Need input on Seattle transportation

[gmhohio]

Greetings All,

 

We will be ending our cruise in Seattle on a Sunday morning. I just found out that our Cruiseline will only supply transportation to SEATAC if your flight is after 12:30 PM. Our flight is at 12:20 PM.

 

Should we 'exaggerate' our flight time by 10 minutes or would we be best walking off the ship with our luggage and catching a cab to SEATAC? If catching a cab, any idea what the fare would be?

 

Thanks for any assistance!

[Gunther1]

Unless you are really pressed for time, take the light rail from downtown (you'll still have to cab it from the cruise terminal, probably) to the airport...much cheaper :).

[gmhohio]

Thanks Gunther1,

 

Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

[HollDoll]

Our flight is at 12:10 on a Saturday with a 7 am port time. Because I cannot stand stress on that last day, and if we miss our flight we're out of luck till the next day, we're going to self-disembark and then use Already There town car service to get to the airport. If all goes well, we'll be at the airport way ahead of time, but if all doesn't go well, I figure we'll have the best shot at it this way. I'd rather relax and kill time at the airport than have a stroke sitting on a late bus!! But that's just me!!

[gmhohio]

Good Point Holl Doll,

 

I should check out our port time.

 

Thanks,

[Fattony]

Light rail with all of your luggage? Unless you have a couple of light bags, I wouldn't want to do it (and certainly would not be able to get my wife to agree). And once you get to the Sea Tac station, you need to walk across a parking lot (I don't remember seeing luggage carts to rent untilyou get to the structure itself-- and then need to take an elevator down to the starts and back up to the level where you take a walkway across to the actual terminal, then another elevator to the departurs level). If you don't need to get a card, you could just walk to the walkway across the road, then take one elevator up to the departures level. I don't think you can just walk across the road between the parking structure and the terminal, at least not safely (no crosswalks, as I recall). Why don't they offer transportation for flights before 12:20? Because they don't think you'd make it? Remember, once you check-in and go through security, you may have to, depending on your airline, need to go down a couple of escalators, take a train, then go up again, to get to your gate.

[gmhohio]

Oh my Fattony,

 

I'm exhausted reading your posting! The ship is scheduled to dock at 8:00 AM. We will just have to see what time we can get off the ship before deciding whether to take a taxi or light rail. I did some research and found that taxi fare should be between $40 and $50. Considering our cruiseline charges 25.00 per person to transport, not too bad of a difference.

 

In all seriousness we've done light rail with our luggage in San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia and from Fort Lauderdale to Miami, and have persevered escalators, walks and elevators in all these cities. We also plan to do light rail from SEATAC to our Downtown Hotel on Friday. If we decide to do light rail from the port to SEATAC, thanks to your description, we will be well prepared.

 

Thanks for the information.

 

Regards,

[Gunther1]

Unless you have tons of luggage and/or are physically challanged, it's not a big deal for the light rail option. You don't walk "across" the parking garage..there is a dedicated and covered walkway next to it...you won't be dodging cars at ANY point. If your suitcases have wheels, you'll be fine. This is, of course, assuming you get off the ship fairly easily and on time.

[gmhohio]

This is, of course, assuming you get off the ship fairly easily and on time.

 

You hit the nail right on the head Gunther1. Everything is dependent upon what time we are able to get off the ship. We will each have one piece of luggage on wheels and our carry on bags. Walkways, elevators and escalators don't scare us, we challenge the adventure.

 

Thanks for your input.

[calikak]

Since you're on NCL, which docks at Pier 66, and you're adventurous about escalators, here's what I'd do. Get off the ship and catch the #99 waterfront bus, which is free. Take it down to its terminus and walk a block to get to the International District light rail station. (Ask the bus driver to make sure this is the best stop for the light rail, but I'm pretty sure it is--also ask for walking directions from the bus driver). Take the light rail to SeaTac. Get off the light rail train, go down the elevator escalator, and grab a luggage cart if you need one (there is a SmartCart vending area at the light rail station). Walk along the dedicated walkway and into the terminal. If you don't have a ton of luggage, this is super easy. If you do have a ton of luggage, this is not fun. When it's just me going to the airport with a carry-on, I do the light rail thing. When I'm traveling with DH and DS, we have someone drop us off--it's just too much of a hassle with a 3 year and all his stuff.

 

FYI, at SeaTac you can use any security checkpoint to get to any gate--once you're behind the security screening, all parts of the airport are connected. So, I like to stroll down the terminal a bit to see which checkpoint has a short-looking line, rather than lining up at the one closest to my gate (unless that has the shortest line, of course). I last flew from SeaTac on a Friday morning in June and found the lines pleasantly fast, but I'm sure cruise season weekends are rougher.

[gmhohio]

Thanks for the detailed info Calikak.

 

Everything depends upon how soon we can get off the ship. According to the Cruise TT site we are to dock at 8:00 AM and our flight is at 12:20 PM, so how we get to SEATAC is completely dependant upon timing. The info about the free bus is good to know.

 

Thanks again,