Seattle pre-cruise

Any opinions on visiting Chihuly Glass & Gardens prior to my cruise?

(I've seen & liked 2 Chihuly exhibits in the past - one in a Museum, the other in a garden.)

Any insider tips in discounted tickets?

We visited the Chihuly Glass Museum and Gardens last September prior to our cruise. We had previously seen an exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. We found that a lot of the same exhibits that we saw on the traveling exhibit were in the museum in Seattle. We found that the garden was beautiful, even though it was a rainy day that cleared by the time we left the museum. The exhibit in Boston had some glass in courtyards but nothing like what was at the museum in Seattle. If you are into photography, you will love all the creative pictures you can take with the Space Needle reflecting in the big orbs in the garden.

We did enjoy our visit, even though a lot was so familiar. It was very crowded the day we were there because so many were trying to get in from the rain. Make sure if you go, you look at the discount pricing you can get by combining different venues. We didn't do the pass that included 5 different venues because we weren't going to that many, but we were able to get a discounted ticket which combined a visit to the museum and the space needle. That ticket also let us choose a time for our space needle visit, which bypassed the line. We bought the tickets right at the Chihuly Museum. I am sure you could get it cheaper, online, in advance, but we were worried about weather and buying a ticket to the Space Needle we wouldn't use because of low clouds. As it was, we didn't buy the combo ticket until the weather cleared as we were done at the museum. When we went to buy tickets for the Space Needle, they credited us the cost of our one admission ticket to the combo ticket. We expected them to say no when we asked, but they said no problem.

Check out this link....

http://www.chihulygardenandglass.com/visit/plan-your-visit#admission

There's a bundle discount with the space needle next door.

There's a discount if I go after 7pm.

If you have the time, do it! It's an absolutely gorgeous place to visit. Give yourself at least 2 hours to go through it, depending on how quickly you walk or if you really take your time there.

If you're in town for more than the day,

and have the time and interest, consider the option of the Tacoma Glass Museum 30 miles south. They have an auditorium with glass blowing going on all the time. So interesting to watch.

The Tacoma Glass Museum is also connected to Pacific Ave. by the Chihuly Bridge of Glass.

If you only have one day in Seattle and have not been to that city before .... then maybe make a different choice. I do love the exhibit but not sure how very different it is from other locations. And there are many other things to do and see in Seattle.