Bayport Cruise Terminal (Houston)

[satxdiver]

Cruzin: We arrived at the terminal at 11:15 AM. Hopefully on Saturday they will have a better way to process the cars into their parking lot. The sheet of paper with the paid numbers on it did not work. If you prepaid your parking, be sure to take the email response from them indicating you had paid. They were not able to find our reservation number but finally took the print out of the return confirmation email and let us enter the parking lot. It saved us a lot of trouble and maybe you too.

 

Once you turn off SH146, it is about 2 miles or so on Port Road and there is nothing on that road except vacant land and the Houston Container Port. So plan ahead before leaving the commercial area in LaPorte or Seabrook.

 

Captain of the Caribbean Princess is Craig Street from England (a captain without an accent!). The captain is very friendly - more so than any other cruise we have been on.

Cruise Director is Neil Roberts from Australia

 

In the patter today, it said that once the ship enters the channel on our return, it is 37 miles to Bayport Cruise Terminal and it will take 2.5 hours. I know that when we sailed away it seemed to be a long time before the port pilot left the ship.

 

Mike: I have never been to the SA cruisers get togethers.

Edited November 9, 2013 by satxdiver

[sminfiddle]

Testing picture posting from Tapatalk versus CC app

Caribbean Princess in port today with better light than last week -

 

[JF - retired RRT]

Testing picture posting from Tapatalk versus CC app

Caribbean Princess in port today with better light than last week -

 

So, which app is this?

[sminfiddle]

So, which app is this?

 

That was from Tapatalk on iPhone.

 

 

~sent using Cruise Critic app~

[MJC]

We booked the Holiday Inn at Kemah

 

We are thinking of booking this hotel too, partly because it might be quieter than the one on the boardwalk? But I'm wondering how long a walk it will be. So, it would be great if you can comment when you get back.

 

We plan to be tourists in Houston for a couple days before departure. Kemah looks like fun.

Edited November 9, 2013 by MJC
spelling

[satxdiver]

Parking lot at the new Bayport Cruise Terminal. The pictures were taken last Tuesday as we departed on a 4 day US Veterans Cruise. The pictures were taken from onboard the CB. The first two are the parking lot directly in front of the terminal. The third picture is of the employee lot and beyond on the south side of the pax parking lot.

[satxdiver]

Bayport Cruise Terminal pictures taken last Tuesday, the first day it was actually used by a scheduled cruise ship. First picture is the front of the terminal where you enter. The lady is my partner. The second picture was taken from the line of agents where you check in and is looking to my right with the third picture looking to my left. That shows the entrance you go through to access the escalator or elevator to the second floor and the ramp to the ship.

 

Carnival used the terminal for a few weeks when the hurricane visited Galveston and flooded the cruise terminal there. They used it until they could get their cruise terminal back in operation. The Caribbean Princess will be the first cruise ship to actually use the new Bayport for a cruising season.

[Cruzin-K]

Parking lot at the new Bayport Cruise Terminal. The pictures were taken last Tuesday as we departed on a 4 day US Veterans Cruise. The pictures were taken from onboard the CB. The first two are the parking lot directly in front of the terminal. The third picture is of the employee lot and beyond on the south side of the pax parking lot.

 

Thanks so much for the photos. I can't wait to be there in a few weeks :)

 

There's a lot of empty space in the lot - that's a good thing for those of us driving to the port. :D

 

Did you drop off luggage before parking the car?

[mistshar]

Bayport Cruise Terminal pictures taken last Tuesday, the first day it was actually used by a scheduled cruise ship. First picture is the front of the terminal where you enter. The lady is my partner. The second picture was taken from the line of agents where you check in and is looking to my right with the third picture looking to my left. That shows the entrance you go through to access the escalator or elevator to the second floor and the ramp to the ship.

 

Carnival used the terminal for a few weeks when the hurricane visited Galveston and flooded the cruise terminal there. They used it until they could get their cruise terminal back in operation. The Caribbean Princess will be the first cruise ship to actually use the new Bayport for a cruising season.

 

Thank you so much for the pictures. They are very helpful. I would like to know how far it is from the parking lot to the terminal. It doesn't look very far but I am unable to walk far and would like to know the distance. Thanks, again!

[sminfiddle]

Thank you so much for the pictures. They are very helpful. I would like to know how far it is from the parking lot to the terminal. It doesn't look very far but I am unable to walk far and would like to know the distance. Thanks, again!

 

The parking lot is right across the drop-off driveway. 30-50 feet ?

 

 

 

 

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Edited November 10, 2013 by sminfiddle

[mistshar]

The parking lot is right across the drop-off driveway. 30-50 feet ?

 

 

 

 

~sent using Cruise Critic app~

 

I knew that is how it looked. Thank you for the pictures. If looks like it would be a fairly easy walk for me.

[satxdiver]

Thanks so much for the photos. I can't wait to be there in a few weeks :)

 

There's a lot of empty space in the lot - that's a good thing for those of us driving to the port. :D

 

Did you drop off luggage before parking the car?

 

Yes, they encourage you to drive up to the drop off where the baggage handlers will take your luggage after you remove it from your vehicle and then go park.

 

The empty space was because we were the first pax to embark from the terminal and the ship was only about half full for the four day cruise. I imagine it will look much fuller right now and even more so next Saturday as a full ship is getting off the ship and a new group of pax are arriving to get on the ship.

[trabeler]

Cruzin: We arrived at the terminal at 11:15 AM. Hopefully on Saturday they will have a better way to process the cars into their parking lot. The sheet of paper with the paid numbers on it did not work. If you prepaid your parking, be sure to take the email response from them indicating you had paid. They were not able to find our reservation number but finally took the print out of the return confirmation email and let us enter the parking lot. It saved us a lot of trouble and maybe you too.

 

Thanks for the updates on the parking situation! I made my reservation today for parking and was sent a voucher by email that has a barcode on the upper right corner. Is the voucher the document that they had trouble accepting or is this something new they're doing?

[satxdiver]

Thanks for the updates on the parking situation! I made my reservation today for parking and was sent a voucher by email that has a barcode on the upper right corner. Is the voucher the document that they had trouble accepting or is this something new they're doing?

 

So they finally modernized I see. No, ours did not have the barcode. I made the reservation a few days after they offered it on their website as a special for our 4 day cruise. You will need the form with the barcode and it should go a lot faster with that. Tuesday was their first time at hosting a cruise ship and they were on a learning curve I imagine.

[mcas]

Hopefully I can help someone else avoid a headache and added costs by posting this. A few weeks back on the visit bay area Houston website it showed the comfort suites as offering free parking and shuttle to the cruise terminal. It has since changed to only reflect the free shuttle.

 

I called to book and was quoted $135 for the cruise rate. I told the girl on the phone that I had an online rate of $75 plus tax and asked if I could book online to get the rate and still get the free parking and shuttle. I was told yes so I booked. I wish I had gotten the girls name but, of course I did not.

 

I received an email about my hotel stay and did not see any reference to the parking so I followed up with a phone call yesterday and was told that my booking did not include parking. Since my reservation was non-transferable and I could not cancel the booking either, I could add the parking at a cost of $20 a day at the comfort suites or pay the $75 at the cruise terminal.

 

Long story short, the girls answering the phone at the comfort suite gave wrong information which has now cost me $75 in additional parking fees. If you are going to book here and want the parking I suggest doing so on the phone so you know it's included.

[mcas]

I know it is. They are probably not going to do very well if they charge that much for parking. It is less to park at the port than pay $20.00. I imagine the rates will go up a lot later on too. That's what happened in Galveston so you may have gotten a bargain anyway. I expect before we go on our cruise there that the prices everywhere around there will go up substantially.

 

 

Yes, I expect the prices will raise even more. I am filing it under "lesson learned" for next time.

[mistshar]

I guess they don't realize that most people are used to getting the parking and shuttle free. At least most of the ones in Galveston are that way. It bothers me because the rate is so much higher for the parking. We won't need to park there when we go but if we did we certainly wouldn't stay there. I believe that most of the hotels in Galveston have a rate and if they offer free parking, it is really free no matter what the rate is. They don't have different rates.

 

Of course if they do that then their rate may go up for the people who don't need to park there.

 

I wonder how the other hotels in the area are doing it.

[JF - retired RRT]

When I called about rates for parking vs. not. I was told that the shuttle is free. The parking costs for the "Park n Cruise" rate is less than you would pay to simply stay in the hotel and park at the terminal.

[satxdiver]

Bayport has never really been used before so the nearby hotels are on a learning curve. Perhaps as they get more experience they will become a bit more reasonable. I will say though that it was really convenient to just walk outside the terminal, load the car and leave without having to wait for a shuttle to arrive and fill up.

[mistshar]

Bayport has never really been used before so the nearby hotels are on a learning curve. Perhaps as they get more experience they will become a bit more reasonable. I will say though that it was really convenient to just walk outside the terminal, load the car and leave without having to wait for a shuttle to arrive and fill up.

 

That's what we plan to do also. That is what we do in Galveston. Park N Cruise is just across the street so we are able to do the same thing. It just simplifies things.

[gdk321]

Dose any know what time do they open the doors at Bayport

[sminfiddle]

Does any know what time do they open the doors at Bayport?

 

No one has posted yet about having to wait at a closed door.

Definitely open by 11AM.

[gdk321]

Thanks

[riofriotex]

No one has posted yet about having to wait at a closed door.

Definitely open by 11AM.

 

Wouldn't the opening time be affected by what time the previous passengers are all off the ship?

 

I mention this because we are 2 for 2 on January cruises out of Galveston affected negatively by fog (late departure on one, late arrival on the other). I would think it would be worse for Bayport once we hit fog season.

[sminfiddle]

Wouldn't the opening time be affected by what time the previous passengers are all off the ship?

Boarding time could definitely be affected.

I'd be shocked if that meant the doors were closed to people checking in.

 

 

 

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