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Is This Enough Time


lin712

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We are looking to book a Alaska cruise on Royal Caribbean leaving Seattle on Aug 1 2008, it says the ship departs at 4pm if we fly in the day of and the flight gets in at 11:15 am we we have enough time to get to the ship from the airport?

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Seatac is about 30 minutes to the cruise terminal (if traffic is not bad). Me myself, I do not like to fly into our port the day of the cruise because you just never know what can happen with the airlines. I would consider flying in the night before and maybe staying at a cheaper airport hotel and then in the AM catch a taxi (about $30) to your pier.

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There have been several threads this summer by and about people missing their cruise, or the first 2 days of their cruise, to Alaska because of delayed flights. If at all possible, I would recommend flying in the day before, too. Our TA suggested this for our first cruise, and we have done it every time (unless the cruise includes a chartered flight). Last year, that let us take advantage of a bump...it was only a 2-hour delay, but if it had been the day of, we wouldn't have risked it.

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Why risk it? The airlines are way too unpredictible to do so. Not only did we fly in a day early, but we flew in EARLY a day early from the East Coast, and I'm very glad we did, as we were under no pressure. I've been stuck trying to get to locations both in January and June of this year. Both would've been a disaster had we been trying to catch a cruise.

 

We spent the night in a downtown hotel, then took a less than $10 cab ride to the port after check-out. It worked perfectly and without stress.

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We are looking to book a Alaska cruise on Royal Caribbean leaving Seattle on Aug 1 2008, it says the ship departs at 4pm if we fly in the day of and the flight gets in at 11:15 am we we have enough time to get to the ship from the airport?

 

Absolutely! Unless:

 

A) Your flight is delayed

B) Your flight is cancelled

C) There's a weather or security problem somewhere (the problem doesn't need to be at SeaTac or your departure airport; a shutdown at any major airport can cascade through the system for hours or days)

D) Your luggage is delayed

E) There's a problem with transportation to the port (Seattle is infamous for horrible traffic)

 

If you enjoy stress, go for it.

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we did a cruise out of Venice a while back...booked our flight home out of Venice in the am...it was a pretty close connection from docking time but it was the only flight out that made our connection home...I worried the whole cruise about making it to the airport in time...wish now that I had simply stayed over a day at an airport hotel...worth it to not worry

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I am glad we decided to go a few days early, from the start that is what i wanted to do but the people I am going with wanted to leave the day of. Glad i talked them into my way. Now just going to start watching for cheap flights. I will be coming from Michigan. At least we have a while to go. But one more question what would be the earlies flight time we would be able to make after the ship docks I think it says we get back into port at 6am.

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I am glad we decided to go a few days early, from the start that is what i wanted to do but the people I am going with wanted to leave the day of. Glad i talked them into my way. Now just going to start watching for cheap flights. I will be coming from Michigan. At least we have a while to go. But one more question what would be the earlies flight time we would be able to make after the ship docks I think it says we get back into port at 6am.

 

I would not book a return flight earlier than noon. You would probably make it earlier, but if the ship takes too long to clear, or there is traffic (there is almost always traffic) you'd be pushing it. Knock on wood, for as big as SeaTac is, they move quick. The worst line I was in was for SWA. It wrapped around past the ticket counters....must have been 100 people or more in line. I was done, bags dropped and halfway thru security in 20 minutes!

 

If you've never been to Seattle before, I would take a greyline tour maybe. And don't forget the Space Needle, Pikes Place Market and lots of great places to eat!

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  • 2 weeks later...
Disembarking in Seattle won't be that bad. During the 2008 Season, the Rhapsody will be docking at Pier 30 which is south of seattle, thereby avoiding a lot of the traffic

 

Where did you get the info that Rhapsody will be docking at Pier 30? I've been looking for confirmation of this and hadn't been able to find it.

 

There will be 3 ships in port on the days Rhapsody is embarking and disembarking so I would figure this could add to the mess at the airports.

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The Rhapsody and one of the HAL ships will be embarking and disembarking for the whole season at pier 30. The Celebrity Infinity will be up at Pier 66. I am currently an employee of the ground operations for RCCL, Celebrity, and NCL.

 

 

Thanks!! I couldn't find the answer and wanted to make plans.

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