Disembarking in Seattle

What is the earliest time you should book a flight leaving from Seattle? I live in Florida so I always drive to the port for the Caribbean but we are looking at booking a round trip cruise from Seattle.

If you look on the West Coast Departures board, where this is discussed almost daily, it is 11am. This will require getting off in the first groups, and grabbing a cab. If you take Princess transfers, probably nothing before noon.

Straight from the Princess website:

https://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/travel.jsp

SEATTLE

 

Disembarking Passengers

For voyages that arrive in Seattle at 7:00 am, the earliest flight departure is 11:30 am.

For voyages that arrive in Seattle at 7:30 am, the earliest flight departure is 12:00 pm.

Please note, the above flight guidelines are for passengers sailing on a cruise roundtrip from Seattle.

Traffic in Seattle can be very unpredictable and heavy. The entire area is very congested and what seems like an easy 20 trip to SeaTac may take more than an hour.

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There are possible ways to get a flight earlier than noon but there are still uncontrollable factors to worry about. We prefer a stress-free disembarkation time at noon or later.

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It depends on your comfort level and the posts above explain that. But why rush your last day of your vacation?

The Seattle airport has a beautiful floor to ceiling windows to watch planes take off and land and they have many pretty comfortable rocking chairs to sit in! Also great food places. So I recommend that you book a flight for around 2pm or so and that way even if you take the Princess transfer to the airport you don't need to rush or wait overly long for your flight.

Pooh

I agree that 11:00 AM would be the earliest I would go for.

Personally for me who does not care for stress nor to run off the ship Noon works well.

Keith

IMHO, you've GOT to specify what day of the week, and possibly even the exact date, to get a good answer. Weekday traffic can be awful, and that can extend into the 9am hour easily. Put one good overturned truck in there, and you're in a world of hurt. Holiday traffic can be a ghost town, but the holiday exodus (so for July 4, the workday before, and maybe even two workdays before) are worse than a weekday. However, Fridays can be better (the local radio traffic guy often refers to "Friday Lite" as a distinct traffic level), and weekends are slightly dependent on sports games.

What surprised us wasn't the traffic (hey if you live in any major urban areas in North America you are used to it) but the lineups at the airport. The lineup for Southwest to check-in was just just under an hour. And then you still had security.[emoji24]

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We really enjoyed staying an extra night in Seattle after the cruise. Time to relax and rest before going back to the real world. Great restaurants were an added bonus. Definitely, made the end of the trip less stressful.

I went through the same thought process. A lot of the nay Sayers aren't quite taking in everyone's possible circumstances. I'm not sure what yours are, but I couldn't afford (time wise) to spend an extra day in Seattle, and my 11:30 flight already has me getting back to my home airport around 7:30 PM, and then I have about and hour and a half drive home. I need that Sunday after to get ready for work Monday. Anyways, I'd go off the recommendations from the cruise line. My ship docks at 7, so I have an 11:30 flight, and I've already scheduled a private car.

I’ve been in line at security for 90min at SeaTac before.... can you afford that risk?

I've done this flight issue back to FL 5x. Don't try for before 11am. Plan on being in the first group off if you do and have a ride prearranged and that means first group express walk off with your own luggage.. Keep in mind, if you have status with Princess you can snag true first off. Otherwise, you will still be a couple groups back. Traffic and Security and check in lines at Seattle can either be a breeze or a total waiting game.

I went through the same thought process. A lot of the nay Sayers aren't quite taking in everyone's possible circumstances. I'm not sure what yours are, but I couldn't afford (time wise) to spend an extra day in Seattle, and my 11:30 flight already has me getting back to my home airport around 7:30 PM, and then I have about and hour and a half drive home. I need that Sunday after to get ready for work Monday. Anyways, I'd go off the recommendations from the cruise line. My ship docks at 7, so I have an 11:30 flight, and I've already scheduled a private car.

Exactly!