Port Valet Seattle

[Oakman58]

Has anyone had a bad experience using Port Valet in Seattle?  I'm think about using them when our Alaskan cruise ends.

[ghjcmo]

I didn't have a bad experience, mine went well.  I used them in October 2021 when returning on the Norwegian Encore.   Oddly, the next year when sailing on the Carnival Splendor, it wasn't even offered.   But my experience was positive and it's VERY helpful to use this if you have a later flight, as TSA rules won't allow you check your bags more than 4 hours prior to your flight.

[Ferry_Watcher]

11 hours ago, ghjcmo said:

 Oddly, the next year when sailing on the Carnival Splendor, it wasn't even offered. 

 

Sadly, Carnival has opted out of participation in Seattle's Port Valet program.  They also end porter service at 2 PM (in Seattle), which means passengers arriving at 2PM or after, will have to carry on their own luggage on to the ship.

[Sprocket]

I've used it a few times and have nothing but good things to say about it, so nice not to have to drag my luggage around.  Just make sure to ask when you will be receiving the option to do this, for some reason my cabin steward on one of my cruises did not drop off the sign up sheet and I barely made the cutoff.  IIRC it was Wednesday? for a Saturday departure.

[Max and Ruby]

Thank you all for your thoughts.  I'm nervous leaving my bags outside the cabin last night of the cruise and for me not seeing them again until 2 days later 6am! (Red eye flight). Even dirty clothes are my favorite clothes and I'd hate to have them lost. 🙂 We will have carry ons with us for valuable items, passports, etc..

Edited May 23, 2023 by Max and Ruby

[nslatin]

We just used it on the NCL Sun and had an interesting experience.  We had signed up in advance and confirmed with guest services several days into the cruise.  About two days left to the cruise and we had not received the luggage tags.  A quick visit to GS and I was informed that they were unable to process all of the port valet requests.  

 

Last evening of the cruise our Port Valet luggage tags appeared in our room.  It seems that they were only able to process the request MADE IN ADVANCE.

 

Our bags made it home safe and we learned a very valuable lesson.  Sign up in advance of the cruise.

 

Neal

[JudithLynne]

Neal...how long before your cruise did you apply for Port Valet?

We have a Princess cruise out of Seattle in early Oct, 5 months away.  The website offers advanced reservations, but our ship is not listed.  The two Princess ships that they list will not be in Seattle at all during our cruise time. We have used PV many times w/o a problem.  It is a wonderful program.  We have always booked on board the ship. Advanced reservations are fairly new.  We would love to take advantage of that.

[nslatin]

17 hours ago, JudithLynne said:

Neal...how long before your cruise did you apply for Port Valet?

We have a Princess cruise out of Seattle in early Oct, 5 months away.  The website offers advanced reservations, but our ship is not listed.  The two Princess ships that they list will not be in Seattle at all during our cruise time. We have used PV many times w/o a problem.  It is a wonderful program.  We have always booked on board the ship. Advanced reservations are fairly new.  We would love to take advantage of that.

I did the PV reservation on 2/23 for the 5/11 sail date.

[JudithLynne]

Thank you for this information.

[Ferry_Watcher]

Port Valet may not be available for your cruise since it is so late in the season.

[JudithLynne]

2 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

Port Valet may not be available for your cruise since it is so late in the season.

I don't understand what that means.  Our cruise is 4 months away.

[Ferry_Watcher]

12 minutes ago, JudithLynne said:

I don't understand what that means.  Our cruise is 4 months away.

 

Port Valet was, in part created to help with congestion at SeaTac Airport.  I believe that your cruise ends in Seattle in October.  Most of the ships end their Alaska sailing in September, and the number of summer travelers has already peaked (June, July, August), and the number of passengers going thru SeaTac is quite a bit less in October.

Also, I believe that your cruise is a RT Hawaii, and not part of the Alaska sailings, so I think it is unlikely that Port Valet will be available for that sailing.

[JudithLynne]

Thank you for that information.  I am disappointed but will adjust for it.

 

[nslatin]

One additional benefit to the Port Valet program is that without your luggage and with your boarding pass in hand, you can pass through TSA security more than four hours before your departure time. We Arrived at SeaTac 5 hours before our flight and had no problem getting to our boarding gate.

[JudithLynne]

It is a wonderful program; we have done it many times.

[Buffalobills]

I wish Carnival had this. I’m still undecided what to do with my luggage because my flight is at 3:45. 

[KeithSanford]

We're sailing next month and I've just tried to reserve their service for disembarkation, but it only appears to work for US and Canadian passports and we're UK, any advice please. Thanks

[KeithSanford]

I've just checked again and it seems that a UK passport is OK, but now there's a US$30.00/bag charge, but this is levied by American Airlines, not Port Valet, although with baggage already included in our air fare, it seems like a total liberty to charge an extra $60.00 and for what, helping the airlines to do their job! Has anyone else experienced this additional charge?

[Ferry_Watcher]

7 hours ago, KeithSanford said:

I've just checked again and it seems that a UK passport is OK, but now there's a US$30.00/bag charge, but this is levied by American Airlines, not Port Valet,

 

Port Valet is a free service provided by the Port of Seattle, and any luggage fees are fees charged by the airlines.  Since your luggage fee is apparently included with your ticket or airline loyalty level, there should be a place on your sign-up form to indicate this.

[kiwimum]

We, group of 8, utilized Port Valet out of Seattle in June after disembarking the Discovery.   Princess made enrollment in the service very easy.   The issues we had were being charged for bag fees when entitled to free baggage as activity duty military and flights booked with airline credit card.   The exemptions were listed and checked on the enrollment form.   Found the baggage fees were from a company called Bags Inc out of Florida.   Port of Seattle has contracted with Bags Inc.   After a couple of emails finally ended up with a response from Bags Inc who sent a check for the $280 baggage fees.  One of our bags did not make it to our final destination but was delivered 2-3 days later at 4:30am.

Would use Port Valet in the future as it makes disembarking chaos so much easier.

[junior8]

Hi, very informative information.

Just wondering do you lose your seat selection you have on your flight if you sign up for Port Valet?  

 

Brenda

[JudithLynne]

You do not lose your assigned seat.