Official Seattle information thread Updated 5/28/2014-Oso update

[tinkerbelltwins]

Does anyone know if the Wonder will have the onboard airline and luggage check in service available for departing flights out of Seattle on disembarkation day? It is so convenient at Port Canaveral to use this service for participating airlines!

If they don't do you recommend we book a taxi from the pier to SEATAC, use DCL transport or use some sort of car service? We are a family of four with two young children and will probably have three large duffel suitcases, okay maybe four suitcases! Our flight is scheduled to leave from SEATAC at 12:50pm.

TIA!

 

[eandesmom]

This didn't seem right to me, so I took a look at the Link light rail route maps. The Westlake station is as far northwest as the rail line goes; from there it goes about a block west under Pine then south under 3rd. There is no closer station to pier 91 than Westlake. It is about three miles from Pier 91.

Yes, the station is NW from the the pier. The airport is south. I had thought you planned to go to the Westlake station and then to the airport. Which would be going the wrong way by 3 miles.

Very likely there isn't a closer station, I've not looked at the map but knowing where it runs, in pure miles, probably not. It still is going the wrong way.

 

[trimix]

No, the station is southwest from the pier; the pier is NW of the station. The Westlake station, downtown, and the airport are all southeast or south-southeast of Pier 91.

A map will show that the Westlake Center, and associated light rail station, is in the same general direction as the airport.

 

[Bunless]

No, the station is southwest from the pier; the pier is NW of the station. The Westlake station, downtown, and the airport are all southeast or south-southeast of Pier 91.

A map will show that the Westlake Center, and associated light rail station, is in the same general direction as the airport.

Perhaps this is a good time to remind people that there are two different piers where cruise ships dock. Norwegian docks downtown, by the market, very close to Westlake. Disney, Princess, and Holland America dock at Pier 91, a couple of miles north, no where near the market and Westlake.

My husband, two times! has come to pick me up at the dock only to remember that he needed to go to Pier 91.

 

[eandesmom]

Perhaps this is a good time to remind people that there are two different piers where cruise ships dock. Norwegian docks downtown, by the market, very close to Westlake. Disney, Princess, and Holland America dock at Pier 91, a couple of miles north, no where near the market and Westlake.

My husband, two times! has come to pick me up at the dock only to remember that he needed to go to Pier 91.

Right, and my mistake on going backwards! Before 91 opened, it was at Pier 30 and that's what I was thinking of (apparently they last time I went there was 2008!) , forgetting that 30 closed when 91 opened and everything moved north.

So I suppose technically you aren't going backwards, but you certainly are heading east, and into the downtown mess versus going straight to the airport from the pier and from there, Hwy 99 is a straight shot to the airport. Still seems very out of the way to me.

 

[NWmom]

The latest on the liquor question

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Judge-upholds-liquor-initiative-143390036.html

So as of March 19, startiing in June liquor will be available in the new sales format including Costco. It will not be available in 7/11 type stores.

Look for larger establishments as there was/is a square footage portion of the bill.

WIll keep you updated should this recent decision go to appeal.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Does anyone know if the Wonder will have the onboard airline and luggage check in service available for departing flights out of Seattle on disembarkation day? It is so convenient at Port Canaveral to use this service for participating airlines!

If they don't do you recommend we book a taxi from the pier to SEATAC, use DCL transport or use some sort of car service? We are a family of four with two young children and will probably have three large duffel suitcases, okay maybe four suitcases! Our flight is scheduled to leave from SEATAC at 12:50pm.

TIA!

I don't know the answer but I'm sure hoping they'll offer it!! It's the greatest service out of PC!

 

[Chilly]

Thanks for all the great info. Off to look at all the suggested tours.

 

[queenbee99]

Someone on a previous Seattle thread suggested if you were doing the American Girl store that the Boeing tour is near? Can someone confirm this and is the AG store by a Disney store?

Also has anyone read trip reports from last years Alaskan cruises. I have not come up with any in my searches but hopefully I am doing something wrong and someone can help me find them. Thanks!

 

[DisSarahK]

Someone on a previous Seattle thread suggested if you were doing the American Girl store that the Boeing tour is near? Can someone confirm this and is the AG store by a Disney store?

Also has anyone read trip reports from last years Alaskan cruises. I have not come up with any in my searches but hopefully I am doing something wrong and someone can help me find them. Thanks!

The American Girl Store is at the Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood. There is a Disney Store in this mall too. Alderwood Mall is north of Seattle and not in the city at all. It is best accessed by car and not by public transportation.

The Boeing Tour you are thinking of is at Paine Field in Everett and is one town over from Alderwood Mall--you could easily do both in one day. A word of warning though...the tour is VERY boring for children. My husband is an aeronautical engineer by training and works as a manager at Boeing and we don't take our own children (ages 6 and 8) on the tour at Boeing.

Maybe split your group? Have some go to the mall and the rest go to Boeing?

I posted a link in your other thread to eandesmom's great trip report from last year. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2768852

 

[queenbee99]

THANK YOU!! I was thinking the same thing about the Boeing Tour. DH expressed interest in it but it really didn't interest me and I know AG will not interest him. When I heard they were near, that is when I got to thinking. Can you take public transportation to Everett? We would prefer not to rent a car if that is all we would need it for. Someone on another board said they did the public to AG and it wasn't terrible. That being said, we don't do it where we live so it would be a different experience. There ya'll have a great public system, in LA not so much! LOL

The American Girl Store is at the Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood. There is a Disney Store in this mall too. Alderwood Mall is north of Seattle and not in the city at all. It is best accessed by car and not by public transportation.

The Boeing Tour you are thinking of is at Paine Field in Everett and is one town over from Alderwood Mall--you could easily do both in one day. A word of warning though...the tour is VERY boring for children. My husband is an aeronautical engineer by training and works as a manager at Boeing and we don't take our own children (ages 6 and 8) on the tour at Boeing.

Maybe split your group? Have some go to the mall and the rest go to Boeing?

I posted a link in your other thread to eandesmom's great trip report from last year. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2768852

 

[mellers]

THANK YOU!! I was thinking the same thing about the Boeing Tour. DH expressed interest in it but it really didn't interest me and I know AG will not interest him. When I heard they were near, that is when I got to thinking. Can you take public transportation to Everett? We would prefer not to rent a car if that is all we would need it for. Someone on another board said they did the public to AG and it wasn't terrible. That being said, we don't do it where we live so it would be a different experience. There ya'll have a great public system, in LA not so much! LOL

I have taken public transit out to Alderwood--you have to do some planning, but it's definitely possible. Be sure to make reservations at the AG cafe before you go, though--it's always mobbed on weekends.

If you want to know how to get to Alderwood, use the Trip Planner--it's kind of like mapquest for public transit:

http://tripplanner.kingcounty.gov/cgi-bin/itin_page.pl?resptype=U

 

[DisSarahK]

You definitely CAN do public transportation out to Alderwood Mall--but if you were also planning on doing Paine Field, there is no way I'd recommend public transportation. That would be a big pain to coordinate! Still, it IS doable--just not all that easy and it will involve transfers.

I grew up on that side of Puget Sound and my mom was a big believer in making me take public transportation. It is doable...it just isn't very good. Certainly not nearly as good as public transportation in other areas of the country.

 

[NWmom]

The American Girl Store is at the Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood. There is a Disney Store in this mall too. Alderwood Mall is north of Seattle and not in the city at all. It is best accessed by car and not by public transportation.

The Boeing Tour you are thinking of is at Paine Field in Everett and is one town over from Alderwood Mall--you could easily do both in one day. A word of warning though...the tour is VERY boring for children. My husband is an aeronautical engineer by training and works as a manager at Boeing and we don't take our own children (ages 6 and 8) on the tour at Boeing.

Maybe split your group? Have some go to the mall and the rest go to Boeing?

I posted a link in your other thread to eandesmom's great trip report from last year. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2768852

My hubby works for Boeing as well- flightline and probably works with yours. My take is that in our family the boys love going to Boeing. The girls put up with it and go every once in awhile.
Seriously my hubby gets to play with airplanes all day- perfect job.

Height restrictions on the tour also exist.

Regarding AG and Disney Store- both are even on the same end of the mall by Sears and Coldwater Creek. Not sure if the Mariner store is still there or moved.

 

[DisSarahK]

Oh and a Lego store is going in at Alderwood this summer too. I haven't heard when it will open though.

 

[mellers]

Note on the Disney store--while there is no Disney Store in Seattle proper, in addition to the Alderwood store there is a store at the Bellevue Square Mall in Bellevue, and it is quite easy to get to Bellevue by bus. The store is an easy walk from the Bellevue Transit Center. There is also a Lego store in the same mall.

 

[minniemoms]

Ok, so I have been reading this trying to understand what I need to do.But.... I am confused.
So Disney goes out of Pier 91, so I want a hotel near that?
Here's our scenero? We fly in on Sun afternoon. Would like to do Pikes market.
Guess it's open Sunday afternoon? So we need to go from airport to hotel to,drop off luggage. Then to market, do the hotels take you to the pier?
Or since we don't leave till late Monday do we go to airport drop off luggage, then go,to market that day instead?
The light rail goes to the pier 91 hotels? Or close and then we walk a couple of blocks?
DH and myself 55, just trying to be simple. Not so complicated and wearing me out trying to decide which hotel is near the pier, how to get there and back and ??? Any experienced travelers here, want to give this confused brain a suggestion. At this point I just want to get to the hotel and wait till I need to get to the ship. But which hotel and how to get there and how to get to the pier?

 

[NWmom]

Ok, so I have been reading this trying to understand what I need to do.But.... I am confused.
So Disney goes out of Pier 91, so I want a hotel near that?
Here's our scenero? We fly in on Sun afternoon. Would like to do Pikes market.
Guess it's open Sunday afternoon? So we need to go from airport to hotel to,drop off luggage. Then to market, do the hotels take you to the pier?
Or since we don't leave till late Monday do we go to airport drop off luggage, then go,to market that day instead?
The light rail goes to the pier 91 hotels? Or close and then we walk a couple of blocks?
DH and myself 55, just trying to be simple. Not so complicated and wearing me out trying to decide which hotel is near the pier, how to get there and back and ??? Any experienced travelers here, want to give this confused brain a suggestion. At this point I just want to get to the hotel and wait till I need to get to the ship. But which hotel and how to get there and how to get to the pier?

There are no hotels right by the pier. You need to plan on taking a cab from your hotel to the pier.

My best suggestion is to decide what you want to see in Seattle and get a hotel near that. Around Westlake seems to be best as you want to go to Pike Place Market. Westlake is also the final stop on the light rail. And a short monorail ride to Seattle Center.

 

[Bunless]

There are no hotels right by the pier. You need to plan on taking a cab from your hotel to the pier.

My best suggestion is to decide what you want to see in Seattle and get a hotel near that. Around Westlake seems to be best as you want to go to Pike Place Market. Westlake is also the final stop on the light rail. And a short monorail ride to Seattle Center.

Exactly what I was going to say.

 

[minniemoms]

We have done a few of the Seattle tourist things before. Space needle, pikes market. Not to sound boring but DH doesn't care if we don't do any of those things again.well, not this trip anyway. So would you recommend taking the shuttle to a downtown hotel or the light rail?
Then we can walk over to the market, but take a taxi to the pier? Guess no shuttles to the pier?
DH wanted to fly in the same day as the cruise to save on the hotel. We have done that before, but I like knowing I am already in the same town before the trip. I just feel better.
So any other suggestions from you wonderful northerners??? Thanks so much for the help. We Love Disney and Disney cruise, just don't need to do much sight seeing in Seattle this time around.