Seattle Hotel ???? Help ????

[AlaskaFan05]

Hello,

My wife and I are taking an Alaskan cruise in September and we are arriving a day early so we can see some sights in Seattle (space needle,pikeplace market,etc.). Where has everyone stayed and where would they suggest us staying to see those particular sights. We are booked right now near the airport but Im hearing horror stories about the price of cabs to get into the city. Please provide some suggestions or experiences. Thanks so much, Jeff:)

[JGR01]

Cabs are expensive . I would consider renting a car . since you want to do several distant things. Space Needle and Pike Place are a good 10-15 minutes apart.

 

In the city, there are many hotels, tho again none near these attractions. The Fairmont Olympic is great, there are several hotels on the edge of the city by the freeway (still 5+ minute cab from attractions).

 

I have done both .. airport hotels and then rental car to tour and city hotel with a car also. In the city the parking is $$ so a more expensive option.

[didan]

AlaskaFan,

We took a cruise to Alaska last year in September and stayed at the Silver Cloud Inn at Lake Union - http://silvercloud.com/11home.htm and we were very happy with them.

 

Though the hotel is not right downtown, it's about 2 miles (maybe a little less) from the Space Needle. The rooms are big - we got one with a jacuzzi - and most have great views of the lake. They offer free shuttle service to 5 different points downtown - including Pike's Market and the Space Needle. Leaves the hotel every half hour or so, call for pick-up back to the hotel. We were there for a couple of days and walked back to the hotel once or twice. Otherwise, we just had our cell phone and called about 20 minutes before we were ready to return and set up a time and meeting place.

 

They also offer a complementary breakfast - quite good, though the room can be crowded. There is not a restaurant on the premises, but there are plenty of good restaurants along the waterfront across the street.

 

They also offer free shuttle service to the pier the day of your cruise. Just sign up for a time the day before at the front desk.

 

Just another thought - we took the Duck Tour through Seattle (starts from near the Space Needle) and really enjoyed it. Gives you a good overall view of the city and Lake Union before you begin exploring on your own. And, if you can, try to time yourself so you are at the top of the Space Needle at sunset. Well worth the view - looking over the city during the day and then at night.

 

Good luck and enjoy your cruise. Alaska is beautiful. Just writing this brings back so many wonderful memories - wish we were going with you!:D

[dst]

Let me try to help, I live in Seattle. The taxi from the airport is going to be 25.00 to any downtown area hotel. I would not rent a car, Seattle is a friendly walking city and you can get to anything by foot or by bus. Someone had said that the space needle was 15 minutes away and yes that is true but you can catch our monorail system from center of twon and it takes you directly to the Space Needle.

 

So if you can tell me how much you want to spend on a hotel for the night, I can give you some suggestions. also a great web site for the area is http://www.nwsource.com it has lots of info on the area including hotels and things to see and do. If you give me some background on what you and your wife like I can help you out, let me know what your interest are, food likes, and I'll come up with some things for you to do.

 

Seattle is a great city and the only bad thing is that you have just one day here......but we'll make the best of it :)

 

I'll check the boards again or you can email me:

 

Deb

[AlaskaFan05]

I would like to thank everyone for all the info. You all have been extremely helpful. So again, thank you very much!!!

 

Jeff & Beth:)

[AlaskaFan05]

Hello Again Everyone,

 

Well the wife and I have discussed things and here is what we would like to do. Right now we are scheduled to land in Seattle around 1:30 PM on Friday, Sept. 2nd. We are booked at a hotel near the airport, but that seems so far away form everything we want to see. We looked into renting a car and that seems like a nightmare, so we scratched that idea. We did check into the SilverCloud Inn and that does look nice(THANKS Didan). We do indeed want to see the space needle and Pike Place Market! My wife has a slightly bad back so we cant do tons of walking. We are taking our cruise on Princess and I believe they leave from pier 30. So, basically, we are looking for something around all of this that wont break the bank. We would like to spend somewhere in the mid 100's for the night. Plus a nice restaurant that has good steak would be great too. Any more help would be great as we would like to get all of this taken care of soon. DST, I went to e-mail you as I think you are extremely helpful and could come up with some great ideas as you live there, but I do not know how to get in touch with you. Either way is fine with me. I look forward to more ideas !!!!! Again, thank you all for helping make our trip wonderful.

 

Jeff & Beth;)

[mo'vakayplz]

We conclude our cruise on Sunday Aug 7. Our plane does not leave Sea-Tac until 10:30 pm Sunday.

 

Can anyone suggest a hotel that would allow a very early check -in...I would be willing to pay for the night, even though we won't actually sleep over night in the hotel.

 

With 4 children, husband & I need a place to set up base & do a few things with the little ones. We will be in Seattle a few days before the cruise, so we are only looking for a room, an indoor pool and probably a shower before we head to the airport for our overnight flight.

 

Thanks

[cbfosterdog]

Definately worth any extra $ to stay an extra day in Seattle no matter what. We stayed pre & post trip.

We stayed at the DoubleTree at the airport (great place, beautiful trees) pre-trip and the Marqueen in town post trip.

The Marqueen is VERY old - historical. Huge rooms that were once apartments in the "old" days. If you like the idea of wood floors(they do creak) and the ambience of "back when" then it's a cool place. If you like more modern, this is not the place.

Be sure and do a 3 hour Seattle tour bus...it was the best thing we ever spent $40 on, and didn't have to rent a car and pay for parking everywhere! They even drop you off at any destination post-tour. So we picked Pikes Place market and took a cab back from there to the Marqueen.

There's a lot more to know about Seattle than just touring it yourself and "looking".:)

[dosi]

We stayed at this hotel in May on a Priceline bid of $35. We paid an extra $10 to upgrade to the newer tower building. There is a shuttle that runs every half hour or so that will take you right into the center of downtown Seattle. I think we paid $12pp and it was worth every penny. No haggling with cabbies, no stress from renting a car!!! We did take a cab from the port to the hotel and I think that was about $30. But still when you figure the price of the hotel, cab and shuttle total vs the price of staying downtown we came out waaaaay ahead, plus the hotel had a free shuttle to the airport the next day for our flight. Great property too!!

[cod]

In September '03 we spent 2 nights at Comfort Suites-Seattle Center on Roy St. We had a nice large room (2 queens) with a separate seating/tv area..couch, chair, tables, etc.. I dug out my receipt and it was $84.00 + tax....back then. They also had a very nice continental breakfast. There was a shuttle service from the airport (not belonging to the hotel) that dropped people at hotels or wherever in town. I forgot what that cost so I can't say if it would be better/cheaper than a taxi. I think the hotel mentioned it to me when I asked about ways to get to them from the airport.

 

This hotel is easy walking distance from the space needle but to get downtown we used the hotel shuttle. (Downtown wasn't that terrribly far, just too far to walk and then sightsee besides!!) It made regular trips (or sometimes just on request) and only required a tip to the driver. I guess I shouldn't say 'required' but I don't think anyone would be taken to where they wanted to go and not tip. The driver offered to come back and get us if we knew when and what time. We didn't and so we opted to take the 'free' in town bus to get around some and then to get back to within a block of our hotel that evening. We had a wonderful, full day in Seattle.

 

The day of our cruise, we took the hotel's shuttle to the pier. It was scheduled for every half hour and the times around noon were full so we picked 10 which was good for us. We didn't have a long wait at all and were amongst the first on the Sky.

 

I would definately stay at this Comfort Suites again should we ever get back to Seattle. Also, it was booked up (I booked way in advance) and so I would make my reservation asap.

 

Good luck and have a wonderful cruise!!!

[dst]

OKay, sorry I ahve not been online for a bit. If you want to email me that woudl be fine debimthomas@msn.com and I can give you everything that you need.

 

As far as COD's suggestions, that would work there is a few other hotels directly in the downtown area and getting to the space needle would be easy. If you email me with your price limits I can let you know what falls in that price range.

 

There are tons of great steak palces as well, my favorite is The Metropolitan Grill on 4th Ave, directly downtown. Its a popular hang out after work and has a great happy hour, I am usually there a few times a month :) The steaks are great but it can be pricey. Also there is a Ruths Chris on 4th Ave very pricey but probably the best steak you will ever have.

 

Seattle is an interesting city where you can have extremely pricey places and then also reasonably priced restaurants, so if you tell me where your at I can help you.

 

Seattle is also a very safe area, so being out at night would be fine. Even though you said yourwife can not walk too much I am sure she will want to go out and about.

 

So anyway, email me and I can let you know more.....hope this helps a bit.

[cod]

I should have said $84 per night. I remember being surprised at hotel prices in Seattle and - at the time - I thought that sounded like a pretty good deal compared to some rates that I found. But dst - being from that area - may know of some nice, not too pricey places to stay right in town. When you live thousands of miles away and have to check long-distance, you look for some recommendations (I found a couple for that Comfort Suites) and you check prices and location and hope for the best. If you are well satisfied (we were) you should feel lucky!

[dst]

Seattle has such a sort and weird summer that the hotel prices are really high from July (when the weather is finally nice) thru October. So finding anything in the downtown area reasonably priced is very very difficult.

 

I think if you are on vacation, splurge a little. That's why we all work so hard. If anyone needs suggestions on hotels, please let me know.

[swkittrell]

dst We are a group of 3 couples coming from NC. We found the Holiday Inn on Aurora on price line and booked 3 rooms. Is this a good place to stay? We will be arriving in Seattle on the morning of Fri. July 22. Can you suggest a way to get to the hotel from the airport? I don't know if it offers any shuttle service to or from the airport. We will also need to get from the hotel to the pier on Sun. July the 24th. We are interested in doing some sight seeingaand going to Pikes Market, Space Needle, and I think some place like a music museum that has Jimmy Hindrick stuff my husband wants to go to. We are also intersted in finding a good seafood restaurant for supper one night and a possibly a place to eat steaks the second night. Someone told one of our friends that the water front had some good restaurants. Any information you could share would be very helpful since non of us have been to your beautiful city.

[chubby_faye]

We stayed at Hotel Andra pre-cruise (http://www.hotelandra.com/) and loved it. Nice hotel and it was in a great location - was able to walk to Pike Place Market and other shopping. When we got back from our cruise, we stayed at the Marriott near the pier. The staff were very nice and we checked into our room at 9 am! It was also within walking distance to the Space Needle.

[sci-tea]

Were you able to walk from the pier to the marriott?

[love2cruiseseattle]

dst We are a group of 3 couples coming from NC. We found the Holiday Inn on Aurora on price line and booked 3 rooms. Is this a good place to stay? We will be arriving in Seattle on the morning of Fri. July 22. Can you suggest a way to get to the hotel from the airport? I don't know if it offers any shuttle service to or from the airport. We will also need to get from the hotel to the pier on Sun. July the 24th. We are interested in doing some sight seeingaand going to Pikes Market, Space Needle, and I think some place like a music museum that has Jimmy Hindrick stuff my husband wants to go to. We are also intersted in finding a good seafood restaurant for supper one night and a possibly a place to eat steaks the second night. Someone told one of our friends that the water front had some good restaurants. Any information you could share would be very helpful since non of us have been to your beautiful city.

 

I would call the Holiday Inn about a shuttle or the Airporter bus service, otherwise a taxi would be about $30. I would also say a taxi on Sunday, the piers are not that far from where you are staying. Probably a $10 ride. I have never stayed at there, but it is about a 5-10 minute walk to the Seattle Center. Just a note, this weekend is the "Bite Of Seattle" so the Seattle Center will be VERY crowded, but there will be plenty of music and good food. If you can go on Friday or earlier on Saturday, it may not be as crowded. The Experience Music Project museum may not be too crowded, but you never know.

 

As for good eats, depending on your budget, I would say for steaks and seafood there are a number of good places to eat in the downtown area:

Elliott's (Waterfront-Seafood)

Anthony's Homeport (Waterfront-Seafood and Steak)

Palisade's (Magnolia area great city view - Seafood and Steak, may need reservations though)

Ruth Chris (downtown - Steak)

The Metropolitan Bar and Grill (Steak, spending, but very good, may need reservations)

Union Square Grill (downtown)

Bone Fish - (Lake Union Area - not sure of food type, but have heard it is very good)

 

Hope some of this will help. Wear comfortable walking shoes and it is suppose to be in the 70's this weekend.

[swkittrell]

Thanks for all your help love2cruise. Sounds like a busy weekend for our group. We love things like "Bite of Seattle" sounds like a lot of fun. My mouth is watering at all the places you suggested for eats. Is it pretty safe to walk around the area in the day and at night? We are staying at on Aurora at the Holiday Inn Express? I have one more question. Is it hilly of flat in the area we will be walking around?

[love2cruiseseattle]

I feel Seattle is a safe place to walk around. You will be walking in large traffic areas, so you will be okay. The walk from the hotel to the Seattle Center is pretty flat and from the Seattle Center, you can catch the Monorail to downtown or it is about a one mile walk all flat. We have a great bus service in Seattle, with a ride free area. So if you want to catch a bus from downtown back to your hotel, you will want to catch a number 26 or 28 which you can catch along 4th Avenue, the number 358 or 5 which has stops along 3rd Avenue, the bus stops have what buses stop at them. The ride free area ends about 5 blocks from the Holiday Inn so tell the driver that you want to get off at the end of the ride free area to save a few bucks. In the downtown area there are many hills, but it depends where you are going.

Just wear comfortable shoes. Here's the website for our bus service http://transit.metrokc.gov/

 

Let me know if you have any other questions.

[Italy52]

Were you able to walk from the pier to the marriott?

 

Have stayed at the Marriott Waterfront many times. There is a pier across from the hotel. Are you referring to a pier where ships leave from? If so, the pier for HAL and Princess is a short cab ride away from the hotel. The pier for NCL & Celebrity is across from the Marriott and down a few blocks, we have walked there many times to see the ships depart Seattle.

[DesrtDrmr]

We returned from Seattle about two weeks ago, and stayed at the Westin. It was a beautiful hotel, and we had a great view of the Sound, and of the cruise ships. I think it was around 189 a night, but don't know if they have better deals. That 189 was a "romance package" which included choc. cov. strawberries and champagne upon check in, and a full room service "American" breakfast each morning.

We were able to walk kitty corner across the street and get the monorail to the Space Needle and other areas in that downtown area. We could walk to restaurants, and went to one, just down the street, called Palace Kitchen which was EXCELLENT, and had the freshest food we've ever had in a restaurant! We could walk to Nordstroms and other downtown shopping and restaurants. There was a drugstore with water and goodies just next door. Parking was atrocious.............around 30 dollars a night, so we cancelled our previously arranged rental car. We picked up a cab at the hotel, and at the Space Needle when we needed one.

Seattle was a lovely vibrant city, with many people on the streets. It was so nice to see a city that was ALIVE on the weekends. Wherever you stay, enjoy the city, and your cruise.

[sci-tea]

Thanks Italy52. We are staying at the Marriott before leaving on our cruise and hoped we could just walk across with or luggage. Is that do-able? How is the Marriott? It sure is expensive but we like the location near the Pike place Market. Never been to SEattle or on a cruise before so this is quite a trip for us.

[Italy52]

Thanks Italy52. We are staying at the Marriott before leaving on our cruise and hoped we could just walk across with or luggage. Is that do-able? How is the Marriott? It sure is expensive but we like the location near the Pike place Market. Never been to SEattle or on a cruise before so this is quite a trip for us.

 

We have had four enjoyable stays at the Marriott. We get a room with a view so we can see the ships. It's so exciting to wake up in the morning and see a ship outside your window. Although we sailed Princess, it was exciting to see NCL arriving, and sailing away. Yes, I agree the Marriott is a bit on the expensive side. We stay there so we get Marriott points and for its central location...we just walk, and walk everywhere. There is an elevator outside of the Marriott that will take you up a hill and in close proximity to where Pikes Market is located. You can also walk if you so desire to Pikes Market. When you check in, there should be an attractions/hotel map at the counter. If you don't see one, ask the counter clerk. Also, near the Consigners desk there are brochures you can get.

 

We have seen people crossing the street from Marriott to NCL with their luggage. We have also seen a Marriott porter taking luggage across the street for people. I guess it's a matter of personal choice.

 

FYI, meals at the Marriott are on the high side. If you don't want to pay them, there are plenty of food places around the hotel and near Pikes Market.

 

Have a wonderful cruise!

[bubax4]

We are arriving in Seattle by ferry from Victoria on Sept, 23 - the day before our cruise - at 8:30 pm. We are thinking of staying at the Marriott Waterfront but was wondering if there are any other hotels on the waterfront that are not quite as expensive as the Marriott. I was also wondering if we will be able to get a taxi easily from the pier when we arrive by ferry. Any suggestions will be helpful.

[harrodsfan]

We returned from Seattle about two weeks ago, and stayed at the Westin. It was a beautiful hotel, and we had a great view of the Sound, and of the cruise ships. We were able to walk kitty corner across the street and get the monorail to the Space Needle and other areas in that downtown area. We could walk to restaurants, and went to one, just down the street, called Palace Kitchen which was EXCELLENT, and had the freshest food we've ever had in a restaurant! We could walk to Nordstroms and other downtown shopping and restaurants. There was a drugstore with water and goodies just next door. Parking was atrocious.............around 30 dollars a night, so we cancelled our previously arranged rental car. We picked up a cab at the hotel, and at the Space Needle when we needed one.

Seattle was a lovely vibrant city, with many people on the streets. It was so nice to see a city that was ALIVE on the weekends. Wherever you stay, enjoy the city, and your cruise.

I totally agree with the above poster about the Westin. It is such a great location. And the drugstore across the street is wonderful for water, wine,Bonine etc.

We ate at a great restaurant Called Andaluca in the Mayfair hotel. Also ate lots of great fish!!! fResh crab and salmon to die for.

Pike place 4 blocks. Great bus system.