We arrived in Houston from the west coast the day before our sailing of January 18/15. Picked up our rental car and were on our way to Galveston for an overnight at the Comfort Inn. Having never been to Texas before we were looking forward to seeing a little of Galveston prior to the Cruise. The city is quite charming and has much to offer it's visitors. We drove Seawall Blvd, checked out the Strand area and did some shopping both in Galveston and at the Baybrook Mall. We certainly could have spent more time here. Had a wonderful dinner at the Saltgrass Steakhouse and picked up some wine and water at Kroger's for the cruise.

The morning of the cruise was spent exploring with our rental car. Our plan was to board as late as possible to maximize our time in Galveston. We dropped the car at the Comfort Inn (where it would stay until we picked it up for our return to the airport). Our cab got us to the port about 2:45pm which was perfect. Skipped all the lines, picked up our Seapass Cards, posed for a quick pic in front of the fake backdrop(which they promptly rolled up as soon as we were done)!

We were onto the Ship and able to get into our cabin right away. It was a balcony 6648, great location only one floor down to the Promenade, and we enjoyed being close to the water, hearing the ship cut through the waves. Read more