Suggestions for *cheap* hotels in Seattle? Airlines? 7/31/05 on NCL Star

[SailawaySailaway]

Hi! Even though our cruise to Alaska on the NCL Star isn't until next July 31, 2005, half the fun is in the planning! :p

 

I was curious about *cheap* hotels close to the port in Seattle. Nothing fancy or pricey. Maybe one that will shuttle us over to the port that morning. Or that we can walk to the port easily from. We'll be flying into Seattle the day before our cruise. Since we won't be in a rush to get to the ship like if we flew the same day, we can take our time getting to the hotel. What is the best and most economical way to get there from the airport?

 

Also, which SAFE airline do you recommend with good prices to fly out of San Jose, CA to Seattle? I freely admit, I am freaked out about flying.:( I flew to NYC two years ago and it took me months to finally bring myself to step on that plane! I like inexpensive, but I prefer a strong safety record even more! By the way, when should I begin looking for tickets and where do you recommend? About how much should we expect to pay for roundtrip tickets out of SJO?

Well, I'm sure I'll have a BOATLOAD of questions before I'm done!:D

[Cruisin' granny]

Just returned from NCL Spirit cruise. Stayed in Seattle one night before and 2 nights after cruise. I booked Ramada Inn Downtown, 5th Avenue. Got rooms for $69 by booking Ramada's website early. Rooms were clean and comfortable, staff friendly and helpful. Fair dining room. No bar/lounge. Easy walk to space needle, Seattle center. Lots of restaurants, shopping, bars close by, all within easy walk. On free bus zone, right across the street. You'll have to take a cab to the ship unless you want to haul your luggage (about $6). We did walk down to pier more than once. Check out Seattle's visitors bureau website and you can order a lodging guide there that will give you a good start to locating lodging.

[SailawaySailaway]

Just returned from NCL Spirit cruise. Stayed in Seattle one night before and 2 nights after cruise. I booked Ramada Inn Downtown' date=' 5th Avenue. Got rooms for $69 by booking Ramada's website early. Rooms were clean and comfortable, staff friendly and helpful. Fair dining room. No bar/lounge. Easy walk to space needle, Seattle center. Lots of restaurants, shopping, bars close by, all within easy walk. On free bus zone, right across the street. You'll have to take a cab to the ship unless you want to haul your luggage (about $6). We did walk down to pier more than once. Check out Seattle's visitors bureau website and you can order a lodging guide there that will give you a good start to locating lodging.[/quote']

Thank you! I'll be sure and look into this hotel! Is it close to Pike's Market (is that what it's called?:) I know it's pretty early to be thinking of lodging, but it's nice to get an idea of what's available.

[dustyroad]

try www.seattlesupersaver.com. they have all the info on hotels and good prices. also there is priceling and hotwire. i hope you have good luck and a wonderful cruise.

[billybob123]

Your best bet if you're afraid of flying is to go non-stop - that way you will have the single take off and landing to deal with. The only way to go non-stop is on Alaskan Airlines, a fairly safe airline (3 crashes in over 4 million flights), or Southwest Airlines (discount, usually a great deal, but check the fares against Alaskan!!!) which has never had a fatality in 9 million flights. Your only other choices are to connect - United will connect you thru LAX, Delta thru Salt Lake City, etc...

 

Enjoy your cruise, and enjoy the flight. You stand such a small chance of crashing on the flight that you should be more careful eating the hamburger at the food court at the airport!!!!

 

As for looking for prices, airlines usually open their tickets 330 days before the date; Southwest is much less - somewhere in the 200 day range. If you sign up for a fare watcher at a place like travelocity.com or orbitz.com, it will email you when the price goes down. For Southwest, check their website periodically, as the fares change quite often. My advice is to get an idea of what you would be comfortable paying (for example, look at the fares at another time and see if they are significantly cheaper than for your dates), and when you see that fare for your dates, BUY IT RIGHT THEN!!!! Don't wait - fares can and probably will disappear before you get a chance to think it over!

 

-bb123