NCL Encore SEA Disembarkation and 950am Flight

[ncrick75]

Has anyone been on the encore recently getting off in Seattle to know if I can make a 950 AM flight  if I have priority disembarkation privileges and if course get up early to do easy walk off?

 

 

Edited July 29 by ncrick75
Typo

[Wayward Son]

That would be a hard "no" for any cruiser with any experience flying from SEA. Could you make it? Sure. Will you? Who knows. Do you want to risk it? Totally up to you.

 

[zqvol]

That would be a real stretch. I suggest reading some of the threads on the West Coast Departures board. 

Edited July 29 by zqvol

[ryarger]

Anything is possible but that is extremely tight. If you’re off the ship at 8am sharp, walk through the terminal, grab a taxi, load your luggage and hit the road in exactly 15 minutes, you’re getting dropped off at SeaTac around 8:45 if there are no traffic issues.

 

That gives you about 45 minutes to check your luggage, get through security and get to your gate before the doors close.

 

That’s absolute best case scenario. There’s not a lot of room there for the unexpected.

[fastpitchdad]

The short answer is yes, usually you should be able to make that flight. You would need to do self walk off with your bags and TSA Pre and/or CLEAR would help and quickly get a cab/uber, but assuming there are no delays you will usually make that flight. There will probably be a bunch of replies saying that it is impossible but that isn't true, I have flown millions of miles from SEA and for morning flights would leave from Sammamish (farther from SEA than pier 66) 2 hours before departure and never once missed a flight. Just know that if anything gets delayed you might miss the flight (but there are always more flights). 

Edited July 29 by fastpitchdad

[ncrick75]

3 minutes ago, fastpitchdad said:

The short answer is yes, usually you should be able to make that flight. You would need to do self walk off with your bags and TSA Pre and/or CLEAR would help and quickly get a cab/uber, but assuming there are no delays you will usually make that flight. There will probably be a bunch of replies saying that it is impossible but that isn't true, I have flown millions of miles from SEA and for morning flights would leave from Sammamish (farther from SEA than pier 66) 2 hours before departure and never once missed a flight. Just know that if anything gets delayed you might miss the flight (but there are always more flights). 

I have both TSA precheck and Clear, thank you for the hope! What time should I get downstairs to get to be in the front of the line for easy walk off, I hear people go down as early as 6am. To stands in line

 

[fastpitchdad]

Just now, ncrick75 said:

I have both TSA precheck and Clear, thank you for the hope! What time should I get downstairs to get to be in the front of the line for easy walk off, I hear people go down as early as 6am. To stands in line

 

 

If you were in a cab/uber by 730 you will be more than fine and probably spend an hour in the lounge. With PRE+CLEAR go to checkpoint 1 which is at the end of departures near the international gates. It has never taken me more than 5 minutes to get airside from there. 

[1025cruise]

Only if that 950am flight is the next day.

[Asawi]

10 hours ago, ncrick75 said:

I have both TSA precheck and Clear, thank you for the hope! What time should I get downstairs to get to be in the front of the line for easy walk off, I hear people go down as early as 6am. To stands in line

 

I can't tell you a time, but when I was on Bliss earlier this year it was CHAOS during the disembark! So I'd say the sooner the better! That particular day it was chaos every step of the way more or less: Off the ship, through immigration, security at SeaTac... No problem for me with my afternoon flight. But people actually missed flights that day (Much of the problems were at SeaTac. I don't remember what it was all about, but apparently not unheard of from other times).

 

[LatinaInTexas]

We were on the Encore in May. We headed down when we heard them announce self assist could debark.

We got off the elevator expecting to see the usual lines and chaos.

There was none. It was a ghost town. We didn't even know where to go. Luckily we saw a few groups up ahead of us so we followed them. Took all of 2 minutes to walk off the ship. Also just took minutes to get out of the building. 

I was shocked at this. Never ever have we gotten off a ship this easily. 

 

 

[Middleager]

We've done self-disembarkation early in the morning quite a few times, as soon as the ship will let people off.

 

Often there are only a few people, and it's usually close to the time stated in the daily (often 7am), maybe a few minutes early or late, and up to 20 minutes late.  One time we didn't go early morning, and the ship was more than an hour late when they announced people can start to get off.

 

One time there were many dozens of people waiting before us, for the earliest time.

 

If you happen to be in a situation the ship lets people off at the stated time without much delay, and without many people, and you get through immigration and everything else, and get to your taxi/uber, and no traffice to the airport, and no delay at the airport, yes you can make it.  But But if you have any delays at any of those possible delay points, good luck.

[BirdTravels]

17 hours ago, ncrick75 said:

Has anyone been on the encore recently getting off in Seattle to know if I can make a 950 AM flight  if I have priority disembarkation privileges and if course get up early to do easy walk off?

You should be fine.

 

Self Assist - Early Disembarkation 30 min 

Taxi to airport 25 min 

Priority bag check 15 min

Pre-Check (I don't remember Clear, but I assumed you checked that it is available) 15 min

Ship to Gate <90 minutes. (At your gate around 8:30 am). 

 

I wouldn't delay getting off. Plan to be in line early. While we have walked non-stop from our stateroom to the curb in Seattle, we have also been held on the gangway due to congestion in the baggage hall and customs (despite NCL's $50M investment in the Bell Street Terminal, it is still a little dinky terminal). 

Edited July 29 by BirdTravels

[psuboater]

Seattleite chiming in. Everything has to go right for you to get on that flight. It's going to highly depend on how many other ships are in town that day, plus what day of the week you're disembarking (expect gridlock on a weekday). If there's an accident on I5, forget it. If your ship delays clearing customs like ours did from Seattle, forget it. If you're needing to check bags and don't have a premium status with an airline, forget it. Ditto if you don't have TSA Pre + CLEAR.

 

I'm a "3 hours before the airport" kind of person, and one accident on I5 turned a 3 hour cushion into getting to the gate while you're boarding. 

 

I tend to avoid the airport from May-September, if possible.

[fastpitchdad]

14 minutes ago, psuboater said:

Seattleite chiming in. Everything has to go right for you to get on that flight. It's going to highly depend on how many other ships are in town that day, plus what day of the week you're disembarking (expect gridlock on a weekday). If there's an accident on I5, forget it. If your ship delays clearing customs like ours did from Seattle, forget it. If you're needing to check bags and don't have a premium status with an airline, forget it. Ditto if you don't have TSA Pre + CLEAR.

 

I'm a "3 hours before the airport" kind of person, and one accident on I5 turned a 3 hour cushion into getting to the gate while you're boarding. 

 

I tend to avoid the airport from May-September, if possible.

 

I guess it's a good thing you don't take I-5 to get to the airport from pier 66. 

Edited July 29 by fastpitchdad

[psuboater]

2 minutes ago, fastpitchdad said:

 

I guess it's a good thing you don't take I-5 to get to the airport from pier 66. 

I also guess you've never had 99 backed up when there was an accident on I5, which is what happened to us.

[fastpitchdad]

9 minutes ago, psuboater said:

I also guess you've never had 99 backed up when there was an accident on I5, which is what happened to us.

 

Not really no, and I worked in Belltown for 15 years often going to and from the airport. The only time the traffic was bad was when the viaduct was being demolished but that has long since finished. 

 

Sorry, I don't mean to be sparky but the op makes that flight 95+ percent of the time. 

Edited July 29 by fastpitchdad

[psuboater]

9 minutes ago, fastpitchdad said:

 

Not really no, and I worked in Belltown for 15 years often going to and from the airport. The only time the traffic was bad was when the viaduct was being demolished but that has long since finished. 

 

Sorry, I don't mean to be sparky but the op makes that flight 95+ percent of the time. 

I travel 30-50,000 miles by air a year out of SEA for the past 7 years, and I've still had a handful of experiences where my large cushion evaporated to make it on time. When I traveled on the Quantum in 2022, they had an issue with customs and we didn't start disembarking until close to 8:30am. Since I live here I didn't have to rush off, but people were panicking.  I've been to the airport plenty of times where I've breezed through security, but I've also been caught up in the mess of waiting 45 minutes in Sky Priority's bag drop and TSA lines are backed up to the garage.

 

For someone like you and me who knows the airport well, it's easier too. I just read on another post someone complaining how crowded the security line was and how difficult it was to navigate SEA, so it's highly dependent on someone's comfort level of navigating airports, what level of TSA clearance they have, what level of status they have if they're checking bags, etc.  

[fastpitchdad]

37 minutes ago, psuboater said:

I travel 30-50,000 miles by air a year out of SEA for the past 7 years, and I've still had a handful of experiences where my large cushion evaporated to make it on time. When I traveled on the Quantum in 2022, they had an issue with customs and we didn't start disembarking until close to 8:30am. Since I live here I didn't have to rush off, but people were panicking.  I've been to the airport plenty of times where I've breezed through security, but I've also been caught up in the mess of waiting 45 minutes in Sky Priority's bag drop and TSA lines are backed up to the garage.

 

For someone like you and me who knows the airport well, it's easier too. I just read on another post someone complaining how crowded the security line was and how difficult it was to navigate SEA, so it's highly dependent on someone's comfort level of navigating airports, what level of TSA clearance they have, what level of status they have if they're checking bags, etc.  

 

The OP has pre and clear and is leaving in the morning so he can be airside at checkpoint 1 in less than 5 mins. I have flown millions of miles and still fly ~100k per year and have never waited at TSA at SEA for more than 20 mins (I also have pre+clear). 

I do agree, the biggest risk is the ship being delayed (which happened a couple of months ago due to winds) but if the OP is in a cab by 730 (or even 8 ) he is going to make the flight. The next biggest risk is if they have checked bags but assuming they have priority access that shouldn't be an issue. 

Edited July 29 by fastpitchdad

[BirdTravels]

No one should plan travel based on worst case scenarios. If stuff happens, it happens and you work to adjust your plans. 

 

For the record, our flight out of SEA for our upcoming cruise is at 11:30 am. And we plan to spend an hour in the Alaska lounge eating pancakes prior to leaving for our gate. I have flown over 7M miles and still fly over 100K miles a year. My travel plans include a small amount of pad built in,,, but not hours and hours. My priority is to get home and reset for our next cruise. 

 

Our worst cruise arrival was when the Port of Miami was fogged in and our 7 am arrival didn't happen until 2 in the afternoon. That day, I bumped my flight 3 times as we sat off shore with dozens of cruise ships and cargo ships all waiting to go into the port.

[ncrick75]

Thank you everyone for the insights and very helpful tips!  With Delta Sky priority, tsa precheck and clear, and knowing where checkpoint one is (thanks Fastpitchdad), I’m gonna roll the dice.  Worst case scenario extra night in Seattle. 

[zqvol]

6 hours ago, ncrick75 said:

Thank you everyone for the insights and very helpful tips!  With Delta Sky priority, tsa precheck and clear, and knowing where checkpoint one is (thanks Fastpitchdad), I’m gonna roll the dice.  Worst case scenario extra night in Seattle. 

Please post and let us know your experience.  Things like that give us some real world knowledge. Thanks in advance. 

[erisajd]

The problem isn’t getting off.  Well. We were in the Haven and were in a cab 6 min after leaving the haven restaurant in Seattle.  And were at the airport by 750am after leaving at 710a.  
 

the issue is getting through security at SEA.  Unless you have clear or priority it can take 45-60 min.  

[debenson0723]

22 minutes ago, erisajd said:

The problem isn’t getting off.  Well. We were in the Haven and were in a cab 6 min after leaving the haven restaurant in Seattle.  And were at the airport by 750am after leaving at 710a.  
 

the issue is getting through security at SEA.  Unless you have clear or priority it can take 45-60 min.  

The OP has stated several times that they have both priority, TSA precheck and Clear.

[erisajd]

On 8/1/2024 at 7:09 AM, debenson0723 said:

The OP has stated several times that they have both priority, TSA precheck and Clear.

As do I - and it took us 40 min to get through TSA @ KSEA in a precheck lane with CLEAR after a cruise given the thousands of people making flights - doesn't change my comment that TSA @ KSEA is the bottleneck - not customs or getting off the ship. 

[kamikazii]

On 7/28/2024 at 10:40 PM, ncrick75 said:

Has anyone been on the encore recently getting off in Seattle to know if I can make a 950 AM flight  if I have priority disembarkation privileges and if course get up early to do easy walk off?

 

 

Soooo I'll just say that we did the NCL BOGO air promo for our upcoming Alaskan cruise on Encore in Seattle (9/1). NCL themselves booked us a 9:50AM departure for 9/8 out of Seattle, and then they contacted us two months later and were like, you won't make that flight we're rebooking you. They moved us all (party of 8 to a later flight). 

SO if NCL themselves was like "no," I think maybe that's as clear of an answer as one can get.