12th May 18 - Full day in Seattle before departure to UK

Hi Am looking for things to do on the last day after disembarking cruise ship. Flight home to UK is not until 8 pm at night. We are flying Virgin who do not participate in the Luggage Storage / take to airport programme so will have luggage with us. We will arrive into Seattle on the 3rd May early evening and have the remainder of that day (probably just food and drink and bed), following full day and possibly half a day on the Saturday before embarking cruise ship. As we will have had a full day in Seattle and are situated in a hotel downtown (pretty close to Space Needle, Market etc will probably see or do them on that day). All the cruise line and tour operators on the final day just seem to do the Space Needle, Market etc and they are only 3 hr tours which would drop us at the airport at about 12 midday or 1 pm latest. Really don't relish spending the majority of the day in the airport. Any suggestions or any other cruisers out there travelling back to the UK on that day who we can maybe join up with and make a full day of it. Wait to hear from you all. Elaine

Would you consider a car rental? Wrong side of the road I know, and Seattle rush-hour is brutal, but if you have a relaxing brekky and take one of the later disembarkation groups you can easily miss morning traffic.

With an int'l flight at 8pm I'd want to be back at Seatac by 5pm to go through all the rigmarole, but you could still have a solid 6-7 hours of sightseeing out of town, e.g. Boeing plant, or urban-but-hard-to-get-to-without-a-car like LeMay auto museum & Museum of Glass in Tacoma (good spot to end the day as heading up to Seatac from here is against commuter flow, close, and very easily routed). If you're a fan of Northern Exposure from back in the day, or Twin Peaks, then popular filming locations for both are easily visited from Seattle (Roslyn, North Bend, Snoqualmie & the eponymous Falls).

If you get out of town this day, you can focus your pre-cruise time entirely on downtown attractions too, avoiding travel and maximising time at the sites.

May 12 is a Saturday, so rush hour/traffic will be less of a concern.

I agree on the car hire idea. National/Alamo/Enterprise (all the same company) have kiosks at the cruise terminals; they will shuttle you to their downtown office where you'll collect the car.

When you add up the alternative costs - taxi to downtown, bag storage, taxi to airport - the cost can be competitive, and the convenience much greater. I'd also mention that May can still be rainy here, so the car might also provide shelter.

Some touring ideas -

- You could take the Bainbridge Island ferry from downtown Seattle to Bainbridge Island - a very scenic ride, then visit the wonderful Bloedel Reserve - botanical gardens, native forest - really a super destination. You might also visit Poulsbo, a pretty waterfront town quite proud of its Norwegian heritage, and/or maybe the grave of Chief Seattle in the Native American village of Suquamish. Map - https://goo.gl/maps/93uBuDtaduA2

- You could go on a tour of the Boeing Everett factory, biggest building in the world and home of the big jets, followed by a meal at Ivar's, a local seafood restaurant chain, that has a branch right on the dock next to the ferry that runs from Mukilteo to Widbey Island. Mukilteo has a lovely wee lighthouse and a great driftwood-covered beach if the weather is picnic-friendly. Map - https://goo.gl/maps/q4UF6n9Bc5o

- You could visit Snoqualmie Falls, a magnificent waterfall around 40 minutes east of Seattle, which will be full of water from melting mountain snows in May. You can also visit the fun railway museum (and see numerous roadside locomotives and cars) in the town of Snoqualmie, and have a piece of cherry pie and a d@mn fine cup of coffee at Twede's Cafe in North Bend, famous (as is the Salish Lodge at the falls) from the Twin Peaks TV show. There's also an outlet mall in North Bend if you fancy any last-minute shopping. Map - https://goo.gl/maps/cXZfuSSk4Nw

Here's a picture of the falls (with the Salish Lodge overlooking) -

The rental car idea sounds practical if you are comfortable with metropolitan traffic.It would solve the luggage storage problem.

One of the highlights of our trips to Seattle is going to Pike Place, which is really close to the pier. I also like the suggestion of taking a ferry to Bainbridge Island, and I think that would work out timewise too.

If you could work out storage in the cruise terminal area, you could also consider taking Uber to get around and see more of Seattle, for example the Space Needle. If you don't get suggestions on luggage storage on this thread, contact the cruise line and see if they can make a suggestion.

The rental car idea sounds practical if you are comfortable with metropolitan traffic.It would solve the luggage storage problem.

One of the highlights of our trips to Seattle is going to Pike Place, which is really close to the pier. I also like the suggestion of taking a ferry to Bainbridge Island, and I think that would work out timewise too.

If you could work out storage in the cruise terminal area, you could also consider taking Uber to get around and see more of Seattle, for example the Space Needle. If you don't get suggestions on luggage storage on this thread, contact the cruise line and see if they can make a suggestion.

Unfortunately for us we are flying Virgin who do not participate in the luggage storage at the pier with transfer to the airport.

Am seriously looking into the car hire aspect and was thinking of the Boeing Factory for that day. With the day and a bit in town before the cruise we can easily do the local nearby attractions.

Many thanks.

elaine:)

I want to thank you all for your assistance and ideas. The Boeing Factory and the Snoqualmie Falls are both viable ideas and hubby has driven over in the US before anyway.

Seriously thinking of the car hire as all the post cruise excursions are aimed at the 3 hr tours of the city doing what we will be hotel based next to anyway and then dropping you off at the airport at about 1 to 2pm thereby leaving us with 6/7 hrs in the airport. Hell!!

Hopefully Princess participate in the self disembark programme so that we could get off early if we so desired rather than waiting for the colours to be called and then trying to find your luggage in among all the rest.

I would ask at the hotel you are staying prior if they would hold your luggage on that day if touring without it is necessary.

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