Do you fly in/out of Seattle or Vancouver?

[cwestbrook]

I've read of people doing both. If we leave out of or sail into Vancouver, why would we fly out of Seattle?

 

BTW, I'm new to all of this and I'm learning so much here!

 

Thanks

[sunprincess]

For Alaska cruises you can do round trip from Seattle, or the Vancouver - Anchorage route.

[MichTraveler]

Some PAX can get a better air cost or schedule flying into Seattle and then driving / shuttling into Vancouver.

[cwestbrook]

What I'm asking is, if we start a cruise in Vancouver, going to Whittier, will we fly into Seattle or Vancouver.

 

I read posts with people talking about getting transportation from Seattle to Vancouver but then I read about people flying into Vancouver.

 

I'm wondering why people would fly into Seattle instead of Vancouver?

[roohound]

Last year we were on a Coral cruise that left out of Vancouver and ended up in Whittie. Seattle, for us anyway, actually had flights available as opposed to Vancouver. Plus, when looking at other times, flights into Seattle were cheaper than those into Vancouver.

 

We took the Princess transfer from Seattle to Vancouver and I really enjoyed the scenery driving up to Vancouver.

[MKellyUtah]

I have cruised out of Vancouver twice, flown into Seattle both times (far less expensive for me). Once, took Amtrak up to Vancouver, other time rented a car one-way from SeaTac to downtown Vancouver. Both times I went in the day before the cruise. Cost-wise, it just worked better for me ...

[Budget Queen]

Sometimes the flights are significantly cheaper, I most always fly into Seattle, and rent a car one way, the cities are only 150 miles apart and plenty of touring possible. Very very simple, I most always overnight in Bellingham the night before then just an easy 1++ hour drive to Vancouver with an early start, plenty of time for some touring there too. :) With cruiseair, scheduling sometimes has you coming into Seattle then the cruiselines puts you on a bus. :) It pays to purchase the deviation in that case.

[Tarheelbelle]

What I'm asking is, if we start a cruise in Vancouver, going to Whittier, will we fly into Seattle or Vancouver.

 

I read posts with people talking about getting transportation from Seattle to Vancouver but then I read about people flying into Vancouver.

 

I'm wondering why people would fly into Seattle instead of Vancouver?

cwestbrook,

I just returned from NB Vancouver to Whittier cruise. We chose to fly into Seattle because it was MUCH less for the two of us on Southwest than on any airline we could fly into Vancouver. We flew in a day early and arrived in the morning there, so had all afternoon to spend at the folklife festival!

Next morning, we took the 7:45AM Amtrak train from Seattle to Vancouver and thoroughly enjoyed the lovely scenic trip. Customs/immigration at Vancouver was easy. We booked that several months before traveling and the fares were quite low so cost of the flight and train were still less than if we had flown into Vancouver. Cab to port from train was not bad and we got onto the ship before 1PM.

I think it depends upon where you live with the airfares, and also what experience you want. Next time, I may fly into Seattle and rent a car or just fly into Vancouver depending upon fares at that time.

[JohnLauben]

Seattle simply has more flights available than Vancouver, especially from west coast airports. And, more flights (usually) equals lower cost. Often times, lower cost enough to overnight in Seattle (the safe thing to do) before heading to the ship in Vancouver. There are lots of great airport hotels near SEA-TAC airport, and you'll be able to catch one of the earlier transfers from SEA-TAC to the ship in Vancouver! Check out the airfares, and decide for yourself.

[taxatty]

For the 4 of us doing a southbound Whittier to Vancouver cruise, it was $600 total cheaper to fly back to Miami from Seattle instead of Vancouver. I'll gladly pay for the rental car.

 

Les

[GramaFran]

We flew into Vancouver but picked up a rental car and drove to Seattle on the return. We were on inside passage cruise.

 

there were 6 of us and the airfare was higher Vancouver to LA vs Seattle to LA. Even with the rental car. We got off ship by 9a, picked up car right at pier, with border delays we got to Seattle about 2pm. Our flight was at 4:30p so had lots of time.

[gg3]

I've read of people doing both. If we leave out of or sail into Vancouver, why would we fly out of Seattle?

 

BTW, I'm new to all of this and I'm learning so much here!

 

Thanks

 

C - When we cruised on the Zaandam out of Vancouver, we flew into Vancouver. In 2 weeks we sail the Diamond out of Seattle, so we are flying into Seattle. BUT...... we are using American Airlines miles from our credit card.....so we fly directly out of our home town into Dallas and from there direct to Seattle. Leave home at 7am, arrive in Seattle at 10:45 am. Pretty terrific.....BUT, if we did not have AA miles, I would definitely fly into Seattle to sail out of Vancouver because the rates are better and both are Awesome cities to sightsee. gg

[virgenia]

I will never fly out of Vancouver after a cruise again. Had I known the mess it was--hours standing in line--we would have paid the $45 each for a transfer to Seattle and flown out of there. Vancouver is just not equipped to handle the massive numbers of passengers that all want to fly out at the same time. Unless they have changed from two summers ago, I would do anything rather than fly from Vancouver.

[alans]

We always fly to Seattle because the air fare is cheaper. We rent a car from Alamo and drop it off in Vancouver in the parking lot at Canada Place--very convenient.

[garycarla]

There is a whole message board about Alaska. you will find that about every 20 topics of so, this topic comes up.

 

Good luck with you choices.

[catdancers]

We just did the northbound cruise and flew into Vancouver and out of Anchorage. From our airport, it was about $30 more to do this, but we felt we would have spent the extra $30 getting from Seattle to Vancouver via bus, train or rental car. Also we were short on time. Like Tarheelbelle said, it may depend on where you live.

[cwestbrook]

Thanks so much everyone!