Seattle Princess Disembarkation Chaos

[Cruisin Kay D]

This morning we disembarked from Sun Princess -- everything about cruise was WONDERFUL, EXCEPT the luggage terminal!!! TOTAL DISEMBARKATION CHAOS this morning in the terminal where you claim your bags -- by 8:45 AM NO PORTERS to be found -- lots of guys leisurely (semi-lazy) setting out passenger luggage from the huge crates -- another group of guys hiding/meeting in an office -- but NOT A SOUL to assist people who needed help getting their bags to buses & taxis!!!

 

After waiting about 5-10 minutes & seeing NO PROGRESS, we finally drug our luggage (5 suitcases) outside the building where we were facing a HUGE LONG line of people (& all the porters) trying to get onto Princess buses to airport. Fortunately we had NOT booked transfers through Princess -- DON'T USE THEM! After walking further, we found a long line of taxis & got one, which had us to airport by 9:30! In 15 previous cruises (11 Princess, 2 HAL, 2 RC) I have NEVER SEEN such a screwed up mess!!!

 

So here's my advice for Princess passengers in Seattle -- DON'T USE BUSES, USE TAXI -- DON'T OVERPACK -- DON'T EXPECT TO FIND A PORTER!

 

Oh yes, if you rent a car before the cruise, use THRIFTY because they have a drop-off at a nearby pier & will shuttle you to your ship! But that street (Alaskan Way) is hard to find -- drive on a downtown street ALL the way to the water!!!

[Cruisin' Chick]

After our cruise in 2004, I wrote a letter to Princess about the disembarkation (that was our only complaint about our cruise). My criticism was about the mess that awaited the passengers leaving the terminal after retrieving one's luggage. It was pouring rain and there was a mass of passengers waiting for taxis. Pushy people were able to sneak ahead of others.

 

Fortunately, we were staying in Seattle for a few more days so we weren't ready about making a flight that morning. But we didn't care for the crush, especially with a 7-yr-old, under the canopy sheltering everyone from the rain.

 

I had suggested a take-a-number system like in a bakery. While leaving the terminal, the employee at the door can ask if a party required a taxi. If yes, the employee would hand over a number. The parties wait by number, and get a taxi in order. I don't know if that was implemented, but I did receive a nice reply (and an unexpected OBC for the suggestion).

[Cruisin Kay D]

NO Your suggestion was not implemented! How AWFUL it would have been in the RAIN -- fortunately we had bright sun yesterday!!

 

Lots of "little ol' gray headed ladies" (like me) attempting to DIRECT all the people into Princess transfer lines, even when that was not what many wanted, including us!

 

A "funny" part of this: After finally reaching the taxi area, we waited to get into a cab for a lady in front of us to take it, as she was already there when we arrived but turned out she wasn't even waiting for a cab!! Just standing there looking for someone somewhere.....she had everyone confused: cab drivers as well as people like us.

 

Actually as I now recall, the BOARDING PROCESS was fairly screwed up too. The good things on the cruise made me forget that part....when the Thrifty shuttle dropped us off, there again were no porters to be found and the guys taking the checked luggage were across a 3 or 4 lane road at the other end of the building. One helpful person said "take your bags there & then get into line" -- only to be contradicted by another, who said "get in line with all your bags and drag them down to the end!" The latter turned out to be correct -- so we drug those bags down the long line & when we gave them to a man to put them onto a loading crate, he had his hand out for his $5 tip!!!! Yes, a poor system at Seattle port -- they need to take a lesson from Ft. Lauderdale!!!