Earliest flight from Seattle post Alasks cruise

[highway180]

Having never flown out of Seattle, will an 11:18 flight on a Friday morning cut it too close ?

Cruise ends 8/4 on the Solstice.

Thanks in advance for any insight

[Meander Ingwa]

Most consider this doable but you do want to leave at or before 8 to assure you are comfortably on time.  The airport will be busy and Seattle Traffic can be a frustration.  Anything before  11 am is not recommended.

[psuboater]

You're cutting it close. The Ovation is also disembarking that day, so you're looking at 6,000pax trying to get home.  8/4 is a Friday, so you have to go North to South through the city on rush hour. Figure 45 minutes to get to the airport and that's after you're able to get your ride. 
 

Now since your flight is before noon, you can't use port valet. Checking bags for me on Friday when both of those ships disembarked took me 35 minutes with Delta  Priority. 
 

If you have CLEAR and Precheck, it's been a max of 15 minutes. Precheck can be 15-45 minutes, general can be way longer on busy days. 
 

Boarding will start around 10:40. If your ship like mine last year was customs delayed and didn't start disembarkation until 9am, you're out of luck. 
 

Can it be done? Sure. Do you want to ruin your cruise with the stress of this, knowing that flights are at full capacity and you might not have options until much later in the day or the next? Up to you. 

[highway180]

Thanks for your honest replies. I believe we will roll the dice on this one, walking off with our luggage, booking shuttle with Seattle express.. We have Global entry, and also flying Delta Priority.

Being in the transportation industry myself, I am no stranger to traffic issues, as we have have them constantly here in the Boston area. No stress here. Plan B, if no other flights available, grab a hotel for a night or 2.

[Meander Ingwa]

@highway180 you can pre-book TSA clearance time, even when you re standing in line for your bag drop.  If there is a hole in the reservation line you can jump in.  It is a somewhat new feature at SEA, see their web site.

 

Delta also often has curbside bag checking on busy days.  I have buy passed the inside line and used that hidden gem

[psuboater]

13 hours ago, Meander Ingwa said:

@highway180 you can pre-book TSA clearance time, even when you re standing in line for your bag drop.  If there is a hole in the reservation line you can jump in.  It is a somewhat new feature at SEA, see their web site.

 

Delta also often has curbside bag checking on busy days.  I have buy passed the inside line and used that hidden gem

Space saver is for non-TSA precheck (General) only, you can't reserve for TSAPre. 

Edited June 14, 2023 by psuboater

[highway180]

Got it, thanks. Does anyone know of a car service that could do the transfer to the airport? Other than Seattle express?

we are 4 adults and one child. 
most likely need a van 

 

[LEMJMcC]

Our Royal Caribbean ship arrives in Seattle at 6:00 AM on Monday, July8.  As far as I can tell it is the only ship at port on that day.  Would a 11:30 AM flight out of SEA-TAC be reasonable?

 

Thanks.

[Gardyloo]

1 hour ago, LEMJMcC said:

Our Royal Caribbean ship arrives in Seattle at 6:00 AM on Monday, July8.  As far as I can tell it is the only ship at port on that day.  Would a 11:30 AM flight out of SEA-TAC be reasonable?

 

Thanks.

July 8, 2023 is a Saturday and four ships are scheduled to be in port that day.  Was that a typo?

 

In any event 11:30 ought to be doable.  

[Ferry_Watcher]

Guessing that the OP's cruise is in 2024.

[LEMJMcC]

1 hour ago, Gardyloo said:

July 8, 2023 is a Saturday and four ships are scheduled to be in port that day.  Was that a typo?

 

In any event 11:30 ought to be doable.  

Not a type-o per se, but I was going along with the OP, that is, planning for 2024.

We had to book a hotel already as things are getting a bit scarce in Seattle.  Flights cannot be booked this far ahead, but looking at April 2024, there seems to be some flights that leave SEA-TAC near noon.  I'm guessing we'd need to arrive at the airport by 10:00 AM for check-in.  We'll likely use the port valet service I've read about so that we need not deal with checked baggage as we leave the ship.  If the ship docks at 6:00 AM, I'm thinking we can disembark around 7:00 AM, and hopefully secure transportation to SEA-TAC so that we can arrive there by 10:00 AM.

 

To summarize:

0600 Ship docks in Seattle on Monday, 7/8/2024

0700 Disembark

0730 Secure transportation

0900 Arrive SEA-TAC

1000 Check-in for flight

1150 Take-off

 

Is this realistic?  Overly optimistic or pessimistic?

 

Thanks.

[Grimix]

12 minutes ago, LEMJMcC said:

We'll likely use the port valet service I've read about so that we need not deal with checked baggage as we leave the ship.

As psuboater mentioned port valet is not available for flights before noon. (Not sure what airline you're taking, but Southwest is 12-6pm (didn't know this caveat as we normally fly them, but luckily this time we're taking Alaska Air) and other airlines 12pm-1:30am)

[LEMJMcC]

8 minutes ago, Grimix said:

As psuboater mentioned port valet is not available for flights before noon. (Not sure what airline you're taking, but Southwest is 12-6pm (didn't know this caveat as we normally fly them, but luckily this time we're taking Alaska Air) and other airlines 12pm-1:30am)

Ah, I missed that.  Well, we can try to find a flight that leaves as close to, but not before noon...if not, we'll transport the baggage ourselves.

 

Thanks for pointing that out!

[Meander Ingwa]

Are you traveling as a pair?  Very likely a conventional uber lyft taxi is fine with your luggage.  Around here Friday commute traffic is called Friday Lite.  I think any flight after 11am is fine

[2red4u]

We had no problem this past Saturday catching a 10:45 flight. Actually had a few hours to kill at airport.

 

[Meander Ingwa]

Southbound Saturday and Sunday traffic to the airport is light.  It is s favorable aspect of the weekends

[loeytalldog]

10 hours ago, 2red4u said:

We had no problem this past Saturday catching a 10:45 flight. Actually had a few hours to kill at airport.

 

 

What time did you depart the ship and did you carry your luggage off yourself? We have an 11:30 a.m. flight but on a Monday in September so I know it will be slightly different but trying to figure out logistics so we make the flight. 

[2red4u]

We were in line at 6, on the gang plank 6:30, grabbed a shared ride at the airport by 7 through security by 7:30.  Carry on luggage and regular security line.

 

[SbbquilterUT]

We have made our 10:30 flight out of SEATAC multiple times - walk off at 7:30, head immediately to the Ride share line.  I realize some day that might not work but we have limited options on connecting flights.

[GreenValleyDogWalker]

Thanks to everyone for posting

Planning ahead for transportation at end of Alaska Cruise June 2024 - Celebrity Edge -  want to be able to take Alaska Flight departing SEA-TAC at 10:30 - hope to catch a Taxi at the Pier

Cruising in a Suite - so will have Michael's Club concierge escort off ship

DOABLE ?????

 

[psuboater]

30 minutes ago, GreenValleyDogWalker said:

Thanks to everyone for posting

Planning ahead for transportation at end of Alaska Cruise June 2024 - Celebrity Edge -  want to be able to take Alaska Flight departing SEA-TAC at 10:30 - hope to catch a Taxi at the Pier

Cruising in a Suite - so will have Michael's Club concierge escort off ship

DOABLE ?????

 

Is disembarkation on a weekday or weekend? Weekday you'll run into city traffic as you have to go south to the airport. Do you have priority to check your bags with your airline? Do you have TSA Pre or CLEAR (or ideally both)? 
 

Can it be done? Sure. Is it worth the stress? Probably not. SEA has had record passengers this summer and that's not expected to ease up next summer. Lines for bags or security have pushed into the garage on some days.  
 

[GreenValleyDogWalker]

Yes we have priority to check bags - and TSA Pre

Disembarkation is on Friday, June 7, 2024

 

Thanks for your reply ! 

[Hrhbob]

GVDW- interesting. We are from AZ as well and on the same cruise also in a suite.  We’re looking at the same 1030 flight as you. Also have TSA pre so I’m thinking we should be ok assuming our Retreat Host (not Michael’s) can get us off the ship quickly. I think we’ll go for it.

[GreenValleyDogWalker]

Thanks for your post - we are going to "go for it" also !!

Oh - I forgot - now called Retreat Host .......😀

 

 

[kasowell2]

We have an 11:47 return flight from Seattle on the 17th of September. We have booked a car service, plan on self disembarking and have TSA pre check. We are also using our American Express card to get CLEAR service paid for since we have already registered for this. If you aren’t familiar with this service CLEAR device scans your eyes and then a rep escorts you to the front of the TSA line even the pre check line.