Day 8: How To Disembark From Your Alaska Cruise, And What To Do After?

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Disembarkation process

It’s happening.

This trip is coming to an end. And after 8 days and 7 nights we were docked back in Seattle. In this post I want to explain more or less what we did on this last day on the cruise, how we particularly disembarked and then what we did in Seattle after all this process.

On the previous day we received a disembarkation number designation on the app and on a paper left on the bed, with the time we were supposed to be out of the ship. In our case it was 8:45 AM and the wait area was going to be the Royal Theater on the 4th floor.

We set our alarms at 6 AM, left the suitcases packed and ready and went to bed. We did not tag the suitcases, because we just wanted to handle them ourselves, and not have to try to find them out of the ship in the sea of luggage on that port. By the time we woke up, the cruise was already in Seattle, and the beautiful skyline could be seen from my balcony.

We showered, got ready, cleaned the room a bit, packed anything else left, and left and extra tip for the stateroom attendant on an envelope. She was definitely very helpful during the trip, giving us tips on the ports and reminding us of activities on the cruise. Got out of the stateroom with all of our suitcases and went up to the Windjammer for breakfast. We could have done the Dining Room but thought it was already a bit late.

Since there are no activities on the last day, as this is usual in any Royal Caribbean cruise, the only thing we could do is get breakfast and then leave.

Next to us the Celebrity Solstice had just arrived too.

And of course, I needed to use my beverage package one last time, getting coffee from the “Starbucks” location in Windjammer. These guys are just so good, and really super fast and nice.

With the last meal eaten, the process to leave was a bit confusing. Even though all the screens on the cruise will show the times and groups for departure, they did not specified the gangway. And I had forgotten from what floor we arrived on day one. So we went to the 4th floor to the theater, just to be sent back to another floor to the gangway. There, it was mandatory to everyone to throw away any drinks, even coffee, in order to exit the ship.

They scanned our sea passes and just like that we were officially back in the US. In Immigration they just saw barely our passports and let us through Customs without asking anymore questions.

Now, how do we get back to our hotel? If you drive, and left your car parked on the port, or if you need to take an Uber or Lyft, there are free shuttles that will help you get closer to these areas. The problem? Since everyone are part of large groups and have tons of luggage, it takes a long time to finally get into these shuttles. I would recommend to just walk to the beginning of the pier to the parking lot or the rideshare area. Waiting on the sun or rain is no fun.

Also, since obviously, the goal was to get people checked in for the new itinerary, guests leaving were not as prioritary.

Chihuly Garden and Glass

The cruise was behind us now. We took an Uber to our hotel, Hyatt Place Seattle/Downtown, and checked in. We left the suitcases, grabbed more coffee, and waited for the room to be ready. As expected, the hotel was full of cruise people, including the lobby, so they told us the room would be ready around 4:00 PM. Shocking news. Since it was only 11:30 AM we decided to explore Seattle first, starting in Chihuly Gardens and Glass, just steps away from this hotel. The entrance is about $60 for both the museum and Space Needle, and even though the ticket is timed, the museum can be visited at any time on the same day as the Space Needle.

The demonstration was amazing. I had been here before in 2016, but this time I think it surprised me more.

The colors were amazing, and the artistry unbelievable.

My mom was very into this exposition, she enjoyed every room.

There are 2 food options in the museum. One is The Bar at Chihuly Garden and Glass, and the other one is a pizza place in the patio, next to the glass melting demostration.

This is the menu. We opted for not eating here, since we were still full from the Windjammer.

We continued exploring the gardens.

And sat down for the entire glass demonstration. Very entertaining and had people in awe the entire time.

The Space Needle could be seen from the patio, we would go there later, almost at sunset.

Paparepas Venezuelan Food

After exploring the entire Chihuly Garden and Glass, and seeing everything, we were finally hungry, so we agreed to go to a Hispanic place for lunch. There was a complaint on this cruise and was the lack of Hispanic food. We met a Mexican family and they said it was sad they could not find burritos or tacos anywhere like in other cruises. There were some international food available, including South East Asian and Indian, but Hispanic was not one of them.

We had not had an arepa in months, so we ubered to Paparepas Venezuelan Food, more towards the East of Seattle.

The arepas were good but really expensive lol. I mean compare to the same food in New York City, or obviously in LatinAmerica. But it was very meaty at least.

Starbucks Reserve Roastery

We were full at the end of that whole meal, alors we went on a walk to the Starbucks Reserve Roastery, not too far from the arepas place. I have a fascination with this brand of Starbucks, from the bad ones, to the great ones. And I was about to find out what was the fuzz about this one in Seattle, home of the original Starbucks store.

But yeah, as soon as you walk in, you could tell this is going to be a good experience.

The space is open, and full of mini stores where you could get all types of coffee and related products.

And they even have an area where they explain the roasting process.

One thing to have in mind is this place is packed, and we did not even go at the busiest time. We managed to grab a couple of ice coffees and from the Princi stand we got the chocolate tart.

Regal Meridian Downtown Seattle

I was going to see Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse back in New York City, in one of the best screens, but I was able to grab a couple of 4DX tickets for this afternoon since we still had time for the Space Needle.

When the previews started, the seats moved so much everyone started laughing at the theater lol. My mom freaked out because she thought it was an earthquake.

The movie was better than expected, and thankfully I did not wait to see it in New York. From here we walked to Nordstrom to get some steps but also to see if there were more discounted shoes.

A bit later we finally went back in the direction of the Space Needle.

Space Needle

There was a large group in front of us, and in the confusion I never got to scan both our tickets, even though we had them ready lol. I mean it was their fault. Regardless, we went quicky into the elevator and got to the Observation Deck in the tower 520′ above ground.

The views are amazing, and the weather was just great. I was afraid it was going to be rainy on disembarkation day, but thankfully the sun was on our side.

Even Mount Rainier was so clear from up here.

We walked around the 360° observation deck and had a couple of drinks and some snacks (overpriced obviously).

Bathrooms are located on this level, and one story below you can find the revolving glass floor.

I don’t remember seeing this back in 2016, so it is probably very new, and people were into it. There was a small bar in this area too.

The 5 Point Cafe

We wanted to wait for the sunset and we got close to stay for it, BUT we were exhausted of this long day. We also started getting hungry again. The sunset being after 9:00 PM was definitely an excuse not to stay for a longer time. After buying some souvenirs we left and walked to The 5 Point Cafe | 24 Hour Legendary Dive Bar & Diner to get some dinner.

The place was nice and looked safe for a downtown area. The food was also not too expensive. The food tho… my mom hated it lol. She even complained about the fries being so dark. Regardless, we ate most of the food and from here we walked to the hotel.

We literally had to be on a plane in a few hours, but still wanted to catch some sleep. See the continuation of this story here.