Seattle Q&A/FAQ

I have been vewwy vewwy bad (or is it just vewwy vewwwy quiet, Elmer?) for the past couple of months. I have a blog about all things Seattle that I made a promise to myself would be updated daily. Instead, I have been kind of busy babysitting my ginormous thread about the PVSA over on Ask A Cruise Question, and making sure that any new updates get posted there timely.

Since I am answering so many questions for my "friends and neighbors" here on CC, I thought maybe you could help me out with my neglected task.

If you have any kind of question about Seattle, ask it, and I will do a post to my blog, then summarize it here for your enjoyment/edification.

Ask me pretty much anything, and I will answer. If I don't KNOW the answer, I will find out (I am pretty resourceful, after all). Such as:

Weather (yes, it rains every day, 10 inches......NOT)

Hotels

Restaurants

Tourist Attractions

Parking

Driving Directions

Cruise Terminals and Facilities

Ferries

Taxis

Buses

Train

Street Cars/Light Rail

Quality of Life

Festivals

And so on and so on and so on.....

Ask away.

(NOTE TO MODERATORS: My Seattle blog is informative only, and does not make any commercial advertising).

Thanks Karen!! Prepare for my questions!:D

I've got one for you that has nothing to do with cruising. My son is thinking about moving to your area. He is looking at the Bremerton/Port Orchard area so he can commute to Tacoma and still take the shuttle over to Seattle to do all the fun stuff. What is the Kitsap area like and is it a safe place for a 24 Year Old Respiratory Therapist to live??

Wrona: You've got it my friend.

T and J: That's an easy one (and I don't even need to write a blog piece about that one). As a 56 year old RN who moved here when I was 50, along with two daughters and a soon to be son-in-law, we moved to Winslow in Kitsap County for our first WA home. (Winslow is on Bainbridge Island, in case you didn't know).

Bremerton has its moments. It's a Navy town in large part, because the NSPS is one of the larger employers in town. They do have some gang issues in certain parts of town, though (not unlike most cities any more, unfortunately). Harrison Hospital and the Navy Hospital are both in town, and both use RT's if he is not inclined to go all the way to Tacoma--a grueling drive if you go across the bridge from Gig Harbor into Tacoma OR ferry to the Seattle side and drive down that way--traffic here is nasty. If he lives in the parts of Bremerton farther away from the city center and out along the freeway towards Silverdale or out along the inlet, it is much nicer and generally safer (though also more expensive, of course).

Port Orchard is a nice little town, smaller obviously, and I like it better than Bremerton (but that's just my opinion). It's still no picnic to get from there to Tacoma, though.

Kitsap gets more weather than we do here in Seattle, mainly because it is closer to the Olympic Mountains, so it catches more snow in the winter, and more rain any time it rains due to the Puget Sound Convergence Zone, so he needs to be prepared for that.

There is a ferry from Bremerton to Seattle, both walk on and car ferry. Trip takes one hour from downtown Bremerton to downtown Seattle. Runs from a little after 5:00 am to a little after midnight seven days a week (though first sailing is later on the weekends than during the week). Eastbound is free for walk on and you pay for westbound. Motor vehicles and bicycles pay both ways. From Port Orchard you can either go to Bremerton to ferry to downtown or to Southworth to ferry to West Seattle via Vashon Island.

If he is a bright, strong young man (and I'm sure he is if he is your son, right?), he should be fine there and enjoy it thoroughly. There is more to do in Bremerton than there is in Silverdale, Port Orchard or Winslow....for sure.

Any other questions, let me know.

Nice to have a dedicated Seattle resource to call on. Thanks Karen.

I've asked some or all of these questions on other threads, but a consolidation of all the queres and your responses might be worthwhile.

My wife and I have booked a Pacific Coast cruise on Celebrity's Mercury, departing on October 13th from Vancouver. Our plan is to fly into Seattle on either Saturday, 10/11, or Sunday, 10/12, and then make our way to Vancouver on 10/13 for a late evening departure. So, here are my questions:

1. What hotels would you recommend?

2. Assuming that mid October is not your peak season, would you recommend waiting until much closer to the cruise before making the hotel reservations?

3. Because the Amtrak train leaves early in the morning for Vancouver, would you recommend staying in a hotel close to the Amtrak station?

4. If you had one or two days to enjoy your first visit to Seattle, what would you be sure to do and make sure you saw?

Thaks again for your help.

Nice to have a dedicated Seattle resource to call on. Thanks Karen.

I've asked some or all of these questions on other threads, but a consolidation of all the queres and your responses might be worthwhile.

My wife and I have booked a Pacific Coast cruise on Celebrity's Mercury, departing on October 13th from Vancouver. Our plan is to fly into Seattle on either Saturday, 10/11, or Sunday, 10/12, and then make our way to Vancouver on 10/13 for a late evening departure. So, here are my questions:

1. What hotels would you recommend?

2. Assuming that mid October is not your peak season, would you recommend waiting until much closer to the cruise before making the hotel reservations?

3. Because the Amtrak train leaves early in the morning for Vancouver, would you recommend staying in a hotel close to the Amtrak station?

4. If you had one or two days to enjoy your first visit to Seattle, what would you be sure to do and make sure you saw?

Thaks again for your help.

Okay since you said you are open to questions about Seattle what do you think are the chances of the Mariners going to the World Series or the Seahawks winning the Super Bowl in 09?

Cheers

Dennis

Larry: OK, I'm working on those. Check back here tomorrow for at least parts of your answers.

Dennis: I would rate the M's chances as better than the Hawks, given that they at least did something to better themselves during the offseason. If they all stay healthy and play up to their potential Felix and Erik at the beginning and JJ at the end should be downright scary/intimidating this year. Too early to tell for the Hawks, because their off-season signings and drafts are just beginning. I do think they should win the division again, and should be motivated to go further than that since it is Holmy's last season.

I hope this goes thru. This is the second one I've done today:confused:

Thank for your kind offer to help.

We'll be in Seattle for a couple of days in Sept.

When we get in we would like to get to a liquor store, grocery & UPS store on 7th from the Marriott Waterfront. Could we walk to these places & taxi back ?

Another day we'd like to ferry to Port Townsend. Is there transportation to Olympic N. P. and back to the ferry dock for the ride back ? or what else is there to do ?

Possibly more questions later, Thank you,

MaryAnn

Very nice of you to offer your help to everyone. I have a couple of questions. I am going out on NCL May 10 to Alaska, we are staying at the Travelodge by Space needle. Got a great deal on price, before thy did all reovations on place. What is the best way to get from airport to hotel? I have heard of a shuttle service for $11.00 from airport to some of the main hotels, but don't know how far they are from our hotel? Can we walk from one of these hotels or pay the $2.00 transfer to the Travel lodge? On Saturday how far of a walk is from hotel to Pier 66? When we finish cruise on the 17th what is best car service from pier to airport? We have a 12:05pm flight. We were told back in October ( by NCL)that would give us enough time to get to airport. I am concern about waiting for just any car service to take us to airport. Am I wrong to want to book service to be sure we have one? Thank you again for any help.

Grannymary

My dh and I are cruising on the Westerdam (Pier 30) 5/18/2008. We will be staying with his cousin on 5/16/2008 who lives in the Kitsap area (Kingston). Question: Traveling to Pier 30 on Sunday, 5/18/2008 via the Bremerton to Seattle ferry by car (will either drop off at Thrifty rental car pier 48 or will park a car at the terminal). In order to drop our luggage off at the pier around 11:00 am, which ferry should we take (there are several departures that morning). Thank you so much! Seattle is beautiful, and your right...when we were there in August 2004, there was absolutely no rain while we were there (3 days).

Very nice of you to offer your help to everyone. I have a couple of questions. I am going out on NCL May 10 to Alaska, we are staying at the Travelodge by Space needle. Got a great deal on price, before thy did all reovations on place. What is the best way to get from airport to hotel? I have heard of a shuttle service for $11.00 from airport to some of the main hotels, but don't know how far they are from our hotel? Can we walk from one of these hotels or pay the $2.00 transfer to the Travel lodge? On Saturday how far of a walk is from hotel to Pier 66? When we finish cruise on the 17th what is best car service from pier to airport? We have a 12:05pm flight. We were told back in October ( by NCL)that would give us enough time to get to airport. I am concern about waiting for just any car service to take us to airport. Am I wrong to want to book service to be sure we have one? Thank you again for any help.Grannymary

Most cost effective, other than Metro (which is pretty much out of the question unless you have minimal luggage), is the Gray Line Airporter, followed by the extra fee Connector bus which will take you right to the Travelodge at the Space Needle. Link to purchase tickets is here:

http://www.graylineseattle.com/airportexpress1.cfm

You cannot, however, purchase the connector tickets in advance, but the number to call on your travel day to get them to pick you up is on the same website.

It is between 1.75 and 2.0 miles from the Travelodge to Pier 66. It is, for the most part, downhill all the way. I have walked it any number of times from Belltown to Pier 66 (about six blocks less than the distance from the Travelodge) with luggage, but you may not want to do so. Taxi less than $10.00.

Rather than a car service, you might want to consider Shuttle Express to get you back to the airport. They have a supervisor on site at Pier 66 to make sure that you get out in time (the car services mostly don't, they just come singly). You can book reservations with them right now (after getting a price check) at:

http://www.shuttleexpress.com

mp: Gee, if it was me, first of all, I wouldn't drive all the way to Bremerton to take the ferry into Seattle. There is a ferry terminal right there in Kingston, and the boat goes to Edmonds, which is a bit north of Seattle. Traffic north to south is often better than coming across from Bremerton, especially since the Mariners have a day game that day and the Bremerton and Bainbridge ferries will both be SRO from about 7:00 am til well into early afternoon.

You could catch the 8:35 ferry in Kingston and be in Edmonds half an hour later. 45 minutes to an hour into downtown, depending on the traffic would be my guess, getting you down there in more than enough time to make check in. You can drop someone off right in front of Terminal 30 with the bags, as there are longshoremen/porters there waiting to take them in the drop off area, then you can go and drop the car off and take their shuttle back. Only problem is that Thrifty has a habit of being kind of slow with the transfers back to Terminal 30, so that parking a car at the terminal might be a better idea if you can do it.

I hope this goes thru. This is the second one I've done today:confused:

 

Thank for your kind offer to help.

 

We'll be in Seattle for a couple of days in Sept.

When we get in we would like to get to a liquor store, grocery & UPS store on 7th from the Marriott Waterfront. Could we walk to these places & taxi back ?

 

Another day we'd like to ferry to Port Townsend. Is there transportation to Olympic N. P. and back to the ferry dock for the ride back ? or what else is there to do ?

 

Possibly more questions later, Thank you,

MaryAnn

Liquor store : (assuming you mean hard spirits) is the WA state store at 2nd & Seneca. There are no liquor sales in WA on Sunday, so you will need to make sure that you are not planning to go on that day. You COULD walk there from the Marriott--it would be about 5-6 long blocks up Alaskan Way to Seneca, then straight up a steep hill to 2nd. The Alaskan Way part is flat.

Grocery Store: None downtown at all, if you mean supermarket type grocery stores. There are a couple of convenience markets, the closest one of which to the Marriott would be Dan's Belltown Market at 3rd & Bell. There is an elevator right by the Marriott that will take you up to Elliott and Bell, more or less, then you walk uphill to Third Av. This is more than a 7-11 but less than a full supermarket type of store. If you need a full supermarket, the closest ones would be in lower Queen Anne, either Safeway or QFC (our version of Kroegers).

There is a closer UPS store than 7th Av. It is at 1st Av between Marion and Madison on the water side of the street. Within a block or two of the state store, so you could go to both at one time.

The car ferry to Port Townsend is not currently in service, due to an accident with structural damage a few months ago, and not enough available boats to replace it. I think they are still doing a passenger only ferry, but do not know when the car ferry will be back in service (it could be quite a while given the state of the older ferries right now). I'm not sure if there are any local tour companies in Port Townsend that are doing day trips to ONP in September or not (if the weather stays like it has been, it could be snowing up there by then). Port Townsend itself is quite the quaint little town--kind of hippie-ish/throwback to the 60's, if you know what I mean. They are suffering out there right now because of the fact that tourists can't get out there as a result of the ferry problem.

OK, Larry, here we go:

2. Unlike a number of years ago, Seattle now pretty much has tourist season all year long, though October is after the main summer rushes. If the Mariners make it into the playoffs this year (as we are hoping they will after their pitching additions this offseason), it could be quite busy here in early to mid-October (even November if they go farther than I think they will), and football season will be in full swing by then, too, and it takes lots of locals and out of town fans to fill up the 70K+ QWest Field of a Sunday. That being said, no, I would NOT wait to make reservations, I would make them now.

1. GIve me an idea of your budget and the types of properties that you like/don't like.

3. There are two hotels that are in very close proximity to King Street Station. They are the brand new Silver Cloud Inn Stadium, which is about three blocks away, and the Best Western Pioneer Square Inn, which is about one mile away. You need to be at the station not later than 6:15 am, so staying close is not a bad idea in and of itself.

4. Remembering back to that day some years back, I would give strong consideration to: Pike Place Market, the Underground Tour, the International District, the Olympic Sculpture Garden, the Space Needle (if you are into very tall buildings that REALLY sway in the breeze, but have great views), the observation deck and ladies room on the 73rd floor of the Columbia Tower (yes, they let men in, too--the view is spectacular from the restroom windows), the Duck Tour if it is not freezing cold and raining, and getting some of our great Pacific NW cooking. The ladies room is only open M-F, though, and closed on the weekends.

I am in the process of booking a cruise on either Princess or Celebrity leaving from Seattle. The last time I was in Seattle was in 1954 and barely walking at age 1.

So needless to say I need help in locating a hotel that isn't to far from the pier or one that has a shuttle. I would like to visit the Pike fish market but have no idea where this is in the city. Any suggestions you might have would be very much appreciated. I am looking to stay under $175.00 a night if at all possible. Renting a car is an option since we are coming in the day before the cruise August 7th.

Thank you!!!!

Emmilu: Princess and X leave from two different areas of the harbor. X leaves from Pier 66, which is downtown on the waterfront. Princess leaves from Terminal 30, which is in the SODO (South of Downtown) neighborhood.

People are getting SpringHill Suites up on Yale for about $90.00 per night on Priceline, I am hearing. Comfort Suites on Roy are going for about $160.00 per night on an Internet rate (i.e. book and pay same day on the Internet). Neither of them are horrendously far from Pier 66 (within 2-2.5 miles).

The two hotels closest to Terminal 30 are both well over $175.00 per night. Best Western Pioneer Square Inn has a $149.99 per night Internet rate, but they have a two night miniimum. Silver Cloud Inn Stadium is $285.00 per night.

Silver Cloud and SpringHill both have shuttles. Don't know about Comfort Suites, and Best Western does not. Parking downtown averages $30.00 per day, so you may not want to rent that car if it will break the bank to park.

Pike Place Market is right downtown at First Av and Pike St. About 1.5 miles from SpringHill, 2 or so from Comfort Suites and 3-4 from the Silver Cloud and about 2.5 give or take from Best Western.

Hi SeattleCruiser, new cruiser here. I'm looking at shuttles from SeaTac to Pier 30. RCCL is sailing from there this year from what I understand. I've been looking at Gray Line and their cruise ship express. They say they only service those going to terminal 30 if they are cruising on Holland or Princess. Why would that be if the only thing I need is to get from the airport to terminal 30? Why would it matter which line I'm cruising with?

Gray Line is owned by HAL, which is a sister line to PCL but, other than that, I can't imagine why it would matter. RCI uses Gray Line buses for their own transfers. Have you checked with them (RCI) about taking their transfers, even with independent air? They will book for you, all you need is your flight schedule.

Other than that, you can also use Shuttle Express or taxis..all will take you direct to Terminal 30.

Hi, SeattleCruiselover

I am booked on HAL and I would like to embark as soon as I can. What time should I arrive at Pier 30? What is check-in process like? When do you go through security?

Thanks.

B

When they will let you on depends on how smoothly disembarkation went, for the most part. Scheduled embarkation is 1:00 pm, but I have seen it start as early as 11:30 and as late as 3:00 pm or after. I never arrive later than about 10:00 am, so that I can be close to the front of the line but, of course, that has backfired more than once.

I haven't sailed HAL from here, but I can tell you what we did for NCL, X and RCI. You go through initial screening at the front of the hall, go into queues based on priority for boarding (i.e. past pax, suites, and everyone else). Then you wait in line for a time. If you're early, probably not more than 15-30 minutes. If you're late you could wait for over an hour in line. Passports and credit cards scanned and documents verified. Then you either wait for your boarding group to be called, or proceed right to security, depending on when you arrive. After that straight aboard.

Thanks so much for your answers-I will definitely take the Kingston ferry at 8:35 am, then have my dh drop me off at the terminal while he goes to the Thrifty car rental drop-off. Hopefully, he won't get hung up too long while he's there.

Thanks for the information.

If I understand correctly, if two ships are sailing from Pier 30 on the same day, all passengers go through security (metal detectors, carry-on screening) prior to being separated into groups for check-in? Does the security line get long?

Thanks.

B

Hi- Thanks for all the help.

I;ll check out the other UPS location .

Won't have a car - so the car ferry is not an issue for me - it's a shame - it really is important to Port Townsend.

Not a big fan of the 60's scene back then - so I'm not real interested in it again = but if it's a pretty town and we can go to the N.P. for awhile - and the scenery back & forth on the ferry would still make it a good day.

I think the grocery store would be OK and the liquor store is just what we needed.

Thank you (for now), MaryAn

Wrona: You've got it my friend.

 

T and J: That's an easy one (and I don't even need to write a blog piece about that one). As a 56 year old RN who moved here when I was 50, along with two daughters and a soon to be son-in-law, we moved to Winslow in Kitsap County for our first WA home. (Winslow is on Bainbridge Island, in case you didn't know).

 

Bremerton has its moments. It's a Navy town in large part, because the NSPS is one of the larger employers in town. They do have some gang issues in certain parts of town, though (not unlike most cities any more, unfortunately). Harrison Hospital and the Navy Hospital are both in town, and both use RT's if he is not inclined to go all the way to Tacoma--a grueling drive if you go across the bridge from Gig Harbor into Tacoma OR ferry to the Seattle side and drive down that way--traffic here is nasty. If he lives in the parts of Bremerton farther away from the city center and out along the freeway towards Silverdale or out along the inlet, it is much nicer and generally safer (though also more expensive, of course).

 

Port Orchard is a nice little town, smaller obviously, and I like it better than Bremerton (but that's just my opinion). It's still no picnic to get from there to Tacoma, though.

 

Kitsap gets more weather than we do here in Seattle, mainly because it is closer to the Olympic Mountains, so it catches more snow in the winter, and more rain any time it rains due to the Puget Sound Convergence Zone, so he needs to be prepared for that.

 

There is a ferry from Bremerton to Seattle, both walk on and car ferry. Trip takes one hour from downtown Bremerton to downtown Seattle. Runs from a little after 5:00 am to a little after midnight seven days a week (though first sailing is later on the weekends than during the week). Eastbound is free for walk on and you pay for westbound. Motor vehicles and bicycles pay both ways. From Port Orchard you can either go to Bremerton to ferry to downtown or to Southworth to ferry to West Seattle via Vashon Island.

 

If he is a bright, strong young man (and I'm sure he is if he is your son, right?), he should be fine there and enjoy it thoroughly. There is more to do in Bremerton than there is in Silverdale, Port Orchard or Winslow....for sure.

 

Any other questions, let me know.

Thank you so much for the quick response. I am sure that I will have tons of other questions. One might be: Would it be better for him to live around the Seattle area and work in Seattle? How is the RT job market out there?

Thanks again. All the information you can provide is greatly appreicated. I could even provide you my e-mail address if that would be better.

Tom