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Seattle, Pier, Alaska


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Ovation docked at pier 66 pre-revenue cruising this Alaska season, while they were training and receiving arriving crew.  Other than that, it is slated to cruise out of Pier 91, exceptions can apply, I guess.  Too bad really, Pier 66 looks much better in many ways.  I really don't care for Pier 91, it's not originally a cruise terminal, it is/was a cargo terminal, for that reason, mostly, I'll not be back to Seattle.  I'm not just talking about the building, it's the whole set-up.  Parking, dropping off luggage, convenience to the city (location and highway system), etc etc etc.  I think that Royal's new terminal in the Port of Miami is a home-run, almost perfect for the cruising passenger.    

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37 minutes ago, Suite Snob said:

Ovation docked at pier 66 pre-revenue cruising this Alaska season, while they were training and receiving arriving crew.  Other than that, it is slated to cruise out of Pier 91, exceptions can apply, I guess.  Too bad really, Pier 66 looks much better in many ways.  I really don't care for Pier 91, it's not originally a cruise terminal, it is/was a cargo terminal, for that reason, mostly, I'll not be back to Seattle.  I'm not just talking about the building, it's the whole set-up.  Parking, dropping off luggage, convenience to the city (location and highway system), etc etc etc.  I think that Royal's new terminal in the Port of Miami is a home-run, almost perfect for the cruising passenger.    

I thought I'd seen everything on this blog but I've never before seen someone say they are going to avoid a cruise because they didn't like the embarkation terminal!

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18 minutes ago, Vancity Cruiser said:

I thought I'd seen everything on this blog but I've never before seen someone say they are going to avoid a cruise because they didn't like the embarkation terminal!

Each to their own!  And if you really read my whole post, it doesn't limit my dissatisfaction with just the terminal.  

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We sailed from Pier 91 this May, and it was a cluster.  While I found the people of Seattle to be some of the nicest large city residents, the port itself is truly disorganized, and it seems like most weeks, FB groups report luggage going to the wrong ship.  Why?  Maybe because back in May (don't know if this has continued) the drop-off locations for luggage are not marked, and drop-off for RCI and Celebrity are about 20 feet apart.  The drop-off area is very small, so when a cart is loaded, it is hauled away....hopefully to the correct ship (some people said they had dropped theirs on the correct side, and it still ended up going to the wrong ship).  

This was our one-and-done for Seattle round trip, but not due to the disorganization of Pier 91.  We loved Ovation.  We just prefer one-way sailings, and will go on a smaller ship to travel the Canadian inside passage in the future.  However, we def won't miss Pier 91!  😂

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36 minutes ago, Suite Snob said:

This was done in 2019, but not much has changed.  Pay close attention to the baggage drop of debackle:

 

When we arrived, it was even worse than that.  Granted, we had the first check-in time, but there was a line of exiting passengers that went all the way through the covered area to where you crossed the road to the terminal. Those were the passengers debarking.  There were no carts for luggage like this showed.  Instead, we had to walk toward the terminal with our luggage, and in the curve of the barriers just before crossing the road, you put your luggage on the ground (since there was no cart there yet) to the left side for RCI and to the right side for X.    No sign designating luggage drop-off, nothing.  I looked at our bags a couple of times as we slowly walked away, and finally saw someone returning with an empty cart to load them on.  In my head, I was saying goodbye to our bags, just in case.  😂

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9 minutes ago, barbeyg said:

When we arrived, it was even worse than that.  Granted, we had the first check-in time, but there was a line of exiting passengers that went all the way through the covered area to where you crossed the road to the terminal. Those were the passengers debarking.  There were no carts for luggage like this showed.  Instead, we had to walk toward the terminal with our luggage, and in the curve of the barriers just before crossing the road, you put your luggage on the ground (since there was no cart there yet) to the left side for RCI and to the right side for X.    No sign designating luggage drop-off, nothing.  I looked at our bags a couple of times as we slowly walked away, and finally saw someone returning with an empty cart to load them on.  In my head, I was saying goodbye to our bags, just in case.  😂

The long line is what I saw when we were there on May 13th at about 11:15 AM.  I mean a long line.  We took our luggage to the Star Class greeting area, which I though was more inconvenient than the regular baggage drop off.  But, a cart wasn't an issue.  Well, I'm not going to beat this dead horse anymore, it's not worth it.  Like you it's a "one and done" for me.  I really didn't have a desire to go to Alaska anyway, it was nice though.  My wife, my old Army buddy and his wife, really wanted to go.  Happy wife, happy life.  

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Wow, Ok we're sailing June 17th, that is if we all test negative and if we actually get to Seattle from Boston. I have been viewing YouTube videos for this port and the ones I found did seem to show allot of chaos, but they were from 2019 and I had hoped things had improved. Looks like I'll need to pay attention to how our luggage is handled.

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30 minutes ago, KevinJ said:

Wow, Ok we're sailing June 17th, that is if we all test negative and if we actually get to Seattle from Boston. I have been viewing YouTube videos for this port and the ones I found did seem to show allot of chaos, but they were from 2019 and I had hoped things had improved. Looks like I'll need to pay attention to how our luggage is handled.

I know that I was going to let the dead horse go.  But, I think you need an answer or opinion about Seattle's cruise port 91.  First, let me say that I'm not trying to hurt Royal in any way, not at all, I love cruising on Royal's ships, especially the Oasis Class ships.  I just think people need to be informed about what to expect when they get there.  Are things improving since I was there just a few weeks ago?  I sure hope so.  But, I don't know, to be honest.  

The 2019 video I posted above is exactly as I found it to be this last May.  The only exception is the video didn't have the LONG LONG LONG line waiting to get into the terminal.  If anything, the terminal, because of COVID, hasn't improved one bit.  In fact, the old chaos and COVID issues has ensued.  No, I'm not saying don't go, you may really really really enjoy the actual cruise.  In fact, you probably will.  Just do it and try to enjoy it.  Don't change a thing. 

You'll notice that the baggage handlers, in the video I posted, are wearing vests with the ship they are serving printed on the back of the vests.  I'd go by that rather than any signage.  Just make sure you give your luggage to the porter that is assigned to your ship.  That only applies if there is two ship in port.    

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I was also on the May 13th Ovation cruise and took a taxi to the terminal. After being dropped off we walked towards the terminal to drop off our checked luggage. Since we were not Star Class we found a luggage drop off area located on the left hand side nearest the Ovation. These are my observations:

  1. For some reason the end of the luggage drop off line started from the terminal side. This required people with their luggage in tow to squeeze past people already waiting in line with their luggage to get to the end of the line.
     
  2. I did not see any signage that indicated whether the luggage drop off area was for the Ovation or the Solstice. We had to ask the porters and luckily we were in the correct area while the Solstice luggage drop off was further down and on the opposite side.
     
  3. Once we were at the luggage drop off area and next in line to drop off our luggage with a porter we were notified that since our luggage already had been tagged we could drop it off on the other side of the porter stand. (If facing the porter stand luggage tagged by the porters was placed on the right side while self tagged luggage was placed on the left side). I am assuming that we could have just dropped off our self tagged luggage instead of waiting in line but there was no directions or instructions provided.
     
  4. We then found the end of the long line to start the boarding process. There were several people in that line who had not dropped off their luggage and at the beginning porters would come by and load their self tagged luggage onto carts. After about 15 minutes those people with luggage that had not dropped off were forced to go to the luggage drop off area.

Once on board we enjoyed the cruise but am not a fan of the Pier 91 boarding process from arrival to setting foot on the Ovation.

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