Know the Laws, Know the Rules

Ships out of Galveston sail the Western Caribbean: Cozumel, Costa Maya and Progreso (Mexico), Roatán (Honduras), Belize, Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and on longer runs the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic and the odd Panama Canal sailing. Every one of them is a foreign country with its own police and its own laws, and the ship is not under Texas law either. What is a shrug at home can be a fine, a confiscation or a cell in port.

• Drones: foreigners cannot fly a drone recreationally in Mexico. It stays in the cabin.
• Open containers: a beer in the street is a fine; in the bar or the beach club it is fine.
• Prescriptions: in the pharmacy bottle with your name on it. Some common US prescriptions are controlled in Mexico; a loose bag of pills invites questions.
• Scooters and golf carts: your US insurance usually does not apply, helmets are required, and a crash is the number-one way guests miss the ship.
• Shells, coral, sand, black-coral jewellery: illegal to take, and US Customs seizes it in Galveston anyway.

• Marijuana, CBD, medical cards: mean nothing in any of these countries, and nothing on the ship. Jamaica's rules for locals are not a licence for a visitor to carry it back to the gangway, where security screens everyone.
• Belize City and Montego Bay: stay inside the port zone or on a ship excursion. Both carry US travel advisories for crime outside the tourist areas.
• Taxis at the gate: agree the price before you get in, in US dollars, and ask what the ride back costs.
• Conch out of season, turtle products, live shells: illegal to buy or carry in Cayman, Belize and the Bahamas.
• Food back on board: fruit, meat and opened snacks are taken by ship security; undeclared food is a US Customs fine on the way home.

The State Department rates every country 1 to 4. None of this cancels a cruise; it tells you how to carry yourself ashore. Levels move — each card links to the official page, which is always current.

Source: U.S. Department of State travel advisories. Snapshot dates on each card; tap the card for today’s page.

• The ship sails on ship's time, not local time — Cozumel is an hour off Galveston in winter. Set the phone to ship time and stop it auto-updating.
• Ship excursions wait for you; independent tours do not. On your own? Be at the gangway an hour before all-aboard.
• ID ashore: your ship card plus a photo of your passport. The passport stays in the safe unless the port asks for it. Lose it ashore and you fly home, you do not sail.
• Money: one card, small US bills, nothing you cannot afford to lose. Leave the good watch on board.
• Walk like you know where you are going. Stay in groups after dark, keep the phone in a front pocket, and if a place feels wrong, it is — turn around.
• If you miss the ship the cruise line will not come back. A US passport is the only document that gets you on a plane in Mexico.

• Arrive the night before if you live more than three hours away. I-45 and the causeway back up on sailing mornings; one accident and people miss the ship.
• Book parking before you leave the house. Port lots sell out on busy weekends. Have the confirmation on your phone, not in your email.
• Know your terminal: it is on your boarding pass. Galveston has four, and they are not next to each other.
• Documents: a birth certificate and ID gets you on a closed-loop cruise. Only a passport gets you flown home from Cozumel if you miss the ship or get sick.
• Hurricane season is June to November and it reaches the Gulf. Insurance that covers a delayed departure matters here more than in Florida.
• Winter fog: January and February cold fronts bring 45-degree mornings and fog delays. A light jacket, always.
• Bags: tags on before the curb. Porters take the big bags; you keep medications and documents — and at Terminal 16, every drink.
• The carry-on holds the first evening: swimsuit, a change of clothes, chargers, meds. Checked bags reach the cabin late afternoon.
• No alcohol from the Galveston liquor stores either. Security takes it at the door and it is not returned. Only bottles bought on board or in a port are held and handed back on the last night.
• Cash on hand for services given. Porters, shuttle drivers, cabin stewards.
• Coming home: stay on board until your group is called. Checked bags wait in the luggage debark hall (the room in the terminal where checked bags are laid out by tag number, before customs). It stays closed while the crew lays the bags out, and coming down early does not open it sooner. Carrying all your own bags off (self-assist)? You get off first and skip the hall. Book your flight no earlier than noon from Hobby (HOU) or 1 pm from Bush (IAH).

Laws change. Your ship's daily programme and the terminal staff always win over this page.