Artic Club Seattle Info Please

[g35girl]

Does anyone have any recent pre-cruise experiences with the Artic Club Seattle Double Tree hotel?

 

I haven't even booked my cruise yet for May, 2015 (will do so this week), but after reading here how Seattle hotels sell out quickly I booked this hotel. It's actually cheaper than the Hampton Inn!!

[g35girl]

Stupid me, no wonder I'm not getting any responses! :o:o

 

I haven't seen any recent reviews regarding this property, however in the past there were several comments regarding the "sketchy" location of this hotel. Is the area truly unsafe?

 

Also, how accessible are Pikes Market, the Space Needle etc from this location?

[mapleleaves]

I'm not familiar with the hotel but if you look at the map on their web site, it's quite a walk to Pike Place Market. The Market is 2nd/Pike.

To visit the Seattle Center/Space Needle you would catch the monorail which is at Westlake Center 5th and Pike.

Both locations look to be 10-12 blocks. Fine on a nice day, not so much if it's raining. OTOH, Seattle is pretty concentrated .... a taxi to the Space Needle would only be about $10-$12.

 

Did you look on tripadvisor for recent reviews?

[Gardyloo]

The Arctic Club is a grand old office building that was converted to a hotel some years ago. Walruses on the facade, you MUST visit the Dome Room - amazing.

 

It's located more in the office core than the commercial core, so it's a few blocks further from the Pike market than other places. However it's not terribly inconvenient and has the benefit of being a few yards from one of the entrances to the Pioneer Square light rail station - direct to the airport or the Westlake station, in the heart of the shopping/restaurant district. Westlake is where you catch the monorail to Seattle Center - Space Needle etc.

 

The "sketchy" area is a few blocks from the hotel and isn't especially sketchy at all. The "sketchy" people you're likely to encounter near the Arctic Club are more likely to be lawyers or local government officials. Not saying that disqualifies them as being possibly sketchy, but... oh wait.

[g35girl]

I'm not familiar with the hotel but if you look at the map on their web site, it's quite a walk to Pike Place Market. The Market is 2nd/Pike.

To visit the Seattle Center/Space Needle you would catch the monorail which is at Westlake Center 5th and Pike.

Both locations look to be 10-12 blocks. Fine on a nice day, not so much if it's raining. OTOH, Seattle is pretty concentrated .... a taxi to the Space Needle would only be about $10-$12.

 

Did you look on tripadvisor for recent reviews?

 

The Arctic Club is a grand old office building that was converted to a hotel some years ago. Walruses on the facade, you MUST visit the Dome Room - amazing.

 

It's located more in the office core than the commercial core, so it's a few blocks further from the Pike market than other places. However it's not terribly inconvenient and has the benefit of being a few yards from one of the entrances to the Pioneer Square light rail station - direct to the airport or the Westlake station, in the heart of the shopping/restaurant district. Westlake is where you catch the monorail to Seattle Center - Space Needle etc.

 

The "sketchy" area is a few blocks from the hotel and isn't especially sketchy at all. The "sketchy" people you're likely to encounter near the Arctic Club are more likely to be lawyers or local government officials. Not saying that disqualifies them as being possibly sketchy, but... oh wait.

 

 

Mapleleaves, Yes, I did read TripAdvisor and it has mixed reviews. some of the reviews also state that it's an easy walk to the Market etc...Given the conflicting info I thought I would check here as well.

 

Gardyloo - thanks for the info! Thank goodness I'm not a lawyer or government official ;)

 

For now, I'm staying with this reservation for our pre-cruise stay. I still have 9 months to go, so if something better comes available I may switch.

[JohninDC]

We stayed there in June and loved the hotel; room was great and service was wonderful. :D Did not notice any problems with the area. Happy hour in the lobby bar was great. :D Walked two blocks to McCormick's for great seafood at night and then around the corner to ride the elevator up to see the summer skyline - wonderful.

 

Walk to Pike's took about 10 minutes. Skipped breakfast the next morning and grabbed coffee and bagels from Einstein's a block away. :cool:

[slickriptide]

Stupid me, no wonder I'm not getting any responses! :o:o

 

I haven't seen any recent reviews regarding this property, however in the past there were several comments regarding the "sketchy" location of this hotel. Is the area truly unsafe?

 

Also, how accessible are Pikes Market, the Space Needle etc from this location?

 

I haven't visited the Arctic Room, so I can't say anything specifically about the hotel.

 

The area should not be especially "sketchy". The desirability of the location will be measured in how much you care for sight-seeing by foot. You're centrally located about equidistant from some notable tourist attractions aside from the things you always hear about (Pike Place Market, Pier 54, etc...).

 

You're a few blocks from the Smith Tower. The observatory at the top is one of the places that visitors like to stop by and, really, if you go up there then you can probably forego the Space Needle unless you really want to say you were at the Needle.

 

The Smith Tower marks the edge of Pioneer Square, which is the historical district of Seattle. If you enjoy eclectic shopping then you'll find that here. Many of the buildings date back to the twenties. The Underground Tour is here, which is well worth taking if you enjoy history or just dark, dank places, heh. (You remember Darren McGavin in the old "Night Stalker" TV series back in the eighties? There was a little known sequel to the "Night Stalker" (before the TV series aired) that was set in Underground Seattle called, creatively enough, "The Night Strangler". Poor Kolchak just couldn't seem to get away from the boogie men no matter where he landed a job.)

 

If your cruise stops in Skagway then a visit to the Klondike Gold Rush Park is worth an hour of your time. It's technically the smallest state park in Washington, in a renovated historic hotel, The Cadillac. Skagway was the gateway to the Klondike, but Seattle was the gateway to Skagway.

 

Occidental Park in Pioneer Square is a good-sized automobile-free zone whose benches have historically been used as sleeping places for transient folk. This is probably the "sketchy" area that you read about,though it is generally safe to walk through. You might avoid that specific area after dark, though on weekends Pioneer Square has an active nightclub scene so it's not even that much to worry about on evenings where there are plenty of people around.

 

You would also be within a few blocks of the International District. Walking to it would not be particularly picturesque, so you might prefer to grab a taxi. Uwajimaya would be worth a visit, as well as the Wing Luke Asian Art Museum. Depending on the time of year of your visit, you might even be lucky enough to see a dragon dance or similar event as part of the Seafair festivities.

 

The walk to Pike Place Market is uphill and several blocks but not too strenuous nor lengthy. Strolling up Second Avenue will take you past the Seattle Art Museum and the Hammering Man, while a stroll up First Avenue will take you past the X-rated theater set amidst all the condoes, that represents the last bastion of the "red-light district" that used to epitomize First Avenue before the developers and yuppies mostly erased it.

 

As for the waterfront, you'll be at the extreme end of it from this location, but that's what the trolley is for.

 

Likewise, the route 99 city bus should be just a block or two from the hotel. It runs between the Edgewater Inn at the northernmost end of the waterfront, down First Avenue and out to the International District. It's basically the tourist bus and would get you to most of the places I've mentioned if you prefered not to walk to all of them.

 

Basically, the location is not bad if what you enjoy is exploring the town you're visiting. If your goal is to take in all of the popular tourist attractions in the most convenient way possible then you might prefer something further north and closer to Westlake Center.

[Vexorg]

The Arctic Club is right next to a bus tunnel entrance (Pioneer Square station) so catching a bus should be pretty easy, and if you want to do light rail from the airport you'd be in pretty good shape for that too. Then again, I'd say that for most people it should be no problem walking to Pike Place Market from there (it's about .6 miles with some gradual uphill in that direction, not quite next door but not that far either.) If you wanted to take the bus you could grab one in the tunnel to Westlake Station, which is a couple of blocks from the Market, and the monorail terminal to get to Seattle Center is on the top floor of Westlake Center.

 

As for the location, it is kind of between Pioneer Square and the financial district. Generally you'll be OK (you'll probably get a few panhandlers, but that's pretty much everywhere), but I don't think I'd want to be hanging around Pioneer Square much after dark these days.

Edited August 14, 2014 by Vexorg

[Casagordita]

Occidental Park in Pioneer Square is a good-sized automobile-free zone whose benches have historically been used as sleeping places for transient folk. This is probably the "sketchy" area that you read about,though it is generally safe to walk through. You might avoid that specific area after dark, though on weekends Pioneer Square has an active nightclub scene so it's not even that much to worry about on evenings where there are plenty of people around.

 

Personally, I would be more wary of the drunken fools staggering out of the night clubs late at night than I would most of the homeless folks who hang around Pioneer Square!

 

 

The walk to Pike Place Market is uphill and several blocks but not too strenuous nor lengthy. Strolling up Second Avenue will take you past the Seattle Art Museum and the Hammering Man, while a stroll up First Avenue will take you past the X-rated theater set amidst all the condoes, that represents the last bastion of the "red-light district" that used to epitomize First Avenue before the developers and yuppies mostly erased it.

 

As for the waterfront, you'll be at the extreme end of it from this location, but that's what the trolley is for.

 

Alas, both the Lusty Lady peep shows (and their clever and ever-changing reader board), and the historic waterfront trolley, are gone. The Lady went broke; the trolley was sacrificed to the Olympic Sculpture Park (it seems the trolley barn at the lower end of the park was not aesthetically pleasing enough to be part of the Seattle Art Museum's artistic vision). Ah, well...they say it's progress.