I'm sure this has been asked before but I've never been on a cruise and thinking of taking one out of Galveston with the family for just a few nights to "test" it out. Any suggestions on who to go with or where to go? I'm thinking simple, a stop or two in Mexico or the general area.

Carnival 4 day Mexico. Enjoy

We did the Royal Caribbean one that I think is 4 nights and stops in Cozumel about a year ago. It was pretty good.

No complaints re food, service, and cabins. Excursions were fun, although they did have some odd age limits for some of them.

Only really complaint was there were not a lot of family activities on board - meaning there wasn't much for all of us (two parents and 20, 19, and 14 year old boys) to do together.

Just as a heads up, the short cruises out of Galveston tend to attract more of a party crowd which is drawn to the inexpensive pricing. It's often in line with South Padre at spring break levels of craziness. If possible, I would look at 6-7 day itineraries, as these tend to attract more families. Also, the different cruise lines have different reputations depending on what you are looking for.

In addition, if you find that you enjoy cruising, I would strongly recommend looking into Eastern Caribbean itineraries out of Florida for your next cruise. There are some really incredible ports out that way.

Carnival is the WalMart line.
Royal Caribbean is quieter and more designed for families.
I can't speak to Disney or the other cruise lines.

Each ship is different. Do your research on the ship before you book. Ex: On RC, both Harmony and Mariner are currently sailing out of Galveston. Harmony is much bigger. Personally I prefer the smaller ships even though the bigger ships tend to have more to do.

This is all very helpful, thank you.

Disney is fantastic, and would be my preference over any other cruise line. We've sailed with them out of Galveston twice. But those are going to be longer cruises, and the price point is going to be much higher. Since you are just looking to dip your toe in the water, I didn't recommend. But if you opt for that, I don't think you will be disappointed.

Just know that the Disney boats that sail out of Galveston are their smallest/oldest ships. They are still beautiful boats, and the programming for kids/families is top notch.

As one poster said, your options for cruise lines, ships, and itineraries are going to be MUCH better out of Port Canaveral in Florida. But again, if you are just looking to try cruising out for the first time, that may be more of a financial commitment.

Out of Galveston, Carnival and Royal Caribbean cruise year around and offer, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 day itineraries. I do find RCCL a step up, and as another poster mentioned, the shorter cruises can be party cruises. However, I did a 5 night on RCCL and it didn't feel like a party cruise BUT I wasn't out in the pool areas all day.

Then there is Princess, Norwegian and Disney who cruise portions of the year.

I would be happy to assist if needed, my email is in my profile.

After taking 2 Carnival cruises I'm ready to choose a different line. Def would go Royal C or Disney next time.

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Just as a heads up, the short cruises out of Galveston tend to attract more of a party crowd which is drawn to the inexpensive pricing.

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This crowd is a majority of ghetto and trash people. Avoid at all costs.

Cruising out of Galveston can be great but as others have said, I would avoid the shorter, less expensive ones.

Of all the western Caribbean stops, we liked the Cayman Islands and Mexico (Cozumel) the best. Well-organized excursions and friendly people. Jamaica was the worst. On our last cruise, we didn't even disembark in Jamaica.

I've heard from dozens of people that you should avoid anything out of Galveston for the most part now because It's the pref port of The Katrinas & Canadians.

Bayou City said:

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I've heard from dozens of people that you should avoid anything out of Galveston

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I have a friend who sailed out of Port Canaveral a couple of weeks ago and he said the same thing.

It feels like cruising in general is becoming much more mainstream -- and definitely more of an "extended family, let's all drink and raise hell" choice. Especially with the cruise lines still recovering from covid losses.

Carnival is in danger of losing whatever brand positioning it once held unless they tighten things up.

I'll never go on a cruise. I find them disgusting, but just what I've heard.

OP, what are the kids ages? I think that makes a big difference. I've only been on one cruise. Seven day Royal Caribbean out of Galveston. I never thought I would but I really liked it. Our kids were 14 and 17 at the time.

If you have kids stick with Disney, either book a cruise in the winter when they leave out of Galveston or book a flight to Florida. Besides Port Canaveral they also leave out of Miami and Fort Lauderdale different times of the year.

Kids are a little older, 20, 19, twin 17's & a 10….10 year old would probably enjoy the Disney cruise but the older ones would probably pass.

That's a tough age spread, and goes to my criticism of the RC cruise we went on.

The two older boys wanted to hang out in the adult areas. My BF and I preferred to hang out in the adult areas. But that totally left out the 14 year old. He can easily pass for 18, so I think he probably tagged along with the older boys to a few places he wasn't old enough to be (we gave them the freedom to make their own choices). No one was really asking questions, so he kind of got away with it. But as an adult, I don't want kids in adult spaces, regardless of whether or not they look older.

We went during spring break, so there were probably more families than usual, and I was really surprised at the few activities they had to participate in. We did a sushi making class, and it was fun, but it cost extra. The 14 year old was bored a lot of the time.

One more criticism I remember - the shows/entertainment are not very good. We went to a comedy show, and it was so bad we left.

Disney shows blow everyone out of the water. They are pretty much Broadway-quality. They also have a movie theater that shows new releases. We saw the first Star Wars movie in the last trilogy on the day it was released while we were sailing, and that was cool.

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If you have kids stick with Disney,

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FYI. Disney will cost about 3x as much a Carnival and 2x as much as Royal Caribbean. But the food, service, & entertainment as just that much better also.

No casino on Disney cruises, if you care about that.

I think for those ages, I would look at the 6-8 night cruises as they are on bigger ships. Will be more for the kids and young adults to do. I enjoyed my Disney cruise but wouldn't want that for those ages IMO.

If you're planning on a 2026 cruise, I'd check out MSC as well.

If you really want to enjoy a mainstream cruise out of port like Galveston, you have to relax a little and enjoy some of the goofier stuff there is to do -- trivia contests, the games, the silly entertainment stuff (Carnival does a honeymoon show featuring couples from the cruise that usually winds up being hilarious), etc., etc.

If you think you are too sophisticated or too cultured for those types of activities, you probably won't have much fun.

OP, one recommendation I have is to spend some time on YouTube. Check out what specific ships sail out of Galveston and look those up on YouTube. For example, we did a 7 day on Allure of the Seas. You can find really good full ship walkthroughs that go over everything the ship has to offer.

Next look at the various ports the ship goes to and check out the video reviews on all the different excursions.

We did a 4 day on RC pre Covid. It was for work so we didn't have our kids but even as adults we were bored…a lot. I couldn't imagine trying to entertain them on the small ship we were on. All the entertainment is late at night and the stupid contests during the day were crowded and dumb. If we ever do a cruise again and take the kids it's going to be a big boat or an Alaskan cruise.

Crank said:

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Kids are a little older, 20, 19, twin 17's & a 10….10 year old would probably enjoy the Disney cruise but the older ones would probably pass.

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. What's your budget? If you go, older kids will find a crew to hang with on the ship. 10 yr old might enjoy the kids club activities.

Alaska summer cruises ain't cheap but the weather & scenery are top notch for Texans.

TXTransplant said:

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That's a tough age spread, and goes to my criticism of the RC cruise we went on.

The two older boys wanted to hang out in the adult areas. My BF and I preferred to hang out in the adult areas. But that totally left out the 14 year old. He can easily pass for 18, so I think he probably tagged along with the older boys to a few places he wasn't old enough to be (we gave them the freedom to make their own choices). No one was really asking questions, so he kind of got away with it. But as an adult, I don't want kids in adult spaces, regardless of whether or not they look older.

We went during spring break, so there were probably more families than usual, and I was really surprised at the few activities they had to participate in. We did a sushi making class, and it was fun, but it cost extra. The 14 year old was bored a lot of the time.

One more criticism I remember - the shows/entertainment are not very good. We went to a comedy show, and it was so bad we left.

Disney shows blow everyone out of the water. They are pretty much Broadway-quality. They also have a movie theater that shows new releases. We saw the first Star Wars movie in the last trilogy on the day it was released while we were sailing, and that was cool.

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I think this shows how much the ship matters.

I'll preface with we've only done one cruise, it was Royal Carribean about 2 years ago. I was always a no cruise guy, but liked it way more than I expected.

Anyway, we liked the entertainment. We all thought the water/dive show was awesome, my 3 year old and my wife and I. The ice show was also good, entertained us for a night but not really memorable. We didn't do the comedy club, their featured show when we cruised was like a planet earth type show. I'll say the effects, etc. were all good. But kind of felt weird watching a show lecturing us about killing the planet when we were all on a 1,000' boat cruising around solely for recreation... We also watched Mama mia, again, entertaining enough but not memorable.

If you are not working with the travel advisor, I would love to help you narrow down what cruise is best for your family. I have cruises several lines mentioned above with my family and with clients. They absolutely are not created equal and there is a lot to take into account when planning a cruise. My contact info is in my bio.

To tag onto the "Dont do carnival out of Galveston" theme -

My understanding is it is so trashy out of Galveston because Galveston is a day's drive or less for XX million people - RGV, San Antonio, Dallas, Little Rock, New Orleans, etc. You get the picture.

So the 3 day Carnival cruise out of Galveston gets the crowd that may not be of the same socio-economic level you may want to spend 3 days with at sea.

We jumped back into cruising when I saw how nice the retreat is on Celebrity. Absolutely loved it but they do not cruise out of Galveston so when we wanted to take our adult boys on a cruise - logistically and timing Carnival was our only option. We did a 5 night On the Breeze middle of May 2024. It was awesome- we loved the food, the staff and the casino. We have since gone on Jubilee out of Galveston on a 7 night which we also enjoyed especially because it was a very generous casino offer. (End of March - this year). Carnival is definitely livelier but there are plenty of areas to get away. I would not deter from Carnival but I would definitely work with a travel agent so they can help find the best ship/itinerary for your family. (All of my cruises were booked with a travel agent ).

I like Carnival. I don't need any activities. At all. I'm there to read, sleep, sit, eat, do shore excursions, and smuggle duty-free alcohol onto the boat.