Post-cruise Seattle

Anyone have any suggestions on how to enjoy the city of Seattle just for the day with a place to keep luggage if our flight is not until the evening? Our cruiseline does have an excursion for a tour and transfer to airport but it's $100 x2 and seems like a lot. Thanks for any help you can offer.

What time is your flight? and which pier are you using?

I don't know of any luggage storage in Seattle. However the piers have storage until 3:30pm.

http://www.portseattle.org/Cruise/Services/Pages/default.aspx

I believe it is Pier 91. I actually don't have the flight booked yet but planning on something for late afternoon. that should give us at least 5 hours to see something(s). I believe I read the airport is about 30mins from the cruiseport. Is that correct?

I believe it is Pier 91. I actually don't have the flight booked yet but planning on something for late afternoon. that should give us at least 5 hours to see something(s). I believe I read the airport is about 30mins from the cruiseport. Is that correct?

yes, 30 minutes under good circumstances. I usually tell people to give it an hour due to all the hwy/tunnel construction, city events, general congestion and the thousands of cruise passengers heading to the airport.

You could take a cab from pier91 to pier 66 to check your luggage as long as there's a ship at pier 66 that day. Take the elevator across the street to within a few blocks of the Market. From the Market walk 3 blocks to Westlake Center where you can catch a monorail to the Seattle Center/Space Needle.

If you can easily manage your luggage, you can also catch the Light Rail at Westlake Center and it will take you to the airport for $3, 40 minutes. There's a 7-10 minute walk at the end to reach the terminal. Otherwise a cab from pier n66 to SeaTac will be about $45

I believe it is Pier 91. I actually don't have the flight booked yet but planning on something for late afternoon. that should give us at least 5 hours to see something(s). I believe I read the airport is about 30mins from the cruiseport. Is that correct?

A couple of things...

First assuming you're flying back to NY, you're going to find very few flights departing in the late afternoon. Because of the 3-hour time difference, the great majority of departures from the west coast to the east coast are in the early morning, before you can make it off the ship, or else "red-eyes" that fly overnight, usually leaving around 10 PM or so. Something like a 5 PM departure would involve five flying hours then the time change, thus arriving around 1 AM on the east coast. The airlines don't want their planes sitting around all night before a morning departure.

As for what to do, frankly I'd rent a car for the day, throw the bags in the back, spend the day touring, and use the car to get to the airport later.

Assuming you're leaving on May 18 (as show in your countdown) you'll be returning on Memorial Day. That whole holiday weekend, the Northwest Folklife Festival takes over Seattle Center (Space Needle, Chihuly etc.) and the whole area becomes quite congested. Street parking will be free (holiday) or you could pay to park someplace, probably $10 or so.

But with a car you could also head out of town and visit, say, Whidbey Island, or tour the Boeing factory in Everett, or head to Snoqualmie Falls 40 min. east of Seattle (amazing in the spring) or run over to West Seattle for views, take a ride on the Bainbridge ferry, visit the Museum of Glass in Tacoma or the Museum of Flight in Seattle... many, many options.

The car would probably cost around $70 for the day, assuming you pick it up at one of the downtown rental car offices (maybe a $10-$15 cab ride from Pier 91.) Both National and Alamo (the same company) have car rental kiosks at the cruise terminal, but I just checked and they appear to be closed on Memorial Day, so you might have to take a cab to one of the downtown offices (Avis is open, probably others) instead of National/Alamo's shuttle to their downtown station. (They don't stock cars at the piers.) Still, it makes for a pretty convenient and worthwhile day.

Thank you both for your input. Actually it is an 8 day cruise so we dock in Seattle on Tues 5/26 not Monday. But I like the idea of renting a car but I was thinking that if the 1 or 2 things we chose to see are near each other downtown then maybe public transportation would be easier and cheaper. I will have to check into that.

And for your suggestion that it might be hard to book a flight back later in the day....I'm going to check on that right now.

Thanks.

I am leaning toward taking the excursion offered by Carnival when we dock in Seattle to see the Space Needle and Pikes Market. They keep our luggage and will drop us off at airport. Says we need to take a flight after 3pm. A little nervous to attempt the 2:20pm to JFK (which is what I really want) so will probably book the 3:15 I think back to Newark NJ. They are both Nonstop which is great...just would've preferred flying in and out of JFK (closer to home).

Now just working on finding a decent hotel in Vancouver for the night before the cruise leaves....(Sun 5/17 for 1 night). I'm torn whether it's better to save a little and stay in Richmond near the airport and then pay to get to Canada Place the next day, or to stay closer to Canada Place and possibly walk or short taxi ride to the ship the next day.....Hmmmmm, what to do ???? Any advice?

The area around Canada Place is very nice and, if you can swing it, I would stay as close to the Pan Pacific as possible. The ship terminal is down in the lower level and you can't beat the location if the weather is bad or you have children. We are staying there and plan on enjoying the hotel and the immediate area- walking down a few blocks into the Gas Town area is easy, we did it with 8 yr olds in April. Lots of shops, a Starbucks, and the original Vancouver Spaghetti Factory. Two brothers apparently opened the chain, one in Vancouver and one in Seattle. Anyway, loved the Pan Pacific area when we disembarked from our Hawaii cruise -enjoyed the Fly Over Canada ride.

yes, 30 minutes under good circumstances. I usually tell people to give it an hour due to all the hwy/tunnel construction, city events, general congestion and the thousands of cruise passengers heading to the airport.

 

You could take a cab from pier91 to pier 66 to check your luggage as long as there's a ship at pier 66 that day. Take the elevator across the street to within a few blocks of the Market. From the Market walk 3 blocks to Westlake Center where you can catch a monorail to the Seattle Center/Space Needle.

 

If you can easily manage your luggage, you can also catch the Light Rail at Westlake Center and it will take you to the airport for $3, 40 minutes. There's a 7-10 minute walk at the end to reach the terminal. Otherwise a cab from pier n66 to SeaTac will be about $45

Hi mapleleaves,

First of all thank you for all the great info that you post on cruise critic. You have been very helpful in planning my Alaska cruise Aug. 2nd.

I wonder about your statement above (red). Is there a place at pier 66 that you can store your luggage for a few hours even if you are not cruising out of that pier? The reason I ask, we will be coming into pier 66 after our cruise and before I go to our hotel(SeaTac) I thought it might be nice to go to the market for a "visit" then go back to the pier collect our luggage and head out to the airport to our hotel. Might leave more time the next day for sightseeing ?!

Just a thought.

knarf which is Frank backwards

Is there a place at pier 66 that you can store your luggage for a few hours even if you are not cruising out of that pier? The reason I ask, we will be coming into pier 66 after our cruise and before I go to our hotel(SeaTac) I thought it might be nice to go to the market for a "visit" then go back to the pier collect our luggage and head out to the airport to our hotel. Might leave more time the next day for sightseeing ?!

Just a thought.

knarf which is Frank backwards

yes, you can definitely use the Left Luggage facility at pier 66. It's only open until 3:30 tho .... don't be late because they won't wait for you. http://www.portseattle.org/Cruise/Services/Pages/default.aspx

Hitting the Market right away is a great plan ... it's unbearably crowded after 11am. If you walk 2-3 blocks up from the Market you'll come to Westlake Center which is where you can catch the monorail to the Space Needle/Seattle Center. (Westlake is also where you can catch the Light Rail to the airport if you can easily manage your luggage, $3pp)

p.s. the only time left luggage is NOT available is if there is NO ship in port.