Those Rent Car Prices

[masterdrago]

So after our cruise ship arrives in Vancouver, we will want to rent a car and drive to Sea-Tac International Airport in Seattle. Well, more precisely, the Hilton Seattle Airport & Conference Center 500' east. I'm looking over car rental fees and the sky is the limit, depending on where in Vancouver we pick it up. The lowest cost was at the Vancouver International Airport 173CAD up to 523CAD from the Pan Pacific Hotel. The only cars available look to be full size or luxury. I was unable to get Uber or Lyft prices to the airport but am looking at options for transport from Canada Place to the car rental service. I'm sure others have seen this frustration. How have you handled it?

 

[Bearvet]

We took the Amtrak Cascades train from Vancouver to Seattle in July 2018.  The price was around $35 per person.  Very scenic and easy to get through customs. Two pieces of luggage are included.  Not sure how many are in your group or your dates of travel, but you may want to consider it.

http://www.amtrakcascades.com/our-train-schedules

[martincath]

The lowest prices come from waiting until much closer to when you need the car. All the major car rental firms operate in both Seattle and Vancouver, but they want their Canadian cars to end up back up here and the US ones back down there - right now a lot of the rentals will assume a worst-case scenario (that nobody wants to rent the car in the other direction, so they need to pay a driver or stick them on a truck) and build in a drop fee or just jack up the rates accordingly. Once they actually have other bookings, rates come down to far more reasonable pricing - I'll be shocked if you can't find a car for under a hundred bucks.

 

As to getting to rental locations - there are no Uber or Lyft services in Vancouver. While ridesharing is in the process of being legalized, it's going to be through a taxi-only-using online booking service initially (Kater) that is owned by BC businesses, so other companies might never be allowed to operate but if they are it's pretty much guaranteed to be at least another year or more. Some downtown rental places have shuttles, or offer to refund cab fare, but frankly all the major companies have at least one office within an easy walk (under 10mins, which means faster than waiting in the cab queue! If some in your party can't walk with bags, then just set them up to wait for you somewhere OUTSIDE Canada Place but nearby, walk to get the car yourself, then return to pick them up - this avoids the enormous queues for getting into the pier...)

 

If you need to get there right away, then the 'express' QuickShuttle might be of interest - it leaves the pier at 9am and goes to Seatac, where you'll be able to get a hotel shuttle. At US$59pp this would be cheaper than the rates you're seeing right now on rental cars, but like I said odds are very high that you will find a car for less if you keep checking - but if it's just two of you the savings compared to the convenience of someone else doing the driving may not be worth it. I much prefer the train over any of the bus options, but it doesn't leave until much later in the day - you'd be looking at probably close to 11pm before you made it out to your Seatac area hotel.

[masterdrago]

1 hour ago, Bearvet said:

We took the Amtrak Cascades train from Vancouver to Seattle in July 2018.  The price was around $35 per person.  Very scenic and easy to get through customs. Two pieces of luggage are included.  Not sure how many are in your group or your dates of travel, but you may want to consider it.

http://www.amtrakcascades.com/our-train-schedules

I originally tried to talk Joy into that run to see a bit more scenery b4 flying back to Houston. We have considered it but would get us into Seattle after 10:30pm, then still will need transport from King St. Station to Hilton. Makes for a late night in a city we are very unfamiliar with. It's still on our possibility list.

[masterdrago]

38 minutes ago, martincath said:

 QuickShuttle might be of interest - it leaves the pier at 9am and goes to Seatac, where you'll be able to get a hotel shuttle. At US$59pp this would be cheaper than the rates you're seeing right now on rental cars, but like I said odds are very high that you will find a car for less if you keep checking - but if it's just two of you the savings compared to the convenience of someone else doing the driving may not be worth it. I much prefer the train over any of the bus options, but it doesn't leave until much later in the day - you'd be looking at probably close to 11pm before you made it out to your Seatac area hotel. When I was able to see last years summer QuickShuttle schedule, they had 3 morning pickups at the Canada Place Pier and we are still considering that bus line. Just looking at the option of renting a car to have a bit more freedom of travel to sight see a bit on the 155 mile route. Cost is not a huge factor anymore and we have not bought the plane ticket to Houston yet. After weighing the options last summer, we decided to do the Vancouver to Seattle trip by ground instead of flying and having to get a new passports We have cards from travel in the Caribbean.

 

Edited January 25, 2019 by masterdrago

[masterdrago]

What I'm seeing right now best rental price is $119US for rent car from YVR.

[Crew News]

7 hours ago, masterdrago said:

What I'm seeing right now best rental price is $119US for rent car from YVR.

 

That is just a little bit more than I paid several years ago.  Cost of a taxi from Canada Place to YVR is $32 and you will be dropped off at the rental car offices under one of the terminals.  The dirive to Seattle is about three hours to the Hilton (have stayed there everytime I leave Seattle on a cruise).  The Hilton has a shuttle to the airport if you want to turn in your car the same day (free bus service from rental car drop off to the airport) and then use the Hilton shuttle back to the airport the next day.

 

FWIW check the Southwest Airlines prices for flights out of Seattle and you will see you can afford to stay in Seattle for a couple of extra days to get much cheaper flights.

[masterdrago]

I took a quick look at Southwest and their booking prices right now are slightly lower than Alaskaair. We have a lot of miles on our Alaska Mileage Plan and also SW only flies into Hobby, not IAH. That works out to an added 60 miles driving each way. Thanks for the suggestion. When we first decided to fly to Alaska, we looked at SW. We were flying into Fairbanks back then. Anchorage now. We are still weighing our options but have narrowed it down to rent car for time and flexibility and QuickShuttle. The cost difference will only be slightly higher renting the car (fuel, taxi & rent car cost). I appreciate all you feedback and suggestions Crew News.

[masterdrago]

We just booked an intermediate sized Elantra or similar (free upgrade + member) for under $100 with Enterprise (best reviews). Pick up at YVR, drop at SEA next day. Not sure the best way to get from Canada Place (cruise terminal) to YVR. Most likely cab but have yet to talk to a real person at Enterprise since they may have shuttle from terminal to airport rental location. This is the only thing that was still on the "to-do" list. All flights, excursions, cruise planning all done. Really feels swell since we have been studying since last June. Our first Alaska cruise and I've spent more $$$ on added camera gear and gadgets than Joy was expecting. Now if I can only learn to use the GoPro. Even got a 2TB WD My Passport Wireless Pro to have a separate storage/backup for all the SD cards I'll fill. This is so much fun!

[Crew News]

2 minutes ago, masterdrago said:

We just booked an intermediate sized Elantra or similar (free upgrade + member) for under $100 with Enterprise (best reviews). Pick up at YVR, drop at SEA next day. Not sure the best way to get from Canada Place (cruise terminal) to YVR. Most likely cab but have yet to talk to a real person at Enterprise since they may have shuttle from terminal to airport rental location. This is the only thing that was still on the "to-do" list. All flights, excursions, cruise planning all done. Really feels swell since we have been studying since last June. Our first Alaska cruise and I've spent more $$$ on added camera gear and gadgets than Joy was expecting. Now if I can only learn to use the GoPro. Even got a 2TB WD My Passport Wireless Pro to have a separate storage/backup for all the SD cards I'll fill. This is so much fun!

 

Nothing feels better than having your planning finished. 

 

FWIW I bought a GoPro to use up all of my OBC on my last cruise and just trying to figure out how to use it.  So many extra accessories to buy.

[masterdrago]

After I got the GP, I started feeling that money hole like when we got a boat! Crazy amount of stuff we can acquire. I'm going to limit my pack to extra batteries, a bulk charger, Micro SD cards & a Joby Gorillapod. Joy just finished tweaking her spreadsheet for the trip and I have a daily time-line handwritten. I'm old fashioned. On the back of my hourly pages, I have names & phone numbers of alternate excursion companies. Especially the flightseeing and whale watch. Never know when a mechanical thing might cancel a tour. I've read here on CC that a high percentage of flights cancel due to weather.

[Tourist1292]

We are going the opposite way as you flying into Seattle for the cruise departing Vancouver and return to Seattle. We actually planned our trip around Amtrak Cascades before the cruise. The train either leave Seattle early in the morning or arrive Vancouver around 11pm. So we ended up booking the ticket arriving Seattle the night before to board the morning triain. There are many scheduled bus between the 2 trains on Amtrak's website too, but we do want to enjoy the 4 hr train ride.

[martincath]

22 hours ago, masterdrago said:

We just booked an intermediate sized Elantra or similar (free upgrade + member) for under $100 with Enterprise (best reviews). Pick up at YVR, drop at SEA next day. Not sure the best way to get from Canada Place (cruise terminal) to YVR. Most likely cab but have yet to talk to a real person at Enterprise since they may have shuttle from terminal to airport rental location. ...

While local Enterprise branches do operate their typical 'come pick you up' that service is zoned - since there are closer downtown branches, your chances of a pickup at the pier for the airport branch are infinitesmal. With all your stuff, taking a cab is certainly the simplest way - but SkyTrain is a LOT cheaper, and usually faster too unless you're among the first people to disembark (i.e. you hop right in a cab without having to wait in the queue). Also, don't go all the way out to YVR as Enterprise is an off-site rental, actually it's just behind Costco in Richmond which makes it SUPER close to Bridgeport SkyTrain station - probably less than the total walk from the ship through the pier then to SkyTrain, so if you managed that OK just walk to Enterprise too (as calling them and getting them to shuttle you from SkyTrain will take longer...) Map here.

 

Assuming you have booked a refundable rate, I'd keep checking right up until the very end (even from on the ship if you have internet). While you may not score a much better deal in terms of price, what you are likely to find is the pricing for the pier-based operations dropping a lot - as folks coming up from Seattle rent one-way and drop at the pier and those cars need to be taken back. Pier is seasonal, so until it actually starts operating you won't be getting realistic pricing (cruise season now starts in April with a handful of ships, but it's still into May before everything gets up to 'cruise normal' business levels).

[masterdrago]

I got an email today from Enterprise Customer Service Rep saying that only the Vancouver International Airport Offsite (YVR) 9051 Beckwith Rd. Richmond, BC V6X1V7 does the shuttle from the terminal at Canada Place to the offsite office. That's where we rented from. She suggested I might call the Canada Place office to see about a modification to the rental pick up. I had already looked at the rates there which were 4x the rate from the Beckwith office. When I talked with a live person at Canada Place, I was told they could not even rent a car to SeaTac. That did not jive with the web pages info. Anyway, I do have a confirmation and they will shuttle from Canada Place to Beckwith. Ours is a refundable, so I'll take martincath's advice and "watch" the rates. As with airfare, I was kinda thinking to wait until 50-90 days b4 flight but we have slowly watched the seats get sold so pulled the trigger yesterday on both flights out and back. Got a nice price but I suspect they will drop a lot between mid Feb. and end of March. Non refundable flight on AlaskaAir.

[martincath]

3 hours ago, masterdrago said:

...Anyway, I do have a confirmation and they will shuttle from Canada Place to Beckwith. ...

Well that's a pleasant surprise - I hope something at a sensible price opens up at the pier or near enough to just walk, but at least you have an acceptable price locked-in, so worst-case you have to wait around a bit for their shuttle.

[masterdrago]

Well, here we go.... turns out the customer service rep was not understanding me. The shuttles only run from the airport every 5 minutes, not Canada Place. I'll continue to watch the rental price at the Pan Pacific/Canada Place location. If I could transfer the rental pickup to that location, it's just a couple of hundred meter walk. That's about the max Joy and I want to do each dragging a big and small checked bag and a carryon. If I cannot modify the pick up location, we will just wait on a taxi and pay with CAD. Is it kosher to tip U.S.?

[Crew News]

You can both pay and tip in $US for taxi rides from Canada Place to YVR.

[martincath]

I had a sneaking suspicion that would be the case! Tipping in USD would be accepted gratefully by anyone in Vancouver schlepping bags or driving cabs - but you can also add a tip when paying by card.

[Budget Queen]

Is there a reason,  you don't want to take a cab from Canada Place to YVR?   Appears to be the easiest for you?       I always, simply take Skytrain.     I have driven between Canada Place/YVR  and Seattle numerous times   25+++   and would not count on it being 3 hours.   I'd suggest allowing at least 4.     I like, taking the scenic detour via Deception Pass,  then the ferry to Everett.   (with a stop at Ivor's)       

[masterdrago]

9 hours ago, Budget Queen said:

Is there a reason,  you don't want to take a cab from Canada Place to YVR?   Appears to be the easiest for you?       I always, simply take Skytrain.     I have driven between Canada Place/YVR  and Seattle numerous times   25+++   and would not count on it being 3 hours.   I'd suggest allowing at least 4.     I like, taking the scenic detour via Deception Pass,  then the ferry to Everett.   (with a stop at Ivor's)       

Thanks Budget Queen. I had seen several suggestions for SkyTrain. Our luggage and age situation has kind of nixed that idea. I was mostly just comparing cost but in the beginning was looking at time. Not completely rock solid yet, but our plan looks like disembark whenever, get a taxi in no particular hurry to Enterprise on Beckwith Rd. (least costly place to rent, although as suggested will keep eye on prices at Pan Pacific Enterprise), leisurely drive to Seattle Airport Hilton, then take the next day noon flight to Houston. We may spend some time sightseeing Seattle in the evening of disembarkation.

 

11 hours ago, martincath said:

 

We plan to take some CAD cash so we don't get gouged on the exchange rate for the taxi, some small eateries & misc stuff. Joy is a rather heavy tipper so she will tip US. We always have our gratuity included on all the ships reservations but Joy always adds tip notes to any exceptional services onboard. Even after the drink packages service charge++

[Budget Queen]

Many of the Vancouver cabs take credit cards.  

[masterdrago]

I suspect we will have CAD left over and the fare looks to be 31-70 (average 38). Not sure if the estimator is US or CAD. Other estimator says 26CAD.

[Straitlover]

Do you have a Costco membership? I booked my Vanc-Seattle car for June 2018 (one day rental) on 1/28/18 through them, picked Avis on Hornby St (few blocks away from the pier) & got a fullsize for 135.95 CAD including tax. I think at the time that was a little less than $100 US. We had more luggage than anticipated (three ladies traveling together!), so I asked the agent if they had anything a little bigger, and I ended up w/ a Dodge Journey, no extra charge. Was planning on paying extra but didn't have to.

[Tourist1292]

I just purchased my one way train ticket from Seattle to Vancouver a couple days ago. It was only $31 but it is now back to $34.