Grand Princess 3/24/07 - Page 2 - Cruise Line Fans: Cruise Forum, Reviews and Chat From Real Cruisers

reggierail · 11-14-2006, 12:04 PM

You can pick up a car at either airport and drop it in Galveston. On my last Galveston cruise you could drop
the car at a parking garage directly across from the
cruise terminal and pick one up at the same place.

Reggie

sailmeaway · 11-14-2006, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reggierail

You can pick up a car at either airport and drop it in Galveston. On my last Galveston cruise you could drop
the car at a parking garage directly across from the
cruise terminal and pick one up at the same place.

Reggie

That sounds like it would be better than the bus thing. do they have a shuttle at the cruise terminal that takes you to their parking garage in Galvaston?

BarbO1999 · 11-14-2006, 09:16 PM

Reggie for the directionally challenged would this be a difficult drive....

reggierail · 11-14-2006, 10:27 PM

They do have a shuttle to bring you from the parking garage to the cruise terminal. Returning from my last cruise the shuttle driver failed to show up for work. I had to walk to the parking garage. It was quicker than the shuttle. It's probably 200 feet and took a couple of minutes.
From either airport it is easy to get to highway 45 which goes right to Galveston. It's really a piece of cake. From and back to Bush (IAH) airport took just about 1 hour each way.
It would be even less from Hobby airport.

Reggie

jp20 · 11-14-2006, 11:19 PM

I heard from a few friends that it was difficult to fly in and cruise out of Galveston because you couldn't rent a car at the airport and drive it to the port and leave it there or turn it in. Is it easier than I've been lead to believe?

reggierail · 11-14-2006, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jp20

I heard from a few friends that it was difficult to fly in and cruise out of Galveston because you couldn't rent a car at the airport and drive it to the port and leave it there or turn it in. Is it easier than I've been lead to believe?

Don't know where you heard that, but it was bogus.
I've done it twice, in Oct 2004 and last month.
Only 2 companies allow 1 way to Galveston,
Enterprise and Hertz. Enterprise is way cheaper
and I've always gotten a nice upgrade.
Read back a few posts for more info.

Reggie

BarbO1999 · 11-14-2006, 11:49 PM

will definitely look into this as it sounds a lot easier than a shuttle. Do they even have a shuttle service from the airport?

reggierail · 11-15-2006, 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BarbO1999

will definitely look into this as it sounds a lot easier than a shuttle. Do they even have a shuttle service from the airport?

Unless it's a very small airport, I've never seen one that didn't have a shuttle. The small ones usually have the
service right in the terminal. At Bush airport they have a shuttle bus leaving every few minutes that runs from the air terminals to a huge car rental facility at the edge of the airport, about a 5 minute drive. All of the major rental companies are located in this facility.
From when I got off the plane till I was back at the air terminal to pick up my group was about 30 minutes, then
about an hour to Galveston.
A full size car was about $80 and a minivan about $100
for a 24 hour rental and that included the dropoff charge.
There is no dropoff charge going back to the airport, so the price was about $30 less for each of the vehicles.

Reggie

BarbO1999 · 11-15-2006, 08:33 PM

Good advice will definitely check into it. I am waiting for the airfare as I want to see how much southwest is and can't yet.

sailmeaway · 11-17-2006, 10:02 PM

Southwest is posted now, they are expensive from Chicago. We booked AA arriving at 10:55 on saturday.