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Pier to SEATAC by Rail


XtaSea
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Looking at various pre and post cruise transportation options for Seattle in September (Lyft, Uber, taxi, Shuttle Express, ship transfers, etc.). Just for the fun of it, we're thinking of using the Light Rail post-cruise to get from Pier 91 to SeaTac. Looks like we would Uber or Lyft to Westlake Station, buy tickets at $3 per person, then ride to the airport for a 1 p.m. flight. We plan to use Luggage Valet so we'll be luggage free (just a backpack). Any unforeseen difficulties I'm missing? What's the time frame involved? And is it fun or a pain in the rear?

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Nothing wrong with the idea. The train takes around 40 minutes and the station at the airport is a bit of a schlep from the terminal, even so you might end up with some time on your hands.

 

One possible alternative to consider would be to Uber to Uwajimaya in the International District (very fun pan-Asian grocery/department store) where you could play "name that vegetable," visit their terrific fish section and maybe grab a quick something at their food court, or pick up some cool Japanese snacks for the plane, then walk a block to the International District light rail station and head to the airport from there.

 

http://www.uwajimaya.com/stores/seattle

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Going that direction should be relatively lightly loaded too.

 

"name that vegetable,"

LOVE that idea. We have to try it next time we stop at H-Mart (another Asian market in the burbs).

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If you were off the ship before 9ish, you could consider using the city bus to get to Westlake Center, and still stop at Uwajimaya. The only part that bites is that you'd pay a separate fare with no transfer credit - $2/ea. The bus stop is easily accessed from the terminal by taking the port's parking shuttle and asking to be dropped at the bus stop. It's a 40-foot stair climb to the stop, which is doable with hand baggage. The bus proceeds relatively quickly to Westlake Center / 3rd and Pike.

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Good suggestions and ideas and much appreciated. Think we've played a version of "name that vegetable" as well as "name that meat" at various stops in Europe. We find that a food store walk-through, especially in other cultures, can be a very interesting part of travel.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Does anyone think that this would be a viable option for people who have a 12:30pm flight? I was thinking of getting in a shuttle / taxi but I was worried about rush hour traffic since I'm expecting to travel to the airport around 8 - 9 A.M. Any thoughts on whether or not this would work would be greatly appreciated.

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Absolutely. The service is pretty immune to downtown traffic issues.

 

Depending on what time you get off the ship, you may or may not have time to play several rounds of Name That Vegetable at Uwajimaya, but the core option of Metro bus + Link Light Rail is viable.

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Absolutely. The service is pretty immune to downtown traffic issues.

I somewhat disagree. We took the Metro bus from Pier 91 to downtown after our April cruise; although we weren't getting onto the Link light rail, we went to the same Downtown Transit Tunnel for the ST550 bus. We definitely hit traffic on our way to downtown. We also had a ~10 minute delay just getting rolling from the bus stop near the pier, as we had a ton of passengers with luggage bumbling their way onto the bus.

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Sorry, this is what happens when I respond in the middle of the night. The Link service is pretty much immune to traffic issues.

 

The bus or car share to get there is roughly as subject to them as getting to the Viaduct to get to the airport by car.

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