We were on the Zaandam Alaska cruise June 2 - 9. We flew to Seattle on June 1 and by the time we got to baggage claim our luggage was there. We went to a courtesy phone near door 16 and dialed 55 to speak to ground transportation. We opted for a limo to our downtown hotel - cost is $30 and that is about the price of a cab. We told them what door we were at and were informed that the driver would arrive within 4 minutes. He arrived promptly and took us to the Homewood Suites. A limo is a great way to start off a cruise.

The Homewood Suites on Western Avenue is within walking distance to the Space Needle and we had planned to ride the Monorail to get downtown but it was out of service until sometime later this summer. There was a bus stop near the hotel so we took the bus to the downtown area, had lunch and walked around, went to Pike's Place and ended up calling a cab to go back to the hotel due to a heavy rainstorm that came through.

Homewood Suites is owned by Hilton and we got an internet deal that requires full payment at the time of booking but saved some money. The rooms are very spacious with a separate bedroom, a nice living room with large sofa, chair, microwave, coffeemaker, refrigerator and a TV in both the bedroom and living room. A bag of popcorn and coffee is provided in the room. Breakfast is included and the variety was good with fresh fruit, cereals, eggs, bacon, sausage, juice and Starbucks Coffee. Coffee is available in the lobby all day. If you stay Sunday through Thursday, dinner is also included. They had a nice (small) salad bar, two types of chicken wings, potatoes, and fresh fruit - plenty of food plus free wine and beer with dinner if desired. We were satisfied with the quality and quantity of food and happy to stay in since it was raining quite hard. The only downside of this location is that it is not really close to a lot of the areas tourists like to visit but we had a nice view of Elliot Bay from our bedroom and actually say the Celebrity Mercury coming into port just before 10 a.m. (we found out later from our cab driver that the ship was supposed to dock at 7 a.m. but was three hours late and that was creating a mess trying to get people to and from cruise ships). There is a Safeway within walking distance if you want or need anything. DH wanted a Friday Wall Street Journal to take on the cruise. USA Today was outside our suite door in the morning. Read more