Port of Seattle launches free airport luggage service

Since the main point of offering this service was to hopefully allow people to spend more time in Seattle it doesn't make sense to limit it to 1 pm.

Did you have to be among the first group off the ship in case customs wanted to inspect your luggage??

There were 3 groups of about 50 people each that were using the Easy Check Baggage program. We were in the second group that disembarked at 7:55. Each group was set 30 min apart.

I agree that it didn't make sense to limit departures to 1 pm and I don't know how strict they are on that, mine was at 1:10 departure. We we went thru customs, only had to hold up our passports and give them our declaration form.

Hope this helps.

spend more time in Seattle

The cruise valet program will allow passengers to enjoy Seattle before heading to the airport.

Port of Seattle - Cruise (has info about the luggage valet program)

Our luggage will stay on the ground thank you. ;)

There were 3 groups of about 50 people each that were using the Easy Check Baggage program. We were in the second group that disembarked at 7:55. Each group was set 30 min apart.

 

I agree that it didn't make sense to limit departures to 1 pm and I don't know how strict they are on that, mine was at 1:10 departure. We we went thru customs, only had to hold up our passports and give them our declaration form.

 

Hope this helps.

Thank you.

Maybe some more people will use it in the next few weeks. I do hope the 1pm is not limiting. I want to spend the entire day in Seattle before catching my flight that night. We shall see

Maybe some more people will use it in the next few weeks. I do hope the 1pm is not limiting. I want to spend the entire day in Seattle before catching my flight that night. We shall see

I know, seems a bit pointless. We have family with flights around 1500 and they were hoping to be able to see some sights beforehand.

I am thinking there are may two or three waves of luggage deliveries. Maybe 11-1, 1-3, and 3 and later. I cross my fingers that this is what is will be

I surely hope to be able to use this service next week. Our flight back is not until 10pm. That's a lot of time after disembarking for site seeing.

We disembarked from the Ruby princess yesterday (may 20) and used the port's Free luggage service. We were flying out of SeaTac on Delta at 1:10 and were told this was the first week to use this service. It worked perfectly for us. We had to fill out the request and flight info to return it to customer service desk by Monday noon (Juneau port day). On Friday evening we had our luggage tags and our boarding passes. Your Stewart will even weigh your luggage if you need them to. We used the princess transfer from port to SeaTac and was dropped off at the terminals. We were able to go straight to TSA check in. WHen we arrived in Charlotte, NC last night, our luggage arrived with us. There were no issues and was very pleased. It was nice to disembark and not have to look for our luggage.

This is great news! We will on the Ruby Princess in July. Do you know if Southwest Airlines is included in this service? I can't find current information on the website, and the Princess agent my travel agent spoke with didn't know anything about it.

Also, we are arranging a town car to transport us to SeaTac. You mentioned there were 3 groups getting off the ship with this luggage service. Would 8:30 be a good pick up time at the Port, since we don't know which group we would be in?

Thanks for your advice!

This is great news! We will on the Ruby Princess in July. Do you know if Southwest Airlines is included in this service? I can't find current information on the website, and the Princess agent my travel agent spoke with didn't know anything about it.

 

Also, we are arranging a town car to transport us to SeaTac. You mentioned there were 3 groups getting off the ship with this luggage service. Would 8:30 be a good pick up time at the Port, since we don't know which group we would be in?

 

Thanks for your advice!

Southwest does participate. But on our May 13 rollcall someone mentioned that there were issues with the luggage going to southwest. It said Luggage could not be found at the port or the airport wasn't sure where the luggage was. The poster said it was only southwest with issue. Since this was the first week for this program, I'm hoping they will be able to work out all the kinks with all airlines. You should be fine with an 8:30 pick up from the port.

Southwest does participate. But on our May 13 rollcall someone mentioned that there were issues with the luggage going to southwest. It said Luggage could not be found at the port or the airport wasn't sure where the luggage was. The poster said it was only southwest with issue. Since this was the first week for this program, I'm hoping they will be able to work out all the kinks with all airlines. You should be fine with an 8:30 pick up from the port.

Hopefully, the problems will be all worked out by the end of July! Thanks for your quick reply!

We used this service on the Ruby (May 20th) with Alaska Airlines and it worked flawlessly. We did keep one small carry on bag with us for items used morning of disembarkation.

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We used this service on the Ruby (May 20th) with Alaska Airlines and it worked flawlessly. We did keep one small carry on bag with us for items used morning of disembarkation.

 

 

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what time was your flight out of SEA

My question is: when using this service do you get to choose the time to exit the ship? We have an early flight and want to exit as early as possible.

It will be helpful to hear from others who are using this program. So far, I appreciate the good reviews.

My question is: when using this service do you get to choose the time to exit the ship? We have an early flight and want to exit as early as possible.

 

It will be helpful to hear from others who are using this program. So far, I appreciate the good reviews.

You have to have a flight after 11 to use the service. So if your flight is early enough to worry about getting off first, then you can't use this anyway.

You have to have a flight after 11 to use the service. So if your flight is early enough to worry about getting off first, then you can't use this anyway.

You misunderstood my question. Our flight is at 11:48AM. We want to exit the ship early to allow plenty of time at SeaTac. My inquiry is to determine if the cruise ships are holding passengers taking part in this program until a certain time(s) and have them exit the ship as a group.

You misunderstood my question. Our flight is at 11:48AM. We want to exit the ship early to allow plenty of time at SeaTac. My inquiry is to determine if the cruise ships are holding passengers taking part in this program until a certain time(s) and have them exit the ship as a group.

Judith, when we took this cruise on the Golden several years ago, they offered the EZ Check program. Basically the same service, but was offered by Princess for a fee. They did have staggered times for EZ Check passengers based on their flight times. What I don't remember is if you could leave the ship with the first group that carried their own luggage.

Hopefully, someone will be able to answer that for you soon. If not, you can always check with Guest Services once onboard to find out if you can request one of the earlier times. We will be sailing the Ruby on June 10th and I'll try to remember to find out additional information. We are staying an extra night in Seattle but have other family members that will be leaving on Saturday. :)

jk04......thank you for your response. I am aware of how Princess does EZ Check and we have done it many times. It's a great program for sure.

The cruise that I have the question about is the HAL Alaska cruise that we will be on in July. We did the same cruise last year. With their program, you have to meet as a group, go to the terminal, find and carry your luggage to the inspectors before leaving it to be transported to the airport. That group comes right after the walk-off groups.To me that is odd as other cruise lines don't do it that way. We don't want to do that as we have an early flight and one does not know if TSA will hold things up at the airport. We do have KTN's with TSA pre-check but last year SeaTac closed that line! It took well over an hour to get through TSA.

We want to be in one of the first groups off the ship and are hoping that Seattle, with their program, will take our luggage directly to the airport so that we aren't detained meeting with some group on HAL for a possible luggage inspection. If that happens, we will do first walk off with all of our luggage like we did last year.

My fear is that HAL will set a specific disembarkation time for those participating in the Seattle program.

Hopefully someone from one of the HAL Alaska cruises can chime in on this before we go on our cruise in 6 weeks.

Judith

Tinknock50, is this the same program? My understanding is this will be a free service just for the Seattle Sea Ports. The link you have lists bag fees. According to the Commission Agenda PDF, it would be available to passengers flying all major airlines, whatever 'major' means. I think last year was a pilot program for Delta flights only.

No, the Seattle program is not for all of the flights, only Alaska, American, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest and United as stated in an earlier message here. The service for the Delta flights last year was strictly a Delta Program. The program this year has been very successful so far although there were 2 instances noted by travelers that indicated that a bag was lost (in both cases they were later found and returned to the passengers.) As of yesterday, 23 May 17, the program had not been started for the Carnival ship yet.

Tom

jk04......thank you for your response. I am aware of how Princess does EZ Check and we have done it many times. It's a great program for sure.

 

The cruise that I have the question about is the HAL Alaska cruise that we will be on in July. We did the same cruise last year. With their program, you have to meet as a group, go to the terminal, find and carry your luggage to the inspectors before leaving it to be transported to the airport. That group comes right after the walk-off groups.To me that is odd as other cruise lines don't do it that way. We don't want to do that as we have an early flight and one does not know if TSA will hold things up at the airport. We do have KTN's with TSA pre-check but last year SeaTac closed that line! It took well over an hour to get through TSA.

 

We want to be in one of the first groups off the ship and are hoping that Seattle, with their program, will take our luggage directly to the airport so that we aren't detained meeting with some group on HAL for a possible luggage inspection. If that happens, we will do first walk off with all of our luggage like we did last year.

 

My fear is that HAL will set a specific disembarkation time for those participating in the Seattle program.

 

Hopefully someone from one of the HAL Alaska cruises can chime in on this before we go on our cruise in 6 weeks.

 

Judith

The Port of Seattle program, Port Valet, functions in the same manner as the Luggage Direct program run by Holland-America. See my previous message (1 up) as to the airlines involved.

Tom

what time was your flight out of SEA

Our flight was at 11:58am. We gathered in the Princess Theater at 7:30, walked off ship, went through customs at pier, grabbed a cab to airport and got through security in about an hour. Not sure if we got lucky and timed it just right, but it was much quicker than I anticipated.

Do they do boarding passes for Southwest as you usually have to check in 24 hours ahead of your flight time?

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Our flight was at 11:58am. We gathered in the Princess Theater at 7:30, walked off ship, went through customs at pier, grabbed a cab to airport and got through security in about an hour. Not sure if we got lucky and timed it just right, but it was much quicker than I anticipated.

Do you remember approximately what time you were out of customs and getting into the cab? We are arranging a town car, and need to give them a pick-up time. Our flight is at 12:30. Thank you!

I would say 7:45, it was very quick with no line for customs. We just walked right up to the podium handed the agent our passports and were out the door. You could always do 8:am if you wanted a little cushion and don't mind waiting a few minutes.

I would say 7:45, it was very quick with no line for customs. We just walked right up to the podium handed the agent our passports and were out the door. You could always do 8:am if you wanted a little cushion and don't mind waiting a few minutes.

Great! This is very helpful. Thanks for the quick response!

Virgin America is never part of these things :(