Port of Galveston parking - where best?

[GeeVee]

Where can we book an indoor parking garage at the Galveston port? We are going on a Royal Caribbean in February and an NCL in March. It is said if you book ahead of time you can receive discounts. I can't find any place that even discusses this. Any advice?

[Woody14]

If you were sailing from the downtown cruise terminal there is lots of cruise parking downtown but the new royal peir is a little bit out of the downtown and is pretty new. I biked by it when we sailed from galveston this past summer, they had a large lot right there but unfortunately I did not pay attention to if there was other parking in that area.   Sorry I can't help hopefully someone will have an answer for you.

[Cruising Caribbean]

@GeeVee Where did you read that you could receive a discount? I haven't heard of this. Indoor parking garages are definitely an option for you. 

You may find this article helpful. https://www.cruisehive.com/extensive-guide-to-port-of-galveston-cruise-parking/30943

This article has plenty of information on covered parking options at the Port of Galveston. There are prices listed and reservation information options here as well. Let me know if this is useful to you!

@Woody14 Biking to the cruise terminal is genius! That probably saved you a pretty penny. Are there bike racks near the port? How did you bring your luggage along? I always travel with such large suitcases. I can't imagine how you did it unless you backpacked! 

[Woody14]

17 minutes ago, Cruising Caribbean said:

@Woody14 Biking to the cruise terminal is genius! That probably saved you a pretty penny. Are there bike racks near the port? How did you bring your luggage along? I always travel with such large suitcases. I can't imagine how you did it unless you backpacked! 

Sorry we actually walked from the cruise terminal.   We rented bikes in Galveston and used that as our local transportation.   We stayed in Galveston for a few days after our cruise.        We fly in to Houston the day before, took cruise line transport to the ship.  Walked off to our B&B where we dropped our luggage (as it was morning and check in was the afternoon) we rented bikes and used that to expore Galveston for the next few days.    That trip was a carnival cruise which docks right in town, being we passed the new RCL terminal on the ship, we decided when we were exploring to ride up to that area and see what it was like.

We travel carry on for most cruises but even that might be a bit of a challenge on a bicycle.    But you have me thinking.

[Cruising Caribbean]

@Woody14 How did you enjoy Galveston? It's super cool that you choose bikes are your primary mode of transportation! You must have visited during a nice time of year. That's a very fun way to explore and I would love to try that someday. It's crazy because I always end up renting a car, but it could be so much more fun if I tried the rental bikes! I don't know how you would manage the carry-on and a bike, but I have seen some wonky things done in cities. Carts have become quite the commodity in my city, and you would think they are the next big thing. People will skateboard with them or pull them with a bike. The options are endless really if you put your mind to it! 

[Woody14]

Galveston was a very nice place to visit.  We were there in summer so it was very hot.   Galveston was bigger than I expected but the main historical shopping area was what I expected.   Using bikes was great we were there for 3 days it was perfect to do some exploring through some of the historical walking tours and get from our B&B to all the points of interest.

We got off the ship and hauled our bags (we were traveling carryon) the 30 min walk to our B&B - we had made arrangements with them to drop off in the morning as check in was not till afternoon.        We then had about a 5-10 min walk to the bike rental shop.   We did that before 10 am on day 1.   We spent all that day and the next 2 exploring the area (or as far as we could get on bikes in the heat).   We dropped off the bikes on our last day, walked back to the B&B got our stuff and our uber to the airport.      

 

[Cruising Caribbean]

@GeeVee Were you able to find the parking options you were looking for? 

@Woody14 It's great to hear you felt safe in Galveston. I'm impressed at how bikable the city must be. There are many cities where biking isn't as accessible. Biking in Galveston summer must have been very hot. I'm sweating just thinking about it! You walked your carry for 30 minutes in the summer heat. I'm becoming more and more impressed. I don't think my husband could convince me to do that. I don't think he could convince me to bring a carry-on only either. I'm turning more and more into a high-maintenance person as I write. Wait, did you rent manual bikes? I assumed you rented e-bikes! 

[Woody14]

On 1/19/2024 at 12:46 PM, Cruising Caribbean said:

 

@Woody14 It's great to hear you felt safe in Galveston. I'm impressed at how bikable the city must be. There are many cities where biking isn't as accessible. Biking in Galveston summer must have been very hot. I'm sweating just thinking about it! You walked your carry for 30 minutes in the summer heat. I'm becoming more and more impressed. I don't think my husband could convince me to do that. I don't think he could convince me to bring a carry-on only either. I'm turning more and more into a high-maintenance person as I write. Wait, did you rent manual bikes? I assumed you rented e-bikes! 

the 30 minute walk was morning but it was till pretty warm.

yes to the manual bikes - I think ebikes would be the way to go but this was my wife's idea and her dutch heritage came out (she wanted it to be cheap).  

[Kendall James-Vargas]

@Woody14 You and your wife sound like very adventurous cruisers! I love the idea of saving money and powering your own bike. It's such an eco-friendly way to get around too! Most guests typically go everywhere via car even at the ports. It seems everything is motorized nowadays! Wouldn't it be cool if you could bring your bike onboard your cruise and take it along with you at every port? I haven't seen anyone do that before, so I would imagine doing that is off-limits. The bike would surely take up a lot of cabin space. 

[Lou]

For our cruise out of Galveston, our hotel (Holiday Inn) allowed us to leave our car on their lot for a reasonable fee. It wasn't covered, but the price was right. Most hotels around Galveston that cater to cruisers should offer a similar service. Check with your hotel. 

[Cruising Caribbean]

@Woody14 I didn't realize the Dutch way was a cheap one. I may be Dutch in my ancestry then! I would likely splurge on an e-bike if the weather was hot like the Galveston summer is!

@LouI just booked my first cruise out of Galveston, and I'm very excited for it! The weather should be nicer that time of year, in February. I would love to stay at the Holiday Inn and utilize this parking lot the night before. Would you be able to share the hotel information with me? I would also like to see if there is shuttle to the port or even the airport. Those are options I would like to figure out beforehand so I'm not left scrambling at the last minute. 

[Woody14]

4 hours ago, Cruising Caribbean said:

@Woody14 I didn't realize the Dutch way was a cheap one. I may be Dutch in my ancestry then! I would likely splurge on an e-bike if the weather was hot like the Galveston summer is!

I am not sure the 'Dutch way' is always the cheap one but it is definitely value oriented.    That said it would not be the Scotsman cheap which several of the people I know of that are Scottish seem to be proud of that part of their heritage.

[Cruising Caribbean]

@Woody14 I love a good value system! That's something I don't think the United States has, a good value system. I'm one who was born in the United States so I can truly attest to this. I would love to visit that area some day and get to know the Dutch culture. I'm proud to be a very frugal person. I don't think that's the "American" way, but it's just my way! The way I see it it, the more I save the more money I can spend on cruising. That's the highlight of my year for sure. Are you an annual cruiser? 

[Woody14]

On 2/28/2024 at 10:20 AM, Cruising Caribbean said:

 Are you an annual cruiser? 

I am pretty much moving (maybe have moved) in the direction of an annual cruiser.  Started cruising in the mid 90's and the first 4 were 5 years apart, then it moved to 2-3 yrs apart and now it is every year (last year actually more than 1).    I enjoy cruising a lot but I don't really like going to the same places over and over again so it can be challenging to get the right cruise in the limited budget I am working with.     It does not help being on the west coast of Canada so unless I am going to Alaska (done 2x) or Mexico out of LA (also done 2X), there are significant costs for flights to factor in.    This years cruise is to Europe and man were the flights is expensive this year.

[Kendall James-Vargas]

@Lou Thanks for this tip! It's really great to know there is a hotel option like this near the Port of Galveston.

@Woody14 I try to cruise at least once a year too since it is my favorite vacation, but sometimes life gets in the way. As long as I can make it work with my families' schedule, you can consider me an annual cruiser too. I'm getting to the point in life where skipping my annual cruise isn't really an option any more because I love it too much. When cruising with a budget, what cruise line do you typically choose? Have you considered a transpacific voyage? It could potentially cut the flight costs in half, but I know those itineraries are few and far between. 

[Woody14]

On 3/1/2024 at 10:06 AM, Kendall James-Vargas said:

When cruising with a budget, what cruise line do you typically choose? Have you considered a transpacific voyage? It could potentially cut the flight costs in half, but I know those itineraries are few and far between. 

Unfortunately for me I am married to a school teacher (who still has a few more years to work) so therefor we can really only travel at a few select times of year.   This limits us in a few ways as well as impacts the budget.   I would be very interested in a North America to Europe or Australia cruise but they go while school is in session.        We are doing something out of the ordinary in we are doing a European Cruise in May but this took 2 years of planning to get the leave from work et all.

As for cruise lines.  Celebrity is our favourite but is not always budget friendly.    Our past cruises have been on Celebrity, Carnival and Royal.  The May one is also on Royal.     For budget I enjoy MSC as well.         As noted previously it is destinations that make the big decisions for us mostly.    I generally try to get at least 1 new place on each cruise, must admit this is getting tougher now that I have been to about 50 different ports.   There are still a few places left so we can probably do once a year until my wife retires from teaching and then try a few of the off peak times and places.

[Cruising Caribbean]

@Woody14 School teachers are awesome, but cruising those times of year are always the most expensive! Spring break cruise prices plus the crowd is just a headache in itself! I pulled my kids out of school and homeschooled them to have more flexibility. Cruising when school is out is just way too expensive for our crew. Thankfully, it sounds like you and your wife are at the tail end of being bound to this schedule. By the time she's retired, I bet you will both have earned some pretty awesome loyalty statuses amongst the rest. The goal of cruising one new destination per itinerary per cruise is such a great idea. My family is getting burnt out of those Caribbean cruises. They are so much fun, but a new destination every now and again would be a great refresh for us! Would you do a world cruise at some point? 

[Woody14]

17 hours ago, Cruising Caribbean said:

 Would you do a world cruise at some point? 

Would I, very interested.    Budget might come in to play on that one.

So far the longest cruise I have done is 12 days (really like the 10-12 day range)

[Kendall James-Vargas]

@Woody14 Your wife sounds wonderful! Being a full-time teacher is not for the faint of heart. Hopefully, once she finishes her teaching career you will be able to pursue more efficient cruise travel. Even the flights during peak season are priced so much higher than off-season. Does your wife have a particular vacation in mind once she isn't bound to the teacher schedule anymore? There are ways around cruising and saving money, one of those ways would be to have flexible housing instead of being bound to a mortgage! You could even rent your property off to have it pay for itself while you life your life without any strings attached for a couple of years. After being bound to a set schedule for most of your life, it could feel so freeing to do whatever you want whenever you want! It's like a new wave of living.