Need help from those taking the first Alaska cruise this season

[caribill]

16 hours ago, Italy52 said:

Hope it all works out for you.  I do have a question for you:  We have never used EZ Air and was wondering if you use it on disembarkation, do they give you boarding passes and check your luggage for you?

 

Yes. If you are able to use EZAir Princess will give you your boarding passes and your luggage will be checked through to your destination airport. When you get to the airport after the cruise, you can go straight to security.

[Italy52]

5 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Yes. If you are able to use EZAir Princess will give you your boarding passes and your luggage will be checked through to your destination airport. When you get to the airport after the cruise, you can go straight to security.

Your reply makes sense and is in line with what I thought EZ Air would do.  I hope Mary Ann 2 sees this post as it should help ease her mind.  Thanks for responding to my comment.

[Mary Ann 2]

14 hours ago, Italy52 said:

Your reply makes sense and is in line with what I thought EZ Air would do.  I hope Mary Ann 2 sees this post as it should help ease her mind.  Thanks for responding to my comment.

We have used EZ Air before and never gotten boarding passes and luggage tags.  Caribill, surely you mean the Valet program does that?  That is the only time we have gotten those ahead of time because Princess/Valet company takes the luggage directly to the airport and drops it off and you never see it until you get home, so it needs tags on it when you put it out the night before.  We can get our boarding passes on our phones, but I would be very happy if it were true that EZ Air gets luggage tags for us, but I am very skeptical.  I did plan on asking onboard if there was any way to get those.

[caribill]

 

3 hours ago, Mary Ann 2 said:

We have used EZ Air before and never gotten boarding passes and luggage tags.  Caribill, surely you mean the Valet program does that?  That is the only time we have gotten those ahead of time because Princess/Valet company takes the luggage directly to the airport and drops it off and you never see it until you get home, so it needs tags on it when you put it out the night before.  We can get our boarding passes on our phones, but I would be very happy if it were true that EZ Air gets luggage tags for us, but I am very skeptical.  I did plan on asking onboard if there was any way to get those.

 

 

Ooops. I made a terminology error.

 

I meant to say EZCheck which is the Princess program that takes the luggage from outside your cabin door the last evening and you next see it at your home airport. (EZAir is the booking of flights at Princess.)

 

The Luggage Valet program that is available via Princess is a different service. The luggage is taken from outside your cabin, but it is delivered to your home (not your airport) and may take a week or so to get there. Luggage Valet also can be used to ship luggage from your home to the cruise. This service is not cheap, but is useful if you do not want to worry about luggage as you travel to/from the ship.

[caribill]

On 7/20/2021 at 9:36 AM, Italy52 said:

Hope it all works out for you.  I do have a question for you:  We have never used EZ Air and was wondering if you use it on disembarkation, do they give you boarding passes and check your luggage for you much like the Luggage Valet service?  If so, that should save you some time not having to check in luggage and waiting in line at the ticket counters.

 

I made a terminology error. My reply was should have said EZCheck, not EZAir. Corrected below.

23 hours ago, caribill said:

 

If you are able to use EZCheck, Princess will give you your boarding passes and your luggage will be checked through to your destination airport. When you get to the airport after the cruise, you can go straight to security.

 

[Mary Ann 2]

6 hours ago, caribill said:

Ooops. I made a terminology error. I meant to say EZCheck which is the Princess program that takes the luggage from outside your cabin door the last evening and you next see it at your home airport. (EZAir is the booking of flights at Princess.)

 

The Luggage Valet program that is available via Princess is a different service. The luggage is taken from outside your cabin, but it is delivered to your home (not your airport) and may take a week or so to get there. Luggage Valet also can be used to ship luggage from your home to the cruise. This service is not cheap, but is useful if you do not want to worry about luggage as you travel to/from the ship.

In Seattle, the first option you mentioned is called Port Valet, but unfortunately is only for those with flights after 11am (or at least in the past that was the time).  I wish I'd thought about that when picking flights, but I believe it was either 10:11am or 4pm as the only choices for a nonstop flight back when I chose flights.  (Now there are multiple other choices.)

[Ferry_Watcher]

OP - So sorry this flight snafu has happened to you.  While I think the odds are not in your favor in making that  10:11 am flight, you could try to maximize you chances by walking off with the first group to disembark which will mean carrying off your own luggage. If you decide to do this, make sure that you work with guest services onboard so you are in that first group off the ship.  You will have to walk as quickly as possible and grab a cab (the Uber lot will take too much time to get to for your tight schedule). 

 

Unfortunately, (and you are already aware of this), you will have to take time to check your luggage, and then hope that the security line is short.  You might consider looking into Clear to get through airport security.  Sometimes Clear has special offers so it might be worth it to start looking now.

 

Good luck - I hope the travel gods will be the wind at your back!  Do let us know how it turns out.

[Eaglecw]

Ferry watcher, Is the Port Valet program going to be running this cruise season? I've looked at the Port of Seattle web and I don't see any mention of it.

[Cruise Raider]

15 hours ago, Eaglecw said:

Ferry watcher, Is the Port Valet program going to be running this cruise season? I've looked at the Port of Seattle web and I don't see any mention of it.

 

It is running this year. Port Valet - Enjoy Seattle Luggage Free! | Port of Seattle (portseattle.org)

[Ferry_Watcher]

7 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

It is running this year. Port Valet - Enjoy Seattle Luggage Free! | Port of Seattle (portseattle.org)

Cruise Raider is correct that the free Port of Seattle Luggage Valet is up and running this 2021 Cruise Season.

[Mary Ann 2]

On 7/22/2021 at 7:42 PM, Ferry_Watcher said:

Unfortunately, (and you are already aware of this), you will have to take time to check your luggage, and then hope that the security line is short.  You might consider looking into Clear to get through airport security.  Sometimes Clear has special offers so it might be worth it to start looking now.

 

Good luck - I hope the travel gods will be the wind at your back!  Do let us know how it turns out.

Thanks for the recommendation for Clear.  I looked at it last night and lo and behold, there was an offer today on my Facebook feed for two months free.  Jumped on it right away as I think it will help get us through security even with TSA PreCheck which we have.

 

I wish that we could use Luggage Valet, but I'm pretty sure that they won't offer it for flights before 11.

 

Sincerely hoping that someone on the first 2 cruises lets me know when they began disembarkation and verify that the Valet program is only for after 11.

[caribill]

4 hours ago, Mary Ann 2 said:

Thanks for the recommendation for Clear.  I looked at it last night and lo and behold, there was an offer today on my Facebook feed for two months free.  Jumped on it right away as I think it will help get us through security even with TSA PreCheck which we have.

 

 

 

Clear and TSA PreCheck have two different lines. Maybe you could pick the shortest line.

 

Not all US airports have Clear available.

[Mary Ann 2]

6 hours ago, caribill said:

Clear and TSA PreCheck have two different lines. Maybe you could pick the shortest line.

Not all US airports have Clear available.

Our home airport does have Clear; I checked.  I do need to find out if it is in all 5 terminals though.  The information online says that you go through Clear, and then they take you to either standard security or TSA.  We will see.  The unknowns are one reason that I was glad to get a 2 month free trial.  If we don't like it, we can cancel before we get charged in September.

[Mary Ann 2]

Cruise Raider just posted that disembarkation starts at 7am.  😃  Hoping to hear back about what flights qualify for Luggage Valet.  And ultimately from someone about when the first bus left the port for the airport.

[caribill]

12 hours ago, Mary Ann 2 said:

 Hoping to hear back about what flights qualify for Luggage Valet.

 

No flights before 11 AM per disembarkation information post.

[Mary Ann 2]

12 hours ago, caribill said:

 

No flights before 11 AM per disembarkation information post.

Saw that too 😞.  But very happy that disembarkation starts 20 minutes earlier than I thought it would.

[Eaglecw]

Mary Ann I can’t recall anyone fretting as much as you are about catching your flight 10:15am. Here’s what you need to do. At 6:45am be in line to walk off the ship with your luggage so you can be one of the first off the ship. Have your Passport handy in case they want to see it. Go out the front of the terminal, cross the driveway and look to your left, you’ll see a line of hungry cab drivers who will gladly take you out to the airport. About 30-40 minutes should be at Sea-Tac airport. Being there that early you should beat a lot of the other cruise ship people who will be flying out. You should be able to make your flight. If you miss the 10:15 flight when is the next flight?

[Mary Ann 2]

5 hours ago, Eaglecw said:

Mary Ann I can’t recall anyone fretting as much as you are about catching your flight 10:15am. Here’s what you need to do. At 6:45am be in line to walk off the ship with your luggage so you can be one of the first off the ship. Have your Passport handy in case they want to see it. Go out the front of the terminal, cross the driveway and look to your left, you’ll see a line of hungry cab drivers who will gladly take you out to the airport. About 30-40 minutes should be at Sea-Tac airport. Being there that early you should beat a lot of the other cruise ship people who will be flying out. You should be able to make your flight. If you miss the 10:15 flight when is the next flight?

 

I'm just an over-planner and like to know what to expect.  Earlier in this thread, I mentioned that I do think walking off and taking a cab would work better, but according to someone I spoke to at Princess, the only way to get the EZ Air Late Arrival Protection is to take the shuttle.  If the shuttle gets us there too late, they are on the hook to rebook us.  I'm just trying to access what the chances are that will happen.  Sorry to bother you...

[Eaglecw]

11 minutes ago, Mary Ann 2 said:

I'm just an over-planner and like to know what to expect.  Earlier in this thread, I mentioned that I do think walking off and taking a cab would work better, but according to someone I spoke to at Princess, the only way to get the EZ Air Late Arrival Protection is to take the shuttle.  If the shuttle gets us there too late, they are on the hook to rebook us.  I'm just trying to access what the chances are that will happen.  Sorry to bother you...

Mary Ann your no bother. Now I understand, by doing the EZ air you have to use the Princess shuttle. I think I'd still be one of the first to walk off and get on the shuttle.

[Mary Ann 2]

45 minutes ago, Eaglecw said:

Mary Ann your no bother. Now I understand, by doing the EZ air you have to use the Princess shuttle. I think I'd still be one of the first to walk off and get on the shuttle.

Yes, we will definitely be waiting at 7am to disembark!

[Cruise Raider]

So, just to update this post as we were on the first Alaskan sailing on the Majestic.  This may not be the best example as it was only at 60% capacity but this was our experience.  

We signed up for the Port Valet ... your flight must be after 11 AM and only certain airlines do qualify for that service.  

Even though we booked EZ air, we booked our shuttle service (Seattle Express) for the return ride to the airport.  Not only was it less expensive than the Princess transfers but we actually got a private ride in the small shuttle van.  The driver was very courteous and he didn't want to make us wait any longer for any more passengers.  What is nice is that you don't even have to book a specific time for the pick up .. because, how is that even possible?  They start pick ups at 7:00 AM and go every 15 minutes or so.  

We requested express walk off but we were able to use the Port Valet (BTW, the city of Seattle picks up the charges) and so only had one carry on with us.  Our assigned time for disembarkation was 7:25 AM (the earliest walk off time was 7:15 AM).  Our group was actually called at about 7:45 AM, so real long delay.  Customs was a breeze .. we just flashed our passport and were out the door of the terminal.  We were on the road by 8:00 AM in the shuttle.  I understand the Princess transfers waited until the bus filled up and there were 44 passengers onboard.  Those passengers arrived at the airport about an hour later than we did.  We were at our gate by 9:00 AM.  We had also booked first class air (it was a splurge for us) so, we were so glad to see that line to get through security compared to the other lines.  It was really crowded at SeaTac.  I know SeaTac has a save a spot app for the security lines.  I don't know how long the wait would have been using that but it seems like the regular non-TSA lines would take anywhere from 45 - 70 minutes to get through security ... just an educated guess.  Our flight was at 11:45 AM and we had two lovely hours to spend in the Alaska Lounge before we boarded our plane ... it kind of felt like we were still on the cruise.  

We didn't see our luggage again until we were at our home airport.  Oh, and you shouldn't go hog wild but they don't even weigh your luggage with the port valet.  Ours was just under 50 lbs. by a couple of oz.  And, Princess also printed out our boarding passes so we just went straight to the security line as soon as we arrived at the airport.  

[Mary Ann 2]

13 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

So, just to update this post as we were on the first Alaskan sailing on the Majestic.  This may not be the best example as it was only at 60% capacity but this was our experience.  

We signed up for the Port Valet ... your flight must be after 11 AM and only certain airlines do qualify for that service.  

Even though we booked EZ air, we booked our shuttle service (Seattle Express) for the return ride to the airport.  Not only was it less expensive than the Princess transfers but we actually got a private ride in the small shuttle van.  The driver was very courteous and he didn't want to make us wait any longer for any more passengers.  What is nice is that you don't even have to book a specific time for the pick up .. because, how is that even possible?  They start pick ups at 7:00 AM and go every 15 minutes or so.  

Did you happen to notice how long the taxi line was when you went to your shuttle?

[Cruise Raider]

5 hours ago, Mary Ann 2 said:

Did you happen to notice how long the taxi line was when you went to your shuttle?

 

There was no line for the taxis.  There was just a line of taxis waiting for passengers to disembark.  We disembarked in an early group, though.  

Of note, we did see the signage on their taxis noting there was a flat rate to the airport.  I don't know how much it was but when we last went, it was $40 per cab back in 2018.  I'm sure it's gone up by now.  It is a good 40 minute drive without traffic.  

[Bgwest]

On 7/23/2021 at 9:48 PM, Mary Ann 2 said:

Thanks for the recommendation for Clear.  I looked at it last night and lo and behold, there was an offer today on my Facebook feed for two months free.  Jumped on it right away as I think it will help get us through security even with TSA PreCheck which we have.

 

I wish that we could use Luggage Valet, but I'm pretty sure that they won't offer it for flights before 11.

 

Sincerely hoping that someone on the first 2 cruises lets me know when they began disembarkation and verify that the Valet program is only for after 11.

We are also in TX and have been eager to try CLEAR but oddly enough, it's available only in Terminal E at DFW. Makes no sense whatsoever to me. 

https://www.clearme.com/where-we-are/dfw

 

[Mary Ann 2]

6 hours ago, Bgwest said:

We are also in TX and have been eager to try CLEAR but oddly enough, it's available only in Terminal E at DFW. Makes no sense whatsoever to me. 

https://www.clearme.com/where-we-are/dfw

 

I totally agree!  Since AA is the major airline at DFW and mainly flies out of A-C except for international flights, it should be in more terminals.  When we went to the airport to get set up to use CLEAR, I asked about it.  She claimed that they were working on expanding to other terminals.  I think we will cancel before our two free months are up and wait until they expand.