car rental after disembarking in Seattle?

[NewCruiserCaryNC]

On Sunday June 15, 2008 We will be returning to port in Seattle on the Star Princess from a 7-day Alaska cruise. Our port arrival time is 7:00am, although we'll probably be disembarking more likely betwen 9-10. My question regards picking up a rental car at or near the terminal 30 facility. (We don't fly out until the next day and would like to take in a few sights for the day). I see on the http://www.portseattle.org website that there is a Thrifty Rent-A-Car facility at/near the port. However, when I tried to use the Thrifty site to see what was available on that day, it indicated that the Thrifty facility was not open on Sunday. (I determined this by trying various pick-up times for that particular day). No hours were listed for any of the Thrifty facilities I could find. Unfortunately there appears to be no local number for Thrifty facilities, and any call gets routed to a national call center where the wait to speak to someone goes on forever. With that said, does anyone know of other car rental places nearby? Note that I did call Enterprise, who has a facility about 3 miles from the terminal. However, we want to turn in the car at or near SeaTac airport on Monday morning, and Enterprise charges a $60 fee for the car to be dropped off at their airport facility (if not picked up there). If there aren't other choices, I guess we'll take a cab from Terminal 30 to SeaTac (I think that's about $30) and then we have our choices of rentals with no additional drop-off fee.

[SeattleCruiselover]

On Sunday June 15, 2008 We will be returning to port in Seattle on the Star Princess from a 7-day Alaska cruise. Our port arrival time is 7:00am, although we'll probably be disembarking more likely betwen 9-10. My question regards picking up a rental car at or near the terminal 30 facility. (We don't fly out until the next day and would like to take in a few sights for the day). I see on the www.portseattle.org website that there is a Thrifty Rent-A-Car facility at/near the port. However, when I tried to use the Thrifty site to see what was available on that day, it indicated that the Thrifty facility was not open on Sunday. (I determined this by trying various pick-up times for that particular day). No hours were listed for any of the Thrifty facilities I could find. Unfortunately there appears to be no local number for Thrifty facilities, and any call gets routed to a national call center where the wait to speak to someone goes on forever. With that said, does anyone know of other car rental places nearby? Note that I did call Enterprise, who has a facility about 3 miles from the terminal. However, we want to turn in the car at or near SeaTac airport on Monday morning, and Enterprise charges a $60 fee for the car to be dropped off at their airport facility (if not picked up there). If there aren't other choices, I guess we'll take a cab from Terminal 30 to SeaTac (I think that's about $30) and then we have our choices of rentals with no additional drop-off fee.

 

Thrifty has been open on Sunday in the past, but that does not mean they are not changing their ways this year. Most all of the rental agencies here charge the $50.00 +/- drop off fees for local rentals if you do not return them to the same place that you got them from.

[brwneyedgirl72]

We are returning to Seattle on the Star on Sunday, May 25th, and have decided to spend the day exploring outside downtown. I have booked a rental car through Thrifty, to pick up at pier 48 (they shuttle you over from Pier 30) and we are returning it at SEATAC the next day, at no additional charge. You can book through the internet, or just call Thrifty directly.

 

Thrifty is open on Sunday and it will cost me less than $30 for a mid-sized car. I would call them directly to get the info. Good luck!

[snowmc]

If you are planning to just explore downtown Seattle, don't rent a car...parking and traffic is terrible. There is plenty to do and I would advise spending your extra day there. Take the Duck, Underground Seattle tour, catch a Mariners game if they are in town, tour either or both of the stadiums, visit the aquarium, or just walk around and enjoy the city. We travel there often and we always enjoy the city.:)

[snowmc]

Forgot to mention that there is a shuttle service from downtown to the airport...very convienent. Their website is http://www.shuttleexpress.com/index.html

[NewCruiserCaryNC]

I wanted to give an update to my original post. Apparently there must have been some website problems with Thrifty, because I was able to reserve a car with no problem with the pickup time being around 10:00am on June 15. I also got through on their customer service line and learned that the facility at Terminal 30 is open only from 8:00am till 11:00am (yes, that's right, only 3 hours). Maybe the other times they use their Terminal 48 location as per a previous poster. Those short open times are OK with us, since the ship comes in at 7:00 and we'll (hopefully) be off long before 11:00. Also, you if you pick up the car at Terminal 30, you can drop it off at the airport location at no additional charge. (We're planning to drive up to the Boeing facility north of Seattle and then back to our airport hotel, and possibly other places).