gail

Thinking of cruise during 3rd wk in Feb with husband, 16 yr old dtr plus Grandma. Cruise experience is 3-night RCCL from Miami as part of business meeting (OK, but don't want to repeat); Boston-Bermuda NCL (very good) and dtr and Grandma did Disnes cruise (no way am I doing a Disney cruise over school vacation week).

Trying to decide between standard Miami-Nassau-Miami 3/4 night cruise or New Orleans or Galveston 5 nite with stop on Mexican coast but 2 full days at sea. Would be flying from Boston.

maryann

Would that be President's Week ? If so,
that is a big travel week with prices and occupancy higher.

Going out of Miami or Ft. Lauderdale would be expensive if you could find a hotel room (high season) and I don't know about flights. New Orleans should have direct flights and Galveston is far from the airport (Houston ?)but it is not the high season that it it in Florida.

So considering all that, I would probably go out of New Orleans and I love the sea days as much as or more than the port days.

Good luck and let us know what (and why) you decide. M.A.

PS. your whole family will need passports (daughter, too) starting in Jan. (just a reminder)

gail

Thanks for info - yes, it is President's Day week. We had been thinking NO might have better air and hotel deals.

Also thanks for passport reminder - we all have passports and have for a while - I am a big advocate of people getting passports and not messing with the "do I need a passport for Canada/Mexico, etc" nonsense.

bkluvsNola

Miami will be at the height of the winter season, which means expensive airfare, hotel rooms, and overcrowding.

New Orleans will be in the middle of Mardi Gras as the main parades start Thursday February 15th and go until Mardi Gras Day on February 20th. If you take a 5 night cruise, you'll be leaving at the height of the festivities. What this means is that hotel availability will be scarce.

Your third option (and probably best for the time frame you list) is Galveston, and that will be at the low point of the off-season for them, so you'll definitely be able to find a very nice hotel at a reasonable price. The drive from Intercontinental is far, but from Hobby it's not that bad.

gail

Thanks bk - we booked Celebrity cruise out of Miami, arriving one day early in case Boston has bad weather. Saving hotel money by staying near airport (I know, it is gross there) but since we are not arriving to very late afternoon on the day before, we will only be sleeping there.

Air was expensive, but cheaper to Miami than Houston which surprised me. (We are leaving Grandma home)