Transfers, in Seattle

[Meltiphil]

Okay any of you Professional Cruisers tell me how the transfers thru RCI work when you are leaving the airport to go to the ship? How far is it from the airport to the port where the ship is? Is everyone in the same transporation bus or do they put us in taxis or how does it work. AS you can tell we are new 'cruisers' and I'm just wanting to know what to expect.:D

[emilygrace]

If you do the transfers through the cruise line, there will be someone in the baggage claim area at the airport with a sign saying Royal Caribbean (or whatever line you're sailing). They will direct you to the line to get on the bus. They wait until the bus is full before it leaves to take you to the ship. I'm pretty sure that you will claim your luggage at the airport and bring it to the bus. We haven't used the transfer service for several years (actually used it only once when it was included in our air/sea package).

 

If you are flying into Seattle and booked your own flights it might be easier and faster to just get a taxi. That's what we did there. It's about a 15-20 minute ride.

[cruisecrazymama]

Okay any of you Professional Cruisers tell me how the transfers thru RCI work when you are leaving the airport to go to the ship? How far is it from the airport to the port where the ship is? Is everyone in the same transporation bus or do they put us in taxis or how does it work. AS you can tell we are new 'cruisers' and I'm just wanting to know what to expect.:D

 

I can't help you with the distance from the airport to the pier.As for transportation, they tend to use shuttle buses or minivans.

[vickiw0318]

We were on a big bus when we were taken from the airport to the ship in 6/06. We did wait for the bus to fill up, but we didn't wait long. With the two hour time change between Dallas and Seattle, we got in about 10:15 in the morning. Waiting, therefore, wasn't much of an issue. The ship wasn't even ready for boarding when we got to the terminal. We met a couple of very nice people and enjoyed chatting with them so the time passed quickly.

 

If you do use RCI transfers for your return to the airport, it is well worth the extra $10-$15 to pay for express baggage transfer from the ship to your flight. You'll be given the opportunity to sign up for this near the end of your cruise. It only applies to certain airlines - we flew American and it was part of the plan. Anyway, for the fee, they'll get you your boarding passes and check your bags straight through to your destination. We put them out in the hall the night before departure with the tags we'd been given that showed all our flight information and we didn't see them again until we got back to Dallas. We didn't even have to claim them to go through customs. We were especially thrilled we had done this because - when we got to the airport (SeaTac), we found that there is a bit of a traffic problem at SeaTac and that all the buses deposit their passengers and luggage in a single area and you then have to walk to your departure area from there. If you have your luggage, it hikes along with you. It was quite a ways to some of the airlines.

 

Our flight left late enough that we were able to do a sightseeing tour to the Space Needle before heading to the airport. (There was room for bags on the tour buses for those who hadn't checked theirs through.)

 

You picked a great itinerary for your first cruise. Hope you have a wonderful time.

 

P.S. If you haven't already heard about him, you might want to check out Captain Larry's whale watching tour in Juneau.