Background: My DW(39) & I(39) have sailed Carnival 4 times and this is our 1st time on Conquest and 1st time leaving out of Galveston. We had booked our cruise in January 2006 and in July we found out that my DW was pregnant. Because of this we kept our tours and time away from the ship to a minimum.

Travel to Port: We left on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and drove down I35 to I45 to Galveston. Total drive time about 6 hours for 322 miles. We hit Houston around 2PM and got caught in the Thanksgiving Shopping traffic from Conway to just north of the bridge to Galveston. It will help once the construction north of Houston is finished.

Hotel Info: We booked a night at the Hawthorn Suites at The Victorian Resort & Conference Center and the price covered the room, week of parking and transportation to the pier. Room was nice, close to restaurants, and room had view of the Gulf of Mexico. Transportation is a converted blue school bus and takes people from both the Victorian and the Comfort Inn. The next time that we go out of Galveston, going to take advantage of hotel a little closer to the pier and Light House or EZ cruise parking (more later) Read more