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Here's my pre-cruise trip report for Seattle!


kctwinmommy
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We got to Seattle on the Friday before our cruise, around 1 p.m. We used a car service, Already There, for a ride from Sea-Tac to our hotel. Our driver, Adam, was great. He gave us the nickel tour on the way, just giving us some suggestions and ideas. We stayed at the Four Points Sheraton near Seattle Center. The hotel was clean, but the rooms were pretty small for 3 of us to be in there with all our luggage. I had read things and the hotel is geared more toward business travelers it seems, but we were pretty much only sleeping there.

 

 

 

Our first night we walked over to Seattle Center and grabbed a late, quick lunch at the Armory (it has some shops, fast food, and the children’s museum inside). We walked around a little bit, listened to a great Ecuadorian band there, Quichua Mashis (they were there all weekend), and then hopped on the monorail. Since we had a military discount and 1 child, it was only $3 to go one-way. The monorail gets you down into the city, it’s only like 3-4 minutes, but saves you walking time. We walked around for a while, went to Pike Place Market, saw the fish guys, then headed down to the waterfront. There is a lot of construction going on around there so we just walked around for a while and then finally grabbed some dinner at a restaurant, Elephant & Castle near 5th & Pike. Finally took the monorail back to Seattle Center to get to our hotel for the night.

 

 

 

On Saturday we went over to Seattle Center in the morning. We went to the Chihuly Glass museum and it was great! Loved all the different pieces and lots of information about the artist. They also have photographers around the museum that will take your picture. Then they give you a little credit card thing and you scan them at the various kiosks and it gives you the picture in digital form, so you can email it to yourself or others. It’s all for free! So definitely do all of them. After that we went to the EMP museum. We didn’t pay extra for the Star Trek exhibit, just the regular part. There were some neat things, the World of Wearable Art exhibit was neat! If you’re a big music fan, you’ll most likely enjoy it. Large exhibit on Nirvana, as well as a section about Jimi Hendrix and a guitar gallery. We grabbed some lunch at Big Mario’s pizza place on 5th, near our hotel. Decent thin crust pizza, and cheap! Cheese slices were on sale for $1 that day! That evening we met up with some friends who were in town as well. We walked around again by the market area, looking for someplace to eat. Myself and the other wife are a bit of picky eaters, so it took us some time. We eventually settled on Kells Irish Pub. Our friends had some pasties, which they said were good. I had roasted chicken which was excellent. Our son had Shepard’s Pie for the first time and loved it.

 

 

 

Sunday we started with the Underground Seattle tour – totally recommend it! Great history of the city and such a unique tour. It’s walking around a few blocks, but also going up and down some staircases, so be ready for that. After that we walked over the pier and took a ferry over to Bremerton. We had planned on just taking it right back since we had plans that evening, but we ended up staying there and visiting the Puget Sound Naval museum, which is free. Came back to the city around 5:30 and met our friends for an evening event from their company.

 

 

 

On Monday we rented a car from Enterprise and headed out to Snoqualmie Falls. We had planned on going to Mt. Rainier, but realized we didn’t give ourselves enough time. So we went to the falls instead. Make sure you go visit the area at the lower falls too. It’s fun to walk out on the rocks a bit and climb around. Then we drove around Tiger Mountain and did a short hike on a trail. We weren’t really dressed for a long one, so we just went about a mile up and back down. Late in the afternoon we went to Sky View Center. It’s much cheaper than the Space Needle. Plus, once you buy your ticket they stamp your hand so you can come back again. We spent a little time there, maybe only 20 other people were there, our son got a drink at the Starbucks there (it’s the highest one in the world apparently!) and then went back to our hotel for some dinner and to rest. We went back to Sky View around 9:30 for an amazing nighttime view of the city.

 

 

 

The next morning, we took the car back to Enterprise and they had a shuttle that took us to the pier for free. That worked out the best for us. The shuttle was there within about 10 minutes of us returning the car. Nice driver too.

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Thanks for the feedback. Curious what the source of info was for Tiger Mt. It's a bit of a locals place more so than on most tourist lists. Glad you got to get into the forest a bit. It's a hike my son and his kids do regularly and I'm looking forward to joining them soon now that we are back in the area.

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Thanks for the feedback. Curious what the source of info was for Tiger Mt. It's a bit of a locals place more so than on most tourist lists. Glad you got to get into the forest a bit. It's a hike my son and his kids do regularly and I'm looking forward to joining them soon now that we are back in the area.

 

After we finished at Snoqualmie Falls, we asked at the lodge there for some suggestions. We also stopped at a local place to get some fresh cherries and my husband talked to someone there. We didn't plan on doing any serious hiking, like I said, which is why we weren't totally dressed for it. But we still went about a mile up on a trail around the mountain.

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A lucky find. Always a good idea to ask around to find the places other visitors will miss. Especially the ones not venturing out of the city. Very popular on weekends - especially if nice out.

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A lucky find. Always a good idea to ask around to find the places other visitors will miss. Especially the ones not venturing out of the city. Very popular on weekends - especially if nice out.

 

Well, to be honest, once I saw Poo Poo Point on the map, my wonderful 12 year old son insisted we hike it!! LOL! We didn't do the whole thing, up to the point. But I told him he could tell people he hiked on Poo Poo trail! ;)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Wanted to add a few photos from the things we did...

 

The EMP Museum

_MG_1005_zpsbxg3xtmj.jpg

 

Pike Place Market

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Space Needle

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Chihuly museum

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Chihuly museum (loved this place!)

_MG_1416_zpscjgsw82e.jpg

Guitar sculpture inside the EMP Museum

_MG_1606_zpseecuhaev.jpg

Edited by kctwinmommy
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Great photo of the Space Needle! Must have been a longer exposure to catch that lighting.

 

I can't believe the gum wall has that much on it already. It was just last fall I saw it had been steam blasted to clean it off after 20 years of accumulation. Labeled as the worlds 2nd germiest tourist attraction (after the Blarney Stone - OMG :eek: I kissed the worlds germiest attraction! Yuk :o).

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Great photo of the Space Needle! Must have been a longer exposure to catch that lighting.

 

I can't believe the gum wall has that much on it already. It was just last fall I saw it had been steam blasted to clean it off after 20 years of accumulation. Labeled as the worlds 2nd germiest tourist attraction (after the Blarney Stone - OMG :eek: I kissed the worlds germiest attraction! Yuk :o).

 

I actually just got a new camera, has a great range of ISO! =) I didn't have any tripod with me, so everything I shot was handheld, hard on the night time Seattle shot.

 

And yes, that wall was disgusting!!!

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'kctwinmommy'...thanks for sharing your great trip in the Seattle area and for the wonderful photos! Your information will be very helpful for the next time we're in Seattle. :)

 

Thanks! We enjoyed it, but honestly felt we did everything we wanted to do and no real need to go back.

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Hello! I enjoyed your pre-trip report and cruise review. Did you use the same car service to return to SeaTac post-cruise? I was thinking about catching a cab but I'm interested in hearing your experience.

 

We also need to catch an 11:15 flight, so we'll be debarking as early as possible.

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Hello! I enjoyed your pre-trip report and cruise review. Did you use the same car service to return to SeaTac post-cruise? I was thinking about catching a cab but I'm interested in hearing your experience.

 

We also need to catch an 11:15 flight, so we'll be debarking as early as possible.

 

Yes we did, Already There Towncar service. The guy who took us from Sea-Tac to our hotel was great. Gave us some local tips, etc... Very nice! The guy on the trip from the ship to the airport wasn't as talkative, but that was fine, we were all tired. LOL! But he was nice still, and quick. We got to the airport around 9:30. But, the lines were long, about 30-45 minute because there were 3 cruise ships that docked I believe she said. So I'm sure it's that way every Tuesday.

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What time did you have the driver arrive at the port to pick you up, and did you have to wait after you debarked?

We will have priority self-assist debarkation. Thanks for the helpful information.

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Edited by 422Melissa
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What time did you have the driver arrive at the port to pick you up, and did you have to wait after you debarked?

We will have priority self-assist debarkation. Thanks for the helpful information.

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

We had it scheduled for 10:00 a.m. and we called since we were off at 9:00. We did self-assist debarkation and walked off around 8:30-8:45, took us 5 minutes to get to the dock after going through security. So we called the company and they were able to get a car there in 5 minutes.

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Thanks for the recommendation. I had Already There pick me up right at 08:00 and I'm already through airport security and sitting at my gate at 9:15.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

 

We are getting ready to board now, can you recommend transportation back to the airport?

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Already There Towncar service is fine. I used uber from the airport to downtown Seattle and that was also fine. Cabs are plentiful when you leave the ship as well.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Any idea what a cab would be from pier 91 to the airport??

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