Seattle disembark...flight home 5pm...now what

any ideas how to manage luggage while doing a little Seattle sight seeing before flight at 5. We will have approx 6 hours of which I'd rather not spend in an airport

Does your cruise line offer excursions ending at the port? Most do. Does your cruise line offer baggage forwarding services? Some do. Have you looked over at the West Coast Departures board, here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=413

where there is a good sized thread on a luggage forwarding service Seattle has set up at the port.

Our favorite solution to such a situation is to simply rent a car for the day. This gives you a place to store your luggage (the trunk), gives you the means to get to the airport (do a one way drop at the airport) and you also have flexibility to do what you please during the day. Most (if not all) of the cost of the rental car is offset by not having to pay for an airport transfer.

Hank

We usually spend the night at a hotel when faced with this problem. We go early from the ship to the hotel and drop off the luggage. It is usually too early to check in, but you can drop the luggage. That gives you a day and a half or so in the city.

Link to Port Valet operated by Port of Seattle. We saw a lot of bags in the hall on the last night with coded Port Valet airline tags with different letters (for flight time periods). All the bar coded info the airline would need to get your bags to the final destination. Put them in the hallway and you don't see them until you are at last airport (if connecting). Free! The visit downtown Seattle, spend some money ;) and ride to airport via Link light rail for $3.

Link to Port Valet operated by Port of Seattle. We saw a lot of bags in the hall on the last night with coded Port Valet airline tags with different letters (for flight time periods). All the bar coded info the airline would need to get your bags to the final destination. Put them in the hallway and you don't see them until you are at last airport (if connecting). Free! The visit downtown Seattle, spend some money ;) and ride to airport via Link light rail for $3.

This sounds like a great luggage option. Does anyone know if your flight is late like ours if they will still do this? We fly out at 8 pm.

Link to Port Valet operated by Port of Seattle. We saw a lot of bags in the hall on the last night with coded Port Valet airline tags with different letters (for flight time periods). All the bar coded info the airline would need to get your bags to the final destination. Put them in the hallway and you don't see them until you are at last airport (if connecting). Free! The visit downtown Seattle, spend some money ;) and ride to airport via Link light rail for $3.

I checked out that website, and this looks like the greatest thing since sliced bread. Thanks for posting!

Once our cruise buddies tried to use the 'we'll get your luggage to the airport & on your plane for you' but were denied this because their flight from Orlando was too early- it was before noon. The ship said they couldn't guarantee the luggage would get on their plane at that early hour. They didn't have time to kill so just took their luggage with them.

But this is a great service! (we drive so always walk off with everything!)