Galveston Debarkation Tip

[Chirpbird]

I recently completed the May 22nd sailing on Liberty of the Seas. It was the first time I used RCCL's transfer from the ship to Houston Hobby.

 

We were in debarkation group nbr 2. From the time we left the ship, and boarded the bus was about 15 mins. From the time the bus left for Houston Hobby was about another 15 mins. My last debarkation in Galveston left me waiting an hour to get to customs, and then waiting another 90 minutes for my ride to reach me in the traffic.

[Clarea]

How much did the transfer cost?

[klass2]

I did the RCI transfer from Galveston to Hobby airport recently.

 

We had group #3 and it was literally almost 3 hours from when they called our number and we left the theatre to when we left on the bus. The bus started moving about 11am.

 

We waited about 20 min for the bus. The rest of the time it was an awful wait in line to get our luggage and then slowly snake through customs. Most of the time were were at a complete standstill.

 

Completely awful.

 

 

I think the cost for our two transfers one way was about $100. I can't recall exactly though.

 

 

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[MichaelCMTX]

Are we still having "Smooth customs sailing" on the Georgetown/Falmouth route and "less than smooth" on the Belize/Roatan route?

 

I know that was an issue for a while.

[BonTexasNY]

Are we still having "Smooth customs sailing" on the Georgetown/Falmouth route and "less than smooth" on the Belize/Roatan route?

 

I know that was an issue for a while.

 

You beat me to it. I was going to ask that very question. In 5 cruises out of Galveston we found it to be true. However, last cruise out of Galveston was approx. 3 years ago so things could have changed.... for the better, I hope!

[Chirpbird]

I noticed someone else mentioned ~$100 for two, one-way transfers. I think that's about right. I was thinking $47.

[Chirpbird]

Yuck! I probably should have also mentioned we used a porter. Best $20 bucks I ever spent.

[Clarea]

I noticed someone else mentioned ~$100 for two, one-way transfers. I think that's about right. I was thinking $47.

Thanks.

[foxgoodrich]

Are we still having "Smooth customs sailing" on the Georgetown/Falmouth route and "less than smooth" on the Belize/Roatan route?

 

I know that was an issue for a while.

 

We disembarked on May 15 from the Belize/Roatan itinerary, and the customs part of it went pretty smoothly. The real problem was before customs - the mass confusion and the hordes of people milling around trying to get their luggage. There seemed to be no control of the flow of people coming off the ship. We were in group #7, but we noticed people in later groups (#22, #16, etc.) in the luggage area at the same time. So apparently folks were not waiting for their numbered tags to be called - they just exited the ship and crammed into that luggage area.

 

There were so many people, some with porters and trolleys, some trying to move large pieces of luggage around, and some just milling and looking for the right luggage area, that it was hard to move more than a foot or two in any direction. Depending on where you were in the crowd, it was even difficult to see the numbers designating the various luggage areas. Once we finally found our numbered area, we retrieved our luggage and attempted to get in some semblance of a line to feed into the 'cattle chutes' that double back and forth to eventually end up at the Customs area.

 

Finally we got into the line. It moved slowly but continuously, so that part wasn't too bad as we pretty much kept moving. We made it through all the switch-backs to the doorway near the Customs counters in about 20 minutes. There was a separate line and several counters for non-USA citizens, and the lines moving through the USA citizen customs counters were fairly efficient.

 

We walked off the ship at about 8:45 when they called our number and by 10:00 we were on the parking shuttle so it took a little more than an hour. Most of that time was spent trying to locate luggage and get ourselves & the luggage into the line. We've had it worse in Galveston before (once we didn't get out of there until nearly 1:00pm:eek:) but it certainly could be improved if the exodus from the ship were managed more effectively. My conclusion is that the problem with our disembarkation was the fact that it was terribly unorganized and too many people were released into the luggage area at the same time.

Judy

[39august]

In May the one way RCI transfers to Hobby were $32 pp.

[George C]

In May the one way RCI transfers to Hobby were $32 pp.

 

They can sell out, we went to book return on ship and was told there were no seat left ( we were in suite and concierge was able to help)

[39august]

Thanks for the tip, George. We will be buying our transfers the first day they are available so as not to miss out. This is our first time to fly as we have always driven in the past several years. So, new to the transfer thing. Actually hoping to kill some time with waiting to fill up the bus as our flight is not until 2 PM.

[39august]

Sorry, duplicate posts.

Edited June 14, 2016 by 39august