Whats wrong with galveston?

[DeepWaterMariner]

friend at work just booked a cruise and said the taxes sailing out of galveston were much, much higher than out of florida. I do not know why

 

Taxes are based on all the ports visited plus the embarkation/debarkation port(s). If the itineraries aren't the same then you are not making an apples to apples comparison.

[reney313]

In my opinion, the terrible delays we experienced on the 11/25 cruise was due to the process of picking luggage up first.

 

I don't know, maybe it do it that way in other places, but I don't think I've experienced it.

 

We had to wait for a porter and it took over an hour. Then once we had the porter we loaded our luggage up and waited for another hour to get through the line.

 

It seems that is highly inefficient for the porters unless you had enough for 1 for every 2 people that need one. Had we not needed to pick up our luggage first, we could have just gone through the customs line and then a porter -- taken 10 minutes of his time and he would be off helping someone else.

 

At least that is my opinion. Has anyone had to go through customs with their luggage at other ports? My memory could be hazy, but I generally recall giving my passport and declaration form and then going into a large hall with my luggage.

[Ladysilver]

Lets see : Jobs, Growth, No state taxes, Non-Nanny Red State just to name a few.

 

Probably why many of your neighbors are moving here in record numbers.

 

Its also far away from DC...

 

 

 

 

 

Ha Ha!! I second that!! I live 20 minutes from Galveston and I've got TEXAS in my blood!! I wouldn't want to live anywhere else!! :D:D:D

[Ladysilver]

I've done several sailings to and from Galveston.

 

I have learned not to try to board before 12:30 PM at the earliest. It is much easier when the crowds have thinned out. It seems that everyone wants to board at 11:00 AM.

 

I have never had a problem debarking. Most times we are catching a cab to a motel or a shuttle to the parking place. Once, we shared a shuttle to Hobby when we came back from a transatlantic. If we have driven up and parked, we get off a little later to avoid the crowds. We figure those who have to make a flight should get priority.

 

The first thing I do on debarkation is grab a porter. It's worth every cent to be able to have someone take the bags through customs and out to the curb. If the line is long, I'm not the one schlepping the luggage and the porters seem to know which lines move the fastest.

 

I loved the city of Galveston long before I even dreamed of cruising from there. It's a city with a wonderful history. Moody Gardens is a unique experience. The Victorian houses that are open for tours are delightful. The Strand is lots of fun to walk around on and enjoy the shops and restaurants.

 

The Mardi Gras in Galveston is legendary and second only to New Orleans in attendance.

 

I agree that the approach from the expressway to the pier area is not very pretty and has gotten even less attractive after the devastating hurricane a few years ago, still it's no reason to judge the entire city as a "dump"

 

I don't think Bayonne is very pretty, either, and the boarding experience there is definitely worse than Galveston with having to board a bus and all that, yet I don't see it a reason to knock the entire state of New Jersey.

 

Just my two cents worth.:)

 

 

Very well said. :)

[negc]

Am I mistaken or did I recently read that another line (Disney or Princess) was moving its ship from Galveston to a port in Florida? Perhaps the port isn't as great an embarkation port as they had originally hoped and the limited possible itineraries may have been a factor in reaching that conclusion.

Fog may be a problem but the same can be said of Tampa and other ports as well.

[PudgiPoo]

I will start by advising that I just got off the Mariner of the Seas Sunday, Dec 16. I decided I was going to look into why all the difficulties in Galveston. I worry about bad talk about my favorite port. I really love to cruise out of Galveston. Here are some things I discovered or was told. You decide how these things affect the activity at port.

 

Embarkation: Talking to people on board it seems that many people arrived for the cruise before 11:00. Many of them complained that they had to wait a long time before they could board. Okay, my cruise ticket suggested 2:00 as a time to arrive at port. I am guiltily, I too arrive early. I got there at about 12:30 and the traffic at both Carnival and Royal’s terminals was terrible. Once we got the bags off and the truck parked we were on the ship in less than a half hour. Really not bad considering rooms are not available until about 1:30.

 

Debarkation:

1. The Mariner of the Seas does not arrive in port until 7:00 unlike the Magic that arrives around 5:00. The ship needs to clear Customs after everyone is up and ready to get off the ship.

 

2. On my cruise there were a lot of people dragging off their own bags. I headed down to my debarkation area about 9:00 and the waiting area for these people was still packed. I don’t know when they started getting off, but there sure was a bunch of them left at 9.

 

3. One more thing I personally experienced, I really hate to air it here, but I think it needs to be said. After we received our info on debarkation I went to the Guest Relations Desk to request an early departure time. I was told to just drag my bags off. I told her I did not wish to do that, could I just get the earliest time available. She told me, don’t pay any attention to the tag numbers just get off any time after 8:30 (I’m not quoting because I am not sure of her exact words, but I’m close). I have never been told this before and must admit I was shocked. I told Eric (Diamond Lounge Concierge) about this and suggested this might cause a crowd at debarkation. He called the Director of Guest Relations and what she told me was confirmed. The reasoning being, No one follows the rules. I told him this is not true some people do follow the rules if there are any. For RC staff to blame Customs and Terminal Personnel for all the difficulties is wrong. The Mariner of the Seas is at fault if they don’t set any rule. I know they can’t and won’t stop people jumping the line, but let’s at least not tell people to just do whatever they want.

[DrD]

Lets see : Jobs, Growth, No state taxes, Non-Nanny Red State just to name a few.

Probably why many of your neighbors are moving here in record numbers.

Its also far away from DC...

 

I thought we weren't supposed to talk politics, but since it seems to be ok now:

 

40th in health

37th in violent crime

46th in poverty

9th in obesity

 

 

and as you mentioned, red state. Hence the above.

 

 

I love Texas and Texans but let's not pretend that its strength is that it's not a "nanny" state. That dog don't hunt.

[pspercy]

De'nial - no longer just a river in Africa.

 

GL w/your port & 1/2 the ship doing self debark. I envision absolutely no problems with 1,500 people lining up all at once for 10 Custom's stalls. :rolleyes:

 

Hope all of you that drive can support a ship mostly on your own.

 

One problem seems to be that there's rarely a Sunday when all ten stalls are manned. It took about an hour the other week, 10a - 11a. Embarking, around noon, was only about thirty minutes.

[CENTEX CRUISER]

Thank you MATJ2000 :)

Lets see : Jobs, Growth, No state taxes, Non-Nanny Red State just to name a few.

Probably why many of your neighbors are moving here in record numbers.

Its also far away from DC...

[macfin]

NO excuse to wait in those kinds of lines, we cruise out of NYC, largest city multiple ships coming in and sending thru customs NEVER had any problems like that...What gives, cruised out of Miami again multiple ships and never a problem, RCCL needs to re evaluate tht port or concentrate on fixing what is wrong ...or just leave it to the FUN SHIP crowd!

[JimAOk1945]

Am I mistaken or did I recently read that another line (Disney or Princess) was moving its ship from Galveston to a port in Florida? Perhaps the port isn't as great an embarkation port as they had originally hoped and the limited possible itineraries may have been a factor in reaching that conclusion.

Fog may be a problem but the same can be said of Tampa and other ports as well.

 

Disney is leaving Galveston and returning to Florida http://www.galvestondailynews.com/news/local_news/article_db0543ac-4344-11e2-9319-001a4bcf6878.html

 

According to the Princess website, Princess is sailing from Galveston Dec 2012 - April 2013 then moving to Houston beginning in Oct 2013

[Youalleverybody]

We are sailing on Mariner in February.

It's dh and I, plus our 5 children. I'd love to avoid a two hour line with myl little ones. We are driving home to Kansas that day, so don't need to catch a flight. Looking for opinions: better to be up and ready to disembark asap, or have a relaxed breakfast and wait till later?

[AustinCruise]

We were on the 11/25-12/2 sailing. When we went through customs there were 5 of 10 stalls staffed at around 8:45. They were each fast but couldn't keep up. We waited about 15 min for customs as the lines continued to build behind us. Technically, self carry folks just need to walk down and through customs quickly and they should just be out of the way for everyone else.

 

I do agree that the "everyone for yourself" is really a mess and way too many self carry folks. Not sure how they would enforce group numbers though since they aren't on the sea pass card... only on the luggage.

 

If they did Sat-Sat trips, I would take my sweet time getting off the ship, but Sunday everyone is in a hurry to get home.

[CruiserN1]

I am a NYC girl married to a Texas boy and the first thing I learned when I drove over the state line in 1999 was "Don't mess with Texas." Y'all Galveston critics better be careful, or it'll be "Yankee go home! for you."

[T_Bone2012]

When we embarked in Galveston last January, we arrived at the port at 11:00 AM, went through check in very quickly, then waited about an hour to be let on the ship.

 

Coming back into Galveston on 1/22, we were delayed by fog, so we didn't get into port until after noon. We saw the notice in the compass about Crown and Anchor members waiting in the 5th floor dining room, so we headed down and waited comfortably in the dining room while everyone else was fighting for elevator space. They let us off the ship right after the first group, and we were through customs and out the door in 15 minutes (we used a porter). I guess each person has their own story - seems like the negative one's are the most likely to post.

 

we sail out of Galveston because we can drive, which saves us $600 per cruise.

[Kellie Poodle]

I am a NYC girl married to a Texas boy and the first thing I learned when I drove over the state line in 1999 was "Don't mess with Texas." Y'all Galveston critics better be careful, or it'll be "Yankee go home! for you."

 

Thata girl! :D

 

We both are originally from the NY Metro area. DH is a Bronx boy and I was born in Brooklyn but grew up and raised our family in NJ. We sold our home in NJ in 1996 and moved into a large RV.

 

We needed to choose a state for our "residence" for administrative purposes, like tagging vehicles, voting, drivers licenses, filing FEDERAL income tax (no state income tax in Texas) and we chose Texas.

 

We ran around North America for 9 years before deciding to have a home without wheels. We had been in all 50 states and we could have chosen any one of them to make our permanent home. None of them could compare to Texas.

 

I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as soon as I could.

 

("Don't mess with Texas" is really an anti-littering campaign slogan, but it fits really well within this topic.):)

[DebJ14]

I am a NYC girl married to a Texas boy and the first thing I learned when I drove over the state line in 1999 was "Don't mess with Texas." Y'all Galveston critics better be careful, or it'll be "Yankee go home! for you."

 

I wasn't born here, but I got here as fast as I could. You're right - Don't Mess with Texas, probably because so many are carrying!

 

Seriously though, the issue holding up the embarkations and debarkations is because every other week the ship does the Belize, Roatan, Cozumel itinerary. When the ship goes there CBP does a full inspection, which means that passports have to go through the machines and they have to type in all the BC/DL information and they open more luggage. The porters HATE it because they have to stand in line with us. The last time we did this route on RCI it took us over an hour to get through the passport line once we were in the terminal.

 

Carnival does that route occasionally and when they do they notify the arriving passengers for the next sailing not to arrive at the pier until 1:30 because it takes so long to get everyone off the ship and through Customs and Immigration. When we cruised in August on the Magic we arrived at the pier around 1pm and people were still getting off the ship. We were able to walk right on, but met many people who disregarded the e-mails and phone calls and got there at 10:30am and had to wait hours to board.

 

Royal Caribbean has no control over what CBP does. So, fair warning, those arriving on Jan 20 for a cruise will probably have delayed embarkation because our cruise on Jan 13 on the Mariner is doing the Belize, Roatan run. Don't blame Galveston or Royal Caribbean - blame the US Gov't.

[SPacificbound]

In the next year or so I think you will be seeing Houston getting more of the cruise line business, so if you don't like Galveston there will be another choice.

[philip_g]

Taxes are based on all the ports visited plus the embarkation/debarkation port(s). If the itineraries aren't the same then you are not making an apples to apples comparison.

 

I don't know what to tell you then, a cruise with similar stops out of florida vs galveston the taxes were more than twice as much out of TX

Did I say it was apple to apples? No, I said it was more expensive.

[Kellie Poodle]

If I'm doing the Belize/Honduras itinerary, it will be easier to get on and off the ship?

 

That's great information!

[HeadingSouth]

We sailed Carnival Magic out of Galveston last year and while I loved seeing that part of the country...and really enjoyed the Magic -- I don't think I'll ever sail from Galveston again.

 

It is very difficult to get to the port. Coming from the north (I'm from Canada, however we drove down to Seattle,WA and flew from there), we couldn't land at Hobby Int'l. Had to fly into IAH (Houston Int'l) and its a $85pp transfer to the port. Crazy.

 

Embarkation wasn't a big deal, nothing fast but nothing too slow either.

 

Getting off the ship was a whole other issue.....as a Canadian, we had to wait in the "Non-US Citizen line" and I stress....it was ONE LINE. A very long line.

 

The US line had probably 10 lanes open. They were all whizzing past us like nobody's business - and we were still stuck, sometimes not moving an inch for 20mins at a time. It took over 4hrs to get out of that port. Brutal. They didn't even open up more lines when the US travellers were done. They just closed up and took a break! It really was unbelievable....I get it that there were likely more US citizens cruising from Galveston than any other country (there were a fair amount of Mexican and Canadian travellers though as it was spring break) - but it was just plain inconsiderate how it was handled and certainly didn't encourage International travel.

 

That said, I've been there done that and won't be sailing from Galveston again.

 

I've never had a problem from FLL or MIA that way....that's why we'll sail from Florida instead.

[rsdroid]

"It's Texas, nuff said." SPDBigG

 

I wasn't born here, but I got here as fast as I could. You're right - Don't Mess with Texas, probably because so many are carrying!

 

Seriously though, the issue holding up the embarkations and debarkations is because every other week the ship does the Belize, Roatan, Cozumel itinerary. When the ship goes there CBP does a full inspection, which means that passports have to go through the machines and they have to type in all the BC/DL information and they open more luggage. The porters HATE it because they have to stand in line with us. The last time we did this route on RCI it took us over an hour to get through the passport line once we were in the terminal.

 

Carnival does that route occasionally and when they do they notify the arriving passengers for the next sailing not to arrive at the pier until 1:30 because it takes so long to get everyone off the ship and through Customs and Immigration. When we cruised in August on the Magic we arrived at the pier around 1pm and people were still getting off the ship. We were able to walk right on, but met many people who disregarded the e-mails and phone calls and got there at 10:30am and had to wait hours to board.

 

Royal Caribbean has no control over what CBP does. So, fair warning, those arriving on Jan 20 for a cruise will probably have delayed embarkation because our cruise on Jan 13 on the Mariner is doing the Belize, Roatan run. Don't blame Galveston or Royal Caribbean - blame the US Gov't.

 

Absolutely don't mess with Texas!! I was raised in SC, but moved to TX immediatly after school to pursue career opportunities. It has become more of a home than where I grew up! People here accept you for who you are and your abilities, not based on anything else. Us Texans (and I do consider myself one now) are self reliant, but at the same time friendly and ever willing to help out their neighbor. And as one said, Far from DC!! I wouldn't go to NY and expect to tell New Yorkers how to run their lives, nor would I think it appropriate to do so, no matter how much I might disagree with them. Don't mess with us Texans!! We like our lifestyle, and it suits us fine. So, SPDBigG, mind your own business if you don't live here! The assumption that things are wrong just because it's Texas IS downright offensive and inaccurate!!

 

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

[Big_G]

It's Texas, nuff said. :D

 

My apologies to the Texans. I guess the only thing NOT big in Texas is your sense of humor. Anyone notice the cheeking grin? Being from Rhode Island, we have to have a sense of humor:

 

2nd Highest Unemployment Rate 10% (Sorry Nevada)

50th CNBC Business Friendly poll

49th Forbes Business Friendly poll

49th Worst Managed State Wall Street 24/7 (Sorry California)

1st Redistribution of Wealth Wall Street 24/7

2nd Worst net migration US Census (That means everyone is leaving)

13th highest tax burden 2010

2nd worse debt per capita

Most Democratic state Gallup Poll

A Governor that refuses to call a Christmas Tree a Christmas Tree

No cruise port

 

But we have nice beaches and seafood. :D:D:D Lighten up Texas!

[Galveston Cruiser]

My apologies to the Texans. I guess the only thing NOT big in Texas is your sense of humor. Anyone notice the cheeking grin? Being from Rhode Island, we have to have a sense of humor:

:D:D:D Lighten up Texas!

 

Some need to read and SEE your post. You have no reason to apologize.

Absolutely no offense taken as I knew to was meant to be funny.

 

Y'all come back now, y'hear!

[CENTEX CRUISER]

Thanks for that pardner. Now we can all be friends again. Hope to see you on a cruise soon..:)

My apologies to the Texans. I guess the only thing NOT big in Texas is your sense of humor. Anyone notice the cheeking grin? Being from Rhode Island, we have to have a sense of humor:

 

2nd Highest Unemployment Rate 10% (Sorry Nevada)

50th CNBC Business Friendly poll

49th Forbes Business Friendly poll

49th Worst Managed State Wall Street 24/7 (Sorry California)

1st Redistribution of Wealth Wall Street 24/7

2nd Worst net migration US Census (That means everyone is leaving)

13th highest tax burden 2010

2nd worse debt per capita

Most Democratic state Gallup Poll

A Governor that refuses to call a Christmas Tree a Christmas Tree

No cruise port

 

But we have nice beaches and seafood. :D:D:D Lighten up Texas!