HoJo Express in Galveston

[Babie]

I snagged what I think is a good deal for the Howard Johnson Express in Galveston (including parking).

Has anyone stayed there? What are taxi fares like to the Cruise Terminal? I've never really used taxis before, so how early should I call for a cab? I'd like to drop our luggage off between 10 and 10:30 and if there's no line I'll walk around the area a bit and do some pre-cruise shopping. There'll be 2 ships in port. Grand Princess and the Galaxy.

Thanx for any advice.

LES!

[ginag]

Hi! Let me see if I can help you a bit. We stayed at the HJ on our recent cruise this past December. I see in your sig that you sailed the same day we did, so you know how crazy it is being "Dickens on the Strand" weekend, which comes to the reason we stayed at HJ. Every hotel we called were either booked up, or wanted a 2 night minimum stay and I called 9 months in advance. HJ was the only place that would take my reservation due to the busy weekend. Our previous cruise we stayed at the Harbor House, but they now too require a 2 night stay, so we were a little disappointed that we couldn't stay there.

 

HJ is a clean place, nothing fancy, but the manager and staff are very nice and very very helpful in answering any questions that we had. We parked our car for free and there were other cruisers that parked there also. The area is well lit and there is a gas station right next door should you need any snacks, but there are no restaurants in the immediate area, so you have to drive a bit, but that was okay with us. Overall we were pleased and will stay there again, because basically we just wanted a place to lay our head.

The morning of the cruise we call Tropical Taxi Service. The manager had suggested this business. My DH called about 9:00 requesting a taxi for 11:00. They reminded him that the weekend was very busy and that they would be there at the motel as close to 11:00 as possible. A few minutes before 11, they showed up. We'd never taken a taxi before, only in Cozumel on our previous cruise. We had the nicest driver who was very friendly and had some good stories to tell.....gosh I can't even remember his name! Anyway the terminal is about 4 miles away, and the cost was just a bit over 10.00, only because we had to sit in heavy traffic at the terminal for a few minutes. He took us right up to the curb where porters were standing, helped us unload and we were able to check right in. No lines at all. My advice is get there early, that's the only way to go and for our next cruise in December we will do the same thing.

Hope this helped a bit..sorry for my rambling!!! If you have any other questions don't hestitate to ask!

[CFCruiser]

We stayed at the HOJO for our 2/13 cruise and had a good experience also. A clean, basic room in a safe area right off the highway(45) and about 7 minutes from the ship. The office staff was great and many other fellow cruisers take advantage of this place. We had no problem leaving our car there and grabbed a cab from a returning passenger around 11 am. Cab fair was $13.00. Hope this helps.

[Babie]

Thanx for the responses. You;ve both set my mind at ease.

In December, I stayed at the Sand Piper inn on Stewart beach. It's an ideal location, but not really what I'd call a nice hotel. The price at the time was right (Dickens on the Strand) and it included parking and transfers.

Glad to know taxi won't be outrageous either!

Thanx

LES!