chewap

anyone dropped a car hire at the Budget car rental just of 17th street?

 

I think they have a port shuttle, can we rely on it?

 

we will be staying at a hotel across the street so could prime them the day before that we need a shuttle.

I rented a car in FLL and wanted to drop-off at 17th Street. They said that there is a drop-off fee of $60.

Why would they deliberately slow things down and make people angry?

 

Roz

What I was saying that they were extra careful in checking passengers. Most passengers are not angry that TSA is being extra careful. It is better than having your plane destroyed and you killed.

They would spend a lot of time looking at carry-ons and sometime running the carryons through 2 or 3 times. All passengers were patted down, especially everyone's shoulders. There most of been some threat for TSA to do what they were doing. There are 4 checkpoints at SEA Tac and I always pick the one with the shortest line. Good news, SeaTac just hired 75 temporary contract employees for the cruise season and they are starting this Friday. SeaTac has had a 25% increase in passenger in the last 2 yrs and have have not increased the TSA workforce. The extra revenue from the airlines paid by our ticket purchases went to the City of Seattle for their budget.

News has been discussing long wait through TSA at airports. Wondering about Seattle.

I went through SeaTac last week and it took about 20 minutes at 11 AM. It seemed that TSA deliberately was having a slowdown. TSA would run many carryon bags through twice. Everyone had a pat down, first time for me. I usually get a Precheck, but this time no Precheck.

I would opt for the 11:55am flight...just be in the first group off the ship...while you might be able to connect in 40 min at SEA..I would prefer not to...I've ran thru SEA before...something I wouldn't want to do again.

You should have no problem. Delta has a group of 5 gates in the South Terminal. If late, they will hold the plane as most of the travelers on your flight from Vancouver are cruise people just like you.

It wasn't listed as a separate line item on ours, but one day - one way was more expensive than when I entered a reservation for pickup and return at the same place on either side of the equation.

I tried the same thing and had the same results picking up and returning to airport was $30 cheaper than the one way to the Port. Seems like they raised the rates considerable in the last 2 weeks.

Is there a rental car drop off charge between Orlando Airport and the Port. A couple of years ago there was no charge between the 2 locations.

We have never been to either port but wanted to stay on board to enjoy the ship, when there are less people, on one of these days. Of the two, which should I skip? :confused::confused:

I you are a beach person both ports are excellent. Was at Mahogany Beach last Oct. It is set up like a Private Island w/o BBQ. On the Carnival Glory that I was on, they did not publicize that there is a beach 4 Blocks south of the Dock, therefore 50% of the passengers did not know about it. Carnival wanted to sell tours instead of telling about the beach.

Costa Maya has an outstanding protected beach 5 minute taxi ride ($3/pp north of the dock. Many Restaurants and cheap beer for $1/ bottle.

I don't think you're taking much of a risk.:)

As I posted earlier in this thread, you should factor about 3 hrs between leaving the pier and arriving at SeaTac. For an 11:35 flight you need to be leaving the pier around 8:30am.

 

Checkpoint #1 on the attached map gets backed up because the cruise shuttles drop off at that door. At SeaTac you can use ANY checkpoint; not just the one near your gate. So if one line is long, send someone ahead to look at the others.

http://www.portseattle.org/Sea-Tac/Traveler-Updates/Pages/Security.aspx

 

There will be a taxi line at the pier, or you can make a reservation for a cab, car service or flatrate service. Or for 2 people, Seattle Express will be filling up buses and sending them to SeaTac, $15pp.

It doesn't take 3 hours to go from the pier to SeaTac. It takes 20 minutes, 30 minutes going in the rush hour. It takes 2- 3 hours from Vancouver.

There was a feature story on the local TV news last night regarding Seattle airport wait times for the TSA security check. Wait times are getting longer. The TSA has fewer employees than in the past due to budgetary restrictions. The recommendations are now to allow 2+ hours for domestic flights. We are not yet into our tourist season when lines will be longer. On our most recent flight the TSA pre-check line was nearly the same as the regular line.

There has been no reduction of TSA employees at SeaTac, in fact they are hiring more employees that will be in place during the cruise season. There are four TSA entry points at the airport and usually one or two are not crowded. I have never had more than a 20 minute wait to get through TSA.

I know that Princess has a smoke free night in the casino (usually formal night). I can't remember, does Carnival?

Just got off the Carnival Glory. The casino is the smoking lounge for smokers.

The smoke was so bad, it burned your eyes, a lot of smokers standing in groups or sitting and not playing the slot machines. The Black Jack tables near the doors where fresh air comes in are not bad, but when a smoker shows up at the table, most players leave. Carnival should have Non Smoking tables. You would think that Carnival would cater to the 95% Non Smokers and that would have more customers use the casino and bring in much more revenue.

If this were me, my question would be, is this still the prime time to see the bears??? Is the Salmon run over well before this?

You will see as many whales as in June-August. The salmon run starts in late August and most of the salmon return to the rivers in Sept and Oct. The nature trail at the Mendenhall Glacier, you can see bear feeding on salmon on the boardwalk, right below you. In the Ketchikan River, walk up the river 3 or 4 blocks and you can see Bears if you can stand the stench from the dead salmon along the river bank.

Yes, they are the only ones who do.

 

OP and others, Budget at FLL does not shuttle to and from the port - we know this from experience.

 

 

 

Absolutely agree with you. A cab between the two points has never been more than $15.00 for us.

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I am currently renting a car from Budget at FLl, When you rent a car at the airport, you have to pay a drop off charge of $60 additional to drop off your car to Budgets location near the port for the shuttle. I called Budgets customer Relation twice and in both cases, they said the drop off charge is $60.00. Next time I will not use Budget car rental, but use others that I have used in the past that have shuttles to and from the port with no additional charge

Does anyone have experience with using Budget car rental for a one-way rental from the Fort Lauderdale airport, dropping off at the Port Everglades location? In particular, how was the shuttle service? At Port Canaveral, I have dropped off luggage and passengers at the ship before returning the car.

We rented a car rental at Ft. Lauderdale Airport before our cruise, thinking as advertised that they have a shuttle to the Port. The agent said that shuttle is at another location near the Port, not at the airport Location. The agent said we can pay a drop off fee of $100 to return our car rental to the location where they have the Shuttle to the Port. I will not use Budget, but use the other the other car rental companies, that we have used in the past, that have shuttles to the Port without additional cost.

today there is snow in Denali-see webcam

http://www.nps.gov/dena/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams-alpine.htm

Last winter, SE Alaska only received 20% of the average in snowfall. This is true for BC, Washington and Oregon mountains.

Thanks for your input Dan G.

 

My travel agent in Seattle recommended two companies, one of which seems to be limousine only. Don't need/want that. I am going to call STILA to get their town car price, which is what the other firm offers. I will do a comparison as to price. But, if one can pick me up outside of Baggage Claim, which STILA can do, and the other one can't, guess which one will get my business. It is NUTS to make travelers "go up a level, cross a bridge, down a level" in order to get ground transportation.

 

When I flew into LGA last October, I expected a hassle in getting from baggage claim to a taxi. I engaged a Sky Cap, he got me into the taxi line and in a taxi very quickly, much faster than I would have been able to do so on my own. I am disappointed that a modern city such as Seattle seems to be not able to match/exceed my experiences in New York City.

At SeaTac getting to taxi stand is much easier than most airports. It is a 50-10 ft walk from baggage claim to the escalator and across the Skybridge -100 ft and then down the escalator to the taxi stand to your left. If you can't use the escalator, they have elevators. Walking to the dinning room on the cruise ship will take longer. You will never have to wait for a taxi, as there is a continues line of taxis. Most taxis are Pruises that hold 3 passengers and 6 large suitcases.

Good morning. Thanks for the info. I am currently in the town of Chelan in a condo on the lake. It is very smokey here, but no fires directly in the town. Looks to me like everything is to the west on the east side of the Cascades and the worst appears to be to the north. For those who might be traveling from the north to Seattle, be aware of several road closures in the northern area. Check with the Wa State DOT for current info.

If you are heading out for a cruise, have a great time.

Heading to Lake Chelan tomorrow. We are in safe area with water on 3 sides of the property and a large apple orchard next to us. Across the lake is where the fire is still active and still burning down homes. Hopefully there will be no strong winds ( 30-60 mph) that happened last Friday. The fires will not impact cruisers as they are 100 miles+ from Seattle. The flight path for planes has been altered when the smoke rises to 20,000+ as aircraft coming from the east coast fly right over Lake Chelan.

I was at the exact same location last Tuesday (July 7th) and had a full clear view of Denali. It was much smaller from this viewing point than your 75X photo.

That might be the Seward Park (nice), Rainier Valley (parts not so nice, but that close to the lake it's probably fine), Rainier Beach (mostly nice enough) or Skyway (not so nice). Does it give an address, or a cross street? I don't know what the bus transportation is like down there but it's not very near the light rail.

 

Beacon hill is mixed, some very nice area, some a little more iffy. If it's near the Beacon Hill light rail station, that's a plus.

 

You can get the general idea of where a street address is by looking for the directional (N, NE, S, etc.). This map shows you generally where those are.

I would recommend that you stay out of Rainier Valley. Most of the residents avoid going thru Rainier Valley, a little less so in Downtown Seattle. Like others have said, try to find a rental house outside Seattle and rent a car. Actually the only worthwhile attraction in downtown Seattle is the Pike Place Market. Rainier Valley is very dangerous. Seehttp://rainiervalleypost.com/rainier-valley-residents-4x-more-likely-to-be-victims-of-violent-crime-than-north-seattleites/

Pier 91 has the best luggage check in of any port. Just take your luggage to the terminal and right inside put your luggage on the conveyor belt. Usually can check in your luggage at 9AM. No porters (longshoremen). The longshoremen in Seattle are making $92/hr for a 6 hr shift and get paid for 8 hrs.

That is the reason that Seattle doesn't have porters, but it so easy to put your luggage on the conveyor belt.

In light of the terrible tragedy in Ketchikan yesterday, does anyone have any insight or thoughts as to whether the Westerdam will be sailing it's normal voyage tomorrow, Saturday June 27th?

Most of the 2,600 passengers are in Seattle now to go on their cruise. The cost to HAL would be over $25 million, plus the disappointment of the passengers that will be on the cruise.

Hubby and I are sailing on the Westerdam on the June 27th. Anyone know of stay, park and cruise hotels in Seattle. Thanks.

You will not find any hotels this week through Sunday. US Open is in Tacoma with 60,000 people from out of town that have rented all hotels from Everett to Olympia.

I have a far bigger problem with Victoria B.C.'s lack of proper sewage treatment for their city, their last big improvement several years ago was to make the discharge pipe longer in the strait of juan de fuca. I do not choose to get off cruise ships at that port to spend any of my money there, will drive up to Vancouver, but [personally] will not visit Victoria until they get a sewage treatment plant that does more than pump raw sewage into the sound. I have no issue with cruise ships in AK waters.

Victoria and Vancouver Island with over 800,000 residents discharge their raw sewerage into Puget Sound and contaminate the waters of the Strait of Juan De Fuca and all of northern Puget sound down to Seattle. All of the cities in Western Washington discharge their treated sewage into Puget Sound. Why are some people making a big deal about the cruise ships discharging their treated sewage into the ocean at the Alaska Ports. All of the Alaska cities do the same.

I'm staying pre-cruise at a downtown Seattle hotel (one day only) and want to go to the Ballard Locks. I'm assuming the quickest way to get there is by taxi. Does anybody know if taxis are stationed near the entrance for the return back to the hotel or will I need to call for a taxi? Approximately how much time should I allot to properly see this area? I'd appreciate any and all advice. Thanks in advance.

You can take 17 route that goes right by the Ballard locks.

A bus that runs more frequently is the No 18 that you can get off on 24th and Market and a easy walk 4 blocks west to the locks. These routes are on the north side of the Ballard Locks. I think there is a bus route on the south side, but the walk is longer.

Seeing the Ballard Locks is well worth it- the locks itself, the salmon ladder- always loaded with salmon, and numerous seals outside the locks catching salmon and the various gardens and trees from all over the world.

The city of Seattle is trying to clean up crime in downtown Seattle that makes it No 1 in the nation for crime. The city is trying to do this before the cruise season that begins next week. Downtown Seattle will still be a dangerous area. 10,000 crimes last year in the 8 block area.

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/seattle-tackles-drug-dealing-disorder-in-downtown-core/

We will be visiting ISP, Juneau and Ketchikan in September.

 

Which port will have the highest possibility of seeing bears - and which is the best guide for that port?

I am seeing Anan Creek out of Ketchikan mentioned a few times ?

TIA.

The Mendenhal Glacier when the salmon are running in Juneau. The nature trail on the right, we always see bears eating salmon in the small creek. Late August and Sept are the best months. From boardwalk, they are right below you, 2 feet away. The rangers are on the trail directing traffic making sure the bears have the right of way.

Another place where you can see bears is Ketchikan Creek 1/2 mile to 2 miles up the creek.