We are flying into Seattle on September 6 to start an Alaska cruise on the Westerdam September 7th. Any suggestions about hotels? We are not interested in seeing Seattle; we just want to get ready for the cruise. We plan to cab from our hotel to the port, Terminal 30. Should we take a cab from the airport to a city hotel upon arrival (Are shuttles available?). Or should we just stay at an airport hotel and cab directly to the port on the 7th? What kind of cab fares are we looking at? Thanks in advance for any constructive comments and advice.

For just a pre-cruise stay try the Best Western Loyal inn. It has a free shuttle to the pier though we cabbed it. The fare I don't recall but it was nominal. If you cab it to the hotel then you can save the fare to the pier. There was also a complimentary breakfast too. We stayed three days post cruise at the Hotel Vintage park but that is more money. However its right downtown and pretty nice. Have fun, Larry

It's pretty easy to get a room in Seattle using Priceline.com. Check Biddingfortravel.com to see what people are paying for rooms. People seem to get the Sheraton for around $100/night.

The airport is nowhere near the pier, so taking a cab from an airport hotel to the pier will be pricey.

Taxis from the airport to either the cruise pier or downtown will run around $35 plus tip.

HAL leaves from Terminal 30, which is a couple of miles south of downtown. A taxi from most downtown hotels will run $10 - $15.

You can get hotels near the airport for quite a lot less than downtown, but there's very little of interest at the airport, and not many decent restaurants, so downtown might be more interesting.

Terminal 30 is not in the thick of downtown like the other ships and there are no hotels within walking distance. Frankly it is not a good area so I would suggest the cheapest thing would be to stay at an airport hotel. There are any number of chain hotels you're familiar with near the airport all with free shuttles. Then you can taxi it to the terminal the next day.