Getting to Pier 91 on cruise morning for Explorer of the Seas

My advice is get there early, we had a friend drop us off at Celebrity on the 26th and as another person said, it was a zoo!!

We got there around 10:30 after waiting in traffic to get to the pier. Taxis were zooming by because they were going to pick up those getting off the ship. Once out of our car a guy grabbed our luggage and we went into the terminal and were on the ship by 11:35.

I did look out later at the RCCL line and it was crazy long.

When you return carry your luggage off if possible, we were off the ship by 7:30 and catching a taxi was a breeze.

Good Luck!!

Thank you! We do plan on being earlier. If I did not have kids we would just embark closer to 3. They want to look at the kids club and I want to tour the gym. I think tours of those things only run until 3/3:30.

A

In the 11 or 12 cruises that we’ve taken out of Pier 91 we’ve never encounter any of the problems that some of the others have stated they’ve had. We’ve never had a problem getting to Pier 91. We park our car at the Cruise ship parking lot behind the armory and take their shuttle over to the pier, we get there around 10:45 or so. On June 4th the traffic didn’t seem bad, the got dropped off at the end of shuttle row or North end of where shuttles park. Walked into terminal dropped off our bags with the longshoremen running the scanner and went upstairs, petty much never really stopped until we got on the ship.

Well it will be crowded, that's for sure. :( However, while you are correct that there will be 3 ships cruising from Seattle that day, only 2 of them, Explorer Of the Seas and Celebrity Solstice will be cruising from Pier 91, Crystal Serenity will be sailing from Pier 66. :)

Tom

So is it a given then that RCCL always leaves from Pier 91?

So is it a given then that RCCL always leaves from Pier 91?

Yes.

Tom

Hello!

I read on another website that if you take a taxi to the Pier you will get to the Pier drop off area faster than if you take a shuttle/uber/private car service. The lady mentioned taking Uber and having to wait for an hour in a que before actually getting to be dropped off. It almost doubled her Uber fare.

 

Has anyone else experienced this? Unfortunately for us I have been warned by multiple cruisers that Embarkation is a Zoo and expect to wait.

 

Now this is for Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Sea cruise. Maybe other lines have different policies? Drop off procedures? Just wanted to check ahead of time.

 

Thanks!

A

Did the Explorer Alaska cruise this past June. We used Lyft from our hotel to pier 91. We arrived around 10:00. No lines for drop off. Passengers were still disembarking but it did not interfere with our arrival. We did have to wait in the embarkation area in the parking lot for about 45 minutes due to being there so early (most of us sat on our suitcases). When we were cleared to board, we handed over our luggage to the porters and headed for check-in. No lines inside. We were quickly checked in and immediately directed to board. Fastest we've ever been through check-in and on a ship!

Disembarking after the cruise was another story. We used the early self assist at 6:30 and that was a zoo! Had a reservation with the rental car shuttle service. They have a designated waiting area right outside the cruise terminal exit. Problem was, several limos were parked in the shuttle's spaces. Our shuttle driver got pretty firm with them when he informed them that they had to move. Other than that, all went pretty smoothly for us. Just hope it works out the same way next year!

(BTW, our Lyft driver did tell us the week before had been a real nightmare for arriving passengers. He was stuck in the holding parking lot for two hours with his passengers. Our cruise was the first week of June. It appears they had solved whatever issue caused the back-up on the cruise before us:o).