Amsterdam Seattle Pier 91 Disembarkation Question

[OldCodger73]

For those of you who have taken one of the Amsterdam's Alaska cruise this summer from Seattle, what procedure did they use for disembarkation, the colored cards with letter and numbers or assigning a disembarkation time? I'm trying to figure out a pick arrangement time.

 

Thanks.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We were on the Westerdam in May -- same pier.

Originally we were all suppose to do the silent disembarkation. But arounnd 8 everything was changed to colors and numbers.

The people self-disembarking got off the ship first. It was stressed that you should not get off the ship before you were called as your luggage would not be on the pier. We were called around 9 AM and were off the ship quickly. Went through customs quickly -- they barely looked at our passports. But trying to get a porter was another matter. Pier 91 has a lot of details that need to be addressed. There were very few porters there and it was hard to get one. After about 10 minutes we were able to flag one down. As we left the terminal we handed our customs declaration slip to the person at the door and called for our limo. The line-up for taxis is something else!! Instead of having the taxis pick you up near the entrance to the terminal, they have you walk down quite a long line of taxis until you get to the head taxi. This is should be reversed. Limos and cars are in another lane -- headed in the right direction -- pick up is near the terminal. But too many people just plain parked and wouldn’t keep moving around the circle until their friends came off the ship. Our limo driver had to actually block another lane as there was no place for him to pull over and pick us up. It was about a 35 minute drive from Pier 91 to the Airport Hilton where we stayed the night before our flight home.

Hopefully the process for getting luggage porters has changed as well as the line up of cabs.

On the first night of the cruise you will be given a form to complete to indicate what your travel plans are at the end of the cruise -- i.e. -- plane, taxis, etc.

[arzz]

On July 25 we were assigned times and had a silent disembarkation from the Amsterdam. Our suitcases went to the airport with HAL's express service so disembarkation was an absolute breeze. 15 minutes for us from ship to the Edgewater Hotel where we were meeting with family for brunch.

 

However, we got to walk right past the lines of folks who were waiting to find their suitcases and flew thru customs and immigration.

 

Krazy Kruizers is right about the taxi line -- they were lined up pointed away from the ship and you have to walk down to the first taxi (farthest down the line) to get a cab ... so be sure you can handle what you carry off the ship.

 

We could have had family pick us up at the pier but it did not seem wise based upon reports we had read earlier on this board.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I still can't believe that Seattle doesn't have that taxi line reversed after all this time!!

[Rocky365]

Just off the Westerdam (8/16) and we had color tags and numbers plus designated off-boarding time, we waited until that time and got off. I think the color and number tags are more for finding your luggage then letting you know when you disembark. Yes the walk to passenger pick up was long.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Yes -- the colored tags and numbers are used for getting your luggage.

When the Silent Disembarkation is used, you leave the ship by the time that is given to you on either a card or a letter (have had it both ways). Luggage is taken off the ship by colors and numbers. We have had incidents where people ignored the colors and numbers and got off the ship when they felt like it. For example -- we actually looked at a couple of cards of the people in front of us leaving the ship -- they had a time of 9:30 and we had a time of 8:30. These people were furious when they discovered that their luggage had not been brought off the ship yet.

The colors and numbers are also a back-up system (like we used to have) when things start to go wrong ashore and they scrap the silent disembarkation and revert back to announcing colors and numbers.