Bayport Cruise Terminal (Houston)

[Cruzin-K]

The Port Of Houston Authority has added a

Live Cruise Terminal Cam

To its Cruise Info web page.

 

I wonder what time the ship will be arriving tomorrow morning :confused:

[1CruiserGuy]

I wonder what time the ship will be arriving tomorrow morning :confused:

 

According to this link,

 

http://new.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/310423000

 

she was mid way between Cozumel and Galveston yesterday.

 

The ETA listed is for 3:30am CST tomorrow morning. But, there's a chance they might not enter Galveston Bay until dawn.

[1CruiserGuy]

I wonder what time the ship will be arriving tomorrow morning :confused:

 

It's just after 6am CST, and the Caribbean Princess is in Galveston Bay and probably about 30 minutes from docking at Bayport Terminal (sunrise).

[sminfiddle]

It's just after 6am CST, and the Caribbean Princess is in Galveston Bay and probably about 30 minutes from docking at Bayport Terminal (sunrise).

 

Big ol' SHIP on the Cruise Cam. The terminal only comes up to the Promenade Deck on her.

 

 

Edited November 5, 2013 by sminfiddle
etaoin shrdlu

[1CruiserGuy]

Big ol' SHIP on the Cruise Cam. The terminal only comes up to the Promenade Deck on her.

 

Yeah. TV 13's helicopter showed an aerial view of her, and said she will be departing at 4:30pm CST.

[Cruzin-K]

Wow! She sure towers over that building.

 

I hope some passengers who just disembarked, and those who board today & Saturday will let the rest of us know how things are working at this "new" port.

[txskier]

......too many peeps on the cruise cam.....will someone please get off:confused:

[karabear15]

......too many peeps on the cruise cam.....will someone please get off:confused:

 

Ditto! I'm leaving on her on Saturday...I just want a sneak peak :D

[MarkSeattle]

Ditto! I'm leaving on her on Saturday...I just want a sneak peak :D

 

They just showed her on channel 2 news. A few busses there, but I didn't see any cars in the lot yet, strange... Could've been from an earlier feed and not live though...

[1CruiserGuy]

All,

 

Here's a Houston Chronicle news article about her arrival at the newly operational cruise ship terminal (it was built over 5 years ago, but is just now being put to consistent, but seasonal, use):

 

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Princess-Cruise-ship-opens-Bayport-s-first-cruise-4956608.php

 

Sorry, but there's nothing in the article about the parking situation.

 

Also, the January 18, 2014 Caribbean Princess cruise will be a 7 day music festival cruise, according to this news article:

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/experience/cruise/best-of-cruising/2013/11/03/the-best-music-cruises-at-sea/3413561/

 

Looks like the Caribbean Princess will be departing a little late today, as her bridge webcam seems to indicate:

 

http://webcam.princess.com/bridgecams/index.html

 

The above webcam website isn't overloaded with onlookers, btw!

[Cruzin-K]

and there she goes...

 

I can see a helicopter overhead - must be from one of the Houston news stations. Too bad I'm just a bit far away to get Houston news on TV.

 

The group that does the Ft. Lauderdale, etc. webcams do a much better job. The picture is a bit jerky, but it was still fun to watch the sailaway.

[Shekim]

She just left the dock!

[Cruzin-K]

pics captured from the webcam, it's a bit gloomy & dark outside.

 

The Princess bridge cam showed the fire boat with it's "salute", and I can see both on the marinetraffic.com website.

 

I don't know why I find this all so interesting - I guess it gives me something to do while waiting for my next cruise. :D

Edited November 5, 2013 by Cruzin-K

[flounder315]

You will need a car to get anywhere around the Bayport Cruise Terminal.

 

As for good places to eat;

 

There is a great burger place on 146 heading south on the left before the Kehma bridge. "Tookies" awesome burgers, fries & onion rings. Bright green building with yellow trim...

 

Or visit T-Bone Tom's across the Kehma bridge also on the left. Red Barn looking building.

[sminfiddle]

This info was posted in a Roll Call.

May as well reproduce it here. IMO $20 taxi Port-To-Hobby is pretty good.

 

Rick

 

...disembarking was a "10" in our book. We had already purchased transfers to the airport (Hobby) and everything ran smoothly. We had a 3:05 pm flight so had plenty of time. I know many people left much earlier so it'll be interesting to hear from them too. Our bus left at 11:00 and we were in the airport before 11:45. We met a couple at the airport who took a taxi to Hobby (there were several taxis outside the terminal) and it cost them $20.00. I'm not sure if that will be their standard price, but transportation to Hobby was perfect for us...

 

 

 

There were tons of cabs, and even more super shuttles. They were lined up when we arrived at 7 AM. More came within an hour. I took the princess transfer to IAH and it was a 45 minute drive for $24. AI would opt for this option again if I was going to disembark in Houston. My flight was scheduled to depart before 2PM thus we were the first off the ship other than walk offs which were supposed to start at 7 but actually started at about 730ish. Even with that slight delay, I was in group RED2, the second group that was not express walk off, and we left the dining room for the buses at about 835 am ish. Our scheduled time to meet was 820 AM. We probably left the terminal at 930 after getting our luggage, going through customs etc. and drove off at about 10. The buses boarded smoothly and we arrived at the airport before 11.

Edited November 6, 2013 by sminfiddle
etaoin shrdlu

[sminfiddle]

From a screen scrape of a 9 O'Clock News story.

These are the doors in the middle as you come in from the parking lot.

[rpm]

Best thread I've seen on the new Houston Port. We haven't cruised in a few years, and love going out of Galveston, but after comparing prices for March 2014 and knowing both Princess and RC, I was surprised to see almost a $400 cheaper fare on Princess/Balcony over RC. I assume it's the new boat syndrome, but to get Princess at that price point seems like a killer deal.

 

Just assume RC is filling the boat and doesn't need to discount?

[riofriotex]

Best thread I've seen on the new Houston Port. We haven't cruised in a few years, and love going out of Galveston, but after comparing prices for March 2014 and knowing both Princess and RC, I was surprised to see almost a $400 cheaper fare on Princess/Balcony over RC. I assume it's the new boat syndrome, but to get Princess at that price point seems like a killer deal.

 

Just assume RC is filling the boat and doesn't need to discount?

 

Maybe Princess is just trying to get people to try them at the "new" port. I am looking forward to Norwegian being there next year (as I've sailed them a couple times before), but I'm not an "early adopter" - wanted to let those folks work out the kinks at Bayport so everything is smooth for me when I sail out of there in January 2015!

[chrismch]

Sounds like most are taking shuttles and not parking. Will be interesting to hear about the parking. We've now decided to drive in a day early before our cruise to at least see some sights as we've never been to the area before.

We booked the Holiday Inn at Kemah

[hawkinsmartin]

Sounds like most are taking shuttles and not parking. Will be interesting to hear about the parking. We've now decided to drive in a day early before our cruise to at least see some sights as we've never been to the area before.

We booked the Holiday Inn at Kemah

 

Please, go to Tookies just the other side of the Kemah bridge in Seabrook...best burger in Town. Also, I suggest you skip eatting at the boardwalk (waste of money) go to Outriggers...its under the bridge...better food and prices.

[bklyn977]

Hello daisydukes72, we are staying pre-cruise at your hotel this Friday. We will be arriving pretty late (probably half past midnight) and want to do some quick last minute shopping on Saturday morning. Will we be able to take a shuttle to a store around 9 am on Saturday? We plan to check out and head to the port around 11 am. Thanks in advance for your reply.

We got into comfort suites Seabrook yesterday and it is perfect. They are booking seats on the shuttle to the cruise terminal starting 9:30 Saturday morning and running every 30 minutes through noon, I believe. We booked seats for 11:30. Excellent place to stay and very close to terminal

[satxdiver]

I am on the CB right now. We left the port late on Tuesday because they were still loading food and other ship items causing the delay. As soon as it was loaded and the hatches closed we left the port over an hour late.

 

They had a helicopter overhead and a fireboat that shot off their water cannons as we left port. Thank you Bayport for the grand departure.

 

Parking was a nightmare at first trying to get the cars into the large lot. They had only a paper copy of those who had prepaid and was taking forever to find them. We set in a line for over 30 minutes waiting to get into the lot past the pay booths (2). There is a huge parking lot and the entire complex is surrounded by a high chain link fence. I hope to post some pictures of the lot when I return home Saturday. I took them from the CB before we left.

 

Unfortunately EMS had to be called before we left to take a pax off the ship. I heard he had fallen near one of the elevator banks and cut his head. I don't know more about it.

 

This is the veterans cruise and has been fantastic so far. The new terminal is really nice. For the wine lovers, they did not have a table set up and nothing was said about the three bottles we carried on. I don't know how long that will last as this was the first embarkation from Bayport.

 

Note: The Bayport terminal is out in the middle of nowhere with nothing around except vacant land and Houston's new container port. Don't count on any stores nearby, car rentals, hotels, etc.

[Stevesan]

no text

Edited November 8, 2013 by Stevesan

[MikeinSA]

I am on the CB right now. We left the port late on Tuesday because they were still loading food and other ship items causing the delay. As soon as it was loaded and the hatches closed we left the port over an hour late.

 

They had a helicopter overhead and a fireboat that shot off their water cannons as we left port. Thank you Bayport for the grand departure.

 

Parking was a nightmare at first trying to get the cars into the large lot. They had only a paper copy of those who had prepaid and was taking forever to find them. We set in a line for over 30 minutes waiting to get into the lot past the pay booths (2). There is a huge parking lot and the entire complex is surrounded by a high chain link fence. I hope to post some pictures of the lot when I return home Saturday. I took them from the CB before we left.

 

Unfortunately EMS had to be called before we left to take a pax off the ship. I heard he had fallen near one of the elevator banks and cut his head. I don't know more about it.

 

This is the veterans cruise and has been fantastic so far. The new terminal is really nice. For the wine lovers, they did not have a table set up and nothing was said about the three bottles we carried on. I don't know how long that will last as this was the first embarkation from Bayport.

 

Note: The Bayport terminal is out in the middle of nowhere with nothing around except vacant land and Houston's new container port. Don't count on any stores nearby, car rentals, hotels, etc.

 

Hi satxdiver

 

This is Mike & Eva Loue from Schertz and I believe we met at one of the san antonio cruisers dinners (may have been the one at Biff Buzbys). Thanks for all the terrific input on the new terminal, we're on the Dec 14 sailing. I think it was a good move to drive in the day before and book a hotel in Seabrook and take a cab to the terminal. Good to hear from y'all again, glad you had a good cruise. Hope to get together again soon.

[Cruzin-K]

 

Parking was a nightmare at first trying to get the cars into the large lot. They had only a paper copy of those who had prepaid and was taking forever to find them. We set in a line for over 30 minutes waiting to get into the lot past the pay booths (2). There is a huge parking lot and the entire complex is surrounded by a high chain link fence. I hope to post some pictures of the lot when I return home Saturday. I took them from the CB before we left.

 

Interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing the photos. What time did you arrive at the terminal? I guess a 30 minute wait won't be the end of the world, but hopefully they'll have a better system worked out by the time I get there. I do have a printed copy of proof of payment for parking, not sure if that would help them or not :confused: