Brrrrr!
I spent the weekend researching the Seattle options and we made a final decision and booked air into Sea-Tac (Delta from Philadelphia for $370 round trip with only 1 stop each way....short layovers in Minneapolis). I will Priceline for a downtown Seattle hotel closer to departure time.
Next morning (August 6th), we will take Amtrak Cascades to Vancouver (booked business class seats for only $9 more per person with
AAA discount-just over $200 for the five of us). Pan Pacific is already booked for the three pre cruise nights. I still may play around with Priceline closer to departure but I got a city view rate of $226/night with AAA discount....which I thought was pretty good.
This will give us part of the day on Saturday, all day Sunday, and all day Monday for touring Vancouver. We may drive the Sea to Sky highway to Whistler on Monday but will decide that closer to the trip. If we do that, we will do a one day car rental from National at the Pan Pacific.
Post cruise we will not be flying back until Friday so we have a couple more days to tour when we return to Seattle-returning via the Quick Coach. We booked a city tour with Tours Northwest, a Pike Place Market tour with Savor Seattle Tours, and a pub crawl tour for the boys in the evening with Seattle By Foot. The tours were reasonably priced and I think will help us get the most out of the downtown area in a short amount of time.
So far, I am really happy with how our plans are unfolding
Hey, for anyone who might be arriving August 6th, the last night of Celebration of Light will be that night. This is one of the most prestigious fireworks competitions in the world and we are really looking forward to seeing it!