Background History: We were traveling with a group of 10, all family. Ages ranged from 77 to 16. This was a first cruise for our entire group. Let me begin by saying all of us absolutely loved it!
I read several reviews before our trip so I somewhat knew what to expect. I was designated as the family "Cruise Director" so I had to do research and report back to everyone. All of the reviews I read were very helpful. One tip I would like to add before beginning this review is if you are traveling in a large group, have everyone paired up by room assignments before you enter the terminal doors. We made the mistake of not doing this and it caused confusion. Also, have your tickets already passed out to the appropriate people. I had 4 tickets in my bag and had to hurry and get them passed out before going through the door. I could not find the ticket for my mother and daughter. We frantically searched in our bags for it, thinking I had misplaced it or accidentally left it at home!! Ended up my husband was holding it thinking it was our ticket. I had our ticket! After chewing him out and beginning our journey on a bad note, we were able to enter the terminal. We did kiss and make up before boarding and yes, I did apologize!!
Galveston Hotel: Had major, major problems with our hotel reservations in Galveston. I had made reservations 2 months in advance with Ramada Limited with a rate of $119 and we reserved 3 rooms. I called 2 days before leaving our home town to confirm our reservations. Everything was a-okay. When we got to the hotel to check in we knew there was a problem because the desk person immediately got the manager. We were told there was a problem with the credit card we submitted for the reservation. I don't know what the problem was on their end but we had been using the credit card everyday and had no problems. It is a credit card that is for our checking account and has an overdraft protection on it as well. If the account showed there wasn't any money available it would have gone into the overdraft without any problem. Anyway, the manager said our reservations were cancelled! She did have rooms available but with only king size beds and the rate of $119 would not be in effect but the rate of $153 would. Needless to say we were ticked, to put it mildly. How are we going to find rooms the night before a cruise leaves and to find 3 rooms?! My thought was why tell me the reservation was good when I called if it in fact was not? Why include a phone number with the reservation if you are not going to use it when there is a problem? Anyway, we were able to find rooms at the Red Carpet Inn. Not the fanciest motel but was okay. The rooms had just been remodeled and were adequate. They were very courteous and pleasant. Won't be going back to the Ramada Limited again.