Today is embarkation day. I spent last night at a friend’s house in Houston. Normally I would stay in Webster which is about a 30 minute drive to the port. Today we have a one hour drive.

It is a bit foggy outside but I did get confirmation that the ship made it into port this morning.

I’m a big fan of Circle K’s Sip ‘n Save subscription. I started using it two years ago when it was only $5.99/month. Now it’s up to $9.99/month but it’s still well worth it. I’m going with Texas Pecan.

This coffee would’ve been about $2.25. If you got one every day you would save over $700/year with Sip ‘n Save. I usually only get them on weekends and sodas other days. It saves me about $425/year.

Next I stopped at Whataburger for breakfast. This is the honey butter chicken biscuit meal.

This is the drive ahead. I should be in the parking lot around 10am.

We are now in Webster. This is the area I normally would’ve stayed in. Like I was saying it’s about a 30-minute drive from here and the hotels are much cheaper.

We are in Galveston.

We are almost to the parking lot. I can see the ship from here.

I paid $97 to park at Discount Cruise Parking which is the about the cheapest you can get for a lot that doesn’t discriminate against Princess. I found some lots charge more for Princess and some don’t allow Princess at all. The same goes for Royal Caribbean. Most parking lots seem to cater to Carnival who operates multiple ships from this port year round. For my summary of all of the pricing, check out Galveston Cruise Parking.

I had a problem the last time I parked with Discount. It was a 45-minute wait for a shuttle. The lot was too far away to walk and Uber/Lyft prices were high. I’m giving them another chance now because they have a newer parking lot that is bigger and much closer to the port with more shuttles. It’s beautiful and not crowded.

This is where they have the Princess people parking. It’s not crowded at all.

There are only five of us waiting for a Princess shuttle.

We can see the ship from here.

The first shuttle was for Carnival.

It’s starting to sprinkle. I put my light weight hoodie on.

These two shuttles were for Carnival and Harmony of the Seas respectively.

Since we only had five people, they saved the short bus for us. It ended up being a 5-minute wait for Carnival, 10-minutes for Royal and another Carnival shuttle, and 20-minutes for Princess.

I’m on the short bus. It’s a 10-seater for the five of us.

I do recommend using the bathroom before you get here.

This is how empty the other side of the lot is.

It was a quick, five-minute ride to the port.

I dropped my suitcase with the porter.

I found out why there were only five of us.  Everyone else is already in line to check-in.

I was hoping to get on the ship by noon to watch my Saints game. I’m starting to think I may be watching it on my phone in this line.

They do have complimentary WiFi.