For a group, this costs less than flying and a lot less than parking

Round trip on a 36 passenger bus works out at about $172 a head. On a 56 passenger coach it is $129. Against a flight to Houston plus bag fees plus a rental car plus a transfer at the other end, and a week of parking at the port, it stops being a close contest somewhere around the fourth passenger.

It also solves the thing that actually goes wrong with cruise travel out of North Texas: a group of thirty arriving in eleven separate cars, at eleven separate times, on a morning when the ship does not wait.

One price band for the whole metroplex

Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Frisco, Plano, Allen and McKinney all fall in the same band. The drive works out between 610 and 655 miles round trip from our garage whichever of them you start in, so charging a different headline rate for the same journey would be arbitrary.

Your exact address still matters at the margins. A collection in Weatherford, Denton, Rockwall or Waxahachie adds real mileage to both ends, and a multi stop pickup across the metroplex adds time before the drive has even started. Both show up in the written quote as a line rather than a surprise.

Pricing

What a Galveston transfer costs

Quoted garage to garage including the empty legs, so the number below is the number you pay. No surge pricing, no fuel surcharge added later, no per person fare that climbs as your party grows.

Round trip on the buses works out at about $230 a head on the 25, $172 on the 36 and $129 on the 56 passenger coach. The larger the vehicle, the lower the cost per person, which is why we will usually steer a group of twenty five toward the 36 rather than the other way round.

What moves the number

These are a starting point for a written quote, not a fare table. Three things move them, and we would rather set them out here than surprise you later.

• Where in the metroplex you start. Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Frisco, Plano, Allen and McKinney sit in the same band. Outlying collections such as Weatherford, Denton, Rockwall or Waxahachie add mileage at both ends, and a multi stop route across the metroplex adds time before the drive south begins.
• Diesel at the time of booking. Every vehicle above the sedan runs on diesel, and the prices assume it at or below $5.00 a gallon. On a six hundred mile round trip that is about a quarter of what the trip costs us. Above that, larger vehicles are quoted on a mileage rate that moves with fuel, and any adjustment appears as its own line on your quote rather than being folded quietly into the rate. Fuel is the one cost on a 630 mile job we genuinely cannot control, and pretending otherwise would mean padding every quote against a bad month.
• The date. Spring break, Thanksgiving and the Christmas sailings commit vehicles across the whole Texas market months out, and holiday weekends price accordingly.

Tell us the ship, the sailing date and the pickup address and you will get a firm quote in writing with the vehicle and the rate confirmed. Once it is signed, that is the number, whatever fuel does between then and your sailing.

Why the passenger counts are lower than the seat counts

Cruise passengers travel with the largest bags they own, and a week at sea is not a carry on. The Escalade ESV carries five comfortably on a normal trip, but four once everyone has a full size case, and a Sprinter that seats fourteen for a corporate run realistically takes ten to twelve with cases for a sailing.

We would rather tell you that when you book than at the curb on embarkation morning. Give us the real headcount and the real bag count and we will size the vehicle honestly, even where that means quoting you a cheaper one.

Full fleet and capacity detail

Embarkation day

The drive, and why we leave early

It is roughly 285 to 310 miles depending on where you start, and about four and a half to five hours in clear conditions. The variable is not the distance, it is Houston. I‑45 through the middle of the city is the entire risk on this route, and it does not care what time your ship sails.

So we build the departure backwards from your boarding window with a genuine cushion, not a hopeful one. On a normal embarkation that usually means leaving the metroplex in the early morning. If your sailing time makes the day tight, we will say so when you book rather than discovering it together somewhere north of Conroe.

• Departure time set from your boarding window and confirmed in writing before the day
• Direct to the terminal, not a shared shuttle with four other groups and four other stops
• Luggage handled at the terminal drop, then you walk to check in
• Comfort stop built into the schedule rather than squeezed in when someone asks
• One vehicle, so the whole party arrives together and checks in together

The Port of Galveston works out of several terminals and the ships move between them. Tell us the cruise line and sailing date and we will confirm the right terminal before your date rather than following signs on the morning.

Coming home

Disembarkation pickup

Disembarkation is the leg people underestimate. Everyone is off the ship inside a couple of hours, several thousand people want a vehicle at once, and the roads around the terminals are solid. Rideshare coverage in Galveston on a disembarkation morning is thin and priced accordingly, which is exactly when a confirmed vehicle stops being a luxury.

• Pickup point agreed before you sail, clear of the terminal crush, and sent to you in writing so you have it when you land without a phone signal
• We track the ship's arrival, not just the scheduled time
• The chauffeur is in position before you are through customs
• Straight home rather than waiting for a shuttle to fill

Booking both legs with us at the same time is worth doing. Same company, same terms, one invoice, and one number to call if a sailing runs late.

Groups

Family reunions, wedding parties and church groups

Group cruises out of Galveston are the work we do most on this route, and the arithmetic is what sells it. Thirty six people at about $172 each, round trip, in one vehicle. Fifty six at $129. Everybody leaves together, everybody arrives together, and nobody is coordinating a convoy over text at five in the morning.

• Multi stop collection across the metroplex, so the group is not all driving to one house at dawn
• One booking, one point of contact, one invoice, however many people are travelling
• Luggage bays on the coaches and minibuses, which a stack of SUVs does not have
• Restroom equipped coaches on the 56 passenger units for the longer runs
• Wheelchair accessible options arranged at booking for older travellers
• The same operator handling the return, booked at the same time

Group travel

Staying a while

Galveston beyond the terminal

A good number of our passengers come down a day early rather than driving on the morning of a sailing, which takes the risk out of the whole trip. If that is you, the vehicle can do more than a terminal drop.

• The Strand Historic District: Dinner and the night before you sail.
• Seawall Boulevard hotels: Pre cruise stays, with the terminal transfer the next morning.
• Hotel Galvez and The Tremont House: The two classic properties, both a short run to the port.
• Moody Gardens and Pleasure Pier: Somewhere to put the afternoon before boarding.
• Kemah Boardwalk: On the way down, and a reasonable place to break the drive with a group.

Held hourly if you want the vehicle for the day rather than a single transfer. Overnight trips add the chauffeur's hotel and per diem to the quote, which we show as a line rather than burying it in the rate.

Straight answer

We are not the cheapest way to reach Galveston

An operator based in Houston is fifty miles from the port. We are three hundred. Their vehicle is back in its garage the same afternoon and ours is still driving. On price alone they will beat us on this route and we are not going to pretend otherwise.

What you get for the difference is one company on both ends of your trip. The same operator who took you down collects you when the ship returns, with the same terms, one invoice, and one number to call at six in the morning when a sailing runs late. Your booking is not handed to whoever bid lowest that week, and the rate on your signed confirmation is the rate you pay.

For a couple in a sedan, that may not be worth the difference and we would rather you knew. For thirty six people who all have to be at a terminal before a boarding window closes, it usually is.

Why book us for a cruise transfer

• Published pricing: The number is on this page. You are not filling in a form to find out whether you can afford it.
• Quoted garage to garage: Including the empty legs. There is no fuel surcharge added later and no surge on a holiday weekend.
• Honest capacity: We size the vehicle for your bags, not your headcount, and we tell you before you book.
• A person answers: Live dispatch, 24 hours a day. When a sailing runs late or a flight into DFW slips, someone picks up.
• Vetted chauffeurs: Background checked and drug screened before their first trip, driving records monitored on an ongoing basis, and supervised trips before driving a client alone.
• Since 1998: Twenty eight years, family owned and operated from Frisco, same name the whole time.

Galveston cruise transfer questions

Deposits and cancellation windows are set out in full on our service terms, and the exact terms for your booking are listed on your signed confirmation. Note that larger vehicles carry longer cancellation windows than sedans.

Where we collect from

Cities we serve

Galveston pricing is the same from anywhere in the metroplex. See every city and town we cover on our service areas page.

Dallas Fort Worth Frisco Plano McKinney Allen Irving University Park Prosper Celina The Colony Carrollton Lewisville Flower Mound Grapevine Southlake Keller Denton Rockwall Mesquite

Other statewide runs

Houston Austin San Antonio

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