Easiest port access from airport

[Rock_Dr]

We are in the early stages of planning our next cruise. We are looking for southern or western Caribbean.  We have to fly to where ever we cruise from.  Which port has the easiest transfer from the airport?  We left out of New Orleans once but drove and stayed there a few days before we cruised.

 

We can fly to any of the ports at varying costs but would like to consider convenience vs cost.

 

Thanks in advance.

David

[VideoTech]

There's really no good answer to this question. Every port has cruise line airport transfers, taxis, ubers, lyft, and shuttles. 

 

If by easy you mean the shortest transfer time, I'd say New Orleans or maybe Mobile for Western (sorry, never cruised out of Mobile so don't know for sure). Galveston is an easy port to cruise out of, but it's a long ways from the two Houston airports.

 

[ssb]

34 minutes ago, VideoTech said:

There's really no good answer to this question. Every port has cruise line airport transfers, taxis, ubers, lyft, and shuttles. 

 

If by easy you mean the shortest transfer time, I'd say New Orleans or maybe Mobile for Western (sorry, never cruised out of Mobile so don't know for sure). Galveston is an easy port to cruise out of, but it's a long ways from the two Houston airports.

 

Hobby  Houston is short distance to terminal . If flight cost is good for you . 30 minutes or so . 

[MoCowBell]

On 2/3/2020 at 1:11 PM, ssb said:

Hobby  Houston is short distance to terminal . If flight cost is good for you . 30 minutes or so . 

Actually 45 minutes to an hour drive from Hobby to the cruise terminal. It's an hour and 20 minutes or so from George Bush if it's a straight shot.

[ssb]

1 hour ago, MoCowBell said:

Actually 45 minutes to an hour drive from Hobby to the cruise terminal. It's an hour and 20 minutes or so from George Bush if it's a straight shot.

Live in Galveston and drive it frequently. 
OR SO . 

[MoCowBell]

1 hour ago, ssb said:

Live in Galveston and drive it frequently. 
OR SO . 

The drive in a personal vehicle is not the same as it is in a commercial shuttle. The drive from William P. Hobby Airport in a commercial shuttle and not a Corvette is 45 minutes to an hour and from George Bush Airport the drive in a commercial shuttle and not a Corvette is about 1:20 if there is no traffic.

 

Also, you are probably judging the time from the highway without considering the shuttles actually are loading up at the airport before they make the ten minute drive to the highway. There is also a ton of traffic on Harborside and Broadway you are probably not considering. Please also understand that these times go completely out the window when the motorcycle or jeep rallies come to town. Forget these times also during spring break weekend as the population on the island explodes and traffic is a nightmare.

 

I'd say at midnight, and with a police escort, you can make it from the Hobby Airport exit to the Galveston Cruise Terminal in about thirty minutes, but not from the commercial passenger pick-up area at the airport.

Edited February 10, 2020 by MoCowBell

[TravelinGert]

My experience is ground transport from airports to port is relatively similar whether it is a Florida port, Puerto Rico, Southampton, or Galveston. We found Puerto Rico very slightly less expensive and enjoyed the island so much we went back later for a week's stay so you might take that into consideration if you're also looking to stay a few days around the cruise. The main difference is more sea days in a cruise out of Galveston than Florida ports not the situation on land pre- and post-cruise.

 

We've had the most luck coming in at least the day before the cruise and staying overnight at a hotel walking distance to the port though there can be issues there, too. We were on the first cruise with paying pax of the Quantum out of Southampton. Turned out our walking distance hotel had a huge bottleneck. The hotel had only one bank of elevators for a great number of rooms. My husband ended up carrying our luggage down six flights of stairs. We now make a habit of getting up early and packing up so we can take our luggage down to breakfast. That way we don't have to fight the crowds trying to use the elevators to leave just in time to walk over.

Edited February 10, 2020 by TravelinGert

[ssb]

2 hours ago, MoCowBell said:

The drive in a personal vehicle is not the same as it is in a commercial shuttle. The drive from William P. Hobby Airport in a commercial shuttle and not a Corvette is 45 minutes to an hour and from George Bush Airport the drive in a commercial shuttle and not a Corvette is about 1:20 if there is no traffic.

 

Also, you are probably judging the time from the highway without considering the shuttles actually are loading up at the airport before they make the ten minute drive to the highway. There is also a ton of traffic on Harborside and Broadway you are probably not considering. Please also understand that these times go completely out the window when the motorcycle or jeep rallies come to town. Forget these times also during spring break weekend as the population on the island explodes and traffic is a nightmare.

 

I'd say at midnight, and with a police escort, you can make it from the Hobby Airport exit to the Galveston Cruise Terminal in about thirty minutes, but not from the commercial passenger pick-up area at the airport.

30 minutes or so , or 45 minutes 

is satisfactory to me .