What is the best time to board in Galveston-Grand Princess

[C-Ya]

My wife and I are staying the night before our cruise at The Harbor Inn, next to the cruise ship terminal in Galveston.

I would like to know when is the best time to go to the ship (The Grand Princess) with the least amount of waiting in lines. I have read some of the posts in these forums in which some people are on board in 15 minutes and others have had long lines.

I was thinking of going at Approx 12:00pm. I also will have a rental car that I plan on returning in the AM. However, I could use the rental car to check out Galveston if the best arrival time turns out to be 3:00pm, but I would rather be on the ship as early as possible with the least amout of waiting.

I have had different experiences with getting on board ships. The millenium cruise that we took out of Puerto Rico took over 3 hours and was one of the most miserable experiences of my life. I remember wondering at one point if we were every going to get on the ship.

On our last cruise out of Long Beach, we had reserved one the large suites which enabled us to be part of the "Skippers Club" whereas we showed the first attendant our tickets and were then escorted to a private room in the boarding terminal, while all of paper work was taken care of while we sipped champagne and sat on very comfortable sofas and chairs, then we were escorted onto the ship. We were in our suite within 15 minutes of having arrived....no kidding!

As a side note: Does Princess have any form of expedited embarkation for those with only a Balcony Cabin? (Lido Deck) I wish they had mini-suites on the same deck as the pools, but they only have the two humungus suites, which I just could not justify the costs for since we do not go on cruises to hold up in our cabin!

C-Ya

P.S. Our cruise is 4/7/2007 thru 4/14/2007

[les1026]

Just got back from Grand. We boarded March 10th. We arrived somewhere between 12:00 and 12:15 at the pier. We were on the ship in about an hour. Went straight to eat with our carry-ons in tow. Our luggage was in our room by 3:00!! Had a great trip!!

[les1026]

Oops!! forgot to tell you about embarkation!!. I saw a line for priority embarkation. Not sure exactly who it was for. It was short-no wait. We just stayed in the line with all the others. Only waited less than ten minutes. They had a ton of people behind the desks!! I thought I saw buses dropping off pasengers staying at the Harbour Inn . Would be better than a car rental.!! If you have any other questions about the ship, just ask!!

[MrsGrinch2]

C-Ya,

My husband and I are taking the same trip on April 7th. We live in
California our flight does'nt come in until 12:00 so we will get to the
ship about 2:00. I heard that was the best time because a lot of the
passengers have already boarded. Hope this helps.

[cruizer2d]

Hi-if you're staying at Harbor Inn at Pier 27, you will love it. It's small( 46 rooms,I think) , large , comfortable rooms, very good, basic continental breakfast, close to everything in theStrand. We were on the Grand 1/26/07--got in line about 12:30(which wound all the way outside), but were in our cabin by 12:30. BTY, great itinerary--would do it again in a heartbeat!! Have fun ..

[cruizer2d]

OOPS!! shoulda read reply before posting. We got on board at 1:30, so just about an hour wait.

[mehawk]

You should try to get into line at 1:30pm