Galveston Cruise Port - Keep These Things in Mind

Here are some general guidelines for starting your cruise in Galveston, Texas. Some of them are a bit surprising!
Here at the Port Lowdown, we aim to create informative and entertaining videos about cruise port docks and ports-of-call for independent-minded travelers on a budget, who are looking for things “outside the usual”.
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[@pamseyduck2000]

Great video!!!

[@ThePortLowdown]

Thank you!

[@nicoleolson4721]

Ty. Finally someone is giving out practical information. The big cruise shows on KZbin stopped being helpful like this, and now seem to do "fluff " shows, once they have a following. Again, thank you for showing us newbies the little details. It means more than you know. P.s. I subscribed 😁

[@ThePortLowdown]

That's great to hear! Thank you!

[@teejadventurejourney]

That port is very challenging. Far from the airport and it’s hard to find transportation. The Uber and Lyft is very limited plus they are raising the price every single minute during rush hour disembarkation.

[@ThePortLowdown]

Man, I wonder how much it from last year when we filmed this.

[@melodymills5432]

Great video. We cruised out of Galveston in January 2022 and used an Uber. We stayed at The Tremont which was so close to the port. We went in two days early and had a lovely time walking around downtown. On cruise day, we were able to walk to the port, which was reasonably easy for us two old fluffy people. You are correct though on the sidewalks being bumpy. We went to the Cruise stop both days to pick up snacks and pop. Very friendly staff. We took the cruise shuttle back to the airport after the cruise. Thanks for the video.

[@ThePortLowdown]

Us too, but for a day. We check some of the boxes you mentioned in our next video. Thanks so much!

[@harryharrison7773]

Update, The Galveston Port now allows Uber and Lyft....

[@ThePortLowdown]

Cool, thanks for the update!

[@txpatriotgirl]

We don’t do public transportation on Texas. We are too spread out.

[@ThePortLowdown]

True. Rideshare was our friend!

[@jameswilson5165]

@@ThePortLowdown Yah, but Holy Ka Ching! $$$$$$

[@ThePortLowdown]

@jameswilson5165 Not too bad really. About 50 to 55 for the three of us one way, so it helps to have a larger group to spread the cost. Timing and settling on a smaller class of car also helps a bit. But, true, there's no really cheap way out there on your own.

[@user-gz7kb7yq9p]

For carnival ships...... What about when going out of terminal 2 ? the next one down from 1 (bag drop etc)

[@ThePortLowdown]

Sorry, but we didn't sail out of t2. But it's likely similar to 1, just closer to the main drag.

[@user-gz7kb7yq9p]

@@ThePortLowdown ok

[@jimf710]

Just found your channel. Informative, with lots of visuals and down to the point. Subscribed.

[@ThePortLowdown]

Thanks so much! We're always looking to improve our videos, so if you have feedback we'd love to know.

[@diegogomes5912]

Uber Service Now is Available at Port of Galveston Cruise Terminals

[@ThePortLowdown]

That's awesome news! No more walking to the Train Museum!

[@QueenSuperJ]

Great and informative video. We will be cruising Jubilee out of Galveston. This will be our first time cruising out of TX so I’ve been looking for some good videos! Thanks!

[@ThePortLowdown]

Cool! Thank you so much. Galveston was a lot of fun and we want to come back someday. Have an awesome time!

[@raxterwot7940]

And the port uses facial recognition for disembarking, very quick and smooth 👍

[@ThePortLowdown]

Yes indeed. It was very quick for us too!

[@stevek7068]

Great video, but it only really covers the Carnival terminals. Don't forget there is a separate Royal Caribbean terminal at 14th street. Walking around there is very different than walking around the Carnival terminals. MSC has signed a letter of intent to build a terminal next to Royal's. If it actually happens, things will change once again. Oh! And I almost forgot! Amtrak does provide service, via thruway bus, to the Galveston Railway Museum. That might be a good option of some people.

[@ThePortLowdown]

Thanks for watching! Yes, I knew about the RC terminal, but didn't get a chance to cover it since we were sailing with Princess. It looks fancy, so I'll try to catch it next time. Can I assume the Amtrak bus comes out of Houston? Or is there another station point?

[@stevek7068]

My understanding about Amtrak is that the bus runs between Longview and Galveston with a stop in Houston. That allows connections with the Texas Eagle train going north to Chicago and the Sunset Limited, which runs between New Orleans and Los Angeles. It's not a lot of places, but can be helpful for those that live along these routes. @@ThePortLowdown

[@paconrail1238]

Our embarkation was quick. The disembark was a little slower but the wait for the shuttle to my vehicle in the inside parking lot for Royal Caribbean (14) was a waiting time of about an hour.

[@ThePortLowdown]

So was the RC terminal your disembark point or the ones closer to the Train Musuem? At any rate, that's a hella long time to wait for the shuttle. We waited for a rideshare, but left the terminal area since it was pretty busy. But an hour? I feel you!

[@paconrail1238]

It was right at the RC terminal. I saw many folks give up and walkover to the building...maybe 5 to 10 minute walk with baggage

[@ThePortLowdown]

Eeeek! Never been to that terminal, but I imagined the lot to be next door, not an extended walk. We were at the older terminals and there was no port parking per se, needed to walk across the street to the city lots.

[@paconrail1238]

They have a parking lot there but this was for the overflow parking and the indoor parking garage. @@ThePortLowdown

[@juneburke7545]

Good info for Galveston port

[@ThePortLowdown]

Thanks! I'll keep working on new ones. Appreciate the good feedback!

[@cameraman655]

I am surprised that Galveston Scholes Field Airport is not a functioning commercial airport. From what I understand it can accommodate certain types of widebody aircraft, 787, A330 at least in as far as runway length. The haul from IAH or HOU on IH45 can be rough at times. Seems to me that the city and county of Galveston would have addressed this years ago and re-activated GLS.

[@ThePortLowdown]

Well, I'd try that if available. If Southwest can land there, why not?

[@suzfindsnyapts]

So first up, we fell in love with Galveston, we will probably return for a trip. We did rent a car in Houston, and we stayed two nights at the beach holiday inn, which had a shuttle. Honestly the shuttle was way slower than we expected, and it was quite crowded. The porter at RCC lost one of our bags but it did make it on to the ship lost and found. Royals port is fine, but it’s easy to get confused finding your shuttle on the way back. We did do half a day in Houston before flying home, that is an epic farmers market. There are cruise drivers you can find on Facebook. All things being equal, renting a car and then using it to explore ended up being the best value. We did not experience any congestion getting on or off the island. Bottom line, we ended up loving Galveston mor than we eddd up loving cruising.

[@ThePortLowdown]

We really enjoyed Galveston, too. We only had an overnight stay near the Strand, so we opted for Uber. If we stayed longer, renting a car would have been great, especially since we were hoping to explore New Orleans and Cajun country. I assume your hotel had parking included? I understand many Galveston hotels offer that.

[@pb1963]

Royal Caribbean no longer uses this terminal. RC has built a new terminal further down from the old terminal. The old terminal is mostly used by Carnival. Princess is supposed to be coming soon.

[@lorenadugan6355]

Carnival was pictured. Really, the actual bldg isn’t relevant.

[@ThePortLowdown]

Yeah, we sailed with Princess and didn't have access to the new fancy terminal RC uses, passengers only I think. I wanted to feature but felt it wasn't any good unless I'm actually using it and poking around inside. The older buildings near downtown looked similar.

[@ThePortLowdown]

Actually that's an issue with alot of ports with multiple terminals. We decided to just feature what we actually use. We're in Europe now and Southampton UK, for example, has about three terminals spread out across its harbor area. Some cities have berths a few miles apart.

[@deepshotone]

We sailed out of Galveston back in Nov 2022. We flew into Bush and our Uber ride costed us $115.00. It was even more of a night mare when we returned back to port to disembark. All of the shuttle busses were book. So we tried calling a few car services and were quoted astronomical prices. One car service quoted us $300.00! We finally were able to get an Lyft but the driver could not find the Royal Caribbean terminal. We were on the very first sailing out of the new terminal and Google had not updated their address so our driver couldnt find us. lol After waiting another hour, in the cold we were finally able to get a Uber driver only to find out we were in the wrong car!! LMAO The guy felt so bad for us offered to take us to Bush, 70 miles away but It cost us $125. I gave him an extra $30 for bailing us out of a bad and rainy situation. Ill never sail out of Galveston again. Too many challenges.

[@ThePortLowdown]

Oh man, I'm sorry you went through that! We flew into Hoston as well (Hobby) and, yes, it's a challenge since the port is far from airports, and there's no public transport.

[@nwsparksnmore]

I'm not sure why my experience with that port terminal is so different than yours. We left November 5th and return November 12th 2023 with Princess. The lines were long for both embarkation and debarkation. Embarkation we arrived at 1p. We were lined up outside for an hour (no toilets' outside), once inside it was another hour to the ship. Debarkation we had a 8:40 am time and were not out of the facility until 11am. The Royal Caribbean port was SO much nicer last April.

[@ThePortLowdown]

Eeek! Totally different. Not sure what to say, our experience wasn't anything like that. We DID have those kind of experiences at Brooklyn port. I would definitely hate going through what you did. I hope the cruise was at least fun. Would love to check the RC port, I hear it's quite nice!

[@dalejl7392]

good info.

[@ThePortLowdown]

Thanks so much!

[@NFNJP]

I did not have a pleasant experience leaving out of Galveston. Not the fault of anyone. It was the unexpected freezing weather. I don’t know why but it was in the 30’s there. A January sailing a few years back. I just won’t take my winter vacations from there. Some how in my mind, I thought it was warmer there in the winter and wasn’t prepared.

[@ThePortLowdown]

Wow, i would have thought the same thing. Was it busy or light crowds? Low season?

[@rgruenhaus]

GulfCoast winter weather is from about the middle of January to the end of February! I live in Pensacola FL. Texas gets colder than Florida as the cold stream rolls down from Canada right through them before moving east.

[@deepshotone]

Agreed. I sailed out of Galveston Nov 2022. It was freezing!

[@LarryHauk]

We came back the first part of December and froze to death. SMH

[@45035]

Those pesky rail road tracks have been removed.

[@ThePortLowdown]

Cool. My suitcase wheels will be grateful!

[@eringcpa5803]

I will never ever cruise out of Galveston again in my lifetime. I cost me alot to take a bus from the airport round trip from DTW. 😯

[@ThePortLowdown]

Wow! Which airport and how much?

[@eringcpa5803]

​@@ThePortLowdown Choice Air Charge 331.50 and the Roundtrip Transfer 94.00 from IAH. This was my last time in 2014. At the FLL or MIA airports there is a minor charge to transfer to the pier.

[@ThePortLowdown]

Great, thanks. I'll keep this in mind for future reference.

[@brendabrinkley5139]

Have you done norfolk Virginia port yet. So much to see near there. Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, Jamestown , Yorktown.

[@ThePortLowdown]

No, not yet. We've booked our future cruises through 2024. And, on top of that, we heard that Norfolk is pausing sails that year for renovations. It's definitely something we have plans for!

[@jameswilson5165]

Not a bad video but I hope some savvy KZbinr local will take this up. The scalping by the ride-share people, Nope. Although I'm 6 hours away from Galveston and still in Texas, it will be worth it.

[@ThePortLowdown]

I'd love to see a local perspective too. From the comments, there's alot of strong opinions on Galveston!

[@carolyngardner4999]

I just use Carnival Transportation for Galveston.

[@ThePortLowdown]

We considered that, but it wasn't cost-effective for our family group. How was the service?

[@ljacobs357]

The only thing bad about Hobby is Southwest is the major airline.

[@ThePortLowdown]

You're right. Not alot of airlines fly to Hobby compared to Bush. But Hobby is closer.

[@rgruenhaus]

Where is the NCL PRIMA going to be? Seems like KZbin channels treat them like a forgotten stepchild.

[@ThePortLowdown]

Terminal 10 I believe. That's the new super fancy one. Didn't get a chance to sail from that since we cruised with Princess.

[@loved1280]

I got a Royal Caribbean cruise coming up. This is my first time at Galveston. Does anyone know the best cover parking with shuttle to boat?

[@ThePortLowdown]

Hi! I can't answer this, as I flew in. I'd recommend fielding your question to Cruise Critic. boards.cruisecritic.com If you don't have an account, you'll need to create one. There are MANY cruisers on those boards and I'm sure someone there can answer your question. Best of luck!

[@lizwasko]

If you are GIFTED a bottle of wine by the casino host, ITIIS NOT TAXED. Someone didn’t go to the debarkation presentation on the last sea day. Also LYFT and UBER now transport to the terminal and they both have special pick up areas at the port where passenger cars pick up.

[@ThePortLowdown]

Thanks for the update. When we shot this, Uber wasn't allowed in. As for booze tax, our cruise line didn't offer a debarkation presentation, so this caught us off guard. Thanks for the info, we will keep this in mind.

[@chynasparks1]

Looks like a pain in the butt to me

[@ThePortLowdown]

Well, we gave ourselves an overnight stay at the Strand and got to walk around a bit. Once we were over the hump of getting there via Uber from Hobby, it was enjoyable. Now that we've done a bunch of ports, Galveston was pretty ok, especially for American ports (which often have spotty public transport, unlike Europe). We always give ourselves a day ahead to any port we fly to, just to be on the safe side.

[@lisadavis8389]

Yes,Texas has some wonky alcoholic beverage laws. That being said, I've been through the new RCL terminal and didn't find one TABC collection point. They may be there...if so they're hidden. As to transportation to/from the local airports,Rome is the same! The drive to Civitavechia, the actual port serving Rome ,is 90 minutes away. Galveston is not unique.

[@ThePortLowdown]

We got out at the Carnival terminal and tax inspectors had their little desk set up right at the exit to the street. Seemed odd to us, it didn't look like a customs desk. Now, one viewer pointed out that if the bottle was a gift from the cruise line, I didn't have to declare. Missed the memo. Anyway, I hope to see the RCL terminal on a return trip. I've read it's quite fancy and high-tech.

[@stacymcintosh1990]

Hoby is so geto, bush is 1000% better

[@ThePortLowdown]

Thing is, Hobby is closer to Galveston. It's also a pretty active hub, I've had to fly there several times for connecting flights on Southwest.

[@brandyverdun5248]

I can noy wait to going on thr new carnaivail cruipnship in dec 2024foeva7and i can not eait ti go on the new crui😊

[@ThePortLowdown]

I feel you! The excitement of an upcoming cruise is part of the fun for me.

[@TxGambler77]

This video popped up as a recommendation so I gave it a shot. I feel that either the title of this video or your channel is misleading. I wasn't expecting a tour of Galveston, but I did expect you to cover all the cruise terminals, which you did not and could have if you were a local or at least had your own vehicle. RCCL has their newest terminal down the street and you didn't even address it, instead choosing to only feature terminal 25. You also fail to speak of the congestion on the causeway between the mainland and the island, you must have come in a day early and didn't have much delay. The only positive i can give you is that I was not aware of the Cruise Stop C-store, but I have never needed it since I would never fly into Houston.

[@ThePortLowdown]

Thanks for the feedback. We didn't cover every terminal because we sailed with Princess and didn't have access to the new terminal 10. I made the decision that it felt like a cheat to advise on something I couldn't use. That said, I think I make more mention of this in the future. As far as car congestion, we flew in from LA and took an uber and traffic was minimal when we traveled. In the end, I wanted to stay as true to my own experience as possible. Thanks for watching and I will your comments in mind. Best to you!