This was our first cruise vacation, so nothing else to compare this cruise to except what I had read on this web site and heard about from other cruisers.

I will start with the pre-cruise hotel in Galveston. We waited too long to book the room, so I recommend doing this early as there may be something going on in town that you are unaware of. We didn't know that Galveston had a Mardi Gras celebration, and we would arrive in the middle of it. So, we stayed in the Sandpiper hotel the night before the cruise. I do not recommend this hotel. The people were friendly ... They allowed us to leave our car parked there during the cruise, and gave us free shuttle to the pier but I think that $103/night (during Mardi Gras or not) was way over priced for a hotel that is in so much need of repair. It is not only "dated," but it isn't well kept, and not clean.

Getting on board was easy and quick -- the whole process took maybe 15 minutes. Read more