Flying to Seattle early September for AK cruise

[martincath]

Actually, it's NOT a cheap motel ( aka "dump"), and has many great reviews on Trip Advisor.

There is a restaurant right across the parking lot that also has many very positive reviews. The included breakfast in the hotel is reported by past guests to be quite good. Those are all pluses.

 

That being said I'm still not particularly happy with the long drive in a pricy taxi to get to it after a long travel day. Not sure what I'm going to do about it, but finding something in the SeaTac area would be MY preference. I think I'm going to have to try to have a diplomatic chat with my daughter. ;)

Eh, the distance you gave made it likely that it was within the big clump of (mostly!) cheapos around there; not that they're all BAD - IIRC there's a Holiday Inn Express with 4+ on TA/Expedia ratings. But if it is that area, even a hotel with a great resto on-site means you are looking at dinner, bed, breakfast, transport to pier rather than any sightseeing, bar hopping etc. Why bother going all the way up there for that when the Sleep Inn (my preferred cheapo near Seatac) also has great reviews, a free shuttle, access to the cheap pier shuttles, a decent in-house brekky, an IHOP across the parking lot, and is within a very cheap taxi/uber of several better dining options.

 

Personally I'd play up the convenience of a Seatac hotel to DD - even with an on-time flight, you probably just want to get to your room and dinner ASAP, since your tums will still be on EST. Unless you dine super-late at home even a 6pm dinner will find you starving (or full of terrible plane food). You can always say hundreds of people on CC also told you it's easier and cheaper coming in from Seatac than from where your current hotel is and blame us if your DD gets snippy;-)

[flamomo]

Eh, the distance you gave made it likely that it was within the big clump of (mostly!) cheapos around there; not that they're all BAD - IIRC there's a Holiday Inn Express with 4+ on TA/Expedia ratings. But if it is that area, even a hotel with a great resto on-site means you are looking at dinner, bed, breakfast, transport to pier rather than any sightseeing, bar hopping etc. Why bother going all the way up there for that when the Sleep Inn (my preferred cheapo near Seatac) also has great reviews, a free shuttle, access to the cheap pier shuttles, a decent in-house brekky, an IHOP across the parking lot, and is within a very cheap taxi/uber of several better dining options.

make an

Personally I'd play up the convenience of a Seatac hotel to DD - even with an on-time flight, you probably just want to get to your room and dinner ASAP, since your tums will still be on EST. Unless you dine super-late at home even a 6pm dinner will find you starving (or full of terrible plane food). You can always say hundreds of people on CC also told you it's easier and cheaper coming in from Seatac than from where your current hotel is and blame us if your DD gets snippy;-)

 

 

Thanks for being willing to take the heat, martincath!!! ;p

The convenience aspect is what I plan to make an issue of, as well as the consistency of the responses that say stay near SeaTac. I think that gives me plenty of "ammo". :)

[Gardyloo]

My daughter booked our hotel rooms at a hotel in the northern part of Seattle, thinking that would put us closer to Pier 91 for boarding the ship the following day. According to the map on the hotel's website, it's 21 miles from the airport. I'm concerned about the length of time it will take us to get to the hotel, after a long day of travel, flying between Florida and Seattle.

Any input from those familiar with Seattle would be helpful.

Which hotel is it?

 

Pier 91 is around 16 miles from the airport, so you're looking at 5 miles or so past that. Getting to the hotel from the airport probably would take around 10 minutes longer than it would to get to a downtown hotel, but it really depends on the details. Are you doing this to save money? Because if so, staying at the airport and taking a car service, cab or shuttle the next morning would probably be cheaper overall, since you'd only be paying for the one transfer rather than two.

 

Edited to add: I'm going to guess it's the Hotel Nexus near the Northgate shopping mall.

 

If so, some comments. First, try to get a room facing north, as the south-facing rooms might well be noisy from the freeway and busy street across the parking lot from the hotel.

 

Second, the restaurant (Saffron Grill) is okay but the owner is something of a tyrant to his staff. However, across the street behind the McDonald's is one of the best Mexican food trucks in town.

 

Third, while in mileage terms it might seem closer to Pier 91, in reality it's quite inconvenient, owing to Seattle's many hills and waterways. With summer/cruise traffic, it might well take as long to get to the terminal as it would from the airport area.

Edited March 8, 2018 by Gardyloo

[flamomo]

Problem resolved! The rooms at the Nexus were cancelled and we now have rooms booked at the La Quinta SeaTac.

 

Gardyloo - you guessed correctly!!

It wasn't about saving $$, though I try to be a fairly frugal traveler. In fact, the La Quinta is actually a few $$s less per person than the Nexus, using my AARP discount. And I feel our transportation expenses should be less too, without 2 taxi rides.

Not sure what convinced her to choose that one, but it wasn't until after she had reserved the rooms that I REALLY looked at it and realized where it was located. It just seemed so impractical to travel all the way thru the city and continue several miles farther, though she said "but it's only 7 miles to the pier!!" I think she was trying to be helpful by taking that task off my hands, as I have another cruise (that involves making arrangements for Europe), that I am working on too.

 

Thanks for everyone's input. It really did help.