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jackietex
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For anyone who'll be renting a car, the newly-named Galveston Beach Hotel (was the Holiday Inn Sunspree) has a cruise package that includes transportation to and from the terminal, and "gated, secure parking" for the duration of the cruise. I picked a random Saturday night in February and the rate was only $149 for up to 4 people. I've never stayed at the hotel, but I adore Captain Jack's Beach Bar in front of it. :D The hotel does have an amazing pool, too.

www.galvestonbeachhotel.com

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For anyone who'll be renting a car, the newly-named Galveston Beach Hotel (was the Holiday Inn Sunspree) has a cruise package that includes transportation to and from the terminal, and "gated, secure parking" for the duration of the cruise. I picked a random Saturday night in February and the rate was only $149 for up to 4 people. I've never stayed at the hotel, but I adore Captain Jack's Beach Bar in front of it. :D The hotel does have an amazing pool, too.

www.galvestonbeachhotel.com

Thanks, that sounds like a great deal if the $149 includes parking.

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Thanks, that sounds like a great deal if the $149 includes parking.

 

 

It says it does, and I just made my mock reservation for one night, no problem. But like with most hotels, I'm sure that depends on time of year.

 

Cruise Package:

 

* Includes transportation to and from Terminal*

* Gated, secure parking for duration of Cruise* (One vehicle per room)

* Overnight Accomodation* Includes up to 4 guests per room ($5 per additional)

Edited by crazy4themouse
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Bob, please keep us updated if you find any deals or coupons for car rentals :)

Right now the lowest I could find was around $500.00 for 8 days! :eek:

Not looking good. Avis, with my corporate discount, would be $576 for the 8 days, full size car. Basic rate of $427 plus 35% in taxes and fees! I'll check some other rental agencies, but so far it looks like I'll be sticking to a shuttle.

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Not looking good. Avis, with my corporate discount, would be $576 for the 8 days, full size car. Basic rate of $427 plus 35% in taxes and fees! I'll check some other rental agencies, but so far it looks like I'll be sticking to a shuttle.

 

We are flying into IAH airport, looking at Cool tours and super shuttle both around $300.00 round trip

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Some of the 2 day weekend requirements are based which weekend you want to stay. We have stayed a number of times in Galveston and have only booked a room for 1 night (2 times @ Hilton, 1 time @ San Louis Resort & 2 times at Hawthorn Suites). We are even booked on 2/22/14 (Mardi Gras weekend) and booked for 1 night, again at the Hilton Resort.

 

If you stay close to Hobby, there is not much in the way of a 4* type property, you really need to get farther west of the downtown area but you can get a good 3* property close to Hobby. My preference would be going a little farther down I45 to Texas City or NASA where there are some Hilton Garden & Marriott Suite properties at low $100 rates. Then you are only about 20 minutes from the port.

 

 

We also have a one night Holiday Inn Express booked for 2-22-14 (Mardi Gras weekend). We were going to stay near Hobby but decided to get to Galveston on the 22nd just in case traffic is bad on Sunday because of Mardi Gras.

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It does help! Thank you so much for a direct answer to my question. I really appreciate your response!

 

What do you think about staying near the Hobby Airport and then taking a shuttle (or something) down to Galveston the morning of the cruise? It looks like the Galveston properties are at least twice as expensive as what I've been seeing around the Hobby airport. We spend pretty freely once on the ship but try to get a good price on airfare and lodging (at a 3 or 4 star property.....we don't go for the real budget places....something like a 4 Points by Sheraton or so).

 

Thanks again!

 

I wouldn't stay near Hobby, there is just nothing attractive about the area around Hobby. Galveston has the long seawall to go walking along, Moody Gardens, The Strand downtown, Pleasure Pier. Anyway, here are some links if you want to look. :)

https://www.google.com/search?q=Galveston+seawall+walking&client=firefox-a&hs=zgb&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=np&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=bTPMUqvNN4Pb2AWuxYCAAg&ved=0CD8QsAQ&biw=1600&bih=820

 

http://www.moodygardens.com/

 

http://www.galveston.com/downtowntour/

 

http://www.pleasurepier.com/

 

http://www.galvestonbaywatch.com/

 

If all you want is a hotel room and dinner, then around Hobby would work. But if you want to go walking and investigate some of Galveston, I would stay in Galveston. :)

 

I wouldn't go walking around Hobby. :eek:

Edited by SPacificbound
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Ok, now I'm scared!

A terrible disembarkation can ruin a great cruise!

 

I sure hope they get their act together by May 25!

 

***

I hope so too. I'm on this ship with you. But, this will be Memorial Day weekend, so I wonder if they will have a full staff for customs. We drive, but we've had people who fly and they stay over and fly back Monday. Especially with Monday being Memorial Day and presumably a holiday for you, you might want to stay overnight at a hotel near the airport and fly back Monday. Are you flying Southwest from Hobby airport? That is closer to Galveston than the bigger Bush Intercontinental airport. You will usual get through customs quicker with a porter, but of course you should tip the porter -- but it is worth it to me.

Edited by Jimnbigd
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I just made a reservation at Galveston Beach Hotel and was able to book for only one night on Feb. 22 (Mardi Gras) for the cruise package at $149.

 

If you made the reservation online I would call them. The cost over the phone is $269..

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We live in the Houston area and so have done several cruises out of Galveston. It has always been slow. They don't have enough staff at

this port. Three times I was told that immigration was checking all

cruise staff and passengers. The last time didn't used that excuse, but

still slow. I have cruised from other ports and never had a wait.

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Not sure why they jack up the price of rental cars for out of state visitors. A good friend of mine lives in PA and was wanting to come home to visit friends and family. She priced a rental at around $600 for the week. I priced the same one on this end at $245.

 

Galveston lost Disney

 

Galveston didn't so much lose Disney as Disney didn't give Galveston a chance. They pretty much announced they were leaving almost as soon as they got here. They sailed in having done very little advertising for one thing. There were only two billboards on major freeways that I knew of and one of those was as you were heading into Galveston. I saw no TV advertising and only heard one radio spot. A couple of avid cruisers that I work with, who aren't on CC, didn't even know Disney was going to be sailing from Galveston until I told them.

 

They also were initially going to be doing the same itineraries as everyone else, which didn't do a lot to get people excited. It wasn't until right before they got here that they changed it up to add some 8-day cruises to include a stop at Port Canaveral,

 

Disney didn't sell out as fast as they thought they would, got their feelings hurt, and took their ball and went home.

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Galveston didn't so much lose Disney as Disney didn't give Galveston a chance. They pretty much announced they were leaving almost as soon as they got here. They sailed in having done very little advertising for one thing. There were only two billboards on major freeways that I knew of and one of those was as you were heading into Galveston. I saw no TV advertising and only heard one radio spot. A couple of avid cruisers that I work with, who aren't on CC, didn't even know Disney was going to be sailing from Galveston until I told them.

 

They also were initially going to be doing the same itineraries as everyone else, which didn't do a lot to get people excited. It wasn't until right before they got here that they changed it up to add some 8-day cruises to include a stop at Port Canaveral,

 

Disney didn't sell out as fast as they thought they would, got their feelings hurt, and took their ball and went home.

 

 

 

Well said, my friend. Well said.

 

 

-gina-

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I think another thing that hurt Disney was having to sail out or return on Fridays after Princess started sailing. Disney probably should have sailed from Bayport with a Sunday departure, especially since Disney ships don't have a casino -- ships sailing from Bayport can't open their casino for another 2 hours or so, until the ship get into the international waters. And, back to the original point of this thread -- I wonder if Bayport disembarking is better.

Edited by Jimnbigd
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I received a call from the terminal manager over the weekend regarding the treatment of my mother and her health status now. She assured me that the incident was being investigated and actions were being taken to prevent it from happening again. The manager stated the the problem was due to the software that scans the passports was malfunctioning and the info had to be input manually which was taking much longer than normal.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

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