Houston homeport in November 2013

[big_schots]

The Galveston Crown cruises have been selling very well. In fact, the price I paid for my Jan. cruise has gone up multiple times, even with the so-called incentives being offered. As you'll see, the majority of the mini-suites are sold out for these sailings and on some of the sailings, the suites are sold out as well and they didn't go for a discount.

 

For many of us West Coasters, we have been waiting for Princess to come back to Texas. It's a simple 3 hr. flight for us vs. an all-day affair getting to FLL. I, like many others, would NOT chose to sail any of the other lines sailing out of Texas. I don't care what it costs, I will not step foot on a Carnivore ship again and NCL is almost as low on that totem pole too and without kids, there's not much point to sail with Disney. I do hope Princess continues to sail out of TX and I look forward to trying the Port of Houston sometime too. :)

 

 

I hope you're correct about filling the ships, and my sailing is an anomaly. On my Crown sailing (January 26th), Princess is playing a shell game, that our roll call members have been winning at. The majority have been booking BG and AE cabin gaurentees, hoping for upgrades. Pretty much all the BG cabins have been upgraded to BA, while the AE mini-suites have been upgraded to AB or better. Thus, it looks like the high end cabins are selling well, while in fact they have been selling for rock bottom prices.

 

The non-Texan (non drive in) cruisers have also been bemoaning the difficuly/cost of getting from the airports (Hobby and Bush) to the Galveston cruise terminal. The new Houston terminal should alleviate some of the issues, since it is 20 miles closer to both airports. I'm really hoping that Princess does well in Texas, since it has become my cruiseline of choice. Only time will tell. The big test will come when Princess has to make a decision about their 2014/2015 schedule. I really hope either Galveston and/or Houston gets a ship for the winter/spring season.

[DrivesLikeMario]

...I really hope either Galveston and/or Houston gets a ship for the winter/spring season.

 

Me too!

[austinlw]

As an Austinite, I'm happy to see the Houston port is going to be utilized by Princess. I wish there were more variety in itineraries from Houston/Galveston. It's generally either Roatan, Belize, Cozumel OR Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel. After 4 previous cruises out of Galveston, we did our last 2 cruises last fall and this fall out of Ft Lauderdale on Princess to see some different islands. But from Texas Crown Princess is doing the same ports this year as RCI Mariner OTS. Next year Caribbean Princess will be doing the same ports as Navigator OTS. So for next winter wifey and I just reserved a balcony on RCI Navigator OTS A. for the variety, B. because right now the price is way lower for the RCI cruise than the CP price for the same ports, and C. we've had a really good time on our previous 3 RCI cruises. I'd also like to see Princess offer a 10 or 11 day cruise from Houston - even if it's just for part of the season (maybe in Jan/Feb while kids are in school), so they could offer more ports that those of us who have cruised from Texas several times on various lines have not yet been to - Panama, Costa Rica, etc.

[caribill]

As an Austinite, I'm happy to see the Houston port is going to be utilized by Princess. I wish there were more variety in itineraries from Houston/Galveston. It's generally either Roatan, Belize, Cozumel OR Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel. After 4 previous cruises out of Galveston, we did our last 2 cruises last fall and this fall out of Ft Lauderdale on Princess to see some different islands. But from Texas Crown Princess is doing the same ports this year as RCI Mariner OTS. Next year Caribbean Princess will be doing the same ports as Navigator OTS. So for next winter wifey and I just reserved a balcony on RCI Navigator OTS A. for the variety, B. because right now the price is way lower for the RCI cruise than the CP price for the same ports, and C. we've had a really good time on our previous 3 RCI cruises. I'd also like to see Princess offer a 10 or 11 day cruise from Houston - even if it's just for part of the season (maybe in Jan/Feb while kids are in school), so they could offer more ports that those of us who have cruised from Texas several times on various lines have not yet been to - Panama, Costa Rica, etc.

 

 

On a seven day cruise from Houston/Galveston there are just a limited number of ports a ship can ho to which is why so many of the itineraries from the different cruise lines are the same.

 

Based on the great sale pricing for Princess out of Galveston this Jan and Feb, I suspect they are not selling very well.