Disney Wonder September 3, 2012. Seattle to Vancouver 7 night Alaska Cruise!

[jenf22]

I just wanted to let everyone know that I found a rental car for an extremely reasonable cost. Using Priceline, I was able to rent a car through Enterprise at the Vancouver airport returning it to the Seattle airport for $111! And no drop-off charge! Now we just need a way to the airport. Not a big deal though. There's always a cab and I heard taking the Canada Line would also be an option.

We'll be taking the SkyTrain Canada Line to the Vancouver airport - it goes straight from the waterfront to the airport, and at $3.75 per adult and kids under 5 free (and credit cards accepted at the ticket kiosk), the price is right! Plus DS loves public transportation, so it should be fun.

Hmmm. Should we do that too? I just checked National and I can do the same thing for $64 using my corporate account. The rental through Avis is $130 and they pick us up at the port. Anyone know how far the airport is from the port? Or how frequent the Canada Line comes (is this a bus?) Ryan also loves public transportation. Maybe we could save a little $$$$

Welcome to the new folks! We are flying round trip to/from Seattle since Vancouver airfare was expensive. We're staying in Seattle for 2 days prior to the cruise. We'll have a rental car there and were told we could drop it at the downtown Hilton and catch a (free?) shuttle to the pier.

 

[jennnnnn]

Hi everyone,

I likewise just booked this trip (yesterday). This will be my 5th Disney Cruise (3rd on Wonder), but 1st DCL to Alaska. I'm excited but I've never planned logistics out of Seattle / Vancouver - so I'm panicking a little. I will go back and read some of the many earlier threads, but (since there are many pages) is anyone able to give a 10 second summary of what most people are doing to get to/from the ports? i.e. are most flying into SEA and flying out of YVR? I see the post above about renting a car from Vancouver to Seattle... that would save on airfare - are many of you planning to do that? What is the best way to get from SEA to the pier? Sorry if this is a rehash of common knowledge

Thanks!

Hi,
we're flying out of LAX, staying in sea for a few days before boarding the ship... then taking a private shuttle from the pier to YVR, flying direct back to LA.
there is a big festival in seattle for labor day weekend, so book your hotel soon - they are getting full quick.

Transportation options from SEA to downtown (not sure if directly to pier - check the links)

Link Light Rail
Operated by Sound Transit, the Link Light Rail departs daily from SeaTac
Airport every 10 to 15 minutes. For details follow the link: http://www.soundtransit.org/x11204.xml

Shuttle Express Airporter Express Bus
Shuttle Express serves all the major downtown hotels, it leaves the airport every 30 minutes and takes 40 minutes in normal traffic to reach the hotel. Please cross Sky Bridge 3 or 4 to the airport parking garage, go down to the 3rd floor. Shuttle Express curb check-in is located near the purple elevator banks. Returning to the airport, it leaves the hotel every 30 minutes and takes 50 minutes. Cost is $19 one-way, $33 round trip. Reservation is highly recommended at http://www.shuttleexpress.com/ Group: Fairmont. Walk-ups are welcome.


Taxi
A taxi is faster, only 25 minutes in normal traffic; it’s a metered rate airport to, so the cost varies, usually in the $40-50 range.

hope this helps!

 

[LaurenB]

Hmmm. Should we do that too? I just checked National and I can do the same thing for $64 using my corporate account. The rental through Avis is $130 and they pick us up at the port. Anyone know how far the airport is from the port? Or how frequent the Canada Line comes (is this a bus?) Ryan also loves public transportation. Maybe we could save a little $$$$

Welcome to the new folks! We are flying round trip to/from Seattle since Vancouver airfare was expensive. We're staying in Seattle for 2 days prior to the cruise. We'll have a rental car there and were told we could drop it at the downtown Hilton and catch a (free?) shuttle to the pier.

I'd say Waterfront to YVR is a good half hour since it's about 12 stops. The Canada Line is part of our Skytrain system here, similar to that of a Subway. Comes pretty often, 1 every 5 mins or so but make sure you get on the one that is announced as YVR, as there is another one that goes to Richmond-Brighouse. There will be signs at the platform telling you the wait times and which one they are too, just to make it easier

The Canada Line is not so scenic as the other Skytrain lines we have since a good portion of it is underground and away from downtown, but I've seen many tourist still amazed at the speed, space, and quietness of this line. Plus, I think this is a much faster and efficient way of getting to the airport. No traffic, no hassle!

 

[Hollywood Glitter]

I still need room numbers for the following people....

Cinderelley
Katwillow
AprilN
Patapat
THNLK

Please email this info to me if you have it

Hollywood.Glitter@aol.com

Thanks

 

[MrHappy]

Hi everyone,

I likewise just booked this trip (yesterday). This will be my 5th Disney Cruise (3rd on Wonder), but 1st DCL to Alaska. I'm excited but I've never planned logistics out of Seattle / Vancouver - so I'm panicking a little. I will go back and read some of the many earlier threads, but (since there are many pages) is anyone able to give a 10 second summary of what most people are doing to get to/from the ports? i.e. are most flying into SEA and flying out of YVR? I see the post above about renting a car from Vancouver to Seattle... that would save on airfare - are many of you planning to do that? What is the best way to get from SEA to the pier? Sorry if this is a rehash of common knowledge

Thanks!

There are a few options from SEA to port. Disney is $30 and will get your bags from the airline. Or Shuttle(which is what I'm doing) is $21.
Lightrail is an option, but you still need to take a bus from the station to the port.

Some are staying in Vancouver when we get off, but it's probably 50/50 to fly out of YVR or go back down to SEA. I am using the QuickShuttle with is $52/person, I think. This way I just sit back and relax.

 

[Cinderelley]

I still need room numbers for the following people....

Cinderelley
Katwillow
AprilN
Patapat
THNLK

Please email this info to me if you have it

Hollywood.Glitter@aol.com

Thanks

Still no rooms yet. Both myself (Cinderelley) and Mompaq are GTY status. I keep checking daily and no assignment yet.

 

[NJMF]

Thank you DizDays, Cinderelley, and Mr. Happy for your responses. Very helpful.

I ended up just going with the Disney transfer. Might be a few dollars more but made the most sense. Also, they also had no issue changing my dining time. Happy that I can make most of my time in port.

I'm thinking of doing the hike to Upper Dewey Lake in Skagway. I understand it's challenging but worth it. Anyone ever try it?

 

[Carolc]

There are a few options from SEA to port. Disney is $30 and will get your bags from the airline. Or Shuttle(which is what I'm doing) is $21.
Lightrail is an option, but you still need to take a bus from the station to the port.

Some are staying in Vancouver when we get off, but it's probably 50/50 to fly out of YVR or go back down to SEA. I am using the QuickShuttle with is $52/person, I think. This way I just sit back and relax.

Thank you! Do you have a website for the $21 shuttle? Or was that the one mentioned on the previous page? Where does $52 QuickShuttle take you... YVR or SEA?

 

[lesabrowning]

I feel for you guys with GTY status who still have no room assignments! We had GTY and did not even know it at first. Booked with a TA eons ago and somehow it did not come up. (yes, I know, hard to imagine) Anyway, we were assigned like two months ago at least. I suppose it depends on the category and the availability. I hope they assign everyone soon, if nothing else just so you can have the fun of planning : )

 

[Thnlk]

I still need room numbers for the following people....

Cinderelley
Katwillow
AprilN
Patapat
THNLK

Please email this info to me if you have it

Hollywood.Glitter@aol.com

Thanks

Still waiting to be assigned. Obsessively checking the website a couple times a day

 

[DizDragonfly]

Hello! and

We are so glad you could join us!

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I'm excited but I've never planned logistics out of Seattle / Vancouver - so I'm panicking a little.

Me too!

Hmmm. Should we do that too? I just checked National and I can do the same thing for $64 using my corporate account.

Make sure you check that you are getting free miles (or kilometers, as it were). I'm using the Car and Driver rate on my rental for a bit less than your corp rate, but it doesn't include free mileage. The same goes for several airline FF program codes. Luckily, I have a free day to use from National. So, I'll have to just pay mileage (.25/km), plus a buck and change for my rental. If I did my math correctly, it should cost me about $60 or so.

Now I just have to decide how to get from the pier to the airport to pick up the car. And how to get from the Seattle Hilton back to the parking lot at the pier to pick up my car.

 

[AprilN]

I still need room numbers for the following people....

Cinderelley
Katwillow
AprilN
Patapat
THNLK

Please email this info to me if you have it

Hollywood.Glitter@aol.com

Thanks

I probably have another 1.5 weeks to wait, at least (VGT), and there's a chance we won't find out until we get to the port. Seeing all the pixie dust being sprinkled on upcoming Dream cruisers with *GT bookings is making me even more impatient! I've been obsessively checking the DCL website every morning, even though I know there's no chance our room has been assigned yet. Trust me, you'll know almost as soon as I do!

 

[Hollywood Glitter]

I probably have another 1.5 weeks to wait, at least (VGT), and there's a chance we won't find out until we get to the port. Seeing all the pixie dust being sprinkled on upcoming Dream cruisers with *GT bookings is making me even more impatient! I've been obsessively checking the DCL website every morning, even though I know there's no chance our room has been assigned yet. Trust me, you'll know almost as soon as I do!

You know what's weird. I have a cruise scheduled for Sept 30 and everyone on that cruise including me just got scheduled our guaranteed room numbers. Most everyone got upgraded. Hopefully you will find out yours soon

 

[jenf22]

Make sure you check that you are getting free miles (or kilometers, as it were). I'm using the Car and Driver rate on my rental for a bit less than your corp rate, but it doesn't include free mileage. The same goes for several airline FF program codes. Luckily, I have a free day to use from National. So, I'll have to just pay mileage (.25/km), plus a buck and change for my rental. If I did my math correctly, it should cost me about $60 or so.

I'm pretty sure the quote had free mileage. The Boeing contract is pretty good, from what I can tell. But, we decided to just stick with the Avis rental (though I should check mileage on that one). It only ended up to be about a $60 difference and this way they pick us up at the port instead of us having to take public transportation to the airport. Neither one of us could figure how we would get all our luggage on the train before the doors closed!

I'm starting a list of "not to miss" things in port. Does anyone else have a similar list? I figure we'll only end up with 2-3 hours in port after our excursions in order to get back on the ship in time for early dinner. I want to make sure we see all the best things to see in town. Anyone have any suggestions for my list? I meant to bring it with me to work today so I could post what I have so far, but I forgot.

Speaking of excursions - I've seen on a previous cruise meet where they had a list of everyone's excursions so people could see which ones they shared. Do we want to do that?

 

[AprilN]

You know what's weird. I have a cruise scheduled for Sept 30 and everyone on that cruise including me just got scheduled our guaranteed room numbers. Most everyone got upgraded. Hopefully you will find out yours soon

Did you all have GTY, or VGT, OGT, etc? The GTY rooms have typically been assigned at 1-2 months out, but the *GT rates are usually assigned at 2 weeks out or less. A bunch of people on the 8/19 Dream just had their rooms assigned yesterday, less than 10 days out!

 

[MrHappy]

Thank you! Do you have a website for the $21 shuttle? Or was that the one mentioned on the previous page? Where does $52 QuickShuttle take you... YVR or SEA?

Yes, the one from SEA to the port is the one mentioned before, http://www.shuttleexpress.com/

The QuickCoach will pick you up at the Pier in Vancouver and take us right to SEA airport. http://www.quickcoach.com/

 

[MrHappy]

Wow, all the way to page 54!! I remember being on page 29 less than a month ago! Glad to find out we are a talkative bunch!!

 

[MrHappy]

Ok, just wondering who all are pin traders? I was going to bring all my extras to trade with anyone that is willing to trade. I have a bunch of the wave one from DLR. I have about 2-300 traders! I have a few traders on my PinPics account, but most aren't.

Anyone else want to trade?

 

[Cinderelley]

You know what's weird. I have a cruise scheduled for Sept 30 and everyone on that cruise including me just got scheduled our guaranteed room numbers. Most everyone got upgraded. Hopefully you will find out yours soon

Did you all have GTY, or VGT, OGT, etc? The GTY rooms have typically been assigned at 1-2 months out, but the *GT rates are usually assigned at 2 weeks out or less. A bunch of people on the 8/19 Dream just had their rooms assigned yesterday, less than 10 days out!

We just have GTY-Not assigned yet. I'm hoping we don't have to wait until we reach the port unless they'll have it on the key cards. We'll have been up and in transit for over 24 overs when we arrive and it would be nice to know that we wouldn't have to wait forever in line and avoid the hassle of straightening things out. Normally I'm a very patient person but I get really cranky when I'm tired.

Of course if I have to, then I'll have to. I'll try to be on my best behavior.

 

[DizDays]

Ok, just wondering who all are pin traders? I was going to bring all my extras to trade with anyone that is willing to trade. I have a bunch of the wave one from DLR. I have about 2-300 traders! I have a few traders on my PinPics account, but most aren't.

Anyone else want to trade?

Avid pin trader here! Although I don't know how much I'll be able to bring with me. My luggage is going to be heavy enough. . What do you collect?