Viva: Planning
Booking
This cruise was originally Norwegian Escape out of New Orleans. I looked at Viva but it was about 30% more expensive at the time which was 18 months out. Eight months out I found out I had the opportunity to squeeze another cruise in that year. Since it was during football season, Escape out of New Orleans made the most sense for me.
Not wanting to repeat the same cruise on the same ship four months apart, I checked into Viva again. The price had dropped to just $4 more than what I was paying for Escape. Norwegian allowed me to change my Escape cruise to Viva by only paying the $4 difference.
Hotel
This is a Saturday cruise so I’m going to be driving in Friday night after work. That means I’ll be getting in late. This is when I like to stay about 30-60 minutes from Galveston for lower prices and a shorter drive the night before. I almost booked the Quality Inn Texas City that I stayed at last year, but I waited too long and the price doubled. The reason I was waiting is there’s a music festival that weekend. If I could get a one day pass I may have gone and opted for a place closer to the venue. They never offered a single day pass so I went back to looking for a hotel close to the port and the price had doubled.
I started looking at Airbnb. I found a place a little north of Webster I was interested in. But I waited too long to book and missed out on it.
I went back to looking at hotels just trying to keep it at or below $100 and I found a nice Hotwire Hot Rate at the Hampton Inn League City. Regular price was $250 for that night and I got it for $94 total. It’s right off of the interstate and 25 miles from the port.
Parking
Just two months ago I strayed from my usual Discount Parking Lot and used a new lot in Galveston called Affordable Cruise Parking. I paid $100 for the week with them. It didn’t take long for them to realize they could charge more and still be the cheapest lot around. They are now $140 for a week uncovered and $160 covered. They still are the cheapest since their pricing is all-in. Discount says they’re $120. After they add the taxes and fees you find out they’re $156. I booked Affordable again for the flat $140 rate.
Ports
My only firm plan to get off of the ship will be to spend an hour or two in the ocean at Harvest Caye. I could get off in the other ports but if I do it won’t be for long.
Post-Cruise
Post cruise I’m going to be going to be hanging around Houston and going to the the Acid Bath and Obituary concert so I’ll be staying somewhere in the northeast of downtown for a night.
