Should we stay in Houston or Galveston

[LovesAllTravel]

My two cents worth: if you're coming in on a Thursday, stay in the Houston area, say in the Clear Lake area for the NASA and Kemah boardwalk sites. Drive down to Galveston (only about 30 minutes from Clear Lake area) on Friday. Summer traffic on I-45 southbound on a Friday afternoon can be horrendous, be sure to plan for that. Lots of locals head down to the beach houses that time of week. Stay in Galveston Friday and Saturday nights. There's numerous "reasonable" hotels along Seawall Blvd. If you have children, check out Moody Gardens in Galveston, both for the hotel, pool area, sites, and water park adjacent to it.

 

Be sure to make arrangements in advance to return your rental car, either the Saturday before you depart on your cruise, use a hotel shuttle to the pier, and then take a shuttle/car service back to the airport, or paying for parking the week of your cruise.

 

Have a great time!

[JNCRUISEBUMS]

You can stay in Clear Lake one night and do Nasa and Kemah. I don't know how old our kids are but you will love both places! Then, the next night in Galveston and do Moody Gardens, there's a rainforest restaurant that's a lot of fun! Guido's seafood restaurant is very good. There are some motels to stay at where you can leave your car and they drive you to the dock. No matter what you choose, it will be wonderful, have a great trip and a great cruise!:cool:

[Guest carlogesualdo]

Sure, traffic jams are always a possibility. Just keep your eye on the news and plan ahead. I plan to stay in Houston so I can spend more money on the cruise instead of on my hotel. Houston's not so far away. We stayed there last time and had no problems. If your cruise sails on a weekend, you're not likely to run into heavy traffic unless there's a football game or something like that going on. Like I said - keep an eye on the news. The fact that you're going to be there at least a day in advance says you're ahead of the game already. Think how many people will miss their cruises because they planned to fly in the day of the cruise and then their flights got canceled because of weather or bankruptcy or snakes on a plane or something...

[Julie Koefoot]

I always stay in Galveston because I love the beach. My daughters are grown but kids love the beach too. My favorite place to stay is the Commodore hotel on the seawall,favorite restaurant is The Spot right in the same area. I have been wating to stay at the Harbor House right next to the terminal, they have recently added a restaurant to that hotel. The Harbor House is more upscale then the Commodore.

 

Julie