Galveston sailings

[Hulagirl]

Gina:

 

So glad to hear that about the pyramids. I had looked at the aquarium and thought it sounded fantastic. I really think we will be doing that for sure and time permitting the rainforest also. We should arrive (if no flight delays) in Houston about 12:30, so hoping to be in Galveston by the middle of the afternoon then. We have all day Friday to see what we can, and maybe on Thursday afternoon. This looks like we made a good choice with Moody Gardens. Our daughter is 16 and loves all these things still.

 

I will have to say, that one of my favorite places on the Grand, and several of the other ships, is the Explorers Lounge. They always have so many things going on there. Usually the group playing is very good. Great place for dancing. Skywalkers is the disco, but doesn't start until around 11:00 to 11:30 and sometimes that is a bit late. Have been there, but when we have early excursions, especially when we were in the Baltic, we just couldn't stay up that late.

 

I love being out by the pool in the sun. Like the Sun Deck area. It is above the pool area, but not too far away. Just my favorite place because you get sun and breeze. Since we have our daughter with us, we haven't spent any time at the back pool which is designated for adults only. So I can't really address that area, but have heard from many that they really like it back there.

 

I don't have any secrets about the ship to share, but I'm sure others do. We just really like these ships. Have sailed on the three sister ships (Grand/Golden/Star) and have liked them all. Have read some worrying about the ship and its age, but last year we thought it was looking very good, like in the past.

 

You will have a great time on the ship.

 

Thanks again for the information about Moody!

 

Susan

[LisaH]

Jim said, PS..I should WARN you, once you sail with a ship load of Texans, you might never want to sail out of any other port! Texans bring extra loads of smiles and friendly on a cruise!

 

 

I resemble that remark! hahaha - Hi from Plano :D

[crazy4themouse]

Susan ~

 

Thanks for your tips on favorite places on the Grand! I'm getting more and more excited every day. :)

 

Hey, when I was picking up pizza tonight, they had some coupons for the Festival of Lights at Moody Gardens. They're for $1 off the regular price of $5.95 per person, and each coupon is good for up to 6 people. I got 4 or 5 of them, and only need 1, so I'd be happy to mail you some if you like! Just email me with your address, and I'll get them right out to you.

 

-gina-

[Hulagirl]

Hi Gina,

 

I just sent you an e-mail. Thank you so much for the offer.

 

Hope the few things I could come up with for the Grand help some. You will love the ship.

 

Susan

[Paula_MacFan]

After reading your posts about Greenspoint, I am a little worried. We are driving to Galveston and have reservations at the Best Western Greenspoint Inn off I45. The BW website says it was built in 2000 and across the street from a Cracker Barrel. Should I change my reservation? Is this an unsafe area??

[houstoncruisers2001]

After reading your posts about Greenspoint, I am a little worried. We are driving to Galveston and have reservations at the Best Western Greenspoint Inn off I45. The BW website says it was built in 2000 and across the street from a Cracker Barrel. Should I change my reservation? Is this an unsafe area??

 

The Best Western is located a couple of miles north of the Greenspoint area. It is actually ADJACENT to the Cracker Barrel as well as a Whataburger hamburger joint & a Jack-in-the-Box.

 

My area of concern would be to the south and Greenspoint Mall in particular. It's fine during the day, in fact I eat most of my lunches there, but after dark I'd avoid it.

 

If you have any questions about the area just ask.

[spongerob]

I'ved stayed at the Wyndham Greenspoint several times and never had a problem with the area.

[houstoncruisers2001]

I'ved stayed at the Wyndham Greenspoint several times and never had a problem with the area.

 

I agree...just don't take a 30 minute casual stroll through the neighborhood.

[Paula_MacFan]

Thanks to you locals for the peace of mind. Once again, CC'ers come through for posters. Last year I had a question about a hotel in Galveston, and a local resident actually drove by the place and reported back to me! That's what I love about these boards!

[DALSAL]

And dont go to the mall...better known locally as GunsPoint Mall!! Ha...Just be aware of your surroundings,and maybe not venture too far away at night! Dot

[joanne1]

Thanks to everyone for all of the info (and the links to the transportation, golf, etc) . . . I am just waiting for my TA to get back to me and once she has booked it I can start on the details.

 

Hey Susan, great to hear from you again . . . I really hate seeing your posts (actually it's your signature) because you always have a few cruises booked - totally jealous :D . This cruise we will be doing with Bill and Julie (Do you remember them, they were on the Star with us?) and Laine will be staying home. You have a good memory . . . she will be home from the Regal in 2 weeks and then she has decided to maybe try getting a regular job, regular life, etc. She's been used to the ship life for 3 years and she probably has forgotten about any rules, so this could be interesting! Which limo company did you book for you transportation to and from the airport?

 

Okay . . . I don't want to open a can of worms and no huge debates just wonder who has experienced MUTS on this ship and if the sound interfers with cabins, other areas, etc.

 

And I am still a little nervous about staying near the airport but our flight leaves at 7:30 a.m. - so I guess the best idea is to stay in Galveston until later in the evening and then take the limo directly to the hotel and stay there . . . just tell me there is a Victoria Secrets in Galveston :D .

[houstoncruisers2001]

Which limo company did you book for you transportation to and from the airport?

 

Sorry to butt in but I can give you a heads up on a good Houston to Galveston limo company if you like.

 

http:www.gulfcoastlimo.com

 

Check out their reviews at http:www.limos.com and judge for yourself.

[Stevesan]

Okay . . . I don't want to open a can of worms and no huge debates just wonder who has experienced MUTS on this ship and if the sound interfers with cabins, other areas, etc.

 

 

We were in L308 on Lido, very near MUTS. Except for low bass notes, The MUTS sound was not audible in our cabin. The bass notes were not intrusive. MUTS is loud, but the speakers are extremely directional which helps if you're not directly in front of the screen.

 

I have read a few comments from passengers who could hear MUTS while on their balcony, but I don't recall the location(s). None claimed that it was disturbing.

 

I rather enjoyed daytime MUTS. The video quality is exceptionally good. Music videos and undersea animated films played during the day, most of them appropriate to the pool setting.

 

Feature films played In the evening. The pool area was roped off, pool chairs were equipped with blankets and aligned facing the screen. As I recall reservations were "required", but there were a lot of empty chairs. There are so many other attractions on board I doubt that many people on a cruise want to spend an evening watching a film.:o

[spongerob]

Okay . . . I don't want to open a can of worms and no huge debates just wonder who has experienced MUTS on this ship and if the sound interfers with cabins, other areas, etc.

 

We could hear some sounds down on our Dolphin deck balcony. Mostly it was people cheering at a college bowl game that was being shown. You knew it was there, but it could be very easily ignored.

 

The arrangement of the MUTS area on deck 15 leaves it very open to the wind. There were many cool nights during our cruise, and the ship's speed created a lot of wind over the deck, so the viewing area wasn't very comfortable. There is no protection from the elements up there.

[houstoncruisers2001]

There are so many other attractions on board I doubt that many people on a cruise want to spend an evening watching a film.

 

The most popular thing shown on MUTS all week was Monday Night Football.

[joanne1]

houstoncruisers2001 - Thank goodness football will be over by then :D .

 

Grand Princess starts out of Galveston today . . . hope we get some reviews - 4 months is a long time so I will have to live through those for awhile.

 

I did post on ports of call for ideas about transportation, golf, shopping in Galveston but if anyone has any more ideas I would love to hear them.

[cece067]

Hi all. Read through your posts about Greenspoint area. We are flying in from California on the 6th for the Grand sailing on the 10th. We will be staying at the San Luis until the sailing, but because of our late night arrival (10pm) we opted to stay at Marriott Houston Hobby on the 6th and again on the 17th. Did I make a mistake?

Also, we are renting our car in Galveston on the 7th. I thought we would take a taxi from the Marriott to Enterprise. Should we use the limo service instead? We have a ship transfer to Hobby on the 17th and figure that Mariott will pick us up from there for our stay on the 17th.

 

One more question - is the level 9 tour at Johnson Space Center worth the extra money?

Thanks for any additional info you can give.

Christine

[JimnKaren]

In San Juan, there are liquor stores right on the pier. It is very convenient to take something aboard without having to bring something from home. Once going onto the Sun Princess to go through the canal we purchased Kahlua and Vodka to make our own pre-drink-of-the-day cocktails. Is something like that available on or near the pier in Galveston?

 

Jim

[watcher_62]

We are booked on the Grand 2/4/06, and are coming in the day before. I was contemplating staying in Houston at the Galleria, but the positive comments everyone has made has me considering Galveston instead.

 

I checked out one of the links, and the Hotel Galvez seems quite nice. I'm surprised that Princess offers it at $30 less than the sites I've checked:confused: . Seems like quite a good deal. Has anyone stayed there?

 

Also, we decided to try renting a car, as the transfers and limos seemed quite expensive, and it's nice to have the flexibility. I booked a one-way Houston to Galveston Friday pm to Saturday AM fullsize for only $29! Quite a deal!

 

Any comments/suggestions on hotels? Thanks!

[Hulagirl]

Hi Joanne:

 

I did remember Laine was going to be home for Christmas, but didn't realize she was leaving Princess for a land type life. I can imagine it will be different for her staying with mom and dad again. Hope it works out well for all of you.

 

Yes, I do also remember Bill and Julie. We really liked all of you. It is so nice to find good friends to travel with. My friend and her husband went to Alaska with us in June and that pretty much hooked them on cruising. They booked the Sapphire with us for April and they can hardly wait. Glad we have the Christmas cruise booked before then. I'm just ready to go.

 

Will be interesting to see how MUTs is on the ship. We will be in L301, so not too far away from the whole thing. The "suite" life has got me hookd.

 

We booked Extremely Elegance limo service. The problem with some of the others is, they don't have anything bigger than the stretch limos. Now they have room inside, but the trunk space is pretty much non-existent we found. When asking a couple of the limo companies, they told us that a couple of suitcases was all they would hold. Well you and I know that won't do. This company has Expeditions, which hold quite a bit, so we went with that. Didn't think the price for 3 of us was terrible either. On the return there will be 7 of us and we rented a stretch Expedition, so that will work well. Was going to rent a stretch Hummer, but then again, they told us no trunk space at all. So hopefully this company is good. I will let you know when we return how they were. I know there are a few like Galveston Limo that are recommended, but I don't want to do the share ride service, which really wasn't much different in price.

 

Three weeks from right now we will be on the ship. I really can't believe it.

 

Susan

[houstoncruisers2001]

When asking a couple of the limo companies, they told us that a couple of suitcases was all they would hold. Well you and I know that won't do.

 

FYI.....some limo companies remove the front passenger seat of the limo and use that space as storage as well as bring a town car to hold all the luggage at no extra charge.

[Hulagirl]

Interesting about the limo's and the luggage. The couple we called didn't offer to do that at all. Hopefully this one will be fine. Their price was pretty good, so I'm hoping. Thanks for the information for future reference.

 

Watcher 62: When looking at the hotel prices vs Princess's prices, just make sure that you double what Princess is telling you. They price the hotels per person, not per room, so usually they come out to quite a bit more.

 

Hulagirl

[joanne1]

Hi Susan, Thanks for the limo service advice sounds good - there will be 6 of us going so we will definitely going to need something big. Terry is now thinking about renting a van because the guys are thinking about going golfing on Friday and Saturday (the day before and day of) . . . but things are still in the works - we still have 4 months :( .

 

houstoncruisers2001 - I noticed on another post that you drive a limo, part-time in Houston, will definitely keep that in mind too. From one cruiser to another is always nice and to have a port so handy. I am always jealous of those people who don't have to pay as much for the flight as they do for the cruise. :D

 

Our plans have changed from my previous post here - we are now flying in to Houston late Thursday (around 11:00) and heading to Galveston in the morning. We will then stay in Galveston only the night before the cruise. We have never been to Galveston before (or Texas for that matter) and I have to do some research but I have 2 questions - Is there a hotel that has a great view, so you can sit on your balcony and watch the ships pull in and is there a Victoria Secrets in Galveston (not kidding, it's probably one of only a few stores we don't have in Canada).

 

Can hardly wait for the reviews to start coming in . . .

[joanne1]

Sorry, I have done a little research and realized that there is some great shopping in Galveston, just not the 'chain' type stores, so ignore one of the questions above, it's too late to edit.

[cece067]

Watcher62 you said:

Also, we decided to try renting a car, as the transfers and limos seemed quite expensive, and it's nice to have the flexibility. I booked a one-way Houston to Galveston Friday pm to Saturday AM fullsize for only $29! Quite a deal!

 

We are coming down from Hobby also, but we were waiting to rent our car in Galveston. What rental car agency did you rent from? We would love to be able to drive from Hobby and leave our rental in Galveston rather than taxi from Hobby.

 

We are staying at the San Luis Resort. I know it has balconies, but I think it overlooks the gulf and not the harbor.

 

Thanks for any info on the car rental you can provide.