Galveston Party Boats

Our party of 6 took the 12 hour trip. It was a three hour ride out to the fishing spots and back which gets you to blue water and water deep enough to get into fish such as red snapper, vermillion snapper, Ling, and Amber Jack. Bring some cards or other games to keep you entertained on the ride out and back. We had rain and choppy water for the day so the boat rocked a little bit. I only saw one person get sea sick though. Make sure to take Dramamine before hand to prevent this. As far as fishing goes, it started off slow but the crew moved us into several different locations to make sure we could catch fish. Overall it was a good experience.
TIPS: bring hand towels and wipes to wash your hands, don’t buy sardines at the dock if you are looking to catch snapper or most fish. Smallest piece of bait is the best. Bring a knife to cut up bait. Bring snacks but the boat does have burgers, hot dogs, etc. for a few bucks. The rod and reels (bait cast) might be difficult for kids under ten to handle. Make friends with your neighbors on the boat as they can be the difference maker of you landing a big fish or not by moving their lines out of the way. It’s a little crowded but manageable.

Priced right. Fun staff that were attentive and helpful! Fed would fish with them again. Took the 4 hr and looking forward to the 8 hr. Decent clean boat-​not fancy but felt safe and had a good time. Not a lot of activity today but they move spots and had more luck.

Overall:
It is a very cool experience! I have taken two 8 hr offshore trips in two years. Every time I had a great experience. Few of my friends had a blast too. I am planing to go on 30 hr tuna trip with them. During these two trips, everyone caught plenty of fish to make this trip financially worth it.
Boat:
Boat is big but also lots of people will be fishing. I had a small space to fish but still had a blast — for some «smart» people — when you pay ~$ 100/​person for an 8 hr fishing trip — do not expect to have a 5 start luxury yacht with personal attendant! This trip is worth every penny!
Crew:
Great people — very helpful and trying to service everyone fairly.
Amenities:
They have a bathroom — decent for a boat; and a kitchen — fair prices and decent food and drinks selection.
Sleep:
Yes, sleep — on the way back to Galveston (4 hr trip) both times I slept and had the best sleep ever!!! However, I will not share the best place to sleep there :)

If you are looking to have a good time with friends or family I recommend this party boat. The staff is beyond friendly and funny and they constantly ask you how things are going. We did not catch a lot of fish but some people did including a large sting ray. Will most def. come back to this party boat!

We took our two boys today on the 4.5 hour trip and had a great time. Everyone in my group caught fish. The guy next to me caught a GIANT stingray that took all three deck hands and him and about 30 minutes to get into the boat. The deck hands did a great job of keeping things interesting.

Wasn’t impressed with the 4 hour bay trip. We fished in 3 different spots over the course of 3 hours. I was one of the few that caught fish. There were around 8 keeper gaftop catfish and one red drum caught by approximately 86 people.

Made reservations a month for my birthday and got erased from the log book. They don’t do nothing about because it’s either you get what your stuck with or you don’t go they DO NOT care they don’t lose out on nothing…

We had a group of 12 ladies go out on the Cavalier with Captain Cody Carter. We had an amazing time! The Captain and the deck hands were wonderful! I would recommend it to anyone! They were very kind, patient and very knowledgeable. Can’t wait to go back!

This was my first trip on a party boat. I had a great time. The crew was super friendly and helpful and I caught the biggest fish of the day! The ladies in the galley were fun and friendly too.
It was so easy and inexpensive compared to what I normally spend driving to Freeport from Katy to fish in canals or in the surf. Plus there is great air conditioning on The Buccaneer.
They serve hamburgers breakfast sandwiches frito pie, snacks, cold drinks and beer at very reasonable prices. They also allow you to bring food and drinks on the boat, but I won’t bother next time.
The only thing I would do differently next time, is to make sure to bring my fillet knife. It took about an hour to get our fish off the boat and wait for the guys who clean fish on the dock to get to our fish.
We finally gave up waiting for the fish cleaners and one of the deck hands loaned us a fillet knife so we could get out of there. The guys cleaning fish are indepenent and do not work for Galveston party boats.
Overall we were very happy with our trip and can’t wait to go back out.

Today, we went on the 4 hour «bay fishing trip» that was more like the «barely in the bay fishing trip». We traveled out of the docks between the island and pelican island. Our first stop was in view of the north jetty on Bolivar. We stayed there about 20 minutes, there was one black drum and a croaker caught in that time so we pulled up to try another spot. We got to the 2^nd spot, still near Bolivar. We were a short distance from the south jetty this time. We stayed here for over an hour and the only thing that was caught was a hammer head shark and a couple of mullets and sheepshead. Those were caught in the first 10 minutes and after that… NOTHING! Still, we stayed. I would say at least ½ of the people on the boat pulled up and stopped fishing. We FINALLY pulled up and moved to the 3^rd spot where we stayed for another hour and a half even though NOBODY was catching anything, not even trash fish! We asked the deck hands to ask the captain to move us after the first 20 minutes or so and nobody had caught anything but no, we stayed the rest of the trip in this one spot. It was evident that this particular captain had no interest in actually putting us on the fish. He had a few spots in his GPS and wasn’t concerned about the customers getting the experience they paid for. We were joking that we could have bought a good amount of fish for the $ 60 we spent on the boat ride. We truly got nowhere «inside» the bay. We could see east Galveston and/​or Bolivar the entire time, and clearly, not at a distance. I asked someone who would know if our trip was typical or was it just a bad day and was told that it was pretty typical that very few people caught anything on the bay trips. This person blamed it on the long winter and that all of the fishing has become unpredictable because of it and hopefully we’ll have a normal winter and next summer will be better.
I think next time we will either try Williams Party Boats (same type of boat/​rates/​etc.) and hope they’re more interested in putting their customers on fish. We may also try the longer off shore trip but will probably also go with Williams. We may give GPB another try on off shore, but it will take some considerable consideration.
We did not partake in any of the food or beverages on board.
PROS:
The deck hands were good, although one got frustrated when anyone got snagged on the structures we were fishing over.
Reasonably priced for a fishing trip, but (CON) over priced for 4 hours of sight seeing.
We saw dolphins on our way back in.
CONS:
You will be elbow to elbow with your neighbor.
IF you catch anything you’ll likely enjoy tangled lines
Captain seems to have no interest in putting customers on fish
We sat in two of the three spots for over an hour while nobody caught fish

A group of 4 guys went out last week. None of us have ever been deep water fishing, so none of us really knew what to expect. We arrived around 6:30, got checked in, then found our assigned spot on the boat. We went on the 8-​hour trip, and spent about an hour and a half getting out to the first spot.
We got the instructions from the crew and dropped lines. As soon as I dropped, I had a hit: a smallish red snapper weighing about 3 lbs. It’s not red snapper season, so we couldn’t keep any, even if they were of the proper size. Right after that catch, I started feeling pretty queasy. I wound up being sick as a damn dog for the entire trip, but found a way between vomiting to catch 4 more fish. If I felt better, I’m sure I would have caught a half dozen more.
The crew was a group of 20-​somethings who were friendly and active. They passed around a tip bucket after the trip, and everyone put something in. They earned it.
All together, our group landed 20 – 25 fish, one that was eligible to keep. Only 10 or so of the passengers had keepers, but it could be a seasonal thing. I plan on going back, but maybe for the 4 hour trip. Next time I go, I’ll be sure to use motion sickness medicine before getting on board.

I did the full day (12 hour) excursion with three friends on a Tuesday in October (during the supplementary Red Snapper season!) and we selected Galveston Party Boats since it was the cheapest option available. Overall, I would say the fishing trip was well worth it!
We showed up at about 6:30 AM (they said to arrive by then) and quickly checked in. Unfortunately, the boat didn’t actually leave until after 7:30, so we did have to wait around for about an hour. The boat was only about half-​full, so it might’ve been a little crazier trying to check in and board if it was full. Also, if you want to sit inside at the tables on the journey out, you definitely need to get there and line up early. We were fine spending the trip on the top deck (75 degree sunny weather? yes, please), but you may feel differently.
There were a few people at the docks selling bait (herring, sardines, etc). We chose not to get any and just use the free squid. However, in the future I would probably get some bait fish since it seemed like the people catching the really huge (30+ lbs) red snapper, amberjacks, and sharks were all using different bait.
It was about a 3.5 hour ride out to the first spot, which was a pretty long time (looking at ships, oil platforms, dolphins, flying fish, and the water was fun, but only for so long). There were plenty of people napping on the way out, but we stayed up and snacked on some food we brought.
Finally, when you get to the spot, they have all of the rods/​reels/​bait set out at your spot for you. There’s minimal instruction over the intercom, and then chaos ensues as everyone drops their lines into the water. Within 5 seconds of my first drop getting to the bottom, I already had a fish on my hook (and most people had similar results). It definitely seemed like they know how to find the right spots.
However, even at half-​full, the boat was pretty crowded while everyone was fishing, and I got my line tangled (especially when fighting fish) a few times with others. While it wasn’t too bad, I could definitely see it being bad with a full load of people.
After about 30 minutes at the spot, we moved on to the next one about 15 minutes away. We ended up fishing at a total of four spots, and after the first two when everyone had already met their limit of Red Snapper, the captain tried to find spots with a little more variety for us.
The deck hands were pretty helpful during the fishing, and did a good job usually of responding quickly. I was able to free most of the smaller snapper that I caught without assistance (they really came in handy when the fish basically swallowed the hole hook, though), and after watching them puncture the swim bladder on a few fish before releasing them, it was pretty easy to do yourself (we brought pocket knives).
I didn’t get any food from the kitchen, but I did enjoy some $ 2 beer. My friends got some burgers ($ 3-​$ 4) and were very happy with the quality. I was really expecting everything to be a ripoff for food and drink, and I was pleasantly surprised at how cheap it was.
Be prepared to tip the deck hands at the end (they get a lot of their pay from tips). Also, there are some locals that wait at the dock for the boat to get back who will clean and fillet your catches for you for a couple of bucks a fish (it depended on the size of the fish for what they wanted). However, make sure you let them know if you want the skin kept on — by default they all seemed to fillet the skin off.
Napping on the upper deck on the way back was delightful!
Overall, I ended up taking home four fish (two decent Red Snapper, one Lane Snapper, and one Vermillion Snapper), which, in total, yielded about 6 pounds of fillets. I probably caught another 10 or so that I had to throw back (both smaller keepers that I didn’t want counting toward my two Red Snapper limit and non-​keepers). My friends each took home about the same amount (the entire boat maxed out on Red Snapper). Definitely a great take home!
I would certainly use this company again, but I will only go when the weather’s nice (60 – 85 degrees) and during the week when it’s not too crowded.

PLEASE PLEASE Take the time and go out of Port Aransas! Those guy’s down their KNOW customer service. I know mistake happen they do to everyones in this world but I guess not with Galveston Party boats on Pier 19 The New Buccaneer. I guess these people don’t EVER make a mistake. me and four other friends of mine were supposed tp go deep sea fishing this past sat. June 22, 2013. but when I called like I was told to make sure they were still going and even told that we were coming in friday night june 21, 2013 from Dallas they said just give a call before coming all the way down to make sure they were still going out! So I called Friday and thats when they tell me they don’t have me down for sat. they had me down for friday?! So even talking with the manager down they they couldn’t refund us our money because there was a miss communication somewhere. I understand that mistakes happen but don’t just take our money and say it’s our fault and there is NOTHING they can do other than say «oh I’m sorry» who does that? and when my Brother post a complaint about it on there facebook page the OWNER told my brother to call him that monday june 24, 2013 so my brother calls and was told the owner was to busy to accept the call! Now this is from the same man who told my brother to call him! Now I don’t know about most of you out there but I don’t just give $ 400 to people I don’t even know. Now I will give that kind of money for a service but if there is a problem and that service is NOT used now if it’s my fault then yeah keep the money I messed up but if NOT all on me and I find out that something went wrong somewhere and I call like you asked me to then why should it cost me? so PLEASE PLEASE go to Port Aransas they are cheaper and nicer from my experience. Yes we did end up going June 22 we just went out of Port Aransas and it was $ 20 cheaper. I really do wish I didn’t have to write this I have used the New Buccaneer for years but when there was a miss step they at least tried to make it right I just guess know all’s the OWNER of the New Buccaneer cares about it taking money even if it wasn’t earned! Oh he’ll tell you to call so you work something out but then he’ll be to busy and hope the problem will just go away! SO PLEASE PLEASE either use a different boat or drive the extra hour and a half and go out of Port Aransas. I really hope no one else has this problem! such a shame this used to be what I would call a reputable company (boat). So remember the OWNER IS ONLY WORRIED ABOUT MAKING MONEY AND NOT HIS CUSTOMER! if not he would’ve accepted my brothers call!

We went on the 4 hour trip this morning. We showed up about an hour early and weren’t given much instruction at all. If there was a safety briefing we must’ve missed it. The boat is very overcrowded with about 80 people and we were constantly getting tangled with each other. Our group of 7 didn’t catch any fish at all and very few fish were caught on the whole boat. They moved us about 5 different times. I realize that we aren’t guaranteed that we’ll catch fish… nobody can really do that… just left feeling that we probably should have gone out into the gulf in a 12 hour trip instead of wasting our time in the bay.

Cons: Overpriced. No room when fishing, everyone gets tangled to each other. Not enough seating for fishing. Old and tangled equipment. Restrooms are a nightmare. Caught a lot of keeper fish and was told to throw them back and end of trip come to find out others kept theirs in front of the boat while those in rear could not. Why fish if you cannot keep what you catch and dont tell me an 18lb 42in Drum is not legal to keep, nor a 23inch 11lb Red Snapper either, but yet we were told to throw them back and yet the others in front kept theirs.
Pros: Commissary is good and cheap. Friendly and helpful staff.
In short, you fare better at rollover pass or seawolf park at night and its far cheaper and you bag way more and with less hassle.
Pass this boat up, there are many others better equipped to suit your fishing fun needs

First time on a group fishing trip. These guys were the least expensive of those I browsed. It was a pleasant enough trip at a good value (when you compare it especially to those 1 hr $ 20 dolphin tours). A few gripes. We barely went off shore for the Galveston Bay (5 – 7 miles offshore the website stated). We were near a pier the whole time. No one caught anything the whole time except for one man a sting ray, but I won’t fault the company for that as it was a very cold day. The boat reeked of old, rancid grease. Now it’s nice they have food on the boat, but they should really not cook on it. Not many people ordered food, rather coffee and hot cocoa, which were nice. The lady started scraping the grease toward the end of the trip, which really made the smell worse, forcing a couple people outside due to it. I know she has to clean obviously but that could have waited for us to get off. The whole thing seemed rushed and everyone seemed miserable, mostly due to the cold. I say do the trip during spring, summer, and fall obviously, though those times will likely be very crowded. As it was, we were elbow to elbow anyway.

So far the best large charter boat I have been on. I went out on John Williams a few months ago, and I have to say Galveston Party Boats New Buccaneer was much nicer– $ 20 cheaper too. The 12 hour trip was only $ 75. They had a much better kitchen too. I was surprised at the quality of my breakfast burrito for breakfast. The burger I had for lunch was also scrumptious. $ 2 beers too! They had a mens and womens restrooms. They are much larger too.
I will be back!

Went out on a fishing trip during spring break. Out of the whole boat there was only 2 medium fish caught. We could not keep the snappers we kept catching. They said we would catch Red Snapper.
Most of the fish we caught were small red colored fish. They were not fit to eat they had more bones than a carp.
Also, The lines kept breaking because they used leaders that had 3 hooks on them. they cut off 2 hooks. So when you caught a medium sized fish, the line was breaking on everyones lines.
Also, spent 4 hours going out, 2 hours fishing, and the rest of the time touring oil rigs and boats.
The man who gives the tickets at the booth, is real rude and aloof.
Stay away.

Me and a friend did a 12-​hour off shore trip on 20July, and had a pretty good time.
Just some quick little tips: You will probably want to call ahead and schedule your trip a few days in advance. The 12-​hour boat will fill up easily. They do allow you to take soft coolers that are a little bigger than the «6pack cooler’. Take your own bait if you want to catch something other than snapper. Take cash to tip the the deck hands, they definitely work hard. Be prepared to untagle some line.
On to the review…
We walk into this place and also into some customers arguing with a company rep. He was more so being a D — . They purchased one too many seats and were trying to use the extra seat as elbow room, the guy was being rude and finally agreed to refund them, which I agree, he didnt have to BUT you shouldnt treat your cutomers bad. This guy easily paid for 8 – 10 people to fish ($ 6-​$ 700). That wasnt the only time we encountered rude service, one of the deck hands, upon entrance, made a comment in a rude way to my buddy.
We set off and 4hrs later we arrive to our first spot. Everyone gets to their rod and boy is it packed, now I see why the guy wanted elbow room. There is no overhead casting allowed, so you pretty much put the rod over the rail and let the weight take the squid bait down. We started off a little slow but after the 4 stops we ended up leaving with a total of 14 Vermillion snapper. Every time we pulled one out the hands were there within a couple minutes to help unhook to fish and throw back out of season/​non-​keeper fish. If you catch a smaller fish, ask if you can use it as bait and hopefully you’ll bring up something different.
At the end of the day, the deck hands warmed up to everyone and we met some pretty cool people. I would definitely do it again with this company, also, just bacause fileting fish looks easy it doesnt mean that it is… haggle with the guys and have them do the hard work (they usually charge 1.00−1.50 a fish)

My family took a group vacation renting a house on the beach. We also booked some time to go fishing with this company. We had a great time.
There were about 75 people on board fishing. The first place we stopped NOBODY got any bites. After about 5 min, the captain called for everyone to reel in so we could go somewhere else. At the next place we dropped about 8 people on the boat immediately hooked some red-​drum. From that point on the crew was busy helping us with fish. The only slow down was when we started catching small catfish that we couldn’t keep.
We wen home with 4 drums, a shark, and a couple of catfish. All in all my family had a great time, and the fish was excellent grilled.

We went fishing with Party Boats this weekend and it was GREAT! I just found out about them on Thursday and we were able to call and due to cancellations get a spot without a problem (that’s probably not the case all the time).
We took the afternoon 4 hour trip and had a great time! What else can you do for 4+ hours for only $ 25 a person??? We brought our own food and water which I would HIGHLY recommend, especially on hot days. The fishing is a little cramped, but as the time goes by people take breaks and it’s not too bad. The deck hands were very helpful when it comes to unhooking and gaffing fish. They do work for tips so don’t forget the cash!!! After the trip we were able to get our fish filleted for dinner! I think they charge based on the size of the fish… we had 2 medium sized Gafftops and they charged us $ 5 total. I would definitely recommend Party Boats if you want to spend a day in the sun doing something out of the ordinary.

There are 2 – 3 party boats that rotate daily. Surprisingly these party boats can hold 80 fisherman. They offer inshore and offshore fishing. This is a 4 hour fishing trip with every thing supplied. All you do is bring yourself and a smile.
Great service by the deckhands that helped bring in your catch in with a gaff and unhooking your fish. The only problem is that these deckhands are all volunteers so there were only 2 deckhands on board when I went with friends. Lucky for me I brought along my fishing gear. Bring pliers!!! My Leatherman pliers saved me the trouble of calling the deckhands for unhooking the fish. I ended up being the slave of two girls with us doing dinner together. =)
Bring your fishing license with a redfish tag or you can’t keep a bull red! They sell fishing license here so if you don’t have one but the chances of you being busted is pretty much zilch. And if you don’t have a redfish tag don’t worry because bull reds aren’t that great tasting. Their meat is tough and rubber like. I ended up giving most of my redfish meat away.
At the docks, there was filleting service for $ 10 per fish and $ 1 for a shovel full of ice for your cooler. These guys are pros and the filleting service is well worth it.
This was a really nice $ 25 experience that is great for amateurs but I rather pay $ 100 for a guide in a smaller boat.
I hated fishing with 80 people who don’t understand the courtesy of reeling in their lines when there is a bull red. You are literally standing next to the person by you. It gets pretty cramped. There was plenty of line tangling but we still managed to catch around 50 bull reds. I caught 2 bullred plus many other trash fish. I gave the other bullred away to a kid that was crying for not catching anything. Luckily his father had a bull red tag.
I was somewhat worried about fishing in a big boat like this because of motion sickness. One of my cousins got really sick from fishing in a party boat like this. Lucky for me I didn’t get motion sickness but a few people started throwing up. The wave was tolerable inshore. Not sure about offshore. An ex navy guy said this is about as rough as it gets offshore too on a sunny calm day.

It was a friend’s birthday 2 weeks ago, and we booked a trip on the 4 hour bay fishing trip. It was ONLY $ 25 a person!!! (If you want to go deep sea diving, it would have been the 8 hour trip for $ 60).
So we took off at 8am and we went for a few miles into the bay and then started fishing. I believe the boat holds about 60 people, and during the summer on weekends, they are SOLD OUT, so book about 2 weeks in advance. You don’t need to bring anything with you, except a soft cooler with snacks, water, etc. The bait (squid), rod, and reel are provided. At our first stop, it was a stop for red fish, but the waters were really choppy so we stayed there for about 20 minutes and left. We made a total of about 4 different stops throughout the trip, fishing for about 30 – 40 minutes at each spot. It usually seemed like right at the beginning of the stop, everyone would catch fish, and then at a point it died down. If no one catches anything for awhile, the captain will move the boat to another spot. There are 2 – 3 deckhands on board which assists you with your fishing experience. If you lose your weight and hook, they will rehook for you. If you catch a fish, they will unhook the fish and mark it for you if you choose to keep. Some of the 30 – 50 lb reds that people were catching were really heavy so the deckhands had to get a huge hook and pull up the reds before it broke the line or got away (unfortunately the one that I hooked was way too strong and it completely broke the line off of my reel). We left about 11.30 to get back to the dock at about 12 noon. It was a great trip, and I brought home a 3 ft shark.
I admit, I hated hooking on the bait (stinky squid) and made other guys do it for me at first. But once I was in the groove of things and getting bites, I got over the smelly squids and hooked it myself to fish a bit faster! The one disadvantage of this trip was that everyone was SO close! Probably 3 ft between each rod and reel. But that is probably the only way that they are able to keep the costs down.
Also, if you get sea sick like me, remember to take Dramamine. I took it prior to but still got pretty sick… but that’s nothing to blame the cruise on.
Just dress in clothes you dont’ care about because you will smell like squid. Also, come early. You have to be there at least 30 minutes before take off, and i fyou’re late, you will lose your spot and your deposit, and they will release the seats for those on the waiting list (they are that popular)!
I definitely recommend this fishing trip, even if you are not a big fisher. I’m not, but I had a blast, and even with my sea sickness, I do plan to go on this trip again!