Seattle car rental experience at Alamo, Enterprise, or Hertz?

[flatlander321]

I'm hoping for local knowledge/experience with car rental in the Seattle area to support a cruise next May.

 

The first part would be flying into SEA on a Sunday and renting a car from Alamo. It would be dropped off at the cruise dock in Vancouver, BC the next day for cruise departure. Alamo has an attractive rate ($125) but I've not rented with them before. Dropping the car off at the cruise port would be nice.

 

Any issues with Alamo?

 

The second part would be getting off the cruise in Seattle (pier 91) on a Tuesday. There are 2 better choices here. One, I could go with Enterprise where they pick us up at pier 91 and shuttle us downtown to get the car. Two, we could take a taxi to the airport (SEA) and pick up a Hertz car there. Either way, we'll return the car to SEA and fly home that Saturday. The car rental rate for 4 days is the same with either, but enterprise would not require paying for a taxi to the airport.

 

Any issues with enterprise (or hertz) in Seattle?

[gotta cruise again]

We rented from Enterprise mid-Aug 2015 at the airport. Had it for 2 days and returned it downtown. The downtown site has both Enterprise and National who collaborate with a van to take pax to pier 91.

 

As far as I know, there was NOT a drop off fee for not returning the car to the airport. There was also no fee for the trip from Enterprise to pier 91.

 

The van driver pulled right up to the building (toward the far left-hand side if you were standing in front of the building looking at it) and backed in. We all got out, bags unloaded, we walked across the front of the building, went inside the building (to the right of doors 3 & 4) where there were 2 ways in with one for Princess and other for Holland and we could drop our bags there (porters there to put bags on cart and we tipped). I had grabbed the health report forms and we filled them out while back with the bags as we had taken pens with us (hate to stand around those tables with a billion other people-LOL). Then straight up the elevators to check in.

 

We did arrive early...I think there may have still been just a few folks there from the previous cruise. But no real lines and the wait to board Princess was short.

 

Sorry I couldn't help with return car rental or the other agencies but hope our experience with Enterprise gives you some info. We'd do the same thing again.

 

Whichever agency you select, DO figure out where the nearest gas station is to your drop off point. We did not and happen to get very lucky because we just happened upon one while trying to find the drop off building. While DH filled the tank, I got my bearings, and we then easily found our way to the drop off site.

[ABQrobin]

we are thinking of doing the same thing.... fly into Seattle on Sunday, rent a car for 2 days.... cruise leaves on Tuesday.

 

any thoughts?

[Jmariab64]

I have a rental car reserved through Alamo for our upcoming cruise, and was advised that I would only be able to return it to the Alamo at the Sandman Hotel in Vancouver, not the cruise port. Were you told you could return it to the center at the port? That would be much easier!

Edited September 16, 2015 by Jmariab64

[flatlander321]

So far, I've only used the web reservation system. I purchase plane tickets in 2 weeks and will make the car reservations soon after that. I'm hoping others can confirm the reality of dropping a car off at Canada Place.

[flatlander321]

I have a rental car reserved through Alamo for our upcoming cruise, and was advised that I would only be able to return it to the Alamo at the Sandman Hotel in Vancouver, not the cruise port. Were you told you could return it to the center at the port? That would be much easier!

 

I have recently reserved, and paid, an Alamo rental from SEA to be dropped off at the Vancouver cruise terminal the following day. The location description is Vancouver Cruise Ship, 999 Canada Place. It closes at noon.

 

This thread gives detailed information about returning an Alamo car at the cruise terminal: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2214556

[mapleleaves]

 

The second part would be getting off the cruise in Seattle (pier 91) on a Tuesday. There are 2 better choices here. One, I could go with Enterprise where they pick us up at pier 91 and shuttle us downtown to get the car. Two, we could take a taxi to the airport (SEA) and pick up a Hertz car there. Either way, we'll return the car to SEA and fly home that Saturday. The car rental rate for 4 days is the same with either, but enterprise would not require paying for a taxi to the airport.

 

Any issues with enterprise (or hertz) in Seattle?

 

I've never had a problem with any car rental vendor ... national or local, so I go with the best price.

 

Enterprise, National and Alamo each have kiosks at the piers and will shuttle you downtown to pick up a car. So whichever has the best price. http://www.portseattle.org/Cruise/Services/Pages/default.aspx

 

Since you're looking at taking a taxi to SeaTac, remember that fees are higher at airport locations. So you might want to price an off-airport location like Renton, Burien or Kent. http://www.eastsideforhire.com is about $36 from pier 91 to the airport.

Edited December 21, 2015 by mapleleaves

[flatlander321]

I've never had a problem with any car rental vendor ... national or local, so I go with the best price.

 

Enterprise, National and Alamo each have kiosks at the piers and will shuttle you downtown to pick up a car. So whichever has the best price. http://www.portseattle.org/Cruise/Services/Pages/default.aspx

 

Since you're looking at taking a taxi to SeaTac, remember that fees are higher at airport locations. So you might want to price an off-airport location like Renton, Burien or Kent. www.eastsideforhire.com is about $36 from pier 91 to the airport.

 

That was very helpful information. I reserved with Enterprise for a downtown car pickup and will drop it at SEA airport 4 days later.

 

The pricing was interesting. Reserving the car for 3 days was more expensive than for 4 days and the weekly rate was even lower. That was nice because I really wanted to have the car for 4 days and a few hours.

There was a big price jump going from intermediate (Toyota Corolla) to anything larger; $220 vs. $300+. It does pay to play with the rental duration, car size, and pickup/drop-off locations.

 

I called the downtown Seattle Enterprise office today. They explained how the shuttle from the pier to the downtown office works. There is no signing up in advance, people line up at the enterprise kiosk at the pier and a van makes runs to and from the downtown location. If the line is long or it's going to take too long, he said to take a cab downtown for $10 instead.

[SadieN]

What are you doing post cruise in Seattle? Downtown is very compact and the parking is difficult and high priced.

[flatlander321]

What are you doing post cruise in Seattle? Downtown is very compact and the parking is difficult and high priced.

 

I understand parking is an issue in the downtown Seattle area. We plan to spend a day doing a few of the downtown tourist things. The other 3 days will mostly be at the zoo, museum of flight, or driving to different scenic areas outside of town.

 

Final plans for each day will depend somewhat on daily weather and visibility. A rental car gives us the flexibility to make or change plans quickly. Another reason for the car is our hotel is located in Bremerton which is on the west side of Puget Sound.

[Pierlesscruisers]

I'm hoping for local knowledge/experience with car rental in the Seattle area to support a cruise next May.

 

The first part would be flying into SEA on a Sunday and renting a car from Alamo. It would be dropped off at the cruise dock in Vancouver, BC the next day for cruise departure. Alamo has an attractive rate ($125) but I've not rented with them before. Dropping the car off at the cruise port would be nice.

 

Any issues with Alamo?

 

I rented a car from Alamo about a month and a half ago that I picked up at SeaTac and dropped off at Canada Place with no problems at all. I don't remember the size/type of car but it was a Chrysler I believe and the total cost was about $47.00 and change. I paid for it in advance and that cut a couple of $ off the bill and made it extremely easy to pick up the car. Caught the bus from SeaTac to the rental car garage, got off the bus, went over to the Alamo desk where the lady pointed out the area where the type of car I reserved were locate. I walked over to that area, selected the car of my choice, put my stuff in the car and drove out of the garage. Only stop I had to make was at the guard gate where I gave the guard my reservation form and drivers license. She took the form, checked my license and handed it back and I was gone.

 

I had planned to drop the car off at the Vancouver airport because I saw nothing on the website that said I could drop it off at Canada Place but learned later that was an option. I called Alamo to change the drop off spot and they told me that the easiest way was to just call their 800 number after picking up the car and make the change over the phone. Although, when I did that there was a bit of confusion on the other end but when I told them I was doing as I had been instructed to do, they said, "Oh, okay." There was no problem at all with the drop off itself.

 

Therefore, I'd say there was no real issue with Alamo and I will definitely use them again in the future.

 

Tom

[flatlander321]

This trip is going to be a car rental experience: Alamo for Seattle to Vancouver, Avis at Juneau and Skagway, and Enterprise for 4.5 days in Seattle. I hope the multiple car rentals in a 2 week period don't cause an issue with credit card holds.