Galveston Disembarkation Review

[bevomom]

Just wanted to post news about our arrival into Galveston yesterday. We were the second group scheduled to leave the ship, and even by 8 am disembarking was delayed. The crew attributed it to customs delays and our group was called around 10am. Then, it took almost 2.5 hours to get from the gangway to the curb.

 

We had birth certificates for our kiddos, meaning a separate and seemingly much slower "special assist" line. We had been on the fence about getting passports for the kids, but after yesterday we definitely will before the next cruise. If everyone in your party has passports, make sure to communicate that to the staff after baggage claim so that you can get into the quicker line. There were initially too few agents checking passports, although some lines opened up a bit later. This was blamed on "budget cuts". :rolleyes:

 

Also, from watching the lines out of the baggage claim area, I would recommend getting a porter, as opposed to carrying bags yourself. That line was single-file and moved very slowly.

 

Due to the delays, the passengers coming to board the departing cruises were already making their way to the terminal and traffic became an issue on Harborside Drive. And from what I saw, the delay in getting the passengers out of the terminal and to the parking lots, led to parking hassles for the incoming people.

[trabeler]

Sorry to hear about the delays. What ship were you on?

 

We arrived the day before you on the Crown Princess. Although scheduled for 10:40 debarkation (we had a short drive so were no rush to leave), they ran ahead of schedule and we were called around 9:30. First time I've ever seen things run that quickly.

 

Once off the ship, we had about a 15 minute wait to get through immigration/customs. They had 9 stations open, although two were dedicated to porters.

[bevomom]

We were on Mariner. Glad to hear the Saturday arrivals went better!

[Rudyard]

I read on these boards that the customs officers have to come from one of the airports in Houston and if they get a late start, run into traffic, etc, it puts everything behind.

[Galveston Cruiser]

The customs officials all have to meet at a designated location and ride together. So, if one doesn't show or is late, everybody is late.

 

They have also cut back, in January, where officials will move between the two arriving ships.

[ssb]

Issues with customs and immigration are US industry wide,

Plan accordingly and buy insurance.

[Jimnbigd]

It was very slow on my December Mariner too. I wonder if the larger Carnival Magic is part of the problem -- more people to handle on Sunday. It was not as bad on my previous Mariner or Voyager cruises. Or maybe government cutbacks. Or who knows what. If flying out on Sunday after a cruise, I would not book anything before 2pm, because it might be noon or later before you even get to the airport.

[cruizinmimi]

We had a good experience leaving the Mariner, Sunday March 17th. Our Concierge walked us off at around 7:45am. We carried our luggage off and we were out of customs a little after 8am. We caught a shuttle to take us to our car and on the road at 8:35am. It was very smooth this time.

[panoramaofthepast]

We had a good experience leaving the Mariner, Sunday March 17th. Our Concierge walked us off at around 7:45am. We carried our luggage off and we were out of customs a little after 8am. We caught a shuttle to take us to our car and on the road at 8:35am. It was very smooth this time.

We had no trouble leaving Mariner in December, but Magic in January was a zoo. We were told [unofficially] that part of the problem is when the ships are returning from Belize/Roatan - issues with people trying to stow away! Several were removed from magic in handcuffs. It took us until noon to clear the ship - and we were FTTF!

[elpasomom]

We just got off the Crown on Saturday. We exited the ship five minutes before our appointed time. We found our luggage without too much difficulty. A hint if you want to get through customs faster is to hire a porter. They are allowed to bypass the long lines waiting for the customs inspection. From the time we exited the ship to the time we arrived at Hobby airport was two hours. We had Princess airport transfers.

[CruzieSue]

We were on Mariner March 17-24. Embarkation was HORRIBLE :eek: Granted, this was only our second cruise, but we will NEVER go out of Galveston again unless major changes are made. The problem was mainly outside of the terminal. Disorganization does not even begin to describe the situation. What little signage is there is of very little help, and the only information we received was from asking other passengers. The guys in our group had to take the luggage inside themselves and find the appropriate space to put the luggage that was being checked in. Absolutely no help from porters or anyone else as to where the luggage needed to go (in New Orleans, porters take the luggage from you as soon as you get out of your vehicle or taxi - you are not bothered with finding where it needs to go). There was absolutely no way to tell where the entrance line began or ended. One very short section had the roped areas, and only ONE DOOR allowing passengers in. Once inside, it did go much smoother and somewhat faster. About 2 hours total, only about 15 minutes of it was inside the terminal.

 

Disembarking was not a whole lot better but actually went faster than initially appeared it would. We chose to do self-disembarking which was supposed to begin about 8:15 (we had about an 8 hour drive). When we went to eat breakfast in the Windjammer, about 6:45, there were already people lined up outside the designated dining room on the 4th floor. We ate and left our room about 7:45 to head down. People could not get off the elevators because there was no room to get off, no discernible lines. We were finally herded through the casino all the way to the very back wall and back around and then outside about halfway around the ship. At one point, one of the RC employees tried to stop our line and let a totally different line from the other end of the ship start feeding in in front of us - short and simple, did not happen, at least not with any of the people in front of or behind us. At one point, public announcement was made that there would be a delay due to customs. More likely the delay was due to RC not knowing what to do with all the people wanting to disembark. All in all, once the line started moving it was fairly steady and, for us, customs went very quickly (we all had passports). Left the room about 7:45 and were in our truck leaving at 9:00, so really not as bad as it seemed. RC just needs much much better organization and planning in the lining up process and self-disembarking process. :rolleyes:

[Starlaker]

We just got off the Crown Princess yesterday in Galveston and it couldn't have been easier or quicker. Our flight wasn't until 5 so we chose a late debarkation (10:40). We had a leisurely breakfast at the buffet then went up to Skywalkers and played a round of cards. They made an announcement that they were ahead of schedule so we didn't even go to our assigned meeting place in the Devinci lounge, just went straight off the ship. No lines at all. Our luggage was easy to find and there was no line at customs. It all went so fast that we were finished about an hour before I had arraigned for our pick up by Eelegance limo service. We sat outside the terminal to wait and watched all the folks coming in for the next cruise with a fair amount of jealousy. It was a great cruise, start to finish.

[CruzieSue]

I wonder if the difference in the process is which Terminal you have to use? :confused: Royal Caribbean was at Terminal 2 and noticed Princess and Carnival were at Terminal 1.