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Curious to know how many mid to large sized Cruise Ships can dock at Piers 91 and 92?


HvySeezFcstr
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Surely, I don't know for certain. But from my observations having sailed from Pier 91 twice, only two ships could be berthed at the same time.

 

If another cruise terminal/pier was to be built, where might it be located. Not much room in downtown Seattle, I don't think, for another such facility.

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Don't forget that there is also Pier 66 which can handle at least one large ship and NCL is partly paying for some upgrades to that Pier - whether that includes being able to berth an additional ship or more for the much larger Bliss due to enter service next summer I not not totally certain.

 

Cheers!

 

Dennis

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The biggest limiting factor at 66 is space for the semis supplying the ships. It’s been a constant problem since it opened.

 

I wouldn’t be so sure that 91 is at capacity. Especially on days when it’s a smaller HAL ship on the west berth, it might be practical to berth a third or even fourth ship stern to stern. Take a look at this picture:

 

Walk path from Pier91 to Whole Foods (and a liquor store, to my memory)

 

That’s Golden Princess and a larger HAL ship. A little dredging and installation of a mooring point in Elliott Bay, et voila. Canada Place routinely handles three ships and the total passenger service space is order of magnitude similar.

 

At some point, the price of hotel rooms in the summer and an airport that is at capacity during peak hours starts to come into play more than the ship handling capacity. Seattle hotel occupancy rates in the summer rival Manhattan and even with 10k rooms coming online over the next five years, it’s going to continue to be expensive.

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During the busy summer weeks this year 11 sailings took place from T66 and T91 combined, out of 21 available slots, barely 50% of capacity.

Yes, but mid-week departures are not desirable for many customers, so there's a business limit to how well they can utilize those slots. It makes more sense for non-7-day itineraries, as there's an automatic randomization of departure dates, but for the 7-day trips, weekends are notably more attractive to passengers and therefore to the cruise lines.

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Add in the fact that there is no second terminal building at Pier 91 to handle passengers for the ships that could use the other spaces north of where the present cruise ships dock. Of course they might be able to tear down and replace the building just north of the bus lot utilized by present terminal building. But would there be space for another bus lot for that terminal? Yes, probably by taking space out of where the resupply trucks park while waiting to go onto the pier and unload supplies onto the present ships. But then would there be space to move those waiting trucks plus you'd probably have double the number of trucks since you'd have double the number of ships there on Sat/Sun (and maybe other days). Might be able to place one ship over on Pier 90 but not sure. Doubt if it would be possible or practical to put two ships on 90 based on space and safety. All in call, could it be done? Possibly, but it would be a heck of a project, I'd think!

 

Tom

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