Cruise Holidays - Attheta Travel

I am proud to be certified by CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association) as an Elite Cruise Counselor. The Cruise Counselor Certification Program is CLIA's most comprehensive training which requires agents to successfully complete a number of compulsory training courses and exams, attend cruise conferences, and conduct ship inspections. Anita Thompson, Attheta Travel, dba Cruise Holidays.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Homeporting in Houston

The lovely Bayport Cruise Terminal in Houston, Texas, presents a new home port option for cruise passengers. Princess Cruises plans 27 departures from Houston during the 2013-2014 cruise season, sending the Caribbean Princess on seven-day cruises of the Western Caribbean.  In 2014, Norwegian Cruise Lines will also begin sailing seven-day Western Caribbean cruises from Houston on the Norwegian Jewel.

Bayport Cruise Terminal is actually located just outside Houston, in Pasadena, Texas, along the Houston Ship Channel. Travel experts believe that Houston will be a convenient port of departure for many vacationers: in fact, more than 15 million people live within a half-day drive of Houston. Cruise fans from the Western and Midwestern regions of the U.S. also have a shorter trip to Houston than to the cruise ports of Florida.

Traveling to Bayport Cruise Terminal by air is convenient, too, as the terminal is easily accessible from both of Houston’s airports, George Bush Intercontinental Airport and William P. Hobby Airport. In addition, Houston is a major airline hub, which makes non-stop service available from many cities in North America.

The cruise terminal itself is spacious and designed to minimize congestion and maximize passenger flow. Plasma screens provide directions and guidance to arriving passengers, and an ample number of security stations minimize time waiting in line.

Once on the ship, passengers can look forward to a sea-going exploration of some of the finest ports in the Western Caribbean. Both Princess and Norwegian are planning to sail from Houston to Roatan, Honduras; Belize City, Belize; and Cozumel, Mexico. All three ports offer beautiful beaches, snorkeling and diving, boating and other water sports, as well as unique attractions.

Roatan is known for its Garifuna community, where descendents of Black Carib Indians have maintained their traditional lifestyle while welcoming visitors. You can also have a dolphin encounter or visit a unique iguana farm.

In Belize, take a ride on a river through a jungle teeming with wildlife, pilot your inner tube through a series of caves, or zip-line through the canopy of the rainforest.

Cozumel offers access to fascinating runs from the Mayan civilization, as well as X-Caret, an ecological and archeological theme park with underground rivers and a replica of a Mayan village.

To make your plans to see all this and more by cruising the Western Caribbean from Houston, talk with Anita, your Cruise Holidays personal cruise expert.

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