I'm confused - where was the cruise TO???? Your post is so full of the
(dubious) delights of Texas that you didn't tell us much about the
cruise itself. (Last time I looked, both Seattle and Galveston were in
the U.S., not Europe, and SFAIK Carnival runs cruises to Mexico and the
Carribean only - am I mistaken?)

Sol - Sadie Sampson wrote:

Galveston, Texas A Great Texas Port, And A Wonderful Cruise Vacation

We recently cruised on the “ELATION” out of Galveston, Texas. We were
three retired couples from Seattle, WA. that needed to get to warmer
weather for a few days. We decided on the “ELATION” because we wanted
to cruise out of Galveston, Texas. Non of us had ever been to Texas
before. We read up on Galveston and the surrounding area, and this
just seem to be the perfect place to start our western Caribbean
cruise.

A few days before leaving Seattle a friend provided us with the name
and telephone number of a gentlemen in Houston with a lots of
information about hotels and transportation in Houston and Galveston.
I visited with this gentlemen on the telephone, asking him for advise
on services available in both Houston and Galveston. Since our cruise
would sail on Sunday afternoon, we all decided to fly down to Houston
early, so we arrived on Friday.

This gentlemen a Mr. L. J. Cormier provided me with a lots information
about transfer service and hotels in both cities. For our Friday stay
we selected a hotel near Bush Airport in Houston. At his advise we
booked at the Hilton Garden Inn near the airport. When we made our
reservations we told the hotel we were coming in to go on a cruise
ship and they give us this fabulous rate. We couldn’t believe we got
such a great rate at a Hilton hotel. And the hotel even picked us up
at the airport.

Mr. Cormier, had also agreed to transport us to Galveston on Saturday,
we also requested he give us a sightseeing tour of Houston before
going to Galveston. It turned out he is a professional tour guide and
had a great deal of knowledge about Houston and the area. After two
hours of sightseeing in the big and busy city of Houston he drove us
to Galveston.

When we got to Galveston our driver give us a great tour of this
island city on the Gulf of Mexico. Oh I thought I had gone to haven.
As we drove down the “Seawall” there were people lying around on the
beach, young people surfing in the Gulf waters. We couldn’t believe
this was January, and folks walking around in shorts, swimsuits, short
shelves and sandals. After we left the beach area we drove in area of
town with beautiful old Victorian mansions. And then on to the old
Historic downtown area called “The Strand”. This is the area next to
the cruise ship terminal with lot of shops, restaurants, bars and
museums. This area is where our Galveston hotel was located. We spent
Saturday night at the Harbor House Hotel at pier 21, everything was so
close and convince . The hotel was great.

Saturday afternoon we did a walking around downtown, Saturday evening
we had delicious seafood in a restaurant overlooking the water and
then walked to the “Strand” for cocktails before returning to our
hotel.

On Sunday morning we all met in the hotel lobby at 11:00 am for check
out and then for the three minute taxi-van ride to the ship.

Our entire party had a wonderful cruise on the “Elation”, the weather
was great the entire time. It was a little cool and damp on our return
to Galveston on the following Sunday. We disembarked the ship with no
problems at about 9:45 am, and there was our driver L. J. waiting to
return us to the Houston Airport, which was an hour and a half ride
from the ship. I wish we could return again soon. This is a wonderful
part of the country, everyone we encountered were warm, friendly and
accommodating.

For a wonderful cruise vacation we recommend the Carnival Cruise
Line's
"Elation". and spend a pre-cruise night in Galveston. We also
recommend you contact Mr. L. J. Cormier at 281 443 4430 for all kind
of information and arrange and ask him to transport you to Galveston.
He’s great.

Sol & Sadie Lehman-Sampson
Seattle, WA.
Sadielsampson@yahoo. com