Information needed on Galveston Port

[Rancher Dave]

I totally agree....it looks like the Port of Houston has plenty of space for parking. It just isn't ready yet, as they were not expecting cruise ships to be calling at this point. There terminal itself looks beautiful, although we have not been inside, so can't say for sure.

 

Galveston's parking is fine, but the terminal is woefully inadequate as far as space for the number of passenger on a ship the size of Voyager.

 

 

I believe POH was awaiting a contract before spending more money to pave more parking so that is part of the parking problem. It is supposedly built to handle VOS or maybe even larger ships already so they are ready for any ship that comes in...save for the parking situation.

 

If we were to go out from POH, I would consider having a car and driver take and pick up to avoid the parking situation at present.

[crazy 4 cruising]

IAH, north of Houston, is 60 miles from Galveston and is the hub for Continental. All major airlines use IAH. Hobby is on the near south side of Houston and is 40 miles from Galveston. Hobby is mainly for Southwest but other airlines have a few flights landing at HOU. Both have shuttle service to the cruise terminal in Galveston. There is taxi service also. The Conquest and Ecstasy was at sea when Ike hit. All the parked autos that belonged to the pax were destroyed.

 

Generally if you rent a car at one location and return it at another there will be a service charge and it is usually not cheap! Several times I have had to rent a car to travel from Houston to San Antonio or vice versa due to canceled flights. The cost was $130 for 24 hours.

 

Due to extensive damage to Galveston and the cruise terminals, carnivore is currently using Bayport in Houston. There is a lot of speculation as to when the cruise terminals will actually be open and accepting ships. Bayport is a brand new $81 million cruise terminal without any cruise ships. Galveston has two terminals that are converted warehouses with minimal conversion (rustic). A travel columnist for the Sunday Dallas paper said in his column that the VOS was returning in December to Bayport and not Galveston. Keep your options open.

 

we rented a one way one time POST cruise and took the shuttle from terminal to pickup. BUT the desk/shuttle were at the CARNIVAL terminal, not RCCL. Be sure to call the LOCAL Galveston rental car office & not the 800 number

 

 

I thought I read somewhere that POG was trying to be reopened for cruise ships in October?

 

what the cruise terminal looks like does not make any difference to me at all, the convenience of getting there and parking are more important. I would guess that Bayport would be a tad bit closer for us, however, we have started staying at Holiday Inn the night before, leaving the car there & taking their shuttle back & forth. We have ressies at HI for our VOS in March--anyone know anything about how it fared?

[browneyes7]

I totally agree....it looks like the Port of Houston has plenty of space for parking. It just isn't ready yet, as they were not expecting cruise ships to be calling at this point. There terminal itself looks beautiful, although we have not been inside, so can't say for sure.

 

Galveston's parking is fine, but the terminal is woefully inadequate as far as space for the number of passenger on a ship the size of Voyager.

 

The Bayport Terminal is very nice. We cruised on the Ecstasy on the second cruise out of the terminal. There were a few minor problems, but that is to be expected under the circumstances. We loved the fact that we could park our car and walk across the street with our luggage. There were some cars parked in the grass later in the day. I have heard that they are planning to build two more terminals. That may be why the parking lot isn't larger. (I really don't know.) I am hoping that a ship will commit to the new facility. It would be a shame for it not to be used at all, after this.