slickriptide

From the original post, I gather that @meh56 returned to Seattle on August 28 or 29th?

 

That would, indeed, be a crazy time to get a cab in Seattle. Labor Day weekend is host to not one but two big "festivals". On the one hand, there's Bumbershoot, a four-day arts and music festival at the Seattle Center that is a huge draw for those four days. On the other hand, there's Pax, which is the biggest video game convention in the country and for which thousands of people travel to Seattle every year on Labor Day weekend. Think San Diego Comic Con but for games instead of comics/movies.

 

Basically, that Fri-Mon the city is chock full of way more tourists AND locals than normal.

 

The rest of the year should be relatively normal but that particular weekend it would be completely unsurprising to find it difficult to get a cab in the city or a hotel room near the trade center or the Seattle Center.

From the National Weather Service Space Weather Prediction Center (http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/)

 

Top News of the Day:

 

2014-09-11 05:01 UTC A Pair of CMEs

 

G2 (Moderate) geomagnetic storms remain in the forecast for September 12th as a result of the coronal mass ejection (CME) associated with the R1 (Minor) solar flare observed on the 9th. The latest WSA-Enlil model run has the CME associated with yesterday's R3 (Strong) solar flare arriving mid to late day on that same day. A G3 (Strong) Geomagnetic Storm Watch has been issued for September 13th due to the combined influence of these two events with G1 (Minor) storming anticipated to continue into September 14th. In addition, the S1 (Minor) solar radiation storm that is in progress as a result of the eruption yesterday is expected to persist for the next few days. Keep in mind that the forecast periods listed are in Universal Time so aurora watchers in the northern U.S. should be looking for possible activity both Thursday and Friday nights. Stay tuned for updates

 

I bet you didn't know that space has weather, heh. I hilighted the pertinent part of the forecast in the last couple of sentences. Basically beginning tomorrow night and continuing for the next 2-4 nights, there will be a surge in polar geomagnetic activity (assuming that the CME doesn't just wipe out technological civilization as we know it) that will cause a high probability of Aurora Borealis activity in the northern latitudes.

 

If you're in Alaska during the next few nights, step out on deck or on your veranda and see what the northern skies look like. You might get a treat.

OK, I looked it up and the Ruby Princess is RT out of Seattle. So now I'm twice as confused as to why the OP mentioned flying to/from Alaska.

Definitely a RT Vancouver is the best option over a RT Seattle.

 

The Princess cruises out of Vancouver for the same period are only one-way to/from Seward. That's what he was comparing to his Seattle cruise.

 

@Geldhart appears to have a preference for Princess. Maybe he's a past cruiser with them, or maybe he just likes them best, or maybe he has a special deal with Princess or maybe he really wants to visit Seattle. Maybe he's confused and looked only at Princess when booking a cruise and he thinks all Vancouver cruises are one-way. Maybe he thinks he'll met Isaac, Gopher, Julie and Captain Stubing.

 

I suppose he'll tell us if it becomes pertinent. ;-)

 

It's something other than cost, given that (this year at least) Vancouver cruises are marginally cheaper than corresponding Seattle cruises.

I think maybe another question is "Do you want to spend three days in Seattle?"

 

If you're flying into Vancouver on Thursday, and cruising out of Seattle on Sunday, then you could spend Friday in Victoria and see some of the sights there, then take the Clipper to Seattle on Saturday and overnight in Seattle for the cruise next day.

 

Granted that your cruise probably has Victoria as the final stop but most of those Victoria stops are only a few hours and typically in the evening so not conducive to family activities like the Provincial Museum or Craigdorroch Castle.

 

As far as that goes, I wonder what the logistics are of disembarking in Victoria instead of Seattle? Probably wouldn't save any money on the cruise proper but it might be an interesting way to end the trip.

@martincath has covered the transportation logistics quite well.

 

It appears that you want to avoid a vehicle rental? In that case, I would recommend against staying in a hotel in an outlying area.

 

It may be that you don't realize how large the Seattle metropolitan area is. Sea-Tac and Shoreline, while technically in the "Seattle area", are nowhere near Seattle downtown proper.

 

Sea-Tac is the midway area between Seattle and Tacoma, near the airport. While it's true that you could ride the light rail into Seattle, you would do that as a one-time trip to reach your downtown hotel. It's not something you'd want to do daily for four days. Likewise, hotels are the only thing of any interest in the Sea-Tac area if you have no transportation. With the possible exception of the Cedarbrook, you wouldn't want to spend three nights hanging around the airport.

 

Shoreline is a residential area some ten to twelve miles north of Seattle. If you plan to play golf for those three days then you might do well in that area. (There are three golf courses.) Otherwise, it's not a terribly attractive area from a tourist standpoint.

 

Rather than focus strictly on price, I would suggest going to IHG.com (or whatever website you use for your loyalty rewards) and exploring your options based on location in the downtown core. Either that or decide that you intend to rent a vehicle after all.

 

In the "What to do for three days" department:

 

What are your family's interests? With at least two full days to fill, I would really highly recommend that you reconsider the vehicle rental and consider going farther afield than Seattle proper on at least one day.

 

A day trip to the Mount St. Helens Johnston Ridge observatory could be combined with a side trip to Northwest Trek on the way back.

 

Doing Northwest Trek on the return trip will not just break up the monotony of the long drive. The animals are more active in the evening when the temperatures are moderately cooler. One of the best times to take the tour is on the last tour of the day, from the standpoint of getting the most out of the tram tour. The trade off is that it can leave you with less time for exploring the foot travel parts of the preserve, so you'll want to balance your desire to see everything they have to offer versus seeing the most activity amongst the denizens of the park.

 

If your family is the active and adventurous sort and you wanted to do something really different on such a day trip, I would tell you to buy a couple of good flashlights (high-power LED flashlights are not that expensive these days) and visit the Ape Caves while you are visiting Mount Saint Helens. The "caves" are a pair of ancient lava tubes that descend into the mountains. They are *HUGE* inside and you don't know what pitch black really means until you've tried going down under the Earth and then turning off all of your lights and realizing that millions of tons of planet are between you and the sky. If you ever wanted to know that the Fellowship of the Ring felt like on their trip through Khazad Dum, this will give you first-hand experience.

 

If you prefer your entertainment to be a bit more conventional, then consider some of the these attractions:

 

Pacific Science Center - You're bound to visit the Seattle Center anyway, so make the Science Center one of the places on your list. The butterfly house is well worth the admission price, and if you're from the center of the Continent then your girls will probably enjoy the tidal touch tank. Then there are the naked mole rats. You really do have to see them to believe them.

 

There are two Imax theaters. One inside the admission area, and the Boeing Spacearium, which is outside but connected. The inside theater rotates between documentary style films that are free with admission or that require a small extra charge. The Spacearium typically has first-run Hollywood films where the giant screen and/or 3D experience is the main attraction. The Spacearium films are nearly always a separate charge.

 

Tillicum Village - Combines a harbor cruise with dinner and a show. The cruise travels to Blake Island, a state park accessible only by water. There is actually some good hiking and camping on the island, though it's very much a "bring all of your needs with you" place. There's no corner market to run down to if you forget the marshmallows.

 

The tour drops you at a Long House, where you're greeted with freshly made clam nectar and an opportunity to walk around the grounds. Dinner is buffet-style and features salmon cooked over an open fire in traditional Native American manner. Whatever anyone thinks of the rest of the experience, pretty much everyone agrees the salmon is some of the best they've had.

 

The show features Native American dance, stories and costuming. The cruise back to Seattle, in late August, is particularly picturesque as the sun is already beginning to set around 8:30 and, if you had booked the evening cruise, you would get a romantic view of the city lights on the return trip.

 

Woodland Park Zoo - The Zoo is one of the gems of Seattle, landing on various top ten lists over the years. One reason is the number of open roaming habitats. The exhibits are divided into biomes and much effort has been spent on creating habitats that approximate the "home" environments of the animals that live in the exhibits. Whether you're walking through the Amazon Rain Forest, with birds flying freely all around you, or watching the giraffe and zebras roaming the savannah, or learning about the way of life, both wild and domestic, of the elephants of Asia, you'll find lots for any animal lover to enjoy at the Zoo.

 

I could go on, but a lot depends on just what your family finds to be entertaining, and how mobile you are. You've got a year to figure it out, though. :)

 

Tripadvisor reviews of Johnston Ridge Observatory

Yelp Reviews of Northwest Trek

Groovy, Thanks. :)

The Missus and I are booked for the Westerdam on Aug 30. I was wondering if the televisions have HDMI ports that would allow a portable DVD player to be connected?

Stupid me, no wonder I'm not getting any responses! :o:o

 

I haven't seen any recent reviews regarding this property, however in the past there were several comments regarding the "sketchy" location of this hotel. Is the area truly unsafe?

 

Also, how accessible are Pikes Market, the Space Needle etc from this location?

 

I haven't visited the Arctic Room, so I can't say anything specifically about the hotel.

 

The area should not be especially "sketchy". The desirability of the location will be measured in how much you care for sight-seeing by foot. You're centrally located about equidistant from some notable tourist attractions aside from the things you always hear about (Pike Place Market, Pier 54, etc...).

 

You're a few blocks from the Smith Tower. The observatory at the top is one of the places that visitors like to stop by and, really, if you go up there then you can probably forego the Space Needle unless you really want to say you were at the Needle.

 

The Smith Tower marks the edge of Pioneer Square, which is the historical district of Seattle. If you enjoy eclectic shopping then you'll find that here. Many of the buildings date back to the twenties. The Underground Tour is here, which is well worth taking if you enjoy history or just dark, dank places, heh. (You remember Darren McGavin in the old "Night Stalker" TV series back in the eighties? There was a little known sequel to the "Night Stalker" (before the TV series aired) that was set in Underground Seattle called, creatively enough, "The Night Strangler". Poor Kolchak just couldn't seem to get away from the boogie men no matter where he landed a job.)

 

If your cruise stops in Skagway then a visit to the Klondike Gold Rush Park is worth an hour of your time. It's technically the smallest state park in Washington, in a renovated historic hotel, The Cadillac. Skagway was the gateway to the Klondike, but Seattle was the gateway to Skagway.

 

Occidental Park in Pioneer Square is a good-sized automobile-free zone whose benches have historically been used as sleeping places for transient folk. This is probably the "sketchy" area that you read about,though it is generally safe to walk through. You might avoid that specific area after dark, though on weekends Pioneer Square has an active nightclub scene so it's not even that much to worry about on evenings where there are plenty of people around.

 

You would also be within a few blocks of the International District. Walking to it would not be particularly picturesque, so you might prefer to grab a taxi. Uwajimaya would be worth a visit, as well as the Wing Luke Asian Art Museum. Depending on the time of year of your visit, you might even be lucky enough to see a dragon dance or similar event as part of the Seafair festivities.

 

The walk to Pike Place Market is uphill and several blocks but not too strenuous nor lengthy. Strolling up Second Avenue will take you past the Seattle Art Museum and the Hammering Man, while a stroll up First Avenue will take you past the X-rated theater set amidst all the condoes, that represents the last bastion of the "red-light district" that used to epitomize First Avenue before the developers and yuppies mostly erased it.

 

As for the waterfront, you'll be at the extreme end of it from this location, but that's what the trolley is for.

 

Likewise, the route 99 city bus should be just a block or two from the hotel. It runs between the Edgewater Inn at the northernmost end of the waterfront, down First Avenue and out to the International District. It's basically the tourist bus and would get you to most of the places I've mentioned if you prefered not to walk to all of them.

 

Basically, the location is not bad if what you enjoy is exploring the town you're visiting. If your goal is to take in all of the popular tourist attractions in the most convenient way possible then you might prefer something further north and closer to Westlake Center.

[quote name='Kruizefan']Interesting idea, thanx. But nothing to attract DW.
[/QUOTE]

Then I guess the question is, "What does attract your wife (and yourself)?"

Regional cuisine?
Scenery?
Unique local flavor?
Jewelry?
Butterflies?
History?
Cocktails?
Music?
Culture?
Shopping?

A random Monday in May is likely to be overcast, making the Space Needle or Columbia Tower less attractive. Besides, as has been pointed out, your 6-1/2 hours is really more like 2-1/2 hours of actual touring. I'm not sure that taking an elevator to the top of a building just to see the view would justify all that energy, time and expense.

Just to ask - Do you have a specific date? May 25 is a national holiday in the USA; Memorial Day. The Seattle Center hosts an annual "traditional crafts/music" sort of festival that weekend called The Folklife Festival.

If it's some other random Monday, well, it sort of comes down to what you find interesting that justifies spending more time in transit than in sight-seeing.

What's the weather like in Seattle

 

Well, there's Autumn, that's cool and wet. There's Winter, that's cold and wet. There's Spring, that's warmer and wet. Then there's Summer.

 

That's a lot of wet. Is Summer wet, also?

 

Summer is our best kept secret in Seattle. If I tell you the truth, you have to promise that you're just visiting and not moving in.

 

Summer in Seattle tends to start late and end late. The month of May is typically warm and somewhat damp. The months of June, July are typically comfortably warm and mostly dry. August is hot and dry. In fact, Summer in Seattle there's typically very little rainfall; so little that we occasionally have to resort to water conservation measures. The month of September is a bit of a crap shoot but it's typically cool in the mornings and warm in the afternoons. The transition to Autumn typically begins around the last week of September but sometimes begins as late as the end of October.

 

Summer in Seattle is typically quite nice and it belies our normal reputation for grey skies and damp conditions (a reputation completely justified during the other seasons).

 

Why do you keep saying "typically"?

 

Seattle is a Pacific Rim city. Our climate is determined by events in the Pacific Ocean that are much less influential in other parts of the world, and by the proximity of the Cascade Mountain Range. There is no "standard" summer weather. This year, 2014, we're having record temperatures in August, nearing 100F in some inland places. Last year, 2013, we were wearing sweaters in June on some days and 2012 saw some mid-summer days in the fifties!

 

Seattle is weird!

 

You have no idea.

 

How can I tell what the weather will be like for the cruise I'm thinking about taking next year?

 

Northwest weather is strongly influenced by periodic changes in the Pacific Ocean currents, as well as many other factors. In particular, the so-called "El Nino/La Nina" events as well as something you've probably never heard of called PDO for short. These events cause significant changes in our winter weather that, in turn, affects our summer weather as well.

 

An El Nino winter generally results in a warm,dry summer. A La Nina winter generally results in a cool,damp summer.

 

Fortunately, you don't have to be a climatologist to make sense of it because the State of Washington employs a climatologist to do that for you. The Office of the Washington State Climatologist publishes a monthly climate outlook that tracks the chances of an El Nino/La Nina event and a 3-4 month weather outlook based upon current models.

 

If you book your cruise in December or January, then you can make a fair guess on the general upcoming summer conditions based on whether it's an El Nino year, a La Nina year, or a "neutral" year.

 

I'm flying in next week. What about the weather then?

 

The local television news programs pride themselves on their accuracy. Some of them predict the timing of daily weather changes to within a few minutes of an expected change. The weather forecast web pages for any of the main television stations in Seattle are a handy and accurate resource for predicting what you can expect if your visit is imminent (within the next seven days, anyway). The major network affiliates are:

 

KING (NBC), KOMO (ABC), KIRO (CBS), KCPQ (FOX)

 

If you prefer your weather to be "branding neutral", there's also the National Weather Service, which provides most of the forecasting data to the news stations, anyway.

 

What clothing should I pack

 

August is pretty reliably tee-shirt and shorts/skirt weather. May, I would recommend a jacket. June and July you should bring a pullover sweater or hoodie and have it handy. Even if it's a warm day, it can get cool in the evenings, especially on or near the water. Layers that you can put on or take off as needed are typically the best preparation.

 

Sandals are a personal choice. We invented "socks and sandals"; they aren't just summer gear around Seattle. ;)

Thanks for the suggestions! Those all sound interesting. :)

Hello, all. New member here.

 

The DW and I are sailing on the Westerdam on Aug 30 out of Seattle. Our stopovers are nine hours in Juneau 1pm arrival, eight hours in Sitka 7am arrival, and six hours in Ketchikan 7am arrival.

 

She has back and hip problems and as a result is limited mostly to activities involving short walking distances, or at least plenty of opportunities to stop and rest and move at her own pace. (Shopping seems to break those rules at times, though, *laugh*)

 

We plan to stay on board in Victoria, as we'll be arriving in the evening and we are well acquainted with that city already.

 

Long story short -- I'm looking for recommendations for shore excursions that aren't too taxing physically. She's particularly interested in Sitka - That's really why we're on the Westerdam. Holland America is the only major cruise line visiting Sitka this year, it seems, aside from the pricey National Geographic and other rich people specialty cruises. ;-)

What's your timeframe for the Seattle portion of your visit? Likewise, what portion of the day will you be in Victoria? Will you be arriving there in the afternoon or the evening?