Summers Travels

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Tips on Traveling to and from the Cruise

  1. Use what you have. When you are searching flights, don’t be afraid to search one-way trips and different airlines. I heard complaints about Alaskan Airlines, and I didn’t have any benefits, so I didn’t use them. They are very prevalent in Seattle though. We elected to fly into Seattle a few days ahead of the cruise. We flew in on American because they had better times. We left via Delta because I had a $200 credit voucher and points. If you have their skymiles credit card, you also can check 2 bags for free for you and anyone in your travel party. It ended up being a good deal. If you are thinking of signing up for a delta skymiles card, help a traveler out and use this link. Here’s my Amex referral link. Use it and we could both earn rewards if you are approved and get a Card. Check out offers and Card benefits. https://americanexpress.com/en-us/referral/delta-skymiles-gold-american-express-card?ref=SUMMEVztVV&xl=cp01
  2. We got there late Thursday morning and boarded the Star Princess Sunday. I’d never been to Seattle and wanted to explore the city before getting on the boat. Definitely do this if you have time. Seattle has some great things to do and see. More on that in a different post!
  3. When I talked to the hotel to see if they had a shuttle to the pier, they didn’t. I told them I’d probably use uber then, and they recommended against it. The hotel staff told me that they had seen uber refuse to take people due to the amount of luggage. What really convinced me though is that they said that uber dropped you off a distance from the luggage porters and I had no desire to drag all my luggage. The uber drop off for the pier is about a 7-10 minute walk to where you can drop your luggage, so know that going in. They can’t get closer. We ended up scheduling a town car. It was more than an uber, but I was on my honeymoon and willing to pay for convenience. We paid $65 for our ride from the hotel to the pier. We were dropped off right where the luggage porters were and it made things a lot easier. To me, the $20-$30 dollar difference in fair was definitely worth the money.
  4. Leaving the ship, I had scheduled our flight for 5:55pm back to DFW. Before we ever left for our trip, I scheduled Port Valet for us. On the ship we heard of people not getting ‘approved’ for it. I think it is more of a first come, first serve. I would recommend signing up before you get on the boat. Here’s the link: Port Valet – Enjoy Seattle Luggage Free! | Port of Seattle What this is is a free service at Seattle’s port. *It is free, but Princess will charge you for any luggage fees with the airline. I didn’t get charged because I had free luggage benefits with my credit card. If you don’t, you’ll see a fee for your luggage that is checked. They printed out our boarding pass and luggage tags. We put our luggage out the night before our cruise ended and didn’t see it again until baggage claim when we landed in Dallas. It was a great service that allowed us to leave the boat with just our carryons and explore Seattle for the day before heading to the airport. We did take an uber from the pier and I’m not kidding. It is a 7-10 minutes walk to where uber pics you up.
  5. I was glad that I scheduled our flight for later in the day. On our cruise, the last night we had a medical emergency on deck 15. The boat turned around and went back to Victoria where the people who had the emergency were taken off the boat. This delayed our boat from docking and off boarding by a few hours. I would strongly advice again an early flight. I would advise to wait at least after 12pm to be safe. You never know what’s going to happen.
  6. Which is why we also bought trip insurance. Now, we didn’t buy it from Princess. I shopped around and found it cheaper through someone else. What I really cared about was the medical portion of the insurance because I’d heard horror stories of someone having a medical emergency and getting an outrageous bill.
  7. You have to put your luggage out by 9pm…which is in the middle of your Victoria time. We asked if it was okay to put it out after we got back and our room attendant said he would take it down. We did that and tipped him for it. Just be sure to ask! We also got back by about 10:30. I’ll have more on Victoria in another post.

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