One of the cruise facebook groups had an article saying if you can be ready to cruise within a 2 to 14 day window, volunteer to do so. We did and a Carnival rep called us to offer us a 7 day cruise out of galveston on vista for $25.00 each. wow! We jumped on that. Dont know why they are doing this, but we aint looking a gift horse in the mouth. We live 35 miles from terminal, so we can get ready in an hours notice if needed to.