Our Pre-cruise Stay near Houston Hobby Airport

[GradUT]

We cruised on the Emerald Princess which departed from the Port of Houston (Bayport) on Sunday, December 21st. We arrived at Houston Hobby airport a day in advance and spent the night at the SpringHill Suites Hobby Airport hotel. The hotel provided a free shuttle from the hotel and also a free shuttle ride to anyplace (restaurants, stores, shopping malls, etc.) within 5 miles of the hotel. We booked a room with 2 double beds and a sofa bed for under $110 with all taxes. (This was the AAA rate).

 

On Sunday, we called Pasadena Taxi and they gave us an estimate of $50 for the trip from the hotel to the cruiseport in Baytown. They sent a minivan for the 4 of us and it was a comfortable ride. The fare, before tip, came to just under $50.

 

We found this to be an easy and economical way to spend the night prior to our cruise and get to the cruiseport the next day.

[mitsugirly]

We cruised on the Emerald Princess which departed from the Port of Houston (Bayport) on Sunday, December 21st. We arrived at Houston Hobby airport a day in advance and spent the night at the SpringHill Suites Hobby Airport hotel. The hotel provided a free shuttle from the hotel and also a free shuttle ride to anyplace (restaurants, stores, shopping malls, etc.) within 5 miles of the hotel. We booked a room with 2 double beds and a sofa bed for under $110 with all taxes. (This was the AAA rate).

 

On Sunday, we called Pasadena Taxi and they gave us an estimate of $50 for the trip from the hotel to the cruiseport in Baytown. They sent a minivan for the 4 of us and it was a comfortable ride. The fare, before tip, came to just under $50.

 

We found this to be an easy and economical way to spend the night prior to our cruise and get to the cruiseport the next day.

 

 

We are getting ready to book a cruise from Galveston and I have never been to Texas and just starting to research the threads for info. Is the Galveston port and the Baytown port I see people mentioning the same place? Or does Texas have 2 different cruise ports? :confused:

[Texas Tillie]

We are getting ready to book a cruise from Galveston and I have never been to Texas and just starting to research the threads for info. Is the Galveston port and the Baytown port I see people mentioning the same place? Or does Texas have 2 different cruise ports? :confused:

 

Two ports - Bayport (not Baytown) on Galveston Bay and Galveston on Galveston Island. Princess and NCL use Bayport and Carnival and Royal Caribbean use Galveston.

[Sam.Seattle]

Getting to Galveston is Royal pain in the you know what! But, I am back for the 2nd year in a row... We arrive a day early. Rent a car (kayak) seems to have the best deals. Stay in Lakeside area. Drive to the port the next day and park the rental car for a week. It just annoys the you know what out of me to rent a car and then pay to park it for a week. The other choice for us is to rent a driver / car, but the cost is actually more than a rental & patking and a whole lot more flexible.

[mitsugirly]

Getting to Galveston is Royal pain in the you know what! But, I am back for the 2nd year in a row... We arrive a day early. Rent a car (kayak) seems to have the best deals. Stay in Lakeside area. Drive to the port the next day and park the rental car for a week. It just annoys the you know what out of me to rent a car and then pay to park it for a week. The other choice for us is to rent a driver / car, but the cost is actually more than a rental & patking and a whole lot more flexible.

 

Hmmm, I was just on another thread and they mentioned a service called pink taxi that only charges $95 flat rate for up to 6 people. So for us, that would be roughly $15+ pp, which is certainly in lines with about what we pay every time we fly into FLL and then pay a shuttle to go to Miami. :confused: I can't imagine renting a car the day prior to cruising, then paying for parking for a week, then bringing it back (filling up with gas) could be cheaper. Can you enlighten me? :)

[Sam.Seattle]

There are 4-of us in our party. 2-bags each. Assuming we are not sharing with other people, the cost to hire a limo with tax & tips is about $530.00. My car rental is $416.00 and parking is $60.00 prepaid for $476.00

[mitsugirly]

There are 4-of us in our party. 2-bags each. Assuming we are not sharing with other people, the cost to hire a limo with tax & tips is about $530.00. My car rental is $416.00 and parking is $60.00 prepaid for $476.00

 

 

So it sounds like car rental is cheaper than using a limo, but still wondering why not take a shuttle service for $95 which is A LOT cheaper than either of the 2 options you mentioned? I'm still trying to figure this out. :confused: What am I missing?

[Sam.Seattle]

So it sounds like car rental is cheaper than using a limo, but still wondering why not take a shuttle service for $95 which is A LOT cheaper than either of the 2 options you mentioned? I'm still trying to figure this out. :confused: What am I missing?

$380.00 + driver Tips for 4 vs. $476.00 and having a car from arrival to drive to dinner, hotel, ship, tour last day and back to airprort for 6:30pm flights provides me a lot of fexibilty for about $100.00.

[splinkaone]

There are limo companies that are more reasonable than others. This is our second cruise out of Galveston and we're booking a limo again. Our cost for a party of 4 with pick up at our hotel near the airport to the ship and back to the airport is around $400 this includes port charges and tips. This is for an SUV, it seems high but when ship transfers are $47 per person each way I'm willing to pay $6 extra per person for a private ride. And yes, I can't believe they haven't made it easier to get between the airports and the ports. Add to that the fact that the port charges all shuttle, taxi, and limos $20 every time they pull in to pick up or drop off cruise passengers and this gets passed on to us. This may be the last cruise we take out of Galveston.

[rogers417]

We cruised on the Emerald Princess which departed from the Port of Houston (Bayport) on Sunday, December 21st. We arrived at Houston Hobby airport a day in advance and spent the night at the SpringHill Suites Hobby Airport hotel. The hotel provided a free shuttle from the hotel and also a free shuttle ride to anyplace (restaurants, stores, shopping malls, etc.) within 5 miles of the hotel. We booked a room with 2 double beds and a sofa bed for under $110 with all taxes. (This was the AAA rate).

 

 

 

On Sunday, we called Pasadena Taxi and they gave us an estimate of $50 for the trip from the hotel to the cruiseport in Baytown. They sent a minivan for the 4 of us and it was a comfortable ride. The fare, before tip, came to just under $50.

 

 

 

We found this to be an easy and economical way to spend the night prior to our cruise and get to the cruiseport the next day.

 

 

Thanks for the info. We will be staying at Springhill Suites also in a few weeks prior to our Magic Cruise. Good info about the restaurant shuttle.

 

 

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[gary2835]

There are limo companies that are more reasonable than others. This is our second cruise out of Galveston and we're booking a limo again. Our cost for a party of 4 with pick up at our hotel near the airport to the ship and back to the airport is around $400 this includes port charges and tips. This is for an SUV, it seems high but when ship transfers are $47 per person each way I'm willing to pay $6 extra per person for a private ride. And yes, I can't believe they haven't made it easier to get between the airports and the ports. Add to that the fact that the port charges all shuttle, taxi, and limos $20 every time they pull in to pick up or drop off cruise passengers and this gets passed on to us. This may be the last cruise we take out of Galveston.

 

Wow, the last time I took a taxi to go from my motel to the port they charged me $15.00. I guess the cab company lost $5.00 on my fair.

[MoCowBell]

Cab companies are not subject to the same port tolls as shuttle services. The difference being one is a reserved ride and carries far more passengers. The Port of Galveston has this toll in place to help pay for improvements.

 

Cabs do pay a port toll but not for every pickup and dropoff. I believe it is a monthly rate.