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On Sunday, August 30, 2025, we left our Vancouver, Washington, home about noon and drove to Seattle in our 2015 Tesla Model S. We headed straight to a Tesla Supercharger that was only a couple of miles from the Marco Polo Motel where we'd be staying for the night before the cruise. The Marco Polo Motel and that Tesla Supercharger are both only a couple of miles from the cruise port. The drive was around 3 hours with no stops along the way. We had charged the Tesla to 90% of its full battery charge capacity and ended up at the Supercharger with just a bit under 40 miles remaining. At the Supercharger, we again charged to 90%. Normally we only charge to 80%, but figured we'd lose a bit of charge while the car sat unplugged in the cruise parking lot for a week. I turned off the "overheat protection" setting in the Tesla. This is a feature that ensures the temperature never gets too hot inside the Tesla in case you left a pet inside. But that means the air conditioner will automatically turn on whenever it gets hot inside the car which would drain the battery faster. If Seattle were to experience some hot days, it would have meant the air conditioner would run a lot while we were gone for the week. "Overheat protections" does automatically turn off if the battery starts getting low, but I rather return to an almost full battery with plenty of range when I got back from the week long cruise.
We stayed at the Marco Polo Motel for the one night which wasn't bad. I'd stay here again if we take another cruise out of Seattle as it is so close to the cruise port. Only minor thing Barbara missed was the TV could only get over the air channels and had no cable TV. But since it had excellent internet, she was able to stream what she wanted.
For dinner we went to the Nolita Italian Restaurant that was nearby. The food was OK but they lacked very many selections with Italian Marinara sauce that we like. If we take another cruise out of the Seattle port, we'll probably look for somewhere else for dinner.
We did not like the arrival and boarding experience in Seattle. It was much more disorganized and inconvenient than boarding in either of the cruise ports in the Los Angeles area or Miami. First we tried to drive direct to the ship to drop off our luggage as we always do. Our GPS navigation conflicted with the road signs indicating where Cruise Passengers should go. The signs directing Cruise Passengers had us driving in circles. We finally decided to follow the GPS Navigation rather than the road signs and that managed to get us to the cruise terminal.
Normally at all other cruise ports we just drive up to where everyone drops off their luggage. There are always porters there to take your luggage. They just take the luggage right from where we park, we give them a tip, and our luggage is off to the ship. But here, there were no porters to take luggage from departing passengers. We had to take the luggage ourselves a long way into the terminal and hand it directly to a person sending the luggage through the scanner. I was concerned that my car might get towed as I had to leave it parked at the drop off curb for about 20 minutes, which is sort of like the drop-off zone at an airport. Fortunately it was still there when I got back to my car.
Next we had to drive to a parking lot quite far from the terminal, even though we reserved and parked at the closest and most expensive lot to the cruise terminal. Then we had to wait for a shuttle to take us to the cruise terminal. The shuttles were just small buses and it took until the 3rd shuttle came before there was room for us to board after waiting in line.
Once at the terminal, we had to wait in a very long line that was just for passenger with carry-on luggage. Since we had dropped off our 3 suitcases, we only had our backpacks to carry-on with us. That long slow line ended where Immigration Officers were checking passports. After that, we went up an escallator where there was another long but much faster line where we went through an airport like scanner. I held up my mobile phone and pen and asked the screening person if I needed to put them in a tray to go through the scanner. She said "No" and did not offer me a tray to put them in. Naturally I set off the scanner. The security person on the other side said all electronics have to go through the scanner. Nothing like conflicting instructions!
After that, things went very smoothly. From the scanning process we went right to a check-in desk with no delay. We had to use the "Blue Line" as I did not order our Princess Medallion in time to have it mailed to us. But the "Blue Line" seemed to be no slower, and was maybe faster, than the "Green Line" that was for the people who had their Princess Medallions mailed to them and already had them before arriving at the port. They asked us if we were "New To Princess" as that is what it said on our Boarding Pass on the Princess App. But we said "No, we are Platinum and almost Elite Captain Circle members. They did give us the Platinum Princess Medallions reflecting our membership level.
Once on board we found seats in the Piazza on the ship where we would wait for our cabin to be ready. Jodina and Nick, our daughter and her husband, who had arrived at the ship earlier than us, found and joined us. We all got some coffee at the International Cafe to drink while waiting for our cabin to be ready. While waiting, we listened to the safety video on our mobile phones. When they announced our cabins were ready, we first went to our "Muster Station" which was at the entrance of the Princess Theater on Level 7. All we had to do was check in using our Princess Medallions and listen to a 2 minute live lecture about what to do if the alarm were to sound. Fortunately Princess no longer has the usual muster drills where you have to put on your life jackets and then stand around at your Muster Station by your life boat outdoors until they start and finish an entire lecture, sometimes in multiple languages. This is a much better and faster process.
At Check-In we were given the above information.
We always make sure both Barbara and I have Wi-Fi on every cruise. We purchased the Princess Plus upgrade as it comes with one device Wi-Fi connection for each of us. Princess Plus also includes the gratuities for the crew and a Drinks Package of up to fifteen $15 alcoholic or specialty coffee drinks per day for each of us (way more than we could ever consume). The Princess Plus upgrade costs only a little more than buying the Wi-Fi package and paying for the gratuities separately, so we figure we might as well purchase the Princess Plus upgrade and get a free Drinks Package thrown in for just a little more.
Princess Plus also has a Princess Premier upgrage that does not work it for us. It offers a few more benefits that we really don't need and costs way more than the Princess Plus upgrade. One thing it offers is 4 devices connect to Wi-Fi per person rather than just 1 device per person. When cruising, we are able to connect as many devices to the Wi-Fi as we want without paying extra. Windows has a built in "hotspot" features that allows my computer to be turned into a virtual hotspot. While in our cabin, I turn that on, and I'm able to connect my mobile phone to that and Barbara can connect her Chromebook to that. If I needed to, I could connect several more devices to it.
My wife, Barbara, as her one allowed Wi-Fi device provided free with the Princess Plus upgrade is her mobile phone. When we leave our cabin, I really don't like switching back and forth between my notebook computer and my mobile phone as my one free allowed Wi-Fi device. Instead, Barbara turns on "bluetooth tethering" on her mobile phone so that I can connect my mobile phone to it via Bluetooth and remain connected to the internet for free when we are outside the range of my Windows notebook computer mobile hotspot! In that way, we are just fine with the free 2 Wi-Fi device connections provided free with the Princess Plus upgrade.
We picked up the following literature from the Shore Excursions desk. I believe these are shore excursions that were added recently to the others available. Sometimes new shore excursions are added as the previously listed ones fill up.
We made a reservation for the Fine Wine Tasting event for tomorrow at 3pm in the Symphony Dining Room. This appears to be the ONLY wine tasting event there will be on this cruise. Since they are only held on days at sea, and this cruise only has one day at sea, that makes sense. We usually attend most if not all wine tasting events on our cruises.
Paulo Alves is an excellent piano player and signer, and also a bit of a commedian keeping the audience entertained. He sang many of the songs we are familiar with and enjoy. He also took requets as well as accepted tips.
Our bar server at the Wheelhouse Bar was Kedar and he was a very good and attentive server. First we ordered the house red blend ($13) and cabernet sauvignon ($12) wines. These were "Melorosa Wines by Jason Aldean, famed for chart-topping country hits, Aldean and his family bring their passion for quality and authenticity to the world of winemaking." Sorry, but we were not impressed. We thought the wine was so poor that we did not think it was even worth drinking. After a couple of small sips, we sent the wine back. Instead we ordered two Premium Wines, Bonanza Cabernet Sauvignon, California ($18) and Caymus Countdown Red Blend, California ($18). Since our drinks package only covers wines up to $15 per glass, we had to pay the $3 difference on each glass.
I noticed Talisker Scotch Whisky on the Wheelhouse Bar Spirits list. Talisker is a smokey peaty Scotch that Barbara and I like. It is a lot like the Scotches from Islay, but it is not from Islay. Many bars list it mistakenly under "Scotches From Islay" as it is so similar to other peaty smokey Scotches from Islay. Talisker is often sold at a premium price by the shot at bars, but not on Princess. Talisker 10 Year Old is only list at $13 on Princess which makes it free within our Princess Plus Drinks Plan. So Barbara and I each ordered one and it was excellent. I asked our server, Kedar, if they had the large bar ice cubes. He said, yes, the Wheelhouse Bar is the ONLY bar on the ship that has the large bar ice cubes as they are the one bar that has more extensive whiskey offerings, and also the only bar on the ship that has Talisker!
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If in this report you see any typos, misspellings, factual errors or other types of errors, please let me know.
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