I plan to fly to Seattle (scheduled arrival time is 10:30A) and take the $ 45 Seattle-Vancouver Motorcoach to Vancouver in order to catch a 5:30P cruise. I'm so concerned about something going wrong and missing the cruise that I'm considering abandoning the plan and just flying up to Anchorage to start my tour of Alaska. Any suggestions?

I don't get it...are you talking about a day cruise or a week long cruise departing from Vancouver? Certainly you wouldn't abandon the whole week's plan because of this?

7 hours is plenty of time

Only thing that could cause you delay is if the flight is delayed -- otherwise, no problems. However, if you are reaaly concerned, why not either fly into Vancouver directly or come a day earlier ?

It is about 150 miles and trip with border crossing should take in the 3 to 3 1/2 hour range. Plenty of time if all goes according to schedule. But how often does that happen. There is an option that will alleviate your concerns - leave a day earlier. I did two Alaska cruises in the 90's. Both times I got to Seattle a day early. Both times there were four in the party so we rented a car for the trip. Even with a drop off fee the renting of a car was cost effecvtive.
You might look into a car rental.

If it will put your mind to rest, the one way fare on Horizon Airlines (Alaska AL) from Seattle to Vancouver is $200 or so. The flights leave every hour and take around 40 minutes (then half an hour to the cruise dock.) It's an expensive fallback position, but not the end of the world. But do check with your airline to see how much an add-on flight to Vancouver might be - depending on your origin point it might not be as much as you think.

I would have thought you'd allowed plenty of time, but I saw something last summer that convinced me you should probably plan to arrive in Vancouver a day ahead. I was on a flight from Toronto to Vancouver, and in front of me on the plane was a family with two (unbelievably well-behaved, as it turned out) little girls. They had flown from Chicago and were supposed to end up in Seattle the previous night. There was some sort of bad weather in between Point A and Point B and they were re-routed all over the place and were exhausted. They were scheduled to leave on a cruise from Vancouver early that afternoon, and our flight left first thing in the morning - everything should have been peachy, but the flight was delayed by a couple of hours. Something weird apparently happened in the baggage compartment. They were just desperate, by this time. They had been flying for nearly 36 hours and it still looked as if they were going to miss their cruise. We were allowed to use cel phones during the delay; I lent them mine, they called their travel agent (who also happened to be the girls' grandma and was doing everything she could to help) and arrangements were made for them to meet up with the cruise ship. So I'd err on the side of caution, I think. I often wonder how that family enjoyed their cruise - they were lovely people and I hope they had a great time. They deserved it!

Thanks for all the responses. It confirms that I should be concerned. Joan, I'm going for a week. I realize part of my problem is keeping the extra cost to a minimum.