Staying near the Galveston cruise port

The ship won't wait. The port suggests arriving about three hours before your boarding time, and the drive from Bush Intercontinental alone takes about an hour and a half. If your plan relies on a morning flight landing on time, a hotel the night before is cheap insurance.

Where to look

Visit Galveston, the island's visitor bureau, keeps a list of cruise-friendly hotels. It groups hotels and bed and breakfasts by area: the Seawall, Historic Downtown and the West End. It also marks which ones offer extended cruise parking, a shuttle to the port or a cruise package. The bureau says availability and prices vary by property, so treat the list as a starting point and confirm with the hotel.

The port's own arrival guide mentions hotels that run port shuttles, but it doesn't link to a list.

Park-and-cruise

Some hotels let you leave your car in their lot for the length of the cruise and then shuttle you to the terminal. When that deal is on offer, compare it with the price of a night's stay plus port parking. Sometimes the package wins, and sometimes the parking alone costs less than the room.

Ask the hotel three things before you book:

1. Is parking included for the whole cruise, or charged per day?
2. What time does the shuttle to the port leave, and does it go to your terminal?
3. Does the shuttle bring you back on the day you get off the ship?

When you can skip it

If you live within an easy drive and your boarding time is late morning or later, you can drive down on the day. The port opens at 9 a.m. on most sailing days.

We don't list individual hotels or rates here. They change too often to keep accurate, and a wrong price is worse than none.