How much time needed to get to airport in Seattle from cruise port?

[donnas902]

I am looking into booking my own air, how much time would I need to disembark and get to airport? Sailing on the NCL Bliss in September.

[CruiserBruce]

Discussed on the West Coast Departures board (Seattle is not in Alaska) almost daily. 11:30 is the earliest recommended flight. Travel time to the airport is a solid 30 minutes, but Seattle isn't the fastest airport for security, check in and getting to your gate.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/315-west-coast-departures/

[don't-use-real-name]

NCL uses Pier 66 - the other guys Pier 91

 

Google Maps

 

Map for reference - Zooom in for more detail

SEA-TAC airport bottom of image -

Pier 66 just off the Big "S" in Seattle

 

Whether you do a walk-off or pick up your checked luggage - the time to the SEA-TAC

airport is as noted about a (solid) 30 minutes with traffic cooperating.

 

The check-in at your airline may vary with class of service and any affinity loyalty

programs - and off you go to the mayhem of everyone going through a common

TSA check point - although having the TSA Pre-Ck or GE and perhaps First/Business

Class status may speed you through. Once passed that gauntlet you may have to

take an underground shuttle to a remote satellite for your departure gate.

 

All this considered the recommended departure time of 11:30 is valid - it can be

tweaked if you want to push your anxiety comfort level - - -

Flying eastbound it is a 5-6 hour flight crossing 3 time zones -

Leave 11:30am PST arrive 7-8pm EST

Using NON-STOP flights (and prevailing tail-winds)

All this YMMV

 

 

 

[KeepCalmBearOn]

I plan on it taking an hour and I'm thrilled when it only takes 35 minutes. Seattle can have very bad traffic during the week.

[beachys]

I agree with the Seattle traffic,  but also at that time of day getting in to the airport can be awful.  

[trivia addict]

All of the suggestions here are good. We are frequent flyers in and out of Seatac.

Definitely agree with the warnings about heavy traffic certain times of the day.
I like the suggestion to “plan on an hour and be thrilled when it is only 35 minutes”!

That is very true.

Also agree that depending on your TSA security level, ( Precheck, Global, etc,), and the gate you are assigned, it can make a big difference, on the length of time that you will need to get to your flight.

An 11:30 flight at the minimum is good advice.

[Anyislandwilldo]

Agreed stick with 11:30 or later.  We did get stuck in traffic and made it to the airport within 45 minutes of our flight.  Thankfully we has TSA precheck so we were able to zip through security.  I hate being rushed so that was to close for comfort in my book.  We used Seattle Express and were happy with the service.  They can't control traffic.  

[psuboater]

If you do not have TSA Precheck or CLEAR, SEA's Spot Saver can be a lifesaver during the busiest times of the year. It's a free service that allows you to reserve a spot of time for you to go through security:

 

https://www.portseattle.org/SEAspotsaver

 

 

[jeromep]

I-5 doesn't always cooperate and traffic is usually a headache.  From Pier 91 or 66, you have to snake your way on surface streets through Seattle to get to I-5, then you have to deal with whatever traffic is backed up on the bottle neck that is I-5 through Seattle.  A really good rideshare, shuttle, or taxi driver will avoid I-5 from both cruise ports and will head down hwy 99, which basically dumps right into SeaTac.  Speed limits are slower on the 99,  it has traffic lights and intersections, but traffic can be significantly less.

 

However, I'd budget for at least an hour of transit from the ship to the airport, and then determine your acceptable flight times from that.  I'm not including the time to go through customs and retrieve your luggage.  So you'll want to add some estimate of that to the curb-to-curb travel time.

 

Taxi or Uber/Lyft from the port to the airport is your best bet.  Shuttle services suffer from the hurry up and wait nature of gathering an unrelated group of people together for transit to a single destination.  Every shuttle I've ever used, there is one party that doesn't have their stuff all together and they hold up the shuttle while they figure out whatever it is that is bothering them.

[cruisewiththekids]

Is traffic more manageable early Saturday morning than on a weekday?    We travel with only carryon and have TSA precheck and are currently weighing our flight options from Pier 91. 

[CruiserBruce]

47 minutes ago, cruisewiththekids said:

Is traffic more manageable early Saturday morning than on a weekday?    We travel with only carryon and have TSA precheck and are currently weighing our flight options from Pier 91. 

I would stick to the frequent recommendation no flights before 11...some say none before 11:30.

[Ferry_Watcher]

While there may be fewer business travelers on a Saturday morning, we do have 3 ships disembarking every weekend morning (except very early, or very late in the season).  Two ships at Pier 91 (HAL & Princess), and at Pier 66, NCL.  Same is true foe Sundays.