Seattle cruise terminal to Vancouver

[EllieinNJ]

We are on NCL Panama Canal cruise in April, 2020, which ends in Seattle.  Thinking about going to Vancouver for an extra two days sightseeing.  Just started my research and see there is a shuttle bus at the port for $55-59 pp.  Also you can take Amtrak or Greyhound but have to go to downtown Seattle first.  Then there is renting a car.  Will the car rental companies pick you up at the port and can you leave the rental in Vancouver?  I know these are a lot of questions but anyone have any experience in doing any of the above and can recommend the best way to travel?

[martincath]

Best is subjective. You've already spotted almost all of the possible options, and all the sensible ones (you could fly, but that's kaching, or take a ferry to Victoria then another to Vancovuer but that's also kaching and extremely slow!)

 

QuickShuttle IMO are the worst value option, but they are the most convenient for pier or airport - that convenience comes at a price! A cab to where you can bard Amtrak or Bolt or Greyhound would run maybe $20, probably even less in Uber/Lyft. Enterprise as always will pick you up, other car rentals not so much but cabs to their nearest offices would be less than getting to the bus or train, and yes you can book a one-way car rental - you don't even have to worry about whether it's an American or Canadian plate on the car.

 

Rates vary wildly, especially far in advance for cars - once cruise season picks up you can find ridiculous bargains at short notice, but in April you might need to shop around all rental companies and look for one which has no drop fee, as someone else who wants to book to bring the car 'home' is more likely into May when cruises are much more frequent. Still, there's a good chance that by splitting the cost of the car among your group of 2+ it works out cheaper than any other option except Bolt, and it's definitely the most flexible since you can choose any time you like and any route you like. Use whichever company is cheapest - odds are the prices will vary a lot on any given day so restricting yourself only to an office that will come and pick you up would risk missing out on a discount that saves a lot more than cab fare to the cheapest one.

 

The nicest way to go is Amtrak - but the train, not the buses! The buses are almost as overpriced as QS, and if you get an actual Amtrak bus are the worst on the road for age and quality - though a buddy whose fiancee got a job in Seattle so he's been bussing down a lot tells me that Amtrak seem to be chartering Cantrail coaches most of the time and these are in good shape. The train is however still cheaper than the bus at $33pp (no Saver tickets on buses) and has by FAR the nicest border crossing of any possible method - you don't even stop going Northbound, but instead get processed only on arrival at Vancouver Pacific Central Station. Southbound you get precleared by CBP before boarding, but there's also a token stop at the border for CBP to run dogs along the train and hassle a few 'random' passengers with extra questions, usually takes just a few minutes. Only downside is lack of frequency - just two trains a day and the morning one leaves too early to board it after a cruise. In April the nicer scenery from the train (tracks run nearer the coast than I5 does) becomes redundant on the evening train not long after leaving, as the sun sets long before arrival in Vancouver.

 

Cheapest way is Bolt bus, if you can score one of the $1 fares you simply cannot beat the value - and even their regular price tends to be about half that of Amtrak buses at about $20pp. Probably 3 daily departures next April, first might be too early for you to make though, and they have fewer stops than anyone else so are usually fastest of the buses. All buses though have the issue of a border stop where if one person gets extra questions you all have to wait around until they are accepted or rejected, so the theoretically-faster-than-the-train route has more border variability than any other method - in your car you can choose which border crossing to take but the buses are stuck with just their one.

[EllieinNJ]

Thank you for your very thorough and informative reply.  Our cruise is from 4/19 to 5/10 so in May we may get better choices for rental cars you say.  Will check everything out.