RCI Transfers from Galveston

[JaniceB]

I posted this in the gulf departures but am also posting here. Would like some feedback on experience of cruisers using this option? We will be flying out of Hobby. How early did you arrive before your flight? Did you wait long on the bus before pulling out? Things of this nature. Trying to decide on booking on transportation or cruise lines. Price is not the deciding factor but rather was it more convenient.

Edited January 11, 2016 by JaniceB

[TonyBuzz]

We used RCL transfers on our last cruise out of Galveston (Hobby too). Using RCL transfers you should be one of the first off. Get a porter. That will help speed you through customs. Walked outside and were directed to our bus. Make sure it is Hobby not IAH. Very minimal wait for the bus to fill and we were on our way. Got to Hobby very early. Had to wait in some chairs until we were within our two hour window for our flight to leave. The "wait" chairs do fill. Once in the two hour window, checked in and went to the gate. Return flight was uneventful.

[JaniceB]

Thank you Tony and the tip to use a porter.

[JaniceB]

Does anyone know if you are assigned a number to get off the ship based on your flight time or the bus transfer schedule?

[TonyBuzz]

I think that if you choose RCI transfers, you will have a low number and get off sooner. Our departure was after noon but we were off quite early. Remember, they want to get those buses headed to the airports. They will pick up the next batch of passengers to return to Galveston.

[hancogran]

Not sure what RCI charges now for the transfers to Hobby but a few years ago, we found for a few extra dollars or so we could get picked up at the port by a limo company (Lincoln Town Car) and they drove us to Hobby Airport. If I remember, it was around $90 total for two of us.

 

You can google Galveston limo companies and get prices. We had heard you had to sit on the bus and wait till it fills up before they head out so we figured this worked better for us. :)

[TonyBuzz]

I had to check. We did RC transfers for two people in Oct. 2014 and the total was $128 so $32 per person per way. For more than two, a private car is a bargain. The bus from Hobby was the first in the morning and it took maybe 10 minutes to fill. The bus from Galveston to the airport filled really quickly as I remember. Again, they give everyone on RC transfers early numbers so they are all getting off early and boarding the buses at the same time. We are going back to Galveston in Oct. and will likely use RC transfers again. La Quinta near Hobby has a single van that they use for trips to and from the ships for those who stay before. Their cost for the room/transfer special is more expensive than RC for two and less for four in one room.

[JaniceB]

I think that if you choose RCI transfers, you will have a low number and get off sooner. Our departure was after noon but we were off quite early. Remember, they want to get those buses headed to the airports. They will pick up the next batch of passengers to return to Galveston.

 

Thank you, I didn't think about them picking up the next batch of passengers.

[JaniceB]

Not sure what RCI charges now for the transfers to Hobby but a few years ago, we found for a few extra dollars or so we could get picked up at the port by a limo company (Lincoln Town Car) and they drove us to Hobby Airport. If I remember, it was around $90 total for two of us.

 

You can google Galveston limo companies and get prices. We had heard you had to sit on the bus and wait till it fills up before they head out so we figured this worked better for us. :)

 

I heard that too. I guess I will google the limo companies. I don't think we can get a non stop flight until later in the afternoon so I don't want to sit around the airport.

Edited January 21, 2016 by JaniceB

[JaniceB]

I had to check. We did RC transfers for two people in Oct. 2014 and the total was $128 so $32 per person per way. For more than two, a private car is a bargain. The bus from Hobby was the first in the morning and it took maybe 10 minutes to fill. The bus from Galveston to the airport filled really quickly as I remember. Again, they give everyone on RC transfers early numbers so they are all getting off early and boarding the buses at the same time. We are going back to Galveston in Oct. and will likely use RC transfers again. La Quinta near Hobby has a single van that they use for trips to and from the ships for those who stay before. Their cost for the room/transfer special is more expensive than RC for two and less for four in one room.

 

I know there are 2 of us going back but we may have more so I need to find that out. I was also going to check hotels near Hobby but I think some of group wants to stay in Galveston the night before. I guess they want to see Galveston.

[TonyBuzz]

I have never stayed in Galveston the night before a cruise. I have heard on Cruise Critic that some hotels on Galveston require more than one night stay. Make sure they find a hotel and confirm that a single night stay is okay.

[SonicShip]

I posted this in the gulf departures but am also posting here. Would like some feedback on experience of cruisers using this option? We will be flying out of Hobby. How early did you arrive before your flight? Did you wait long on the bus before pulling out? Things of this nature. Trying to decide on booking on transportation or cruise lines. Price is not the deciding factor but rather was it more convenient.

 

Remember it is easier at the port to find the RCI bus than to find a private car or shuttle.

[hancogran]

Remember it is easier at the port to find the RCI bus than to find a private car or shuttle.

 

If you have a cell phone and have a private car or limo booked, when you exit the port building you can will the number the limo company gave you (usually it will be your driver's cell phone). Your driver will be in the parking lot somewhere waiting for you and you tell him where you are and he will be there in minutes. It worked great for us and we were very pleased with the service and also the cost which was not much more than the RCI transfers. :)

[JaniceB]

Remember it is easier at the port to find the RCI bus than to find a private car or shuttle.

 

I just don't want to sit at the airport for hours if the bus pulls out so early.

 

If you have a cell phone and have a private car or limo booked, when you exit the port building you can will the number the limo company gave you (usually it will be your driver's cell phone). Your driver will be in the parking lot somewhere waiting for you and you tell him where you are and he will be there in minutes. It worked great for us and we were very pleased with the service and also the cost which was not much more than the RCI transfers. :)

 

Thank you!

[CU64]

Rather sit on ship than at airport for 3PM flight.

If using private car, can we ask for 10AM disembarkation time?

Trying to avoid the mad scramble at customs, et al.

Barbara

[Clarea]

Rather sit on ship than at airport for 3PM flight.

If using private car, can we ask for 10AM disembarkation time?

Trying to avoid the mad scramble at customs, et al.

Barbara

Sure, just go to Guest Services and request the last luggage tag number.

[KansasK]

I posted this in the gulf departures but am also posting here. Would like some feedback on experience of cruisers using this option? We will be flying out of Hobby. How early did you arrive before your flight? Did you wait long on the bus before pulling out? Things of this nature. Trying to decide on booking on transportation or cruise lines. Price is not the deciding factor but rather was it more convenient.

 

Our group was not called until the busses were there. We could not do self-assist because of this, they said. If you do, you just wait for the bus for over an hour. The other advice to get a porter is wise. The line for customs was way backed up, but when we got a porter, we were taken to a different line that had two people ahead of us.

 

We did not have good luck with the bus. We waited a long time to start boarding because a couple near the front of the line had been told before they booked the bus that the busses were wheelchair accessible, and they were not. This took a while to resolve and we all waited and waited. They finally counted out the number of people to board the first bus, and we were first on the second bus and had to wait for it to load. At the airport, our luggage was last off the bus. This may have been all bad luck, since other people had no problem with the bus service, but it shows what can happen. We checked in with Southwest with no wait. We were lucky to have TSA pre-approved on our boarding passes and missed the long line for security. We got to our gate 20 minutes before our 12:00 noon flight loaded.

 

Next time I think we will pay for private transportation.

[TonyBuzz]

Our group was not called until the busses were there. We could not do self-assist because of this, they said. If you do, you just wait for the bus for over an hour. The other advice to get a porter is wise. The line for customs was way backed up, but when we got a porter, we were taken to a different line that had two people ahead of us.

 

We did not have good luck with the bus. We waited a long time to start boarding because a couple near the front of the line had been told before they booked the bus that the busses were wheelchair accessible, and they were not. This took a while to resolve and we all waited and waited. They finally counted out the number of people to board the first bus, and we were first on the second bus and had to wait for it to load. At the airport, our luggage was last off the bus. This may have been all bad luck, since other people had no problem with the bus service, but it shows what can happen. We checked in with Southwest with no wait. We were lucky to have TSA pre-approved on our boarding passes and missed the long line for security. We got to our gate 20 minutes before our 12:00 noon flight loaded.

 

Next time I think we will pay for private transportation.

 

 

Our experience was the complete opposite (see above). Our flight was at 12:25 and we were at the airport hours early. Just shows how varied the process can be. You aren't the first one to have things not go as planned using RC transfers from Galveston. We're giving Galveston/HOU another try as the prices were the best in our range. We'll try RC transfers again and report back whether it was same, better or worse.

[robtulipe]

We used Hotwire.com to get a package for our pre-cruise hotel, a rental car to get around and to get to Galveston for our Navigator cruises in January 2015. As we were cruising with another couple, we booked two king bed rooms at Super 8 League City/Kemah Area along with a Dollar full size car for the night before cruise. Cost was $120US total for all on Hotwire.com and that hotel was really nice with large modern rooms, included continental breakfast and is convenient to the I-45 Gulf Fwy. Hotel was approximately 15 miles south of Hobby and 25 mile from the cruise terminal.

If one selects a package, in this case a hotel and car, with Hotwire it shows the actual names of the hotel offered and you don't book blind as with the hotel only booking. Remember you can upgrade the car as the first offering is usually with a economy car.

To get to the ship we drove down with the rental car early on embarkation morning and drop off luggage and three of us. Then I return the car to Hobby by 11am, took their shuttle to Hobby and used the ship's transfer back, cost $32 for one, as Galveston is not the easiest port to get to without driving there yourself and we found private transfers to be very expensive. This worked very well other than I had to take the ship's transfer back and the bus's departure was held up for at least 1 1/2 hours waiting for two late arriving passengers whose flight had been delayed. These folks never did arrive. I was onboard by just before 2 pm in spite of the above and kept the other advised of my progress by cell phone.

Edited February 4, 2016 by robtulipe

[Clarea]

We used Hotwire.com to get a package for our pre-cruise hotel, a rental car to get around and to get to Galveston for our Navigator cruises in January 2015. As we were cruising with another couple, we booked two king bed rooms at Super 8 League City/Kemah Area along with a Dollar full size car for the night before cruise. Cost was $120US total for all on Hotwire.com and that hotel was really nice with large modern rooms, included continental breakfast and is convenient to the I-45 Gulf Fwy. Hotel was approximately 15 miles south of Hobby and 25 mile from the cruise terminal.

If one selects a package, in this case a hotel and car, with Hotwire it shows the actual names of the hotel offered and you don't book blind as with the hotel only booking. Remember you can upgrade the car as the first offering is usually with a economy car.

To get to the ship we drove down with the rental car early on embarkation morning and drop off luggage and three of us. Then I return the car to Hobby by 11am, took their shuttle to Hobby and used the ship's transfer back, cost $32 for one, as Galveston is not the easiest port to get to without driving there yourself and we found private transfers to be very expensive. This worked very well other than I had to take the ship's transfer back and the bus's departure was held up for at least 1 1/2 hours waiting for two late arriving passengers whose flight had been delayed. These folks never did arrive. I was onboard by just before 2 pm in spite of the above and kept the other advised of my progress by cell phone.

Great deal on the hotel/car, but what a hassle compared to just about any other port.

[robtulipe]

Great deal on the hotel/car, but what a hassle compared to just about any other port.

 

Yes Bob, it was bit of a hassle for me but great for DW and our friends, latter couple were only doing one cruise, as I dropped them off around 10am and they were onboard by 11am or so. We were doing a B2B2B so were on for three weeks so it didn't really take too much time away from that long of onboard time. It would have been almost as much of a hassle for us to go back the 15 miles to Hobby for all of us to take the ship's shuttle with all of our luggage and definitely more expensive.

It was just me, no luggage or even carry on bag, that went back to Hobby to return the rental and take the shuttle so it was easy travelling that light. It would definitely been better without the shuttle delay as without that the shuttle would have left by 11:45 and I would have been back to the ship by 12:30 or so. The good thing about arriving later was the terminal was completely empty and I immediately was able to get onboard without even flouncing my D+ status. ;)

The return to Hobby after our cruises was much simpler as we hitched a ride with another roll call couple on our third cruise who had a crew cab truck so there was plenty of room for us and all of the luggage and they were driving right by Hobby on their way home. They wouldn't even take anything to help pay for their parking. We did give provide wine for a couple of meals together and I carried off their alcohol which I paid the Texas Alcohol Excise tax on.

Now you know the rest of the story about that Texas excise tax I paid on duty fee alcohol being brought back into Galveston that I have posted about on other threads here. :D

Edited February 4, 2016 by robtulipe

[Can'tStayHome]

Not sure what RCI charges now for the transfers to Hobby but a few years ago, we found for a few extra dollars or so we could get picked up at the port by a limo company (Lincoln Town Car) and they drove us to Hobby Airport. If I remember, it was around $90 total for two of us.

 

We did the same with horrible results. Not sure what the problem was on the street outside the port, but the car service we chose was stuck in traffic just outside the port area. We were told to call the service once we'd cleared customs, and they'd have the car pull in to pick us up. We waited 1.5 hours outside after clearing customs, and made multiple calls only to be told the car was "close" but stuck in traffic. Eventually we knew we had to ditch the car and grab one of the cabs that was already in the port area if we wanted to make it to the airport in time to catch our flight. We saw the traffic mess on our way out. Hundreds of vehicles at a dead stop. The car service refused to reimburse us for the fare ($90), which we had pre-paid. Lesson learned! We will schedule a later flight or spend an extra night in Galveston after the cruise, should we ever sail from there again.

[Clarea]

... It would have been almost as much of a hassle for us to go back the 15 miles to Hobby for all of us to take the ship's shuttle with all of our luggage and definitely more expensive.

It was just me, no luggage or even carry on bag, that went back to Hobby to return the rental and take the shuttle so it was easy travelling that light. It would definitely been better without the shuttle delay as without that the shuttle would have left by 11:45 and I would have been back to the ship by 12:30 or so. ...

I have read about an Avis agency in Texas City, which is much closer to the port than Hobby. Avis will do one-way rentals from Hobby to Texas City. If I ever am inclined to cruise out of Galveston again, I intend to try the Texas City Avis. We would do pretty much the same as you did, except take a taxi back to the port from Texas City, but I'll bet it saves a bunch of travel time.

[cant_w8_2_cruise]

I have read about an Avis agency in Texas City, which is much closer to the port than Hobby. Avis will do one-way rentals from Hobby to Texas City. If I ever am inclined to cruise out of Galveston again, I intend to try the Texas City Avis. We would do pretty much the same as you did, except take a taxi back to the port from Texas City, but I'll bet it saves a bunch of travel time.

 

OMG Bob! Once again, you are the MVP of cruise critic!!! We are cruising out of Galveston in March and are doing last minute travel details. I just called AVIS and they also do one-way rental from IAH, and for the 6 of us, it's going to save us over $100 in transportation costs to do it this way, PLUS we'll have a car to use for our extra day in Galveston! YAY!! :D

[Clarea]

OMG Bob! Once again, you are the MVP of cruise critic!!! We are cruising out of Galveston in March and are doing last minute travel details. I just called AVIS and they also do one-way rental from IAH, and for the 6 of us, it's going to save us over $100 in transportation costs to do it this way, PLUS we'll have a car to use for our extra day in Galveston! YAY!! :D

Glad the info helped. Please report back on your experience, plus I'd also like to know how long it takes to get to the port from the Texas City Avis, and how much the taxi charges.