Seattle waterfront and skyline near the Bell Street cruise terminal

Bell Street Pier & Smith Cove

Hotels Near Bell Street Pier & Smith Cove

Seattle, WA — The gateway for Alaska cruises.

Sailing from Seattle

Seattle's two downtown terminals — Bell Street Pier and Smith Cove — handle all Alaska-bound cruise traffic: Inside Passage sailings to Juneau and Skagway, Glacier Bay itineraries, and round-trip Vancouver routes. Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, and some of the country's best Pacific Northwest seafood are walking distance from Bell Street Pier. Seattle is genuinely worth two nights before you sail — one to arrive, one to explore.

Travel Editor: Book downtown Seattle — walkable to Bell Street Pier and minutes from Smith Cove via rideshare. Add a Pike Place morning before you board.

Where to Stay Before Your Seattle Cruise

Which terminal you sail from matters more in Seattle than at most ports. Bell Street Pier (Pier 66) sits right on the downtown waterfront — stay in Belltown or near Pike Place Market and you can literally walk to the ship, or take a five-minute taxi if you're hauling luggage. Smith Cove Cruise Terminal (Pier 91), in the Interbay area north of downtown, is a different story: there's nothing walkable nearby, so a downtown or Belltown hotel plus a 10-to-15-minute rideshare is the standard play. Check your cruise documents for the terminal before you book — it changes the calculus.

Free hotel cruise shuttles are rare in Seattle, so budget for the transfer. A rideshare from downtown to Pier 91 typically runs about $15 to $25, and from Sea-Tac Airport to a downtown hotel expect roughly $40 to $60 (the Link light rail from the airport to downtown is the budget alternative at a few dollars per person). If you're driving, both terminals offer official cruise parking billed per day, and a handful of hotels around downtown and Interbay sell park-and-cruise rates — worth pricing out, since a week of terminal parking adds up quickly.

Fly in the day before at minimum — Alaska sailings are unforgiving of missed departures, since the next port is often a sea day away in another country's waters. Seattle also rewards the extra time: a Pike Place morning, the waterfront, and a good seafood dinner make the pre-cruise night feel like part of the trip rather than a layover. On embarkation day, Pier 66 guests can stroll over almost whenever they like; for Pier 91, leave downtown by late morning — traffic through Interbay backs up near the terminal entrance as sailaway approaches.