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Galveston......never again!!

Desertbelle

By Desertbelle,
in Gulf Coast Departures

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Galveston Cruiser

Galveston Cruiser

Posted
Posted
Are you in favor of stopping the self assist program, or does that not apply in Galveston?

 

I have no issue with the self-assist program. We have done both.

We choose to wait for those who have a time schedule to catch flights.

 

The issue is those passengers who do not do self assist, but disembark with the self assist then wait for their luggage.

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John&LaLa "Live from...." Rare

John&LaLa

Posted
Posted
Not Galveston, Dear - Wasn't that Miami? - try the lower Rio Grand Valley.:eek:

GPD is darn good here - AND - we can always close the bridge and stop the ferry - closes off the island:D

 

Just joking about Miami Vice. Still pretty sure more drugs move through Miami than Galveston, plus 10 times the passengers. The customs issues are probably aggravated by the lack of passengers on a regular basis.

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Galveston Cruiser

Galveston Cruiser

Posted
Posted
Just joking about Miami Vice. Still pretty sure more drugs move through Miami than Galveston, plus 10 times the passengers. The customs issues are probably aggravated by the lack of passengers on a regular basis.

 

I know:) Love your humor:D

The ICE issue is the from the Feds! Even the agents are unhappy.

 

Get this - they all have at meet at a given point in Houston to ride together to Galveston - even if one lives near the Island. Now is that stupid or what?

Jeez - don't answer that:rolleyes:

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mitsugirly Great Review Rare

mitsugirly

Posted
Posted

I was considering a cruise out of Galveston, but after reading this, I'm second guessing it. I may have to stick with our normal: Miami, NOLA or PC. This sounds like a nightmare!

 

What exactly does getting a porter do? They take your luggage and haul it outside for you and then put it on the curb while you wait for transportation? They go around the long lines and take you right up to the booth? We've never used one, so just wondering.

 

 

 

It does take a little longer if the ship does the Roatan, Belize route because that requires a full Immigration inspection. They actually swipe passports and type in all the info from birth certificates, which takes much longer. When you do the Jamaica, Grand Cayman run they usually just look at the passports.

 

Why do they have to do this if you go there? They don't do this at other terminals that visit these ports. What is the full immigration inspection? They open you luggage and look in it or ??? I'm confused.

 

Never again for us. A pain for those of us that fly in and out of Houston to actually get to Galveston port.

 

Secondly, the goofy rules about Texas liquor and unable to get decent drinks until the ship is in international waters. Also, when you do disembark in Galveston the duty-free items you bought are subject to Texas liquor laws and you have to pay a tax.

 

Wait, you have to pay taxes on things you bought that were tax free? Is this just liquor? Or does it include everything else you bought? Cigs?

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Clarea

Clarea

Posted
Posted
... What exactly does getting a porter do? They take your luggage and haul it outside for you and then put it on the curb while you wait for transportation? They go around the long lines and take you right up to the booth? We've never used one, so just wondering. ...

Our experience was that the porters had their own line for customs and it went faster than the non-porter line.

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rockdoctor

rockdoctor

Posted
Posted
Lol - 70 minutes. That's at cake walk. You should have been on the Navigator November 10th. In Ft Lauderdale. Try 3.5-4 hours embarkation AND debarkation. Ship 2.5 hours leaving late, terminal with no power. That will test you patience. ;)

 

And none of the OP's 5,000+ contributions involved cruises from Fort Lauderdale or Long Beach.

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luv2trvlnow

luv2trvlnow

Posted
Posted
I was considering a cruise out of Galveston, but after reading this, I'm second guessing it. I may have to stick with our normal: Miami, NOLA or PC. This sounds like a nightmare!

 

What exactly does getting a porter do? They take your luggage and haul it outside for you and then put it on the curb while you wait for transportation? They go around the long lines and take you right up to the booth? We've never used one, so just wondering.

 

 

 

 

Why do they have to do this if you go there? They don't do this at other terminals that visit these ports. What is the full immigration inspection? They open you luggage and look in it or ??? I'm confused.

 

 

 

Wait, you have to pay taxes on things you bought that were tax free? Is this just liquor? Or does it include everything else you bought? Cigs?

 

Most of this post has been about the Liberty of the Seas. I know you have been looking at the Magic. They are at different terminals. Next to each other, but still different. Their terminal is undergoing some construction to accommodate the larger Liberty.

 

I have been on the Magic out of Galveston once, also the Conquest and the Triumph. Each time we did self assist and really didn't think the lines were that terrible and we didn't use the porters. I think all 3 times we were on the road by 8 to 8:30. We will be on the Magic again on March 20. Can't wait to see the Magic after dry dock and see what has been added, like the Alchemy Bar, Blue Iquana Cantina, Guys, etc.

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mitsugirly Great Review Rare

mitsugirly

Posted
Posted
Most of this post has been about the Liberty of the Seas. I know you have been looking at the Magic. They are at different terminals. Next to each other, but still different. Their terminal is undergoing some construction to accommodate the larger Liberty.

 

I have been on the Magic out of Galveston once, also the Conquest and the Triumph. Each time we did self assist and really didn't think the lines were that terrible and we didn't use the porters. I think all 3 times we were on the road by 8 to 8:30. We will be on the Magic again on March 20. Can't wait to see the Magic after dry dock and see what has been added, like the Alchemy Bar, Blue Iquana Cantina, Guys, etc.

 

Oh ok. This makes me feel much better then. :)

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wolfganghowell

wolfganghowell

Posted
Posted
The shoreside operation in Galveston was so much more friendly and organized than anything we have ever experienced in FLL. There were 12 customs agents on our return. Last time in FLL, there were 3

 

This was from a review that was posted in the last 2 days. Go figure.

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Desertbelle

Desertbelle

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Weird way to link a posting....it was hard to find.

 

And in case you missed my original posting, I loved the cruise, we had almost no concerns or complaints (the $15 rake on the poker table was hard to take :() Embarking was as easy as I have ever seen.

 

It was the disembarkation that was a bother. And, I agree, there were 12 agents open, but with 1350+ kids on board that week and nearly every child being asked questions by the agents, such as "What grade are you in? What are your favorite subjects? What city do you live in?" (these are the questions my grandson was asked), etc. It takes a very long time. It might have been nice to have a line devoted to families without children....that might of gotten some people through the line faster. And it was irksome that people who got porters were allowed to go ahead of others.

 

I do feel that the disembarking procedures were confusing and not controlled in any way by Royal Caribbean. When we got off the ship no one was bothering to make sure we had the number called or less, people were walking off as they pleased, whenever they pleased, and to get to the customs line you had to go through the luggage area, so people where trying to get their luggage in and through the lines forming, so confusing and I saw no one giving direction or helping folks.

 

Of course, it's my opinion and others may disagree, but waiting in line for more than an hour after getting our luggage is a rather bad way to end a great cruise. And BTW I have disembarked at Port Everglades many times and I have never seen it as bad as what we saw in Galveston's port.

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ssb

ssb

Posted
Posted (edited)
Weird way to link a posting....it was hard to find.

 

And in case you missed my original posting, I loved the cruise, we had almost no concerns or complaints (the $15 rake on the poker table was hard to take :() Embarking was as easy as I have ever seen.

 

It was the disembarkation that was a bother. And, I agree, there were 12 agents open, but with 1350+ kids on board that week and nearly every child being asked questions by the agents, such as "What grade are you in? What are your favorite subjects? What city do you live in?" (these are the questions my grandson was asked), etc. It takes a very long time. It might have been nice to have a line devoted to families without children....that might of gotten some people through the line faster. And it was irksome that people who got porters were allowed to go ahead of others.

 

I do feel that the disembarking procedures were confusing and not controlled in any way by Royal Caribbean. When we got off the ship no one was bothering to make sure we had the number called or less, people were walking off as they pleased, whenever they pleased, and to get to the customs line you had to go through the luggage area, so people where trying to get their luggage in and through the lines forming, so confusing and I saw no one giving direction or helping folks.

 

Of course, it's my opinion and others may disagree, but waiting in line for more than an hour after getting our luggage is a rather bad way to end a great cruise. And BTW I have disembarked at Port Everglades many times and I have never seen it as bad as what we saw in Galveston's port.

 

 

 

QUOTE

Weird way to link a posting....it was hard to find.

 

Since it was cut and pasted directly from CRUSE CRTIC page, CC is weird!

 

QUOTE

Of course, it's my opinion and others may disagree, but waiting in line for more than an hour after getting our luggage is a rather bad way to end a great cruise. And BTW I have disembarked at Port Everglades many times and I have never seen it as bad as what we saw in Galveston's port.

 

Yes an hour is excessive but by your own comments, it appears that combination of CAUSES of the problem was :

 

1. RCCL (SHIP) lack of control and dumping of passengers (was a problem)

2. AND along with immigration's (FEDERAL) lenghtly process (was the problem).

OTHERS conditions playing a part maybe (If they were fully staffed and computers working)

(and could have been for USA SECURITY AND SAFETY)

3. Which contributed to the bottleneck in baggage claim area and entrance to Immigration. If Galveston dropped the ball there, which they could have, it was lack of controlling EFFECTS of crowd,

and NOT the CAUSES of the crowds.

 

The problem occurred in GALVESTON but NOT by GALVESTON.

 

As to TITLE given to the thread , it was crappy,

and does not count with a good attitude.

Yes you waited an hour,

but whose fault was it.

 

Besides, there are many positive reviews

including mine on repo

and other recent cruises on disembarkation.

 

And with the new terminal improvements and redesign of old Galvestion terminal with more room and better egress in building to larger baggage claim

DISEMBARKATION WILL ONLY be better.

 

Then again RCCL AND IMMIGRATION will also have to improve.

Which again has improved by other reviews.

 

 

 

Edited by ssb
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ssb

ssb

Posted
Posted (edited)
Link didn't work for me either

 

It was directly off board forum page

and

It was link - hit on Royal Carribean International in red:

 

---------------------------------------

 

Your Ultimate Cruise Guide

 

CruiseCriticUKLogo.png

 

 

navbits_start.gif Cruise Critic Message Board Forums > Cruise Lines "P - Z" > Royal Caribbean International navbits_finallink_ltr.gif Just off Liberty of the Seas

Edited by ssb
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Desertbelle

Desertbelle

Posted
  • Author
Posted
It was directly off board forum page

and

It was link - hit on Royal Carribean International in red:

 

---------------------------------------

 

Your Ultimate Cruise Guide

 

CruiseCriticUKLogo.png

 

 

navbits_start.gif Cruise Critic Message Board Forums > Cruise Lines "P - Z" > Royal Caribbean International navbits_finallink_ltr.gif Just off Liberty of the Seas

What you have done is not how you make a link to a forum topic or post.

 

All you did was cut and paste the Cruise Critic Subject tree/routing, which is useless to most people. For someone to use what you posted they would have to follow what you posted down to the Royal Caribbean International forum and then search for "Just off Liberty of the Seas". That isn't technically a link to the post.

 

To make a link to the post you are wanting people to see you need to copy and paste the "address" of the post. The address is the very long, complicated looking group of numbers and letters that is in your Browsers address line. You can copy and paste that address directly, like this:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=48471016

OR

you can type a word or group of words and highlight that word or group of words and then click on the "Insert Link" button at the top of the posting window, it looks like a small Earth with a small sideways oval in front of it. When you click this button a small window will open up and then you can insert the address from your browser there....giving you something like THIS

 

If you already know this information I apologize for giving you useless information, but if you or someone else wants to make a link to a post, forum, or anything off the internet and insert it here in the Cruise Critic forums, that is how it's done.

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Desertbelle

Desertbelle

Posted
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Posted

To clarify my position:

 

I don't hate the city or Galveston, the people of Galveston or Texas. I don't blame the City of Galveston for my unpleasant experience getting off the Liberty of the Seas. We spent two days in Galveston and Houston and were treated very kindly and pleasantly....the weather was bad the days we were there, but of course, no one is responsible for that, just bad timing on our behalf. Even the poor Customs agent, who was visibly exhausted, was pleasant to us....which speaks well for the people of Texas.

 

I will avoid cruising out of Galveston in the future because it's a very difficult port to get to from my part of the country, and this last exiting process has left a bad taste in my mouth. If I hear good things about the new and improved port being built, I may change my thoughts about the Port of Galveston. It could happen.

 

I stated my opinion about this port and is it is just that, mine. I don't have to validate an opinion, and I don't really care if others think my opinion is right or wrong. It's mine. Cruise Critic is an open, public forum and I am allowed to tell my experience and feelings within the rules of the forum, which I followed. And, because it's a public forum people are free to comment and disagree with me...I have no problem with that. I've been on Cruise Critic for over a decade, so if my feelings were going to get hurt I would have left and never come back a long time ago. :D

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John&LaLa "Live from...." Rare

John&LaLa

Posted
Posted
It was directly off board forum page

and

It was link - hit on Royal Carribean International in red:

 

---------------------------------------

 

Your Ultimate Cruise Guide

 

CruiseCriticUKLogo.png

 

 

navbits_start.gif Cruise Critic Message Board Forums > Cruise Lines "P - Z" > Royal Caribbean International navbits_finallink_ltr.gif Just off Liberty of the Seas

 

Maybe because I'm looking on smart phone

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John&LaLa "Live from...." Rare

John&LaLa

Posted
Posted
What you have done is not how you make a link to a forum topic or post.

 

All you did was cut and paste the Cruise Critic Subject tree/routing, which is useless to most people. For someone to use what you posted they would have to follow what you posted down to the Royal Caribbean International forum and then search for "Just off Liberty of the Seas". That isn't technically a link to the post.

 

To make a link to the post you are wanting people to see you need to copy and paste the "address" of the post. The address is the very long, complicated looking group of numbers and letters that is in your Browsers address line. You can copy and paste that address directly, like this:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=48471016

OR

you can type a word or group of words and highlight that word or group of words and then click on the "Insert Link" button at the top of the posting window, it looks like a small Earth with a small sideways oval in front of it. When you click this button a small window will open up and then you can insert the address from your browser there....giving you something like THIS

 

If you already know this information I apologize for giving you useless information, but if you or someone else wants to make a link to a post, forum, or anything off the internet and insert it here in the Cruise Critic forums, that is how it's done.

 

Nice explanation

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wolfganghowell

wolfganghowell

Posted
Posted

Desertbelle - absolutely your opinion is valid. We've had issues several times there as well - but we've also had issues in Port Canaveral and FLL too. I just wanted to post that the porter issue is not unique to Galveston. I do agree that Galveston is a challenging port for anyone that has to fly - it's just not flyer friendly. If we had to fly there, I don't think we would cruise from there either.

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