Carnival Conquest and Galveston's Kappa Beach Weekend

[yellow bird]

Has anyone ever been to galveston the weekend this is going on. Any advice on how to navigate thru the crowds of drunken college students. Any ideas or suggestions. Should I just lock myself in the room and order pizza or get drunk and join them. I have done a search before I posted this, and only found one other topic about it..the OP said they close at lot of the resturants and traffic is a nightmare. She also said alot of the locals leave town before the college students get to town.

[endi302]

We were there two years ago. Don't plan on going anywhere on the sea wall as they closed down a lot of the restaurants and you cant drive down that street. We usually go to the rainforest cafe but had to forego that. We were staying in a condo the night before the cruise that was futher down so it didn't really affect us except for when we tried to go to walmart and that was a mad house. Driving in to galveston there were motor cycles, limos, etc with all sorts going for the kappa weekend. It was interesting to watch how many people were going to Galveston that weekend.

[ROPD184]

We werent down there for that, but we did leave out on the Ecstasy on the Saturday of the Lonestar Motorcycle Ralley....Now i own a M/C and ride it religiously...but had COMPLETELY forgetten about that Ralley.....lets just say...we left Conroe (Usually an hour and fifteen minutes..maybe an hour an a half from Galveston on IH-45) at around 10:00 PM and FINALLY made it to Galveston 2:30 PM....I really was almost to the point of saying."We aint gonna make it, lets get back to Ft Worth, get the bike, and come back!! HAHA

Guess that falls under if you cant beat em, join em. Which would be your second option of getting drunk and joinin em!!! HAHA..All I gotta say is GET TO THE ISLAND AS EARLY as you can!

[GCurry]

The KAPPAs have tried to disassociate themselves from this event, as the majority of the crowd are not KAPPAs or even college students for that matter. It now called Beach Party Weekend a primarily African American function. They come to party, see and be seen primarily in their cars in an endless parade the authorities route down Broadway to Seawall West and loop back down to Broadway as most of the side streets are blocked off.

If you are visiting that weekend take the first exit, Harborside, and stay West of 61st St., or downtown in the Strand area. Traffic can be backed up off the island so allow a lot of time. Getting a room can be a problem as well.

 

If you live on the Island you don't necessarily leave, you just shop Friday and stay home unless you choose to participate, much like we do for Galveston's Mardi Gras.

[ShoMeChiefsFan]

The KAPPAs have tried to disassociate themselves from this event, as the majority of the crowd are not KAPPAs or even college students for that matter. It now called Beach Party Weekend a primarily African American function. They come to party, see and be seen primarily in their cars in an endless parade the authorities route down Broadway to Seawall West and loop back down to Broadway as most of the side streets are blocked off.

If you are visiting that weekend take the first exit, Harborside, and stay West of 61st St., or downtown in the Strand area. Traffic can be backed up off the island so allow a lot of time. Getting a room can be a problem as well.

 

If you live on the Island you don't necessarily leave, you just shop Friday and stay home unless you choose to participate, much like we do for Galveston's Mardi Gras.

 

 

what is the dates for this?

[yellow bird]

The dates are april 20-22...

[txskier]

The dates are april 20-22...

 

....ahhh.....crapper......we had reservations that weekend for Saturday night before we leave on the 22nd on the Rhapsody.....looks like a cancelation of our room.....:eek:

[yellow bird]

We also have a room reserved. But I am not cancelling mine over this. May lock myself in the room until time to get on the ship though.

[clearlakecruisers]

If you want to stay away from some of the "madness" you might look into reservations either in the Clear Lake/NASA area or on I-45 in the Dickinson, LaMarque, and/or Texas City areas. Any of those areas are to the north but within 30 minutes of the cruise terminal.

[MellowMel]

The crowds haven't been as bad getting into Galveston in recent years as they have in the past. Do get off at Harborside though. The last two years, the Strand shopping has stayed open because the Beach Party crowd is more interested in the Seawall. I'd go to Galveston before noon on both days to avoid the most traffic.

[texreno]

If the traffic on I-45 is backed up you might want to check the map. Hwy 146 and Hwy 3 will also get you to Galveston. However, both of these routes will merge into I-45 just before you cross the Galveston Causeway bridge.

 

The size of the KAPPA crowds depends greatly on the weather. If it's a mild sunny day, LOOKOUT. If it's overcast and raining then it's tough to cruise the Seawall with the top down, (so to speak).