Pre-cruise arrangements in Houston

[Warmer Climes]

We are taking the Dream out of Houston in February. Since we live in NH where the weather is very uncertain in February, we will be flying down to Hobby the previous day. I am not familiar with Houston and am trying to decide the most sensible way to arrange this- should I book a hotel/transfer with NCL? Should we stay in a hotel near the port? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Barb

[dbali]

Just reread your post and realized that you are flying in to Hobby - not IAH. Still think you would be better off getting transfers etc. from the cruise line.

[ute_fan]

We've sailed out of Houston twice on the NCL Sea. At that time, NCL didn't offer transfers from Hobby to the pier, only from IAH. The other problem is that they wouldn't prebook a transfer unless you were flying in the day of the cruise. For our second sailing, our family of 4 ended up flying into IAH the night before, renting a car, and staying near IAH before driving to the pier. For 4 of us, it was a lot more cost effective than a transfer.

 

You might want to give NCL a call and see what the current transfer situation is. If they're not transferring from Hobby, you might want to check into car rental, taxi, and limo/bus transfers. I know there are quite a few different companies out there offering transfers to the pier. We used one of them for our first cruise -- a large group requiring 2 buses to get us to the pier. His website is hthttp://www.cruiseshipshuttle.com/tp://. I don't know that he's the best option if you have just a couple of people, but maybe someone from your rollcall would be interested in sharing the cost of the transfer.

[clearlakecruisers]

If you have no problem with big city driving, I'd suggest that you rent a car (try calling Enterprise in Seabrook, Texas, directly) and spend the night either in the Clear Lake area of Houston or in La Porte, Texas. At Hobby Airport you will already be in the southern area of Houston 15 miles SE of downtown and you can drive to either place in +/-30 minutes. NASA/Johnson Spacecraft Center is in Clear Lake if that interests you and plan to drive down to the Kemah Boardwalk - +/-20 minutes south of either Clear Lake or La Porte - for dinner at one of the many retaurants there.

 

Just a warning, weather here is also unpredictable in February. Bring a jacket and be ready to experience anything from "winter" to spring temps.