Time Needed to Disembark in Seattle, WA--Alaskan Cruise

I can use some advice.

We're booked on the 7-night Alaska Tracy Arm Fjord Cruise from Friday July 6 - Friday, July 13, 2012. The cruise departs from and arrives in Seattle, Washington.

The ship (Infinity) is scheduled to arrive at the Seattle pier at 7:00 am. Would I be able to make a 10:20 a.m. domestic flight out of the Seattle airport? I read that the distance from the pier to the airport is about 15 miles, or 20 minutes without traffic. I already have assigned seats, so we'd just have to arrive in time for our boarding passes. There is no Customs and Immigration involved either on the ship or in the airport.

I figure even if we arrive at the airport at around 9:00 a.m., we'll have more than enough time to make it.

Can I be off the ship by 8:30--8:45 a.m.? Is there someway I can request an early disembarkation due to an early flight?

The alternative is killing a whole day in the airport for a 5:00 p.m. flight. :(

Thanks in advance.

Greg

I would not trust that flight. They recommend no flights before noon. You will have to clear Customs after the cruise if you make a stop in Canada. Flights close 15 to 20 minutes before departure, and you have to be in your seats at that time, so that means you need to be on board your flight by 10am.

You can request early disembarking, but that doesn't mean much, especially if there are delays. Remember, all it takes is for one non-US citizen to not report to Immigration on time to make everyone miss their flights. On my most recent cruises, we didn't even begin to leave the ship until 8:30. And with that time, you'll not make a 10:20 flight.

Once you get your luggage, you have to clear Customs, find your transportation, fight traffic to the airport, check in with your luggage, stand in a long line for TSA check, make your way to the gate. If they begin to allow passengers off the ship by 8, and there's no guarantee that you'll be off by that time, you will probably need at least 2 hours or more to get you to the gate from the ship. I don't think it's possible to do that flight.

As Kitty9 said, I would not try for that flight. It is too early and you run the risk of missing it.

Book a flight at 12:00 Noon or later.

Keith

We've sailed to Alaska out of Seattle 4 times, and I too agree w/previous posters. Much too early. Don't want to be stressing about catching a flight after a fantastic trip to Alaska (soon to be your favorite place on earth;)!). Get a flight after noon and you'll be just fine.

Thank you all for your replies.

I realize that everything would have to come together just right for us to make this flight.

I'll see what I can do about changing it.

Thanks again.

As long as you use the "walk off with your bags" method, and barring any unusual timing issues (weather delays, etc) you can make that flight.

If it was me, I would have my boarding passes printed out b4 I got off ship...at least checkin online before getting off ship(use smartphone if that is an option)

Traffic at that time isn't a usually a problem.

Let us know how it turned out...don't worry about it and you will thank me later!!

Dodger,

I'm between a rock and hard place with this one.

Based on the cruises that I've taken in the past, I agree with you that--barring any unforeseen circumstances--we should be in the taxi and on our way to the airport by 8:30 a.m., the latest. The problem is, how much am I willing to risk these "unforeseen circumstances?" I'm a fairly obsessive-compulsive kind of guy and I fear that I'll be ruminating about this from now until the morning of July 13th.

I cancelled the 10:20 a.m. flight with Travelocity (without penalty as it was within 24 hours) and booked the next available flight out, which is--believe it or not--not until 5:15 p.m.!

This is killing me that I have to lose seven hours finding things to do while waiting for my flight in the mid-afternoon because the 10:20 am flight may blow up in my face depending on what position the moon and the stars may happen to be in on the morning of Friday the 13th.

After returning from the cruise, we are headed off to Hawaii. Instead of arriving at a very convenient 1:20 p.m. (with the 10:20 am flight) and having the whole day ahead of us, we will now be arriving at 8:20 p.m., just in time to eat dinner and go to sleep.

Terrible. I can either gamble before heading off to Vegas or lose a whole day in the airport playing it safe. This is what you call a lose-lose situation.

Greg