Houston/Galveston

[foxland]

Im a first time poster! We are cruising out of Galveston in april 2006. Should we stay in Houston or Galveston.? Is there a hotel on the water in Galveston so that we can watch the ships??? Or is it better to stay in Houston? If so where? We would also like to catch a baseball game if they are on. Thanks in anticipation.

[bluey258]

We are staying at the harbor house in Galveston. It is right on the pier. From what everyone has said you can see the ships in the morning when you wake up. Try doing a search on the hotel board, I found some great reading and advice there. Hope this helps.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=25523

this will get you started

[DonLou]

Foxland,

 

I would choose to stay in Galveston. Galveston is an island connected to the mainland by one big bridge. There are three major tourist areas.

 

One, the Strand, is where you would be boarding the ship. It has a lot of quaint little shops and the classic Tremont House hotel. Personally, it's not a particularly pretty area for ships, rather industrialized along the piers.

 

The second area is on the opposite side of the island, the Seawall. Here, there are miles of sandy beach (not all of which look clean). There are numerous hotels and timeshare units along the Seawall. If you want to get a look at the gulf, you can try to get an oceanview room in one of these units.

 

The third area is Moody Gardens. This is an entertainment complex that among other things has an aquarium, Imax theater, Rain Forest, etc., all within buildings resembling pyramids. There is also a hotel located on this property.

 

Moody Garden's and the Seawall are about a 10-15 minute cab ride to the ship embarkation point (cost about $10).

 

As for baseball, ;) you'll have to take your chances on whether the Astros will be in town when you are.

[lilmsonry]

Hi! Have you looked at Galveston.com? If you then look under I think it is specials, scroll down and it will have pre-cruise specials for hotels. Anyway, that website is very helpful. It has a calendar of events that you can put your weekend(s) or whatever time in to see what is going on at the beach then and around town. We are staying at Bestwestern on the Beach in Galveston. Got very reasonable price for family. Actually leaving in 3 weeks so can tell you more when I get back!

 

You can e-mail me @ LILMSONRY1@COX.NET if I can help you in any way, I don't mind at all.

[DonLou]

Small world Lilmsonry. We stayed at the Best Western Beachfront in February. It's nicely furnished with plenty of underground parking. As I remember it, the breakfast was meatless but okay. The best thing we found was that it's near several restaurants and next to a big discount grocery store (I forgot the name of it). We bought a case of water there and took it with us on our cruise.

 

Hope you enjoy Galveston and your cruise.

[joycemh]

We always stay in Galveston the night before the cruise. Many of the hotels have shuttles to the pier. We like the Victorian, they have covered parking so I feel better about leaving my car for the week. They also have a shuttle to the pier. There is also a super Wal-Mart next door. It's across the street from the beach. In fact all of the balconys look out on the water. Have a great time.

 

Joyce

[clackey]

Hola Foxy,

 

We have been to Galveston 3 times and have stayed at 3 different hotels. Last year we stayed at the Holiday Inn on the Beach. We had a good view of the Gulf. The sea wall was across the street. We were a half of a mile from Wal-mart and the hotel has free parking for up to 7 days and a complimentary shuttle service to and from the ship. The hotel is close to everything. It is the only way to go.IMHO

[cruisinqt]

Galveston and Houston are both major cities with lots of things to do. Galveston is more tourist minded with lots of activities available year round, but the hotels there are always more expensive. Houston has cheaper hotels and NASA (in Houston) has daily tours available at a reasonable price. This was a huge hit with my husband who always wanted to be an astronaut when he was growing up. :rolleyes: The NASA tour is interactive with lots of hands on stuff and it's quite educational if you're thinking of bringing the kids along.;)

[lilmsonry]

Don, thank you so much for posting about Bestwestern....I got a really good deal on the price. Did you take a taxi to the pier? They don't have a shuttle do they?:)

[DonLou]

Don, thank you so much for posting about Bestwestern....I got a really good deal on the price. Did you take a taxi to the pier? They don't have a shuttle do they?:)

 

Lilmsonry,

Yes, we took a taxi. I believe it was called Tropical Cab. The cost was $10 for both of us. The cab was actually a shared van and we stopped at a couple of other hotels to pick up guests going to the pier. We made a reservation a day ahead. There is no hotel shuttle.

[ronrythm]

Im a first time poster! We are cruising out of Galveston in april 2006. Should we stay in Houston or Galveston.? Is there a hotel on the water in Galveston so that we can watch the ships??? Or is it better to stay in Houston? If so where? We would also like to catch a baseball game if they are on. Thanks in anticipation.

Here's a link to my pictures from July including the view from my window at the Harbor House. I enjoyed my stay and will probably stay there again next summer and concentrate more on galveston instead of going to the Space Center.

http://www.ronrythm.com/Elation_05.html

[lilmsonry]

Don-thanks for the clarification on that! Do you think I need to book a cab/van in advance or will it be OK to do it then? Thank you!:)

 

 

Ron-thanks so much for sharing your pics! I really enjoyed getting a good idea of what ecstasy will be like! Thank you!:)

[travel girl23]

We have cruised 3 times out of Galveston and each time we have stayed at the Best Western Beachfront on Seawall Blvd. It is right next to a large Kroger grocery store and 3 blocks from WalMart. They will let you park your car there all week but they do not have a shuttle. You would have to get a cab. The rooms are nice with a coffee pot in them and they are clean. They run about $50 but I would recommend calling the hotel in Galveston directly to make reservations. We like to get up early on the day we cruise and drive to the south jetty and watch the cruise ships come in. They come in around 5:30-6:00 a.m. Good luck and enjoy your cruise!

[DonLou]

Don-thanks for the clarification on that! Do you think I need to book a cab/van in advance or will it be OK to do it then? Thank you!:)

 

We just called a day ahead. Usually on a busy cruise day, the taxis will be running slower. We left at about 11:00am and easily got to the cruise terminal by 11:30am even with the stops for picking up passengers.

 

The check-in for the Galaxy took less than ten minutes. Unfortunately it took another ten minutes to get our pictures taken before boarding. All in all, a painless process during that time of day.

[lilmsonry]

Don-Thank you so much!

 

 

Travel-Glad you like the hotel as well! Thanks for the info.

 

happy sailing!:)

[foxland]

Galveston and Houston are both major cities with lots of things to do. Galveston is more tourist minded with lots of activities available year round, but the hotels there are always more expensive. Houston has cheaper hotels and NASA (in Houston) has daily tours available at a reasonable price. This was a huge hit with my husband who always wanted to be an astronaut when he was growing up. :rolleyes: The NASA tour is interactive with lots of hands on stuff and it's quite educational if you're thinking of bringing the kids along.;)

If we decide to stay in Galveston .. is it still relatively simple to get to the Space Centre ? .. my husband loves big boys toys ..

[ronrythm]

and well worth the drive.

[DannyMac]

The drive from Galveston to Space Center is more than 30 min. You will need to take I-45N to Nasa Rd 1 and take a right but depending on traffic, count on another 15 min. to get through Webster to the Space center. A shorter way would be to take Texas 146 through Kemah and turn left on Nasa Rd. 1. Either way, on Saturday afternoon the traffic will be heavy.