunday. Flight is out of Bush Intercontinental.

 

We're traveling with friends from south Texas who have cruised from Galveston previously and will drive us to IAH. He says he thinks we "probably" can make our flight.

 

I'm looking for input. Would the carry-your-own-luggage early-departure be preferred? Or should we use the put your bags outside your cabin the night before arrival approach? We'll each have one piece of luggage on wheels, plus a carry-on bag each.

 

Will there likely be sufficient time to disembark, clear customs, get to airport and do the airport processing? (I know, can't predict if weather conditions will affect docking time.)

 

I thought I'd ask all of this before deciding whether to attempt to change our flight (with all that that might entail.) We cruised once previously but that was an Alaska sea/land tour, and flight deadline was not an issue. Thanks for any advice.

We have always done normal disembarkation out of Galveston and normally get home just north of Downtown Houston between 10 &10:30. I would self disembark to give yourself some extra time is needed and yes pray its not foggy.

I agree: self-disembark. The holdup we've found in Galveston is customs. It seems like they are often understaffed, which, of course, makes the lines slow. If you self-disembark, you'll beat the rush to customs and should have no problem. If you don't, and wait for a later time, you could run into severe time problems. Why take the chance?

Surprised no one mentioned.... FOG

Surprised no one mentioned.... FOG

I think Bob did early on!

OP, if you decide to self-disembark be prepared to be up early to join the hundreds of others that self-disembark with luggage that is way more than they can handle.

Unfortunately it is my local port so we travel through there regularly (one of the minority that doesn't self-disembark) but I have never experienced such chaos at any other port.

We sailed Carnival a few years ago from there. My brother flew in and we drove. We drove them to HOB for a 12:30 PM flight. We did self debarkation around 7:45 AM and were on the road by 8:20 AM and at the airport by 9:30 AM. Sunday morning there was zero traffic.

Customs wasn't the hold up. However, if I had gotten the car and came back to pick everybody up that would have. The traffic in/out of the terminal is horrible. When we embarked I dropped everybody off and went to park the car just across the street and it took me 45 minutes just to get back to the terminal.

BTW: if you can make it to the Cajun Greek for dinner do it.