Can We just drive to Galveston and buy a ticket from the cruise lines? Are the rates better ?

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Zef H

If your question is, can you purchase a cruise on the day it leaves? The answer is no you cannot.

First of all, most ships leave fully booked. The cruise lines use computers to gage how a cruise is selling. If it is doing better than expected, the prices increase. If it is not selling so well, prices are reduced. Any unsold cabins when the ship leaves are lost forever. Thus it is better to sell a cabin at half price then to allow the ship to sail with an empty cabin.

However, assuming you are lucky enough to find a ship that is not sold out, you still cannot buy your way onto the ship on the same day that it sails because the cruise line must submit a complete passenger manifest 24 to 96 hours prior to sailing (I have seen different figures on this) to Homeland Security. Thus it would be impossible for you to show up eight hours before the ship sails and purchase an empty cabin.

Julie T

No, unfortunately not. You must book in advance through the cruise line or a travel agent. You can't even get in the cruise terminal without a boarding package.

You have two options for departures from Galveston: Carnival and Royal Caribbean.

Carnival runs a 5-day cruise on the older, smaller Ecstasy and a 7-day on the larger Conquest.

RC recently moved the Voyager of the Seas to Galveson, replacing the aging Rhapsody of the Seas.

Galveston is a very popular market and most of the cruises are sold out long before sailing.

You can check out www.vacationstogo.com. They have a search engine that allows you to limit departures from certain ports.

Carnival has a 24-hour price match guarantee. If you find a better price w/i 24 hours of booking with Carnival, they will match the price.

For the best rates, consider off-season. Rates are the highest when the kids are out of school during Spring Break, summer and the holidays.

Friends of ours took the Conquest in February and they only paid $400 per guest. We are taking the family in June and are paying twice that because we are going at high season.

Cruises on the Ecstasy are budget friendly because it is a 5 day cruise but the Conquest is a much better ship.

boguegirls

That can never happen. You have to book in advance with a travel agent or the cruise line directly

Phil P

Julie is very right. And just to piggy back on what she said, the terminal in Galveston is not like the terminals you see at an airport(Like Intercontinental airport in Houston[IAH]). Your very best option is to book with either Carnival or Royal Caribbean directly or even your travel agent. Also take a look at travel sites like www.cruise.com that'll give you an idea about the prices of the cruises that sail out of Galveston.

Ed S

No, because of security regulations, you cant buy the ticket the day of at the port. You must pre book, so they can run a security check. The rates would be similar anyway.

Hope this helps, you can also look for more info at this great yahoo group.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Cruiseaddict/

1Cheapcruise

you'll get a better deal by not buying it via Carnival.
check around for cheapcruises and you'll find it.

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