Where to begin? My husband is 47 and I am 37 - we are first time cruisers who took our first ever week-long vacation from the kiddos! Anticipated this trip for quite some time and it turned out to be everything we had hoped for and then some.

My husband's entire family suffers severe motion sickness. He is unable to be a passenger in the back seat of a vehicle without becoming ill. Never thought we would do a cruise, but with the word from our doctor that the patch works, off we went! He did the patch and I did dramamine. Both worked well for us and you will soon learn that this is an important note!

Parking in Galveston is included in many of the hotels so ask first if they provide free parking and shuttle to the cruise terminal. Parking at the actual cruise terminal is around $50. We found Lighthouse Parking and if you pay in advance online, it is $30; onsite, $35. It is only a few blocks from the cruise terminal and they shuttle you over. Read more