Seattle Car Rental - Advice requested...

[wdnoble9999]

Our family will be flying into Seattle, spending several days there prior to departing on our cruise from Pier 91.  We will need to rent at least two cars for several days prior to embarkation, and I have no idea as to how arrangements would be best made.  Can we reserve for pickup at the airport (SEA) and drop off at the terminal?  Or should we plan to take an Uber or Lyft downtown, pick up and drop off there?  We'd really appreciate anyone's suggestions on this.  It's not our first time in Seattle, but have never sailed from that port.  TIA...

Edited December 7, 2019 by wdnoble9999

[princeton123211]

1 hour ago, wdnoble9999 said:

We will need to rent at least two cars for several days prior to embarkation, and I have no idea as to how arrangements would be best made.

I guess the easiest way to start is how many days are you there and how many days do you need the rentals? Given that parking downtown isn't cheap, limiting the cars to only the days you actually need them could save you hundreds of dollars. 

 

1 hour ago, wdnoble9999 said:

Can we reserve for pickup at the airport (SEA) and drop off at the terminal?  Or should we plan to take an Uber or Lyft downtown, pick up and drop off there?

If you need the cars on the first few days of the trip, and renting at the airport would cover your transportation downtown, this could be a good option. You can drop off the car downtown depending on who you rent from-- some companies will charge a one way fee and others will waive it. If there is a substantial one way fee, I would just Uber from the airport to downtown and then rent the cars there for the days you need them. 

 

The bottom line is you just want to limit the time you have the cars as it will be expensive having them downtown and you don't need them to get around downtown. 

[Ferry_Watcher]

There is no rental car drop off at Pier 91.  If you drop the car off in DT Seattle, the three major agencies (Enterprise, National and Alamo) will give you a ride back to Pier 91.

[wdnoble9999]

My thanks to you both for the good info.  Our plans are to fly in on a Thursday, enjoy our family gathering in an Airbnb north of the downtown area through the weekend, and then sail on the following Tuesday.  As there is no rental drop off at the terminal, it looks like we'll likely end up renting from one of the three majors in Downtown Seattle with a pickup on Thursday afternoon/evening when we arrive, and a drop off at the same location on the following Tuesday morning.  I understand that there are shuttles available to the pier from the rental's DT locations.  Parking doesn't concern me too much as there is parking provided at the BNB we've reserved.  So, unless someone suggests a better way, our only decision will be to pick up at the airport, or find transportation to a DT rental downtown and pick up there.  

 

Again, thanks for the good info.

[Gardyloo]

Some of the rental companies will charge a one-way surcharge for cars picked up at the airport and dropped downtown.  You'll need to check to see if the extra rental car cost would offset the cost of several people needing transportation (Uber, cab, towncar, public transportation) from the airport to some downtown location.  I'd do the per-person math.

[Vexorg]

Another thing to consider:  In my experience renting from the Downtown Seattle location (At least for Alamo)  can be cheaper than renting from the airport because you don't have to pay some of the airport surcharges.  Of course there is the issue of actually getting there, but the Alamo/National location in Downtown is about two blocks from the Westlake light rail station.  Not sure if you'd want to do it with a lot of luggage though.

[wdnoble9999]

2 hours ago, Vexorg said:

Another thing to consider:  In my experience renting from the Downtown Seattle location (At least for Alamo)  can be cheaper than renting from the airport because you don't have to pay some of the airport surcharges.  Of course there is the issue of actually getting there, but the Alamo/National location in Downtown is about two blocks from the Westlake light rail station.  Not sure if you'd want to do it with a lot of luggage though.

 

Good thoughts.  Our daughter lives in Seattle, and another daughter along with her husband and kids will be arriving the day before us.  I'm thinking that the best option would be to ask one of them to pick us up at the airport and deliver us to Alamo's downtown location for a car pickup there.  I'm also thinking that this would allow us to avoid the rental companies' airport concession fees.  If that doesn't work, my backup would be to hail a taxi at the airport for the trip downtown.  I'd thought about the light rail, but didn't want to schlep a lot of baggage.  I do appreciate the advice, though.

[WisRiver]

Earlier this year we took a HAL cruise from Seattle.  We were staying with friends near Shoreline for several days.  The cost of picking up a car at the airport and dropping it off away from the airport was high.  Plus you have to pay airport fees and taxes for the rental.  We saved about $200 from Enterprise by taking Lyft (our preferred car service) to the downtown location.  We picked up and returned the car to the same location.  Enterprise took us to Pier 91.  The Lyft cost was about $20.  Run your numbers and see if you can save some money.  The biggest drawback was the one way streets in downtown Seattle and finding the Enterprise entrance.