Are cruises out of Galveston more or is it because it is my home port?

[Badfinger]

IMO it is supply vs demand,  It was not detailed that San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and Austin are 4 of the 11 largest cities in the US.  And they are all a relative easy drive to Galveston.  I live in SA and would always leave our house by 8am on the day of the cruise.  We would make two stops along the way (I-10 rest area and Buc'ees) and still be dropping our luggage off about noon.

 

As for those who say they save money by flying to another port...not sure I buy that if your record keeping is accurate.  But I definitely only buy that if you put a $0 value on your time you spend flying to that port vs say a 4-hour drive.   And yeah...flying pretty much sucks.

[Eli_6]

16 minutes ago, Badfinger said:

IMO it is supply vs demand,  It was not detailed that San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and Austin are 4 of the 11 largest cities in the US.  And they are all a relative easy drive to Galveston.  I live in SA and would always leave our house by 8am on the day of the cruise.  We would make two stops along the way (I-10 rest area and Buc'ees) and still be dropping our luggage off about noon.

 

As for those who say they save money by flying to another port...not sure I buy that if your record keeping is accurate.  But I definitely only buy that if you put a $0 value on your time you spend flying to that port vs say a 4-hour drive.   And yeah...flying pretty much sucks.

Totally.  And unless you want to risk missing your entire cruise, you need to fly out the day before and stay in a hotel for a night.  The cost of the flight, plus a hotel room, plus transportation from the airport to the hotel and then the hotel to the pier plus meals prior to getting on the boat.   

Edited November 2, 2022 by Eli_6

[IntrepidFromDC]

I don't get it.  Anytime I'm looking at my casino offers, I have to remove Galveston from the "sail from" filter if I filter for lowest cruise first because Galveston are the cheapest.  And I have cruised out of Galveston before, so it's not like Carnival is making it cheaper for me than people who have previously sailed from there.

[keels81]

2 minutes ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

I don't get it.  Anytime I'm looking at my casino offers, I have to remove Galveston from the "sail from" filter if I filter for lowest cruise first because Galveston are the cheapest.  And I have cruised out of Galveston before, so it's not like Carnival is making it cheaper for me than people who have previously sailed from there.

 

Same. Prices out of Galveston are generally the same for me as my home port, and are widely cheaper than Florida. The only time I've had a Galveston cruise be higher than others is my 12/24 sailing on the Jubbly, but it's the inaugural out of the port so I imagine that has more to do with it than anything.

 

I've been on the Breeze, Dream and Vista this year alone.

[cynt]

I live in Texas. Like others have mentioned it's the practicality for me as well. A 5 hour drive on I45 puts me at the Galveston port. That includes at least 2 stops at Buccees in Ennis, Madisonville and/or Galveston. No traffic to get to airport, no crazy airport parking, no security, no 1 hr drive to the airport. For most flights I leave my house 3 hours before my check in time. 3 hrs in on my drive to Houston on I45 I'm right outside of north Houston. 

 

I cruise from different ports depending on what I'm looking for in a cruise. The last 12 months I've been on 6 cruises - 1 New Jersey, 2 Miami, 3 Galveston. Airfare and hotels have been crazy expensive everywhere. My hotel and airfare combined has been over half the cost of my cruise. So yes to save money we cruise out of our home port.

 

I just wish we had different ports to visit.  We are ready to explore other ports besides Cozumel, Belize and Roatan. Hence our 3 cruises from different ports this past 12 months. And one of my Galveston cruises was a 9 nighter to Coco Cay, Port of Miami and Port Canaveral. Dirt cheap cruise right after cruising reopened. We mainly stayed on the ship but we didn't care. We were stir crazy from Covid. 

[justafem]

I had the same issue sailing out of SF for years.  For the first 5 years, the SF port was only licensed to princess, so prices were high.  Then there was the 2 year shutdown.  

 

Now carnival sails from SF, with other lines joining in 2024.  Prices are dropping due to competition, possibly? 

 

But I can sail on carnival for 1/3 of the price of princess.   

 

I'm not brand loyal.  I do prefer princess, but that's just a preference. I like being on any ship more!

[talkorpi]

Not to beat a dead horse or anything but I believe the comment about Galveston being within a < 5 hour drive from four of the eleven biggest cities in the country has something to do with it.  Galveston is the ultimate drive-to port in the country and I guess since the demand is much higher they have to price to match.

 

Not fun for the consumer, especially the non-gambling but still extremely budget-conscious cruiser like me who can never seem to get these elusive deals or casino offers that make it so affordable.  I wish Galveston prices could go down.  And Carnival, if you're listening, can you start mixing up the itineraries a bit?  Give us more than just Cozumel and Belize, please?  More Grand Cayman would be nice and maybe - just maybe - do some 8-days that go a little further east more often? ❤️

[Pyxie]

On 10/29/2022 at 12:57 AM, Saint Greg said:

State or affairs has nothing to do with it. I’m not taking about this year. I’m taking about forever. How far is it to New Orleans? Would you pay $1800 for a 5 day on Breeze vs. $1400 for a 8 day on Glory? That’s what I’m talking about. You don’t have to fly to Miami.
 

Texans are fanatical about doing everything in Texas. They dont go to disney world. They go to six flags/Astro world.

 

Well.. No one goes to Astro World anymore. 😉

[Caps_Shield]

On 10/29/2022 at 12:57 AM, Saint Greg said:

State or affairs has nothing to do with it. I’m not taking about this year. I’m taking about forever. How far is it to New Orleans? Would you pay $1800 for a 5 day on Breeze vs. $1400 for a 8 day on Glory? That’s what I’m talking about. You don’t have to fly to Miami.
 

Texans are fanatical about doing everything in Texas. They dont go to disney world. They go to six flags/Astro world. They dont go to Cancun. They go to south padre Island. I know people who have never left Dallas in their lives.

 

Kyndall Fire is a perfect example of a Texan. Vista CD. She’s  only on Mardi Gras to get the experience to be the first Jubilee CD. Has to be a Texan out of Texas. Because it’s Texas.

 

I watch this couple out of the UK that does YouTube reaction videos.  The one I watched yesterday was on the Civil War. At the end they said even though there are states people fly the US flag not the state flag. The state they used as an example was Texas and I was like….ehhhhh. That’s the worst state you could pick because there are more state flags flying in Texas than any other state.

 

Not EVERY Texan,  for example a famous Disney blog is run by a lady from Texas.  She goes all the time to Disney.  

[Eli_6]

11 hours ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

I don't get it.  Anytime I'm looking at my casino offers, I have to remove Galveston from the "sail from" filter if I filter for lowest cruise first because Galveston are the cheapest.  And I have cruised out of Galveston before, so it's not like Carnival is making it cheaper for me than people who have previously sailed from there.

Interesting!  See, that is what I was wondering...since they have our address and one could assume we are more likely to cruise out of a port we can easily drive to, do they make our tickets more expensive for those of us with a nearby address knowing that we are more likely to pay a higher price to avoid getting on a plane??? 

 

My Mother gets much better deals to Galveston than I do and I sometimes wonder if it is because they have her old address where she used to live like 8 hours away.  (Now she lives just down the road from me.)

[Eli_6]

2 hours ago, talkorpi said:

And Carnival, if you're listening, can you start mixing up the itineraries a bit?  Give us more than just Cozumel and Belize, please?  More Grand Cayman would be nice and maybe - just maybe - do some 8-days that go a little further east more often? ❤️

Yes!  Geez....I am so tired of going to Cozumel and Belize. Please, please, please mix up the itineraries a bit.  

[crazy4themouse]

23 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

Interesting!  See, that is what I was wondering...since they have our address and one could assume we are more likely to cruise out of a port we can easily drive to, do they make our tickets more expensive for those of us with a nearby address knowing that we are more likely to pay a higher price to avoid getting on a plane??? 

 

My Mother gets much better deals to Galveston than I do and I sometimes wonder if it is because they have her old address where she used to live like 8 hours away.  (Now she lives just down the road from me.)

 

I wonder that as well! I see all these amazing deals people are getting but when I filter down to only leaving from Galveston, *poof* there go all the awesome rates. 🤨  We only live about 30 miles away, so we're definitely not dealing with driving for hours and hours to another port, or hassling with flying anywhere. But dang...

 

[talkorpi]

21 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

Yes!  Geez....I am so tired of going to Cozumel and Belize. Please, please, please mix up the itineraries a bit.  

 

I have been hoping for this for years.  We don't get off the ship in Belize anymore and honestly I don't get the hype of Cozumel - kind of tired of it.  I know this is personal preference but if we could get an itinerary like Mahogany Bay - Costa Maya - Grand Cayman I would be soooo happy with that - if not just for some variety!

[nybumpkin]

We sailed out of Galveston once - never again. Flights from our area of the Northeast just don't work well with Houston. It's much easier to get to Florida. And if we're going to get on an airplane, we're more likely to go out of the country - hence next year's cruise to Norway on Pride.

[TxTeach79]

21 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

I am a lifelong Texan.  I don't cruise out of Galveston because it is "Texas."  I cruise out of Galveston because it is 90 minutes from my house in north Houston.  New Orleans is 5-6 hours away from Houston and Mobile is 7-8 hours.  In 2021 we went to NOLA (and we hit some bad traffic and road construction on the way) and it took us 9 hours to get there from Houston! I don't think Texans are *THAT* dedicated to Texas that they are choosing Galveston just because it is Texas.  Pretty much everyone in the entire state of Texas (Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas and all the small towns in between) are going to be substantially closer to Galveston than they are to New Orleans.    New Orleans is on the far side of Louisiana from Texas...and it isn't exactly a "scenic" drive.  My husband is from the Orange/Beaumont area and even for that area (which is right on the Louisiana/Texas border), it is still more than twice as far to NOLA than Galveston...under 2 hours to Galveston vs over 4 hours to New Orleans.  

 

And Astroworld isn't even in existence anymore...and hasn't been for 17 years.  Texans ABSOLUTELY go to Disney World.  

 

Agree. I'm a Dallas native and while I prefer to cruise out of south Florida for new ships, variance of itinerary, and general scenery, I do Galveston often because of the convenient easy drive. Also, as a teacher, Florida generally has a much different school holiday schedule than Texas, which the cruise lines are well aware of, so sometimes I can actually fly to Miami or FLL and cruise out of Florida than drive to Galveston.

 

I've sailed out of NOLA a couple of times,  I love the city, and the drive is doable... and yeah, if it's way cheaper I'd definitely do it, but if it's close, as a ship guy, for me Dream/Breeze/Vista/(Jubilee) > Glory/Valor.

[Rudyard]

7 hours ago, crazy4themouse said:

I wonder that as well! I see all these amazing deals people are getting but when I filter down to only leaving from Galveston, *poof* there go all the awesome rates.

That drives me crazy! I got one of those "fares so low we're practically paying you to cruise" e-mails from Carnival just yesterday. Filtered down to Galveston and the fares were no lower than usual. 

[Eli_6]

Ok...I am experimenting. I changed my address to my lake house on my VIFP profile to see if I get better rates.