jeromep

No you don't have to carry your phone around. However it is a nice tool... when the app is working properly, or when the wait staff isn't overwhelmed with bringing "mobile orders" to people, wherever they may be on ship. Quite a bit of your onboard "management" will occur through the app, but you don't need to carry your phone with you. Sounds like you have opted for Princess Plus? If so, just connect your phone to the WiFi at the beginning of the cruise and you can access the app when you get back to your cabin to do reservations, etc. You may be able to now through the Medallion app right now. But to be honest, I don't find it all that advantageous. I tend to book my dining reservations on board. If you are in a full suite (not a mini-suite, mini-suites are poorly named, they are more of an extended deluxe balcony cabin), you have a complimentary specialty restaurant dinner available to you only on embarkation evening. Just reserve that once you get on board. Specialty restaurants are generally not busy on embarkation evening, so getting a table shouldn't be an issue. If you are in a full suite you are also Club Class or Reserve Collection, which means you have a separate dining room entry and seating in the MDR. Also, as a full suite guest you'll want to look up the suite passenger breakfast. Often it is in Sabatini's, but could be located elsewhere. Documentation in your cabin when you embark will invite you to all of the suite dining options and provide clarity. Maybe. I think there is a link to desktop web site version of the Medallion system when you are logged into Princess.com and in your Cruise Personalizer. I'd still do all my reserving when I get on board, either through the app or by calling the DineLine from your cabin phone. It really is price based. If you ask for a beverage that isn't made from the well, you will have higher prices for that beverage, however so long as it is $15 or less, the beverage is included in the package regardless of the brand of liquor used. I'd say that most beverages, except for the most extravagant or the most expensive top shelf liquor will be under that $15 level. I don't have a drink menu to reference, but one may be stored someplace on this site in an old thread.

I'm not sure why folks print out boarding passes at home anymore. If you are checking luggage when you get to the airport you can get paper boarding passes from the kiosk. And if not checking luggage, you can still get the boarding pass from the kiosk. I use the airline app (Alaska, Delta) to hold my boarding passes, and put them in the wallet on my phone for quick reference. I can't remember the last time I used a paper boarding pass when flying.

Mini suites are inappropriately named. It's too bad that as Princess rebrands the Club Class mini suites to Reserve Collection mini suites that they don't get rid of the mini suite designation. The appropriate way to think of Princess mini suites is more like a deluxe balcony cabin. The mini suite cabins are quite a bit longer than a regular balcony cabin, long enough that you have a nicely sized sitting area with a couch and coffee table. There are also 2 TVs in the room, one in the sitting area facing the couch and another in the bedroom facing the bed. The bathroom in mini suites is also larger with a tub/shower combo instead of just a standing shower. Most of Dolphin deck on the Caribbean Princess is mini suites. All of these have fully uncovered balconies. You either love or hate the fully uncovered balcony. If you want a mini suite that has a covered balcony, there are a limited number of them on Emerald deck aft. They are very desirable because their balconies are fully covered by the mini suite balconies above them on Dolphin deck. The compromise here is that those Emerald deck mini suites with the fully enclosed balconies are right above Club Fusion, so there is a chance for late night noise from the night club creeping into your cabin. Aside from the larger cabin and better bathroom, the mini suites don't come with any extra perks. If you opt for a Reserve Collection (Club Class) mini suite then you have access to Reserve Collection (Club Class) dining in the MDR for all meals served there and I think you get two half bottles of wine in your cabin at embarkation. The Club Class dining area is just a section of one of the dining rooms that is specifically reserved for people sailing in CC cabins and full suites. You get much faster seating, usually with no wait, and there is an additional menu item or two offered in CC dining which isn't available in the rest of the MDR. Also a few dishes which have table side preparation. I like Club Class dining, it is just a notch above MDR, but the biggest benefit is that you are unlikely to wait to be seated. Full suites are much larger, generally two cabins in width or larger, with an equally wide balcony and a very large and well appointed bathroom, and a whole bunch of additional suite perks. The additional suite features are too extensive to list here, but you get a mini-bar setup in your cabin, MDR menus and food are available for room service delivery to suites while the dining room is open, priority embarkation and disembarkation, separate disembarkation lounge with snacks and beverages, priority boarding on tenders and water shuttles, a complimentary specialty restaurant dinner on embarkation, no charge access to the thermal suites or Enclave at the spa. And on and on. It is kind of difficulty to fully quantify if either Princess Plus or Premier is a good value for you. That is an evaluation you'll have to do for yourself. But I think Plus is a pretty good value considering that it includes your crew gratuities, Internet access for one device (per passenger with Plus), no-charge beverages for anything that is $15 or less, no charge for deserts which have a price tag (not sure which deserts have this, but I know that gelato is included in this category) and a number of other additional services at no cost. If you have more specific questions, I'd be happy to answer those if you post them.

Arthritis runs in my family. My grandmother had osteoarthritis so bad that her ankle joints were basically fused together. My mom now has some knee and joint pain, which is also osteoarthritis. I can't say anything about joint replacement as nobody in my family has ever chosen that option, however when it comes to cruising, that is activity, and the most important thing is to stay active. There is no need to feel like you have to go into every port, or you have to do the most active tours or excursions in every port. The best thing you can do is assess your therapy and treatment options, but to keep moving.

Most things in my life I do quality over quantity. For as much as I have spent on balcony or better cabins, I could have probably cruised three times as many times in interior cabins, but would I have enjoyed a cruise where the only purpose of my cabin was the necessary four S-es of life? No. There is always a reason to have at least a balcony, but especially in Alaska. The Royal class ships have less available and accessible outside railing space than the older Grand class ships, as mentioned by others here, it's a lot harder to find nice railing space to do glacier viewing or any other kind of viewing on the Royals than on the older ships. There is one exception and that would be to book your interior cabin, and high tail it to the Sanctuary on embarkation day and book a week pass there. That way you have reserved space to go to during Glacier Bay day for viewing.

A couple of tips about dining on Princess. MDR dinner on embarkation night is often very crowded. You may want to consider paying the cover charge for one of the specialty restaurants. You are likely to get seated when you wish and the food will be excellent. As the cruise progresses MDR dining gets a bit more organized, but it is important to note that you can make reservations through the app, for both the MDR and for specialty restaurants and avoid some of the confusion. Also dining early there will be a wait. If you dine later, say after 6:30, there are usually few lines in the MDR. Now that there is no more traditional scheduled dining on board and Princess has moved to "Dine My Way" through the app, you may want to keep your eyes on the "hidden" dining room at the aft of the ship. The aft dining room was always used as the traditional scheduled seating dining room. Now that capacity ends up in the pool of dining room capacity, so if you are looking just to walk in and get seated for dinner, don't rely on the two dining rooms off the Piazza. Take the aft elevators down to the lowest level and look in on that dining room. Because it is out of the way, you may have a better chance of getting seated and avoiding a line. Food quality and presentation is highly subjective. You can scan the board here and find excellent reviews, poor ones, and plenty in between. There is so much personal subjectivity in rating food on board that it is hard to say if a particular ship will be good, bad, or otherwise. Generally speaking, I've never had a bad meal on Princess. Ones that I wouldn't write home about? Sure. But nothing that has just been terrible. And if you don't like something that shows up at the table, let your server know and ask for something different. Cruises are too short to eat food that doesn't appeal to you. Also, avoid the buffet on embarkation day at lunch or mid-day. Everybody is there. If you can get on board around noon, you can find a MDR that is open for lunch, and it is a nice relaxed way to begin your cruise. If you get on board after the MDR has closed for lunch, then check out the International Cafe for soups and sandwiches. I just don't like milling around with a bunch of people on embarkation day, at least any more than necessary, so I avoid the buffet. It will be busy.

There is no such thing as free in the Seattle area these days, and hotel shuttles generally only take you to and from the airport and the hotel. Some of the airport hotels offer a shuttle to the nearby Southcenter shopping mall. You may be able to get shuttled from the airport to the hotel, for free, by the hotel shuttle, but as @Ferry_Watcher said, you'll need to arrange your ground transportation from your lodging to the port on your own. I agree with their suggestion of looking into a shuttle from Seattle Express ahead of your travels or booking two UberXLs to take your group from the hotel to the pier. Also be aware that not all hotels run their shuttles from/to the airport 24 hours. You'll want to check with the airport hotels to see if they will run their shuttle out to you at the time you arrive. I also agree with @Northern Aurora the Ceaderbrook Lodge is an excellent property very near SeaTac, but nicely secluded with beautiful rooms and grounds. You'll be arriving late and won't see much, but when you get up in the morning, you'll probably be in awe of how beautiful a place you landed in, especially if you stay at the Ceaderbrook. There are a whole bunch of chain/franchise properties just outside the airport along Hwy 99/International Blvd. The Hilton at the airport is nice, I've stayed there. I've also stayed at the Double Tree. It is a massive property with a high rise tower and a number of low rise courtyard buildings attached. A number of airlines use the Double Tree as a crew lodging property. The Hilton Garden Inn is right next door, also will do the job of an overnight stay. Best late night food in the area is 13 Coins. It is located just outside of the airport and it used to operate 24 hours. That may have changed. But the food is good and the menu is varied. The atmosphere is very quiet and relaxing, which you'll welcome after a day of flying. Have you looked up your cruise in the Roll Calls area of the site. I highly recommend that. It's a nice way to find other people on your cruise and maybe bounce your questions off from them and get a more personalized response.

Yes, Princess is for you. I'm solidly in my mid-40s and my wife is in her early 40s. We have a 7yo daughter. We have done a number of Princess cruises, and every one has fit us. We started cruising with Princess when we were in our 30s. The onboard vibe really doesn't change all that much from cruise to cruise, whether it is Alaska or Caribbean. The predominant age of the cruisers does tend to vary with itinerary and time of year and this can impact how active the ship is at night or at different times of day. A Caribbean or Mexican Riviera cruise may be very active in the evening, but Alaska will often be pretty quiet. That just means more space for you to enjoy late shows, especially in the lounges and clubs. My wife and I are very casual. Most of my working years I've had to wear a shirt and tie to the office, so I avoid that whenever possible outside of working hours. That has changed recently in my office to be a bit more casual. I guess we now call it business casual, so a lot of polo shirts with our company brand on them and dress pants, so business on the bottom and trade show conference sheik on top. I'd hope that anyone that works corporate knows the feeling. I don't take formal nights seriously anymore. I do try to behave, so I have a shirt and tie and slacks and play nice with it all. My wife does a very nice job of dressing up, and because I have most of the business wear that works for formal nights, it isn't a huge pain. You are not going to be relegated to the buffet for 3 meals a day. I find that you can dress pretty casually for MDR breakfast and lunch with no issues. At dinner you'll be fine with a polo and jeans, aside from the formal nights, and you will not be out of place. Princess has upped their suite game a bit on the Royal class ships. The Concierge Lounge is a nice suite guest only location where you can pop in for a snack and a complimentary beverage. They will also take care of any dining reservations, help you book shore excursions, and kind of behave like a private passenger services desk. It's a nice touch. If you are looking for a particular snack or food item, you want just ask, it will start showing up every day. There are quite a few suite perks, including access to the Enclave on Royal class ships and the thermal suites on the older Grand and Island class ships. A complimentary specialty restaurant dinner on embarkation night is included with suite bookings. There is a mini-bar setup in a suite, too. And don't forget Club Class, or Reserve Collection dining (they are doing a bit of a rebranding on this feature right now). If you book a suite you will have access to the Club Class section of the MDR, so no wait times to get seated, some extra items on the menu, it's nice. If you are booked in a suite there is a separate dining room that is open in the morning for breakfast. It is a very laid back vibe for breakfast and you can order from the menu or you can put together a breakfast of your own design, a la carte. The list of other suite perks is extensive enough that I won't go through all of it here. If you are looking to book for the Alaska 2023 season, time is tight and cabin selection might be poor. If you are looking to book for 2024, now is a great time.

Because none of the airport "screening" activities are actually all that meaningful. It is all security theater. Any automated system can background check entire booked airline passenger manifests against watch lists inside minutes. Find a possible hit in a passenger list, segregate them at the time of ID verification in the security line and do normal run-of-the mill metal detection and x-ray of baggage for everyone else.

I agree with others, 10:30 would be way too tight for me. The ship will probably be in port and ready for disembarkation by 7am, but you'd want to do luggage in hand walk off disembarkation and want to be in some of the first groups to walk off the ship. Do consider using the Spot Saver service at SEA. https://www.portseattle.org/SEAspotsaver No need for TSA PreCheck. I refuse to pay the government for the right to avoid their incompetence. Nobody has been able to successfully explain to me why Seattle has such slow security lanes, but that seems to be the case in the last 2 years or so. Last time I flew out of Seattle was probably 2018 and it wasn't terrible, so I'm not sure what has changed.

Yes. The only reason the MDR wouldn't be open on embarkation day would be if there were a staffing problem that kept the MDR from operating. I've never experienced it, but I've heard it has occurred in the past. No need to check the Patter for time and location. The MDR open for embarkation lunch will be located off the Piazza. Just head there after embarkation and it will either be the dining room on the Piazza level or the next level up. Lunch is generally Noon to 1:30. Alfredo's is a great second choice, and if that falls through I grab food from the International Cafe or head up to Lido and get a burger or some pizza. But I avoid the buffet on embarkation day at all costs.

I strongly recommend Uber/Lyft for ground transportation in Seattle, especially for point-to-point needs, such as what you are suggesting, like renting a car before and after your cruise; getting from the port to a rental car agency and vice versa. I'm certain that there are rental car agencies that have offices in Seattle proper, you'll want to research that, but if your goal is to fly in early and rent a car at the airport, you'll take the rental car shuttle from the airport to the "off site" rental car facility to get your car. You'll have to return it back to the airport, so a 35-45 minute drive from Seattle back to the airport and then Uber/Lyft from the airport or rental car center back to the port, so another 35-45 minutes. So, budget your time accordingly. Pier 91 is at the way north end of Elliot Bay. It is very industrial out there and few commercial services, and definitely no rental car agencies. There are rental car agencies in Seattle proper, most in the central business district. It might make more sense to choose one of those offices instead of the the airport, and use Uber/Lyft to go from the airport to a rental agency in Seattle proper, and then have the shorter return distance along with the shorter Uber/Lyft ride to the port on embarkation day. Do all of this in reverse when your cruise is over with. Google maps is your friend and I strongly recommend using it now to get a visual representation of the distances things are from the airport and downtown Seattle and the pier so you get a good idea of how much time getting around is going to take out of your schedule.

It think it is important to point out that Alaska, especially SE Alaska, during the peak of the summer, so basically July, is temperate. It is not uncommon for a port city in Alaska on a summer day to get daytime highs in the high 70s or low 80s. So, using the pool is very possible. Last Alaska cruise we were on, when ported in Juneau we came back to the ship for lunch and there were families on board using the outdoor pools. That morning it had been cool and misty, very typical for Juneau as it is almost perpetually fogged in, but by mid-day the sun was out and everyone was in shirtsleeves. We had to drop of in our cabin all of the jackets and sweaters we were wearing that morning because we didn't need them any longer and they were just extra baggage that we were carrying around. We had the same experience in Skegway and Ketchikan on that cruise. Cool mornings, but incredibly comfortable days. We had a very sunny day in Glacier Bay. When our side of the ship was facing the glacier it was super cold. The moment the ship turned and the other side of the ship could view the glacier we were in the sun and it was probably 75 degrees out. This is where the advice to dress in layers comes in when visiting Alaska. While you won't have the tropical warmth of the Caribbean and need the pool to cool off in, you'll certainly find the pool usable most days, weather permitting.

Similar to campsites, a lot of the booking systems will detail the amount of sun or coverage of a campsite, how level the campsite is, very importantly, how long the parking pad is, services available (water, sewer, power), etc. Most sites have at least one photo of the campsite, usually a poor photo, but something. I suspect that a Princess Sanctuary pre-booking system could also provide conditional details about how the lounger sits and a wide enough photo to get an idea of where it is located and who the neighbors are. But again, I think we know that this kind of system isn't going to happen as there is little or no revenue in it for Princess.

I think this is a legitimate thought, why can't they offer pre-bookings. I suspect they probably can, but choose not to because of the lounger selection you get when you go to the Sanctuary and pay for your time there on the cruise. But I wouldn't mind providing some perspective from the camping and campground booking world. We started RV camping over 2 years ago. And the first thing we noticed was limited availability of campsites to book during the camping season. Everyone has moved to pre-booking campsites. The idea that you are just going to hop in your motorhome or hitch up your trailer and drive someplace and park for the night or longer is no longer reality. Every government agency, local, state, Fed, has moved to reservations for campsites. And they are all trying to figure out if they only allow pre-booking with no first-come arrivals, or if they stage out the pre-booking months in advance, or do they do pre-booking in waves, where some sites are available early in the booking season (typically 6 months out), and more sites are opened up with shorter lead times, so held until booking 3 months out or something similar. Do they choose to hold some sites as unreservable and are first-come where you have to get to the campground and find the open first-come site, occupy them and pay for them to secure them. The problem with all of this is trying to find a balance between availability and occupancy. With regard to Fed sites which are all booked through recreation.gov, we are finding that booking in advance is great, and planning 6 months in advance isn't a huge issue, however there are a lot of empty reserved sites in the federal campgrounds we have stayed in. Were they not booked? No. They were booked, but the camper just chose to not show up. If you are booking Forest Service campsites and your nightly fee is $20-25, and you booked it months in advance, if your camping plans fall through, why bother canceling. You aren't going to get your full booking cost back, you are penalized for canceling close to your travel dates, sometimes as much as 50-75% of your booking fee. So it becomes a why bother situation. On top of that, there is no incentive for the campground to get those sites open and rebooked because they have been paid for and the cash is in the pocket of the campground operator. Princess would have to map out all the loungers in a ship's Sanctuary first and put them on a deck map (a lot like campgrounds provide details about campsites and you can pick the specific one you want off a map). After they have done that they have to determine how many loungers to reserve for on-board purchases and how many they will offer for pre-booking. They would then need to identify each longer as a pre-book lounger or an on-board purchase lounger. Then they would list the pre-book loungers on the cruise personalizer for somebody's cruise and you could then select the lounger(s) you wanted and reserve them online. In this scenario the folks that want to pre-book can, until that inventory is exhausted, and there would still be loungers available for sale on board. Is it worth the effort for Princess to develop this level of sophistication and functionality? Probably not as it doesn't offer any extra revenue, unless you charge more for the pre-book loungers over the on-board booking loungers.

They don't. As others have said, it is a fairly long drive from the airport to downtown Seattle. My usual experience with that ride is 35-45 minutes, but that usually occurs for me in the middle of the day when traffic is at its highest. I'd avoid group shuttles entirely. I don't use group shuttles to get from the airport to hotels when I'm on business trips anymore because I got tired of the long travel time, all the stops and unloads, dealing with other travelers that are not organized and ready to go, dealing with shuttle drivers that are not organized and ready to go and who don't pay attention to where they are supposed to be going and make the trip longer by hitting hotels nobody is staying at, or not taking you to the right hotel to begin with. If you can name a foible of taking a group shuttle from an airport or hotel, I've experienced it. I've moved all my ground transport activities when traveling to Uber/Lyft or public transit. Occasionally I'll get a taxi, but that is my last choice. The ride share services in Seattle are very reliable. The cars are much cleaner than taxis and in the Uber app you can specify a larger vehicle or a luxury vehicle (car service or SUV service), which associated increase in cost, to handle more baggage or a larger travel group. Travel cost from SeaTac to downtown Seattle will run you somewhere between $45 and $75 depending on time of day and vehicle type you book. Other threads here have good reviews of the Mediterranean Inn, located in the lower Queen Ann neighborhood. It is a pretty good location for getting out and seeing Seattle. It is clean and fairly modern. But just about any 3 star or better hotel in Seattle proper will be good. My wife usually gets a room at the Mediterranean when she is visiting her home office because it is within walking distance of the office. She especially enjoys the rooftop deck of the Mediterranean. It has very good views of a great deal of downtown and the port. On embarkation day, just get yourself another Uber or Lyft to the port. There are two piers that service cruise ships. Smith Cove Pier 91, which is way up north on Elliot Bay and is only accessible by vehicle. It is a fairly short drive from downtown, but you are not walking there. The other is the Bell St. pier 66. You could, in theory, walk to the pier from a lot of downtown locations, but not all that realistic with luggage in tow. Uber/Lyft will run you about $20 from a downtown hotel to either of the piers. The Mediterranean Inn is about equidistant to either Pier 66 or Pier 91. Different cruise lines use different piers. Princess, HAL, Carnival, RCI and Celebrity use 91. NCL, uses 66. 66 is also used when a ship is visiting Seattle as a port of call. Every time I've been in Seattle and down near the docks during cruise season it is NCL that is tied up at Pier 66. If you are departing on a cruise from Pier 66, you could stay at the Edgewater. It is a higher end property, but the rooms facing the bay are nice. And you can walk to the pier because the Edgewater is right next door. You can also stay at the Edgewater for a cruise departing out of Pier 91, the ride up there is not any longer than a ride from downtown. I hope this helps with your decision.

I like Homewood Suites most places I travel. But I like them as a business traveler, where I'm attending a conference or training of some sort and don't want to have to figure out breakfast and dinner every night. Most of the evening dinners at Homewood, and the breakfasts, are sufficiently decent to avoid having to go out in an unfamiliar city looking for a meal, frequently alone, and then driving back to the hotel in darkness, again in an unfamiliar place. If I'm staying someplace long enough I might even have them do some grocery shopping for me, for some snacks and beverages, so I can have those in my kitchen, so I've got something to snack on at night while relaxing. However, if I'm on vacation, I don't typically select Homewoods, usually because they aren't actually that great as tourist lodging. Sure, they are clean and presentable and even though most are franchises, they are all just similar enough that they are mostly consistent, but amenities on the weekends are reduced, no dinner, and sometimes the weekend breakfasts are not nearly as good as the weekday breakfasts, different menu, different offerings. Anyway, my wife has to visit her home office in Seattle a couple of times a year and the Mediterranean is walking distance to her office and they consider it affordable enough to put her up for a few days to a week. Rooms are more traditional, no kitchen like a Homewood, but the rooms are clean and the location is very walkable to other things of interest in the area, although for her she is only walking to the office. The roof deck is on of the things she likes best about the place. Most of the time the Mediterranean is a competitive price compared to other downtown hotels, and its location can't really be beat.

I purchased my copy of Joe Upton's Alaska Cruise Handbook on an Alaska cruise in 2011, so what I have is probably a bit out of date, but I suspect that most of it is still valid. It is a beautiful book and well written, even if it can get a bit dated on some topics.

I agree, choose based upon itinerary. The Emerald is an older vessel, but not ancient by any means. There is a charm to the lower pax count Princess ships. They are more classic in design, the wrap around promenade decks is a huge plus, and the internal layout is such that there are rarely any crowds to navigate through, except maybe for evening shows. The older ships are a bit more "outside" focused, so the very walkable wrap around promenade deck, the "closeness' to the water afforded at that deck, plus a very nicely designed top deck. The Enchanted is much more modern and is an "inside" looking vessel, which seems to be the trend in new ship designs these days. Spectacular large and open central areas, and a fairly impressive top deck, but no promenade and not that many outside venues lower down on the ship. There is some outside seating located at dining venues around the Piazza, but no wrap around promenade. I'd take the longer sailing. I've had my eyes on that 14-day cruise for a number of years now, but can't pencil out how to get all that time off from work and schedule it when school isn't in session. It will probably be a few years until we can actually try to do that cruise.

I would hope not as your questions seem to be more about Princess than the ports.

I agree, if your cruise departs out of Vancover you should fly into Vancouver. I'm hearing a lot about pricing of flights into Vancouver being very expensive, but any bus or train from SeaTac over the border and into Canada will be many hours. And under no circumstances should you travel to the port city on embarkation day. That is just too risky right now, especially the state that the airlines are in and most other public transit methods.

Amtrak Cascades is quite reliable. It is a joint venture between Amtrak and WSDOT (Washington State Department of Transportation). I think the deal is that WSDOT owns the rolling stock, and possibly the locomotives and Amtrak operates them. My wife has traveled to and from Vancouver on the Cascades at least twice now and it has been a very good experience. Crossing the border and going through "customs" is always smooth on the train, I think there is a preclearance process in the train station in Vancouver which streamlines entering the U.S. The only thing which might cause a problem to the time table would be some track obstruction, which does happen every now and then. But aside from that, the service is reliable. Closer to your cruise you may want to download the WSDOT app to your phone. They have a section regarding Cascades schedules and train status which may be useful. I keep the app on my phone all the time for mountain pass updates, traffic and road condition cameras. It is actually a very pretty train ride, so take in the sights.

Last time we cruised out of Vancouver the exchange rate was favorable to the U.S.$ by about 27%. I exchanged $100 at the hotel for their standard exchange to have a bit of CA$ for small purchases and some cash tips. When we returned we retrieved our car from the hotel (park and fly/cruise package) and exchanged my CA$ back to US at the same hotel front desk at the same rate. One thing to be aware of, if you are getting cabs to and from wherever, make sure they take plastic. When the cabbie shows up, let them know you are paying by card. If they say no, let them go and find another cab. Don't get in a cab unless they know they are being paid by card and acknowledge it. I will tip by a cabbie by card, as part of the fare, whenever possible, too.

I would lean toward Uber/Lyft for getting from the airport to anyplace in downtown, and also from your hotel to the pier. You'll spend, on average, somewhere between $55 and $85 from SeaTac to the Pan Pacific and the drive will be about 35-45 minutes depending on traffic. I like Uber and Lyft because I can see where my driver is, can follow the trip on my phone, and I can request the type and size of vehicle that is best for my needs at that time. Signage in SeaTac for getting to the taxi/car service/shuttle service level of the parking garage from the baggage carousel is pretty good. I can't remember the exact spot on that level where the car services are supposed to stop, but again, signage once you are out there on that level will guide you to where you are supposed to be. SeaTac isn't a bad airport. It is quite large, it is fairly well laid out, and because it isn't a hub for anyone except Alaska Airlines, (it is a "focus airport" for many other airlines, like Delta and American), its busy, but not on the same level as say ATL. In spite of the constant remodeling that seems to be going on, baggage claim, arrivals and departures, and the parking garage, feel totally out of the 70s or early 80s. Super dated, they have that "Airplane" movie vibe. On the other hand the concourses have quite a bit of shopping and lots of food options. On your outbound flight after your cruise, be sure to stop by Beecher's Cheese in the C concourse for their mac and cheese or a grilled cheese sandwich. It is to die for.

There is not a dedicated Concierge Lounge as on the Royal class ships. However, you should receive an invite to the nightly Captain's reception, for Suite and Elite passengers, and that usually occurs in Skywalkers.