Galveston to IAH on Sunday

[starvenger]

Hi folks,

 

I'm looking at a cruise out of Galveston (Regal Princess, 4 people), with debarkation set for Jan 7th. I did live in Houston in the early 00s, so not unfamiliar with the freeways there (although I'm sure traffic is worse now). Am looking at a couple of flights via United/Air Canada, so likely Terminal C/E departure.

 

One is at 6pm - no real worries there, would need to determine something to do to kill time for that one.

 

But the one I have questions about is a 12pm departure. I am curious if the flight is makeable given the following:

- Would self-disembark

- Would check in online the day before

- Can take either Uber/Lyft or a shuttle (not sure which would be cheaper - advice?)

- Flying to Toronto/YYZ (insert Rush song here)

- If we have luggage, we would need to check it in an hour before departure (we might go CarryOn x 4 and gate check if necessary)

- We have NEXUS, so we should get TSA Precheck.

 

Given that it's early Sunday, I don't anticipate huge amounts of traffic, so in my mind we should comfortably make the flight. But would appreciate any thoughts on this.

[soundman10f]

Just some advice, take it or leave it that's up to you, but think of the worst case scenario & ask your self if it's worth the trouble. Best case, from what I have read over the past year, most ships here are getting self-disembark going between 7:30-8:30am. If that happens you are probably leaving the port around 30 minutes after walking off the ship with a 90 minute drive to the air port (IAH) with no traffic. In that case yes it is doable.

 

But worst case, there is fog in the port that morning and the ship doesn't dock till after 8 or 9am (I have been watching the web cams the past month for our upcoming May cruise and most are docked by 6:30am but no fog this time of year). That could mean self-disembark starts at 9 or 10am or later. That puts you at the airport (again with no traffic or road construction) right around 11am or 12pm. What if your shuttle is running late or you use Uber/Lyft & they keep dropping your fare (I have seen reports of this happening)? I will also take this time to say that I45 south has been under construction for the past 10 years, with varying lane closures once or twice a month on the weekends, and it is still not done (I drive south bound a couple time a month on I45 during the morning on the weekends and had to deal with it several times). It is a real gamble to try any flights from IAH before 2pm in my opinion. You can make it if everything goes right, but it only takes 1 thing to go wrong and your missing you flight. I wish you best of luck with your travels no matter which you chose.

[starvenger]

Thanks for the advice, appreciate it.

 

And nice to hear that nothing has changed in Houston with regards to freeway construction. I think the Katy and Southwest freeways were always at some level on construction when I lived there.

[RocketMan275]

On 4/28/2023 at 8:50 AM, starvenger said:

Given that it's early Sunday, I don't anticipate huge amounts of traffic, so in my mind we should comfortably make the flight. But would appreciate any thoughts on this.

Rough rule of thumb:  

"If have to ask if a flight's too early, it's too early".

[starvenger]

5 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Rough rule of thumb:  

"If have to ask if a flight's too early, it's too early".

 

I get the sentiment. But when I put my project planning hat on, I have to assess all the risks, so I won't rule edge cases out until I have enough information to do so. And I think I got that.

[Texas Tillie]

52 minutes ago, starvenger said:

Thanks for the advice, appreciate it.

 

And nice to hear that nothing has changed in Houston with regards to freeway construction. I think the Katy and Southwest freeways were always at some level on construction when I lived there.

 

The Gulf Freeway (I 45, downtown Houston to Galveston) was started in 1954 and there has been construction somewhere along the road every second since then!! 😉🤣😱

 

[dan4182]

Agree with Texas Tillie, I’m 74 years old and can remember when the Gulf Freeway was US 75, 2 lanes each way.

When it became I-45 it’s been under construction ever since.

[BallFour4]

You'd make it with no problems. Self-debark, have transportation ready and make sure they take tollway or at minimum Loop 610 around the east side. January is a ghost town on the freeways up until 2 PM or so, and as long as fog isn't around you'd make IAH by 10 AM. I've lived here all my life, and rarely had a problem before noon. We have taken friends from here in Galveston to IAH on weekend mornings in 90 minutes. After mile marker 17 inbound the freeway construction is done except for access roads.
 Make sure your airfare is changeable, and you would know about fog the evening before by watching the weather.

.

[ssb]

In general I45 with construction will have 3 lanes in bound and out bound at all times . Unless their is day or night , like  necessity to take down a complete overpass . Therefore Traffic is generally good  unless there is wreck . 

[RocketMan275]

2 hours ago, BallFour4 said:

You'd make it with no problems. Self-debark, have transportation ready and make sure they take tollway or at minimum Loop 610 around the east side. January is a ghost town on the freeways up until 2 PM or so, and as long as fog isn't around you'd make IAH by 10 AM. I've lived here all my life, and rarely had a problem before noon. We have taken friends from here in Galveston to IAH on weekend mornings in 90 minutes. After mile marker 17 inbound the freeway construction is done except for access roads.
 Make sure your airfare is changeable, and you would know about fog the evening before by watching the weather.

.

 

1 hour ago, ssb said:

In general I45 with construction will have 3 lanes in bound and out bound at all times . Unless their is day or night , like  necessity to take down a complete overpass . Therefore Traffic is generally good  unless there is wreck . 

How's the traffic on a Friday afternoon? My Prima cruise disembarks on Fridays.

Would you recommend booking my return flight on Saturday morning?

Edited May 6, 2023 by RocketMan275

[BallFour4]

2 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

 

How's the traffic on a Friday afternoon? My Prima cruise disembarks on Fridays.

Would you recommend booking my return flight on Saturday morning?

About 2 hours depending on month and time of leaving the island. It's hard to understand why inbound traffic can be so variable, the sheer numbers of people that work on the island or bay area don't match up. What time are you looking at to fly?
 You know I am tempted to say "Rocket Man, it's going to be a long, long time."

 

 

Edited May 6, 2023 by BallFour4

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, BallFour4 said:

About 2 hours depending on month and time of leaving the island. It's hard to understand why inbound traffic can be so variable, the sheer numbers of people that work on the island or bay area don't match up. What time are you looking at to fly?
 You know I am tempted to say "Rocket Man, it's going to be a long, long time."

 

 

Probably mid-afternoon, say around 2:30.  There is a United non-stop to home at that time.

[starvenger]

9 hours ago, BallFour4 said:

You'd make it with no problems. Self-debark, have transportation ready and make sure they take tollway or at minimum Loop 610 around the east side. January is a ghost town on the freeways up until 2 PM or so, and as long as fog isn't around you'd make IAH by 10 AM. I've lived here all my life, and rarely had a problem before noon. We have taken friends from here in Galveston to IAH on weekend mornings in 90 minutes. After mile marker 17 inbound the freeway construction is done except for access roads.
 Make sure your airfare is changeable, and you would know about fog the evening before by watching the weather.

.

Thanks for the advice. Seems like the fog is the x-factor here. So I think we might get off and do something for a few hours (Johnson Space Center, maybe) before heading to the airport. 

[BallFour4]

16 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

Probably mid-afternoon, say around 2:30.  There is a United non-stop to home at that time.

You'd have at least 90 min to spare. We should meet at Rudy's in Webster for barbecue. 

Have a great vacation. 

[BallFour4]

12 hours ago, starvenger said:

Thanks for the advice. Seems like the fog is the x-factor here. So I think we might get off and do something for a few hours (Johnson Space Center, maybe) before heading to the airport. 

Nailed it. We will be in your fine country in less than a month on the last stop coming home from Alaska. We've been to Halifax and St John on the Glory a few years back. We met some wonderful people with a great amount of Canadian pride. I taught them some Texas phrases...

 

.

[starvenger]

3 minutes ago, BallFour4 said:

Nailed it. We will be in your fine country in less than a month on the last stop coming home from Alaska. We've been to Halifax and St John on the Glory a few years back. We met some wonderful people with a great amount of Canadian pride. I taught them some Texas phrases...

 

.

Hope you enjoy yourselves over there. Will certainly be a different vibe (basically the same Pacific Northwest vibe you see in Seattle and Portland) than what you encountered on the east coast.

[RocketMan275]

45 minutes ago, BallFour4 said:

You'd have at least 90 min to spare. We should meet at Rudy's in Webster for barbecue. 

Have a great vacation. 

What time are  you assuming to leave the ship.  We're not early risers.  Probably depart ship around 0900.

 

The one thing I miss about Texas is BBQ Beef Ribs.  Not short ribs, real ribs.  I loved State Line BBQ in El Paso.

Edited May 7, 2023 by RocketMan275

[dan4182]

On 5/6/2023 at 2:47 PM, BallFour4 said:

About 2 hours depending on month and time of leaving the island. It's hard to understand why inbound traffic can be so variable, the sheer numbers of people that work on the island or bay area don't match up. What time are you looking at to fly?
 You know I am tempted to say "Rocket Man, it's going to be a long, long time."

On Friday afternoon most of the traffic will be Southbound toward Galveston, especially in the Summer.

 

 

[Paparam]

it may be useful to know there are direct flights from HOU (Hobby Airport) to Toronto available. Much closer airport to Galveston than IAH

[starvenger]

1 hour ago, Paparam said:

it may be useful to know there are direct flights from HOU (Hobby Airport) to Toronto available. Much closer airport to Galveston than IAH

Unfortunately there aren't any direct flights to Canada. Not sure there has been since IAH opened.

 

In fact, Delta and American don't even do direct flights to/from Toronto (makes sense, given that Houston is not a hub for them), so you're stuck with either United or Air Canada. 

 

In any event, we are booked on the late flight, so we're not going to be in a rush to go anywhere.

[dog]

2 hours ago, Paparam said:

it may be useful to know there are direct flights from HOU (Hobby Airport) to Toronto available. Much closer airport to Galveston than IAH

 

what airlines offer this?

[Paparam]

1 hour ago, starvenger said:

Unfortunately there aren't any direct flights to Canada. Not sure there has been since IAH opened.

 

In fact, Delta and American don't even do direct flights to/from Toronto (makes sense, given that Houston is not a hub for them), so you're stuck with either United or Air Canada. 

 

In any event, we are booked on the late flight, so we're not going to be in a rush to go anywhere.

I stand corrected. There are no longer direct flights from Hobby.

Delta and American do fly to Toronto but stopover in Dallas or Atlanta. Sorry

[starvenger]

14 hours ago, Paparam said:

I stand corrected. There are no longer direct flights from Hobby.

Delta and American do fly to Toronto but stopover in Dallas or Atlanta. Sorry

No worries. 

[dan4182]

On 4/29/2023 at 10:02 AM, starvenger said:

Thanks for the advice, appreciate it.

 

And nice to hear that nothing has changed in Houston with regards to freeway construction. I think the Katy and Southwest freeways were always at some level on construction when I lived there.

I will be 75 years young in just a few days, native Texan.

 

I can remember when the Gulf Freeway was not I-45 South, just a 4 lane Hwy (US-75) from Houston to Galveston,

 

I can NEVER remember when that hihway was not under construction.

[Host Kat]

12 hours ago, dan4182 said:

I will be 75 years young in just a few days, native Texan.

 

I can remember when the Gulf Freeway was not I-45 South, just a 4 lane Hwy (US-75) from Houston to Galveston,

 

I can NEVER remember when that hihway was not under construction.

 

Same here. Will be 78 years young in 4 days. Today would have been my father's birthday. My mother always said she ran up and down the stairs in our Galveston home trying to get me to pop out on his birthday.

 

Okay, back to the constant Gulf Freeway construction. My Dad knew folks that started their first construction jobs there. They have since retired from there and their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are doing the same! In my lifetime there has ALWAYS been construction going on somewhere along the Gulf Freeway!

 

And now... a history lesson about Houston's first freeway on 52 miles of road to Galveston. It was last updated August 2, 2022 and says construction started after World War II with much of it built in 1948.

 

Gulf Freeway at 70: See photos of I-45 from the start, as Houston's first freeway turns 70 (houstonchronicle.com)

 

And yes, there will be further Gulf Freeway construction after I am gone to that great cruise in the sky. The piece ends as follows: