George P Burdell

Greetings all: We're just off the Discovery and this was our first experience with Port Valet. I thought I'd post some experiences / lessons learned to help others who might have questions. In general, PV is a service offered by the Port of Seattle that lets you check your luggage directly to your flight when you put your bags out the night before. So, really easy to just do walk off in the AM, not have to wait for bags to be put out on the dock, etc. We signed up for PV when we booked our cruise (and then accidentally , again, right before we got on the boat), via the PV website. It turns out, that you can also sign up on the boat. We had some issues with getting paperwork from our Cabin Steward, and the PV paperwork was one of the sets we didn't get. In theory, it was due by noon on Day 4, so I would watch for it, and ask early in the cruise. Our first indication that we had not been processed was when we got our departure paperwork, and our exit group was not the PV group. We went to Guest Services and after explaining we had 1) prepaid and 2) didn't get the paperwork, they let us file for all three cabins. We received our paperwork and luggage tickets about 5:30 the day before embarkation, but only two of the cabins had luggage tags. My luggage tags were printed blank (ie, we got boarding passes, but no luggage). We went back to Guest Services and they told us that they would try to fix and get to us by 9 PM. Reprint was delivered at 8:30 pm, but was blank again. Back to GS. They worked on it for a while, and ....got it to print. So, we put our tags on the luggage, and went to bed. As I'm writing this, we received notice from the airline that all three of our bags had been received and checked in at the airport (10:10 AM local). So, in summary..... I'm not sure what caused the issues with my PV. It could have been multiple registrations before hand, or the fact our luggage was free due to status, etc, but.... the on board GS staff is able to resolve issues, so don't despair. Then, look for the PV paperwork on the boat and make sure you get the paperwork submitted early. One of the people around me in the airport this AM said that luggage check in was over an hour, and PV allowed us to skip all of that drama... Happy Cruising

Greetings all: We are just off the Discovery this AM and thought that we might post about the process. When I searched the forums last night, I didn't find much information, so I thought this might help folks looking for information. In general, the process on the boat is similar to other boats, so nothing new to report from that perspective. This is our first time cruising out of Pier 91, and boy, is port of Seattle different from Miami or Ft. Lauderdale. Customs is basically walking by a CBE agent with your passport. No Global Entry Line (not needed), no customs forms, no inspections, etc. I'm not sure we really even broke step while walking out the gate. We did Port Valet (more on that in another post), so we didn't have to pick up our luggage. From the scan at the gangplank to the front door of the port was less than 5 minutes. Once you are out the door, head towards the line up of busses on the right side and talk to the Princess agent about half way down. They direct you to your transfer or tour bus. Sunday AM, leaving the port at about 8:20, we got to SeaTac at 0850. Cool fact, there is a Delta counter where the bus pulls in, so, if you are Delta, you can drop bags right there. This had to have been the fastest, easiest debarkation we've ever had.