Bayport Cruise Terminal (Houston)

[figmentdj]

This is figmentdj - Doug & Laura. We were on the Emerald with you last year. Hope you enjoy your trip down here to Texas. We'll probably sail the Emerald when she gets here. We're doing a B2B on the Caribbean Princess next month. Let us know if you need any info. Cheers!

[Clay Clayton]

It's 8:30 am on 12/14/13 and no ship alongside at Bayport:mad: There goes our Bon Voyage Experience I guess...

[Rudyard]

It's 8:30 am on 12/14/13 and no ship alongside at Bayport:mad: There goes our Bon Voyage Experience I guess...

 

Vessel Finder's showing Caribbean Princess about halfway between Houston and Galveston right now (0900). Looks like the fog struck again. Sorry for your delay. Hopefully the rest of the cruise will make up for it.

[Clay Clayton]

Luckily, we aren't on the cruise this week...that's not til January. We are scheduled to enjoy Princess' Bon Voyage Experience today...you get early embarkation and get off at muster...lunch with wine, etc. it was to be a dry run for us since we have a group of eight sailing in January. According to the CSR I spoke with at Princess, they expect yo be alongside at 10:30....we shall see....

[Rudyard]

Luckily, we aren't on the cruise this week...that's not til January. We are scheduled to enjoy Princess' Bon Voyage Experience today...you get early embarkation and get off at muster...lunch with wine, etc. it was to be a dry run for us since we have a group of eight sailing in January. According to the CSR I spoke with at Princess, they expect yo be alongside at 10:30....we shall see....

 

Hope they can salvage part of that. Sounds like fun.

[LewesBeach]

This is figmentdj - Doug & Laura. We were on the Emerald with you last year. Hope you enjoy your trip down here to Texas. We'll probably sail the Emerald when she gets here. We're doing a B2B on the Caribbean Princess next month. Let us know if you need any info. Cheers!

 

Hi Doug and Laura! Really looking forward to our post cruise visit to Texas - first time in the Galveston/Houston area. Will keep an eye on these boards for more info as time gets closer. Enjoy your cruise - the Caribbean Princess is one of my fav ships.

Berni

[hosscow]

We were on the December 7-14 cruise. Delayed 3 hours by fog. We had late flights so it did not matter for us. Disembarkation when it started was quick, customs was the quickest I've ever seen. Princess bus transfers to airport were waiting for us. Cruise overall was fine, some rain. The cruise terminal itself is nice. The surrounding area very industrial, do not think we will ever cruise out of there again. Saw many dolphins in the bay coming into the port.

[P.A.]

Luckily, we aren't on the cruise this week...that's not til January. We are scheduled to enjoy Princess' Bon Voyage Experience today...you get early embarkation and get off at muster...lunch with wine, etc. it was to be a dry run for us since we have a group of eight sailing in January. According to the CSR I spoke with at Princess, they expect yo be alongside at 10:30....we shall see....

 

Hopefully your Bon Voyage experience will be better than ours was. We were scheduled on the Caribbean Princess's 3rd sailing out of Bayport, Nov 23rd. Although the ship was in port on time, everything was unorganized and the whole week was not good because of a cold front that moved through.

 

Our friends live in Houston so I invited them to the BVE. Their first time with Princess. He needed a wheelchair because he had just had knee replacement surgery the month before. It was FREEZING cold in Houston and oh so windy! Anyways, we got the wheelchair and that worked out to our advantage cause they pushed him and us (there was a total of 6 of us. 4 of us sailing on Caribbean Princess that day). We got them checked in first, but then when it was our turn, they said we couldn't go with them!! What? I paid for it, I scheduled it, and they were our guest!! Luckily they let us go through after I insisted. But that was the end of the wheelchair. So he had to walk everywhere. Not sure what happened to the tour, there was none, so we just went to dining room and ate lunch, that was nice. But because he couldn't walk too far, we just went to our cabin and sat for a few hours. Too cold to even sit on balcony. They stayed about two hours then left. They only got to see a small portion of the ship. But could have seen it all if he could have gotten around.

 

As it turned out, our ship didn't even sail out until 10:30am the next morning due to high winds and getting through the small channel. Canceled two scheduled ports also due to weather. Not a Caribbean vacation. But overall it was just ok. Our 6th time to sail on Princess though.

 

Enjoy your time!

[Clay Clayton]

Our BVE was canceled due to the embarkation delay....stay tuned for the "you won't believe how the left hand didn't know what the right hand was saying" detailed narrative of our Saturday morning:eek::confused::mad:

[Clay Clayton]

Just got a text (10:30pm, 12/20/13) from friends aboard Caribbean Princess now. Due to predicted bad weather, the ship hurried back towards Houston...but didn't make it to Galveston Bay before it was closed due to weather. Now expected to dock 11 pm, Saturday night and disembark Sunday morn. So folks heading out for the Christmas cruise won't be happy, they will loose a day and those folks disembarking a day later than expected who miss their flights will have real trouble finding flights this holiday week. Ugh, no way to end a vacation and start Christmas!

 

Keep in mind the information given herein has been received from passengers aboard and is not information being issued by the cruise line. While I have no doubt that my friends are reporting what they have been told, I do know that situations like this are fluid and everything could change by morning.

 

MerryMerry!

[BentPicketRanchGirl]

I can confirm some of that. Princess sent those of us on the Caribbean Princess Christmas Cruise an email saying ship not expected to dock before 11pm Saturday night and embarkation not until Sunday at 12:30Pm. I vote they use the Galveston Port in the future. Travel agent said that one was not affected at the time they called me with the news about the delay. I had already received Princess' email but it was nice they contacted me even though it was after closing time. Strange I could find nothing on the Princess website section on notifications.

[LARGIN]

Do not understand.. Ship is currently docked at Bayport???

[P.A.]

In my opinion, I think Princess is going to be sorry they ever started sailing out of this port (Bayport). It has been nothing but trouble since first sailing. I know we won't sail from there again.

 

So sorry for those folks anxiously awaiting their Christmas cruise!

[sminfiddle]

In my opinion, I think Princess is going to be sorry they ever started sailing out of this port (Bayport). It has been nothing but trouble since first sailing.

I didn't hear of any issues on the first sailing. And our two B2B were fine from our perspective.

As more voyages cruise from POH, the statistics have to improve. In my opinion there haven't been enough yet to judge overall. The winds of Nov 23rd were anomalous.

 

 

~sent using Cruise Critic app~

[Cruzin-K]

I'll still sail from there, and have a cruise booked on the Emerald for April 2015. However, I drive to the port and that makes a huge difference. If the ship gets in early, late, whenever, it won't matter because I'll have my car at the terminal. It would be another matter if I had to fly in. Houston isn't the most convenient city to fly into in the first place, because the cruise port is so far away from the airport. It's good that the city has lots of hotels, but again, finding a room at the last minute, at a hotel convenient to the port could be problematic if you have to wait an extra day to board the ship and you've flown in the expected day of the cruise.

[P.A.]

I didn't hear of any issues on the first sailing. And our two B2B were fine from our perspective.

As more voyages cruise from POH, the statistics have to improve. In my opinion there haven't been enough yet to judge overall. The winds of Nov 23rd were anomalous.

 

 

~sent using Cruise Critic app~

 

I don't know about the first sailing, but the 2nd sailing was delayed due to fog by 4 hours. Ours was the 3rd sailing. Then this delays this Sat too. Just seems all weather related some how. Could just be the time of the year too. But I do know that there is a lot of delays at the airports in Houston because of fog. I guess time will tell. ;)

[gillamoorgirl]

Can anyone advise the best way to get 6 none US residents from Houston Galleria area to cruise terminal?

[hawkinsmartin]

Can anyone advise the best way to get 6 none US residents from Houston Galleria area to cruise terminal?

 

I'd suggest Super Shuttle or a simlar Shuttle Service/Limo. There are plenty to choose from and if you are staying at a hotel they might even recommend a service that offers a discount for their guest.

[Clay Clayton]

It's 7:30 am on Saturday, January 18, 2014 and Caribbean Princess is docked!

Unfortunate that the Noro related deep cleaning will delay her departure.

[SanFranciscoAdrian]

Does anyone know which Airport is better to fly into? and what company has a counter at the port Houston

[Galveston Cruiser]

Does anyone know which Airport is better to fly into? and what company has a counter at the port Houston

 

Hobby Airport is the nearest to Bayport.

What kind of company at Bayport.

To my knowledge, there are no counters for anything at the terminal.

[BayouDoc]

We are sailing on the Jewel in a few weeks. Norwegian allows you to bring on your own sodas. In NOLA the dockhands refuse to treat cases of soda as checked baggage but apparently at most ports you can put a room tag on the case and have it delivered to the room. Does anyone know if this is done at Bayport or do you have to carry on soda as in NOLA?

[Clay Clayton]

We did it last year on Princess. Slapped s luggage tag on our refrig pack of diet caffene free Pepsi with no issues.

[Travel Junkie Judy]

In my opinion, I think Princess is going to be sorry they ever started sailing out of this port (Bayport). It has been nothing but trouble since first sailing. I know we won't sail from there again.

 

So sorry for those folks anxiously awaiting their Christmas cruise!

 

Oh my, so sorry you had a bad experience.

 

We were on the first sailing.

All of the terminal folks were new to the site.

I thought they did an amazing job!

Sure, it was a little slower than long established ports, but give them a break.

We just sat & chatted.

It was not a long wait.

 

We are sailing again in December on NCL Jewel and can’t wait.

I’ll try to come back and report.

 

Judy

[Clay Clayton]

I suspect the PP wasn't taking about the terminal staff. Princess had lots of fog related issues last season. Either delays leaving or making it back and then on ours the dreaded noro. Hopefully the weather will be kinder this year to both Norwegian and Princess.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Clay Clayton