Cruising Alaska from Seattle, what time is safe for us to book a flight home?

[snoopy5386]

We'll be cruising the Ruby Princess out of Seattle this summer, what's the earliest "safe" time we can book a flight home after the cruise? There are not a lot of choices home for us unfortunately. Also best/fastest/easiest way to get from the port to the airport? We are a group of 11.

Thank you!

[cruiseintoheaven]

Hi there....we are in the same predicament you are.....the least expensive and only flight that gets us home before midnight is 11:00.....a gamble for sure. Since princess uses pier 91, which is a bit further than pier 66., our plan is to self -debark at earliest available walk off time. We've hired a private ride from Shuttle Express - supposedly they can get closer to where you will be picked up, though I've read that cabs are plentiful. In terms of all the things that can go wrong (docking late, clearing customs, traffic etc.), will employ a combo of prayer and a Xanax if needed [emoji2]

[elliair]

We live in California so booking is easy for us. We book after 11:00 am but not after 1:00 pm to be safe. We also book a shuttle to and from the airport. There's one we have used called Shuttle Express. We grabbed our luggage and walked to the Shuttle. DO NOT GET A PRINCESS TRANSFER! It's more expensive and you are allowing Princess to control you instead of the other way around.

 

Might take note of this, there's road construction going on in Seattle. They're putting in a large tunnel so there may be delays. We're going to Alaska in May but on Carnival.

[elliair]

Hi there....we are in the same predicament you are.....the least expensive and only flight that gets us home before midnight is 11:00.....a gamble for sure. Since princess uses pier 91, which is a bit further than pier 66., our plan is to self -debark at earliest available walk off time. We've hired a private ride from Shuttle Express - supposedly they can get closer to where you will be picked up, though I've read that cabs are plentiful. In terms of all the things that can go wrong (docking late, clearing customs, traffic etc.), will employ a combo of prayer and a Xanax if needed [emoji2]

 

Insist on early debarkation! Pay attention to your debarkation tag and what color it is. If you self assist you should be in the first groups. Don't go inside the lounge where they want you to meet. Find a place to stand near the door of exit. Everyone is pushing and shoving to exit the lounge with their luggage. Tempers fly and it comes down to almost fista cuffing. Experienced that 3 weeks ago. One man screaming "I've got a 10 o';clock flight, get out of my way!" ***! The time was 9:30 and he was on his way to LAX. I laughed and told him he wasn't going to make it so slow down, rent a car and drive home.:rolleyes:

[Colo Cruiser]

After 1:00pm.

[TNTLAMB]

I have seen it take 2 hours to get to the airport. UNLESS you really hit pay dirt in the casino, I would not suggest a cab. Even if in the flat fare areas its 50.00/2 to SeaTac.

[cruiseintoheaven]

Ok - I'm tweaking my strategy - prayer, 2 Xanax, and one last stop at Crooners.......[emoji85]

[TNTLAMB]

Ok - I'm tweaking my strategy - prayer, 2 Xanax, and one last stop at Crooners.......[emoji85]

 

Most excellent plan

[VibeGuy]

There is enough route diversity to the airport that it should never take two hours from the pier. I'll give you an hour and 15 minutes, though. I would book a flight after 10:45.

 

I would almost certainly plan to use either a dedicated Shuttle Express (where you'll be able to book the whole van) or plan on splitting up into two UberXL or Uber SUV - what I would not do, under any circumstance, is book with someone who has a couple of vehicles or fewer - things do happen where they go down a vehicle or two and boom, there goes your travel day. No matter how great they are, I think you're safer planning to use someone with a larger fleet. I would also have a cut-and-run plan (like the Uber one) so that if someone doesn't show up, you have a hard-and-fast time where you're saying "Nope, I'm doing this other thing and will fight the rest with my credit card company" - I've seen too many people be told "five more minutes" by dispatch.

 

It might be worthwhile to use the Princess direct baggage transfer service - that would certainly make the logistics and vehicle options more manageable.

 

One other advantage of using something other than a Princess transfer - you don't get dumped into the cruise air check-in clusterfluff at the north end of the terminal, which is a fate I would gladly pay to avoid.

[cruiseintoheaven]

There is enough route diversity to the airport that it should never take two hours from the pier. I'll give you an hour and 15 minutes, though. I would book a flight after 10:45.

 

I would almost certainly plan to use either a dedicated Shuttle Express (where you'll be able to book the whole van) or plan on splitting up into two UberXL or Uber SUV - what I would not do, under any circumstance, is book with someone who has a couple of vehicles or fewer - things do happen where they go down a vehicle or two and boom, there goes your travel day. No matter how great they are, I think you're safer planning to use someone with a larger fleet. I would also have a cut-and-run plan (like the Uber one) so that if someone doesn't show up, you have a hard-and-fast time where you're saying "Nope, I'm doing this other thing and will fight the rest with my credit card company" - I've seen too many people be told "five more minutes" by dispatch.

 

It might be worthwhile to use the Princess direct baggage transfer service - that would certainly make the logistics and vehicle options more manageable.

 

One other advantage of using something other than a Princess transfer - you don't get dumped into the cruise air check-in clusterfluff at the north end of the terminal, which is a fate I would gladly pay to avoid.

 

Hi VibeGuy, agree absolutely on having a back-up plan (cut and run, deal with $ after). DH is a huge fan of Uber, and in fact we have free rides lined up for our upcoming trip on the Emerald from referals. I think our private ride to airport with Shuttle Express should work out ok unless something beyond control happens. Flight's at 11, plan to walkoff ASAP and manage own luggage....fingers crossed. I would use the Princess EZ check but don't think it's available for flights before noon....we've defenitiely enjoyed the convenience in the past and will use it every chance we can though. Thanks for reply. :).

[cruiseintoheaven]

We live in California so booking is easy for us. We book after 11:00 am but not after 1:00 pm to be safe. We also book a shuttle to and from the airport. There's one we have used called Shuttle Express. We grabbed our luggage and walked to the Shuttle. DO NOT GET A PRINCESS TRANSFER! It's more expensive and you are allowing Princess to control you instead of the other way around.

 

Might take note of this, there's road construction going on in Seattle. They're putting in a large tunnel so there may be delays. We're going to Alaska in May but on Carnival.

 

Well, let's hope that the tunnel is complete before we both sail in May, though not holding my breath on that one. Here in Indiana I sometimes think the state symbol should be an orange road-work cone.....:rolleyes:

[LEtue]

From the Princess website......

 

 

Seattle

 

Embarking Passengers

For voyages that depart from Seattle at 4:00 pm, the latest flight arrival is 1:00 pm.

 

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.

[Jessejo]

lDeleted

Edited January 30, 2016 by Jessejo

[Colo Cruiser]

lDeleted

 

 

I agree.

[jimmieg]

Did this cruise last summer. Used "walk off," called Uber soon as I got outside, hooked up within 3-4 minutes, next to no Sat a.m. traffic, fare $20-ish.

[Keith1010]

I would not book anything before 1:00 PM.

Keith

[illiniwahoo]

Remember to account for the security lines at the airport. Last time I was at SeaTac it took an hour to get through security. Tr he line was so long that they had a person with a sign marking the end of the line. The fact the they had a premade sign and a person to hold it indicated to me that this must happen fairly often. Tsa precheck had no line.

 

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[cruiseintoheaven]

For those that have used Uber out of pier 91 - is the designated pick up area well marked for both drivers and pax? We have a private ride lined up with shuttle express - but if I can use uber for

[cruiseintoheaven]

Oops - anywho - uber much cheaper than shuttle so will go with that if well laid out - there was some confusion at FLL regarding where Uber could/couldn't park and idle etc.....

[Northender]

Remember to account for the security lines at the airport. Last time I was at SeaTac it took an hour to get through security. Tr he line was so long that they had a person with a sign marking the end of the line. The fact the they had a premade sign and a person to hold it indicated to me that this must happen fairly often. Tsa precheck had no line.

 

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Yes it certainly does happen fairly often. We got to SeaTac 2 1/2 hours before our flight and just barely made it. The line stretched all around the terminal area. :(

 

TSA precheck is a good thing. We always do it now.;)