Bag Storage at Seattle's King Street Station

Hey everyone,

The soon-to-be Mrs. and I will be taking Amtrak on the honeymoon. On our last day in Seattle, we need to be out of the hotel by noon and the Empire Builder doesn't head east until 4:40. I would imagine submitting my checked baggage early won't be a problem, but am hoping we won't have to lug around our carry-on bag all afternoon as we take in a few of the sites in the Pioneer Square area. Are there lockers available at King Street Station or am I hoping for a pre-9/11 anachronism?

Thanks in advance for your help!

You can day-check your bag at the station's baggage room. There might be a small charge to do so.

If you're traveling by sleeper, you can even have them deliver the bag to your room when you board.

I did this a few weeks ago. It's $3/piece to store luggage; however the agent had us put all our bags on a luggage cart and called it one "piece".

Excellent. Good information to know. Thanks to you both. We will be traveling in sleeper. We've ridden several tourist lines, but my fiance hasn't traveled long distance by train before. That being said, she has started telling people that if she likes it, we'll be going by train regularly.

Congrats - my wife and I just took our honeymoon on Amtrak as well and had a blast. I was far more excited about the train than she was, but halfway though the trip when she started talking about "next time", I knew that I had her.

Seattle baggage is home to some of the friendliest Amtrak employees I have encountered in my limited travels, they will work something out for you. Also of note, the baggage area is seperate from ticketing, the ticketing staff was somewhat offended I offered my bag to be checked.

lyke99 said:

Hey everyone,
The soon-to-be Mrs. and I will be taking Amtrak on the honeymoon. On our last day in Seattle, we need to be out of the hotel by noon and the Empire Builder doesn't head east until 4:40. I would imagine submitting my checked baggage early won't be a problem, but am hoping we won't have to lug around our carry-on bag all afternoon as we take in a few of the sites in the Pioneer Square area. Are there lockers available at King Street Station or am I hoping for a pre-9/11 anachronism?

Thanks in advance for your help!

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One way I handle this problem is I ask the hotel if they will hold the bags for a few hours. Most are more than happy to oblige.

I considered that, but since our hotel was down near SeaTac it wasn't really practical to backtrack to pick up our luggage.

alanh said:

I considered that, but since our hotel was down near SeaTac it wasn't really practical to backtrack to pick up our luggage.

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Same thing for us. We will be staying at the Sheraton at the corner of 6th and Pike - quite a way from the station.

Does the construction at King Street Station have any effect on the baggage storage service? Or on the trains?

Nope, not affected. Current construction is outside away from the trains.

My granddaughter and I left Seattle on the CS day before yesterday. Since I am always paranoid about missing the train, we got to the station waaaaaay early. We asked the gal at baggage check if we could leave our stuff there for awhile. When she saw our tickets were for sleeping car, she didn't charge us a thing. She even suggested a couple of good coffee places nearby.

lyke99 said:

Hey everyone,
The soon-to-be Mrs. and I will be taking Amtrak on the honeymoon. On our last day in Seattle, we need to be out of the hotel by noon and the Empire Builder doesn't head east until 4:40. I would imagine submitting my checked baggage early won't be a problem, but am hoping we won't have to lug around our carry-on bag all afternoon as we take in a few of the sites in the Pioneer Square area. Are there lockers available at King Street Station or am I hoping for a pre-9/11 anachronism?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Click to expand...

If you are a Starwoof Gold member you can stay at the Shereton, Westin or W until 4.

This is great info for us. We are taking Amtrak for our honeymoon and will be going to the Mariners game on the day we depart. Ballgame starts at 1:05pm and train departs at 4:40pm. We are going to leave our stuff at the station as well. Does anyone know how long of a walk (time wise) it is from the stadium to the station on a Sunday afternoon? We were told to get seats in the outfield area if we wanted to save a few minutes since that is the part of the stadium that is closest to the station. Thanks!

Google Maps says 10-15 minutes, which I find pretty accurate. Note that the directions start outside the stadium, so add some time to get from your seat to the street.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source...mp;t=h&z=16

I'd leave no later than 3:45-3:50 pm. The walk itself may be 10-15 minutes, under good conditions, but when you're fighting your way through with 30-40,000 other people, it can take a bit longer.

This may require leaving after the 7th or 8th inning, but still, that's better than missing the train. This is especially true if you have to pick up bags stored at the station. The staff may be busy loading the train, so you want to make sure you have your bags available without having to wait around for someone to come by to give them to you.

However, as noted above, if you're traveling in a sleeper, you can ask to have them deliver the bags right to your room and skip that part of the hassle.

jmbgeg said:

lyke99 said:

Hey everyone,
The soon-to-be Mrs. and I will be taking Amtrak on the honeymoon. On our last day in Seattle, we need to be out of the hotel by noon and the Empire Builder doesn't head east until 4:40. I would imagine submitting my checked baggage early won't be a problem, but am hoping we won't have to lug around our carry-on bag all afternoon as we take in a few of the sites in the Pioneer Square area. Are there lockers available at King Street Station or am I hoping for a pre-9/11 anachronism?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Click to expand...

If you are a Starwoof Gold member you can stay at the Shereton, Westin or W until 4.

Click to expand...

Oh, how I wish my work schedule allowed enough travel time to attain anything but basic status in loyalty programs. Good to know in case that day ever comes, though.

is this service strictly for Amtrak customers or can anyone check bags for a day ??

lyke99 said:

Hey everyone,

The soon-to-be Mrs. and I will be taking Amtrak on the honeymoon. On our last day in Seattle, we need to be out of the hotel by noon and the Empire Builder doesn't head east until 4:40. I would imagine submitting my checked baggage early won't be a problem, but am hoping we won't have to lug around our carry-on bag all afternoon as we take in a few of the sites in the Pioneer Square area. Are there lockers available at King Street Station or am I hoping for a pre-9/11 anachronism?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Click to expand...

Unless the people at the King Street Station have changed, you're going to be pleasantly surprised at how they handle things. The last time we stopped there (2009) we checked our luggage, and they OFFERED to hang on to our carry-on so we could wander around. I said that would be great, and one desk agent literally RAN over to get a cart, pushed it back and said: "Here. Just put your carry-on on here and we'll keep it safe. Before you go to the boarding area before departure, just stop by here and pick it up. Here's a a claim check." It was that simple. And what really floored me was that when I offered a tip, she said: "Oh no. That's just part of our job." That has happened twice now in Seattle. These people in Seattle are delightfully different than what we usually see further east.

Our arrival also had an equally pleasant and surprising outcome, but that's another story.

We left luggage at the Seattle station last September for about for or five hours before we had to pick it up to take the light rail to pick up a rental car at Seatac. There was absolutely no problem with doing it.

Like ThayerATM and Exiled in Express noted earlier in this post, I give props to the guys and girls in Seattle's King Street Station baggage department. I've ridden the Builder out of there several times, and always had to check out of my hotel midday. I go directly to the station, leave my bag(s) at the baggage counter, and they take care of the rest. That op could be the gold standard of the system.

RailFanLNK, there are King County Metro Transit bus stops outside Safeco Field on 1st and 4th Avenues, and it's a 5-7 minute bus ride, so a bus to King Street Station is another option. Or a taxi. Who do the Mariners play in that day game?

And I think any marriage that starts of with a day at the ballpark and an Amtrak trip is bound for success -- as long as your bride-to-be is not a Red Sox fan,,,HA! Congrats! Does she have a like-minded single sister or maid of honor?

Thank you all for the reassuring comments. I think checking the carry-ons for a few hours, and then picking them up before we board would be best.

 

I was surprised to find out that a lot of the Seattle deli/coffee shop type places, around the station are closed on Sundays ... disappointing!

 

There must be something in that Northwest air ... the PDX luggage and Metropolitan Lounge attendants are ALWAYS great ... one gentleman, I think his name is Frank, is happy and pleaseant to everyone as they walk in.

does the current construction affect the baggage storage area?