Port of Seattle to SeaTac Airport Transfer

Does anyone have any input on my Ship transfer to Seattle Airport. I currently have a 10:30 am departure. The ship arrives at 7:00am. Customs clearing and doing the self departure with private airport transportation arranged, do I have enough time to make my flight? Any advice would be greatly appreciated .

There can be significant traffic if you are arriving on a weekday. That would be too early a flight for my stress level.

lots of good info on the west coast forum

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=413

Thanks for the reply, it is a Saturday morning in August, so traffic shouldn't be an issue. I have never cruised before, so not sure how long it takes to get off the ship.

Thanks for the reply, it is a Saturday morning in August, so traffic shouldn't be an issue. I have never cruised before, so not sure how long it takes to get off the ship.

Well, you don't say but I assume it is an Alaskan cruise ending in Seattle. You will have visited a foreign port such as Victoria, Vancouver, or Nanaimo so you will have to go through Customs and Immigration in Seattle. That takes a few minutes depending on how many officers are present that morning. As well, when the ship docks at 7 am that doesn't mean you get off at 7 am. The entire ship must be cleared by local authorities and that can take up to an hour. If you self-disembark carrying all your own luggage, you can be first off the ship.

The last time we arrived in Seattle, the Customs line was 40 minutes and the taxi line was almost 60 minutes, just to give you a frame of reference.

Now, having said that, how much are you paying for a ship transfer? Inevitably they are always more expensive than a regular shuttle or even a cab. Do you have TSA Pre-check and Global Entry? Let us know. :)

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Does anyone have any input on my Ship transfer to Seattle Airport. I currently have a 10:30 am departure. The ship arrives at 7:00am. Customs clearing and doing the self departure with private airport transportation arranged, do I have enough time to make my flight? Any advice would be greatly appreciated .

Hi there

I don't think you are giving yourself enough time.

If there are any other reasonable options, you should consider them. Don't forget, you will be coming back from a wonderful trip, and for the last 24 hrs. you will be worrying about whether you will make your flight.

I am not saying that it will happen, but just because they say they are scheduled to arrive at 07:00 doesn't mean they will. Any number of things can happen to delay a ship (at any port), it happens often enough.

This is your first cruise...my suggestion is to try and make it stress free. If you have the time, I would suggest staying an extra day in Seattle, a beautiful city.

hope this helps

have a great cruise

I agree...not enough time. This sounds like a case of booking a flight without consideration of the logistics involved.

Sounds like a very stressful disembarking day if the flight can't be changed. The cruise line won't book you transfers if the time is too tight. Rather you need to carry your luggage off, and either jump in a cab, or have a private transfer (like a towncar) waiting, if you are going to keep this flight.

Just got back from Alaska Cruise, we disembarked on a Sunday, we had transfers booked from pier 66 to SeaTac with ShuttleExpress. They have a person setup right outside the terminal, let them know you are there, and they will put you on the next bus going if not fully booked. Our booking was for 9:30am, flight at 12:00, on the day we decided to just get to the Airport, so we're at the desk by 8:30, a bus was already parked up, it was not fully booked so they switched us to that bus. Journey time is 20mins, driver very helpful giving us info on how to find our check-in desk.

A 12 Noon flight is fine.

But I would not want to be stressed trying to make a 10:30 flight.

JMO

Personally I don't get stressed if I may miss a flight, so the 1030 flight would be comfortable for me. If I missed that flight I would book another one or stay the night. Only you know if you get stressed.:)