Port Valet Seattle Discontinued

[graphicguy]

35 minutes ago, www3traveler said:

As of five minutes ago, NCL is still listed as a participating cruise line for the Port Valet Program.

The Bliss is the only cruise scheduled for THIS weekend and next weekend (the 20th).

Check the Port of Seattle's website for participating airlines.

 

Ships due in through 30 April: 19th  The Sun

                                               20th  The Bliss

                                               23rd  Carnival Spirit

                                               27th  The Bliss

                                               28th  The Encore

                                               30th  HAL Zaandam

                                                        Dawn Princess

Participating airlines are

 

 

Alaskan

American

Delta

Jet Blue

Southwest

United

[graphicguy]

The link I posted above states this...

 

*Participating airlines and departure times vary by ships sailing out of Seattle.

*Domestic and International flights are accepted with the exception of Delta Air Lines. Delta Air Lines only allows for domestic flights only.

*Enroll in the service online up until the evening of the 1st day of your cruise at 4:00 PM. Any enrollments made after this time will not be accepted. However, after this time, you can sign up onboard.

*This service is free for all passengers flying out of Seattle and is generously provided by the Port of Seattle for all cruise passengers on flights leaving after 11 AM on disembarkation day and before 1:30 AM the following day.

*Airline-assessed baggage fees will be applied to your onboard account when applicable as per your airline's rules.

[TN Roz]

4 hours ago, Markj said:

Just a little tip for something we did when we did out last Alaskan cruise in 2022. 

 

This wont always be possible and it wont work for everyone, however, we stayed a couple of nights in a hotel ahead of the cruise and asked them if they would store our luggage for us on the day we arrived back off the cruise ahead of going to the airport later.

 

It worked well and only cost us a tip so well worth asking to save using the chargeable luggage shops in the city of which there are several

We have done this in New Orleans as well. 

[TequilaKen]

Good riddance.  They lost our bags.  Took almost a week of many phone calls and multiple trips to our home airport before we finally received them.

[sue402001]

On 4/12/2024 at 5:39 AM, ddlb said:

Well, I booked POS for the August 27 Bliss Cruise and got a confirmation. Hope I don’t get canceled at the last minute.

I hope it's available for us too ddlb, just booked this cruise today.

[BirdTravels]

We hope that it is not cancelled since we use the service every year (and are planning on using it this year). No need to muscle your bags around if the service will do it for you. 

[SpanishForker]

The website still allows you to book Port Valet for NCL cruises. I just booked mine for our cruise on the Encore in July and everything went through fine. Hopefully it won't be cancelled like the OP's reservation, but if NCL was not participating this year you would think it would be disabled on the Port Valet site.

[www3traveler]

1 hour ago, SpanishForker said:

The website still allows you to book Port Valet for NCL cruises. I just booked mine for our cruise on the Encore in July and everything went through fine. Hopefully it won't be cancelled like the OP's reservation, but if NCL was not participating this year you would think it would be disabled on the Port Valet site.

As I have said before, RIGHT NOW the Port of Seattle only has ONE cruise ship through this weekend.  Beginning next there will be cruise ships every Saturday and Sunday (2 or 3) plus several during the week.  With ONE cruise ship might not be cost effective to run the Valet Program (remember the Port Valet Program is run with taxpayer money).

[erisajd]

16 minutes ago, www3traveler said:

 (remember the Port Valet Program is run with taxpayer money).

efficiency has never stopped government before!!😁

[cruiseny4life]

2 hours ago, www3traveler said:

As I have said before, RIGHT NOW the Port of Seattle only has ONE cruise ship through this weekend.  Beginning next there will be cruise ships every Saturday and Sunday (2 or 3) plus several during the week.  With ONE cruise ship might not be cost effective to run the Valet Program (remember the Port Valet Program is run with taxpayer money).

Port Valet is actually paid for by airline and port fees, according to the Port of Seattle. If I were a Seattle resident, I'd be quite upset if my tax dollars were funding vacationers luggage transfers. 

 

Source: https://www.portseattle.org/news/190326-Cruise-Port-Valet-Release

 

Source: https://meetings.portseattle.org/portmeetings/attachments/2023/2022_02_14_RM_8e_Memo_Cruise-Luggage-Port-Valet-Program.pdf

[justhappy]

41 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

Port Valet is actually paid for by airline and port fees, according to the Port of Seattle. If I were a Seattle resident, I'd be quite upset if my tax dollars were funding vacationers luggage transfers. 

 

Source: https://www.portseattle.org/news/190326-Cruise-Port-Valet-Release

 

Source: https://meetings.portseattle.org/portmeetings/attachments/2023/2022_02_14_RM_8e_Memo_Cruise-Luggage-Port-Valet-Program.pdf

I would not be surprised if the Port Valet Program was started to help with the horrible congestion at SeaTac on the weekends the cruise ships are in port.

No airlines would take your luggage until a few hours before your flights due to lack of space.

Security lines were hours long.

It is better at the airport than it used to be, thinking back to my experiences in 2015.

I also wonder if the plan was to also encourage tourists to spend a few more hours (and dollars) in town.

[cruiseny4life]

1 hour ago, justhappy said:

I also wonder if the plan was to also encourage tourists to spend a few more hours (and dollars) in town.

I think this may absolutely be a part of the rationale to subsidize the port valet program!! 

[JandC_Cruising]

3 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

Port Valet is actually paid for by airline and port fees, according to the Port of Seattle. If I were a Seattle resident, I'd be quite upset if my tax dollars were funding vacationers luggage transfers.

There are many cities that subsidize services of all types in order to pull tourism dollars into the area.  This is exactly that type of service.  Think how much more revenue gets generated throughout the city every time a cruise ship disembarks.  They are making it easier for the tourists to run around the city for the day without the concern of their bags.  They can do all sorts of shopping and sightseeing before catching a red-eye eastward back to their home.

 

Oh....and for each $ spent at Pike Place Market on a seafood lunch or a Venti Mochaccino at the  the original Starbucks, the city and state capture sales tax revenues back from that tourist.  

 

[mapleleaves]

if you want a definitive answer, call or email the Port Valet program. Their contact info is listed on the Port website.  

 

 

Port Valet (Bags Inc.)

Maritime

 Email: commandcenter@maketraveleasier.com

 Phone: 321-251-5435

[LatinaInTexas]

I had hoped to use this service for next months Alaska cruise only to find out today my flight does not meet the requirements. My flight is at 10:58 am two minutes short of the required flight time of 11 am.

I guess it's prob for the best that I should book a later flight anyways.

[cruiseny4life]

14 hours ago, JandC_Cruising said:

There are many cities that subsidize services of all types in order to pull tourism dollars into the area.  This is exactly that type of service.  Think how much more revenue gets generated throughout the city every time a cruise ship disembarks.  They are making it easier for the tourists to run around the city for the day without the concern of their bags.  They can do all sorts of shopping and sightseeing before catching a red-eye eastward back to their home.

 

Oh....and for each $ spent at Pike Place Market on a seafood lunch or a Venti Mochaccino at the  the original Starbucks, the city and state capture sales tax revenues back from that tourist.  

 

That's all well and good. I'd provide some of my economic/taxation policy thoughts here, but it's not the right forum. 

 

I'm just happy that airline passengers and cruise ship passengers are the ones really paying for port valet. That placates me. 🙂 

[graphicguy]

11 hours ago, LatinaInTexas said:

I had hoped to use this service for next months Alaska cruise only to find out today my flight does not meet the requirements. My flight is at 10:58 am two minutes short of the required flight time of 11 am.

I guess it's prob for the best that I should book a later flight anyways.

Yeah....I found out the hard way, too.  The airlines and port are pretty strict on the qualifications.  While not 2 minutes, I had a flight on my last Alaska cruise that departed at 10:55 a.m.  Pleaded, whined, etc...no luck.  

[LatinaInTexas]

8 hours ago, graphicguy said:

Yeah....I found out the hard way, too.  The airlines and port are pretty strict on the qualifications.  While not 2 minutes, I had a flight on my last Alaska cruise that departed at 10:55 a.m.  Pleaded, whined, etc...no luck.  

I can't believe Alaska airlines couldn't have scheduled this flight accordingly given it's Alaska cruise season lol.