A car fixes a problem Logan doesn’t have
For the ride to the ship, skip the rental. Two of you on the Silver Line pay $3.40, a cab is roughly $13 to $18 on our arithmetic, and the car is about $182 — before you find a desk to return it to, since we found none at the cruiseport.
Rent at Logan if
- The trip carries on by road, to Maine, Cape Cod or the White Mountains
- Salem, Plymouth or Concord fills the day before you sail
- You’re collecting the car after the cruise, not before it
Skip it if
- The airport and the ship are the whole plan
- You’d hand it back at a Seaport desk the same afternoon
- It would sit in a cruise lot all week at a rate we could only find second-hand
Silver Line, meter or app: Logan to Black Falcon Avenue
| Ride | Cost | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| SL1 Silver Line, then the SL2 | Free, then $1.70 a person | Change at Silver Line Way; the SL2 stops on Drydock Avenue, about a 10-minute walk from the terminal |
| A metered taxi | About $13 on distance alone; we use $18 | Our arithmetic on Boston’s published meter for 3.7 miles, before traffic, tip and any toll; the meter, explained |
| Uber or Lyft | No fare is published | Open the app; type the quote into the calculator below |
| A one-day rental | $182 at $138 a day | Plus any drop charge, and a cab from the return desk to the ship |
From the MBTA, the Boston Police taxi unit and Discover Cars’ Logan listings, Oct 1, 2026; the cab figure is our arithmetic on 3.7 miles, not a quote. Mixed; see notes
The SL1 costs nothing from the terminals. The change at Silver Line Way and the walk from Drydock Avenue are what you pay instead.
A cab is about $13 on the meter for 3.7 miles, before waiting time and tip — tunnel traffic adds to it, so $18 is our middle guess, not a fare.
Uber and Lyft publish nothing we could quote.
Open the app and type the fare in.
Arriving after dark on a weekday? Read the SL2’s evening detour before you count on the bus.
One day at Logan, priced line by line
Two of you, one rental day, a Logan car returned at a Seaport desk. Put in your quote, and your app fare in the last row.
The rental, line by line
The $138 base rate is the lowest Logan listing Discover Cars showed on Oct 1, 2026, though the same page’s title said “from $97”; type your own. Massachusetts’ sales tax and contract fees are in, as the hub itemises them. Logan’s $6-a-day facility charge comes from a consultant’s survey, since Massport’s page was closed to us, and the 11% concession fee is our assumption — Budget says one applies without printing it. Fuel is 4 miles at AAA’s Boston average for Oct 1, 2026, and we include the out-of-state E-ZPass tunnel toll, though we couldn’t confirm it charges in that direction. A Logan car handed back in the Seaport may be billed as a one-way, so any drop charge goes in its box.
At $138 the car is about $182 for the day. At the $97 headline it’s about $133.
Either way that’s seven to ten times our $18 cab guess — and the cab ends at the ship, not at a rental desk.
A Logan car pays for itself only as day one of a longer trip. The after-cruise page has the routes and the desks for that.
“From $97” in the title, $138 in the list
On Oct 1, 2026, Discover Cars’ Logan page said “from $97” a day in its title. The cars listed below it started at $138.
We can’t tell from the page which date or car the $97 belongs to.
Its Boston city page said from $135 — barely lower, though a downtown desk skips Logan’s facility charge and concession fee. The same page priced its cheapest SUV from $149.26 a day.
A headline rate is a search result, not a quote.
Run your own dates and read the total with taxes in. Drivers under 25 should add $27 a day at Avis and Budget, or $25 at Enterprise, per Logan’s rental pages — a week of it at Avis, $189, is more than the lowest Logan day Discover Cars listed.
Is Providence’s $39 worth 58 miles?
Two of you, a day’s car from Providence or Manchester, handed back in Boston. The drop charge is the one box you’ll have to fill.
The rental, line by line
The $39 is Discover Cars’ “from” figure for Providence on Oct 1, 2026; Manchester showed from $147, so change the rate when you switch the pick-up. Rhode Island adds an 8% rental surcharge and 7% sales tax, about 15%, and New Hampshire its 8.5% rentals tax. The 11% airport fee is assumed for both, and neither airport’s facility charge was published where we looked. Fuel is 58 miles at AAA’s Boston average; Manchester is about 52. A car from either airport handed back in Boston is a one-way, and we found no published drop charge — it’s your box to fill.
| Logan | Providence (T.F. Green) | Manchester-Boston | |
|---|---|---|---|
| To the cruiseport | 3.7 mi · 8 min | 58 mi · 1 hr 23 min | 52 mi · 1 hr 14 min |
| Discover Cars, Oct 1, 2026 | “From $97” title; listings from $138 | “From $39” | From $147 |
| Tax on the rental | 6.25% + $10 + $2 | About 15% (8% surcharge + 7%) | 8.5% |
| One day, before any drop charge | $182 at $138 | $58 at $39 | $185 at $147 |
| Rental desks | Rental Car Center, by Massport shuttle | InterLink garage, by skyway | Base of the garage, across from the terminal |
| Without a car | SL1 free, SL2 $1.70 | Commuter rail stops at the airport on weekdays only | No transit option we could confirm |
Distances and times are our route estimates with no traffic; the one-day totals are our arithmetic at each “from” or listed price, with an assumed 11% airport fee. Illustrative
At its “from” price, a Providence car is about $58 for a day before the drop charge, against $182 at Logan.
That gap is real, on paper.
The drop charge decides whether it survives, and we found none published.
Add 58 miles, about 1 hr 23 min with no traffic by our estimate, and a Boston desk that’s open when you get there.
Without a car, the MBTA’s Providence line stops at the airport station on weekdays only — its weekend trips skip it.
Manchester showed from $147, more than Logan’s lowest listing, and Budget there from $144 — so Providence is the comparison worth running, not Manchester.
Rhode Island’s tax is two pieces: an 8% rental surcharge on the first 30 days and 7% sales tax. New Hampshire charges its 8.5% meals and rentals tax instead, and we found no Boston-style per-contract fee in either state.
Nine brands, one building, a blue bus every few minutes
Collecting at Logan is a shuttle ride before it’s a drive, and the counter has extras of its own.
We found no rental counters in Logan’s terminals — the brands work out of the Rental Car Center at 15 Transportation Way in East Boston.
Follow the Ground Transportation signs near baggage claim to Massport’s blue shuttle. Hertz says it runs around the clock on routes 22, 33 and 55, every five to six minutes.
Avis, Budget, Enterprise, National, Alamo, Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty and Sixt, with Payless and Zipcar.
One shuttle serves them all.
Enterprise’s Logan page prints its counter extras: $15 a day for an additional driver, a damage waiver from $32.99 to $79.99 a day, and supplemental liability at $16.25 a day.
Those three can outweigh the base rate on a cheap day — decline what your own card or policy already covers, and know which before you reach the counter.
The center is about 5.1 miles from the cruiseport by our estimate. Handing the car back near the pier instead? The desks near Black Falcon Avenue, and the tunnel toll and program fees, are on the hub.
Search for the day you leave the ship, not the day you land
If a car belongs in the trip at all, it’s usually the one you collect after disembarking — not the one you drive to the ship.
Run Logan for that morning, then the Seaport desks, and compare totals with the $10 Boston surcharge and Logan’s charges in.
- Pick-up: Logan Rental Car Center
- Drop-off: Logan or wherever the trip ends
- Taxes and fees itemized before you pay
- Free cancellation until 48 hrs out
Logan, Providence and the cruiseport: questions
How far is Logan from the Boston cruise terminal?
About 3.7 miles from the airport terminals to Flynn Cruiseport, roughly 8 minutes with no traffic by our route estimate. The Rental Car Center is a little farther, about 5.1 miles through the Ted Williams Tunnel.
Can you take the Silver Line from Logan to the Boston cruise port?
Yes. The SL1 from Logan is free; change at Silver Line Way for the SL2, a $1.70 bus fare, which stops on Drydock Avenue about a 10-minute walk from the terminal.
How much is a taxi from Logan to the Boston cruise port?
There’s no flat fare we could find. On Boston’s meter, 3.7 miles comes to about $13 before waiting time and tip, by our arithmetic; traffic pushes it up, so we use $18 as a middle guess.
Where is the rental car center at Boston Logan?
At 15 Transportation Way in East Boston. Massport’s blue shuttle runs there from the terminals; Hertz says every five to six minutes, around the clock, on routes 22, 33 and 55.
Is it worth flying into Providence for a Boston cruise?
Only if the flight saves more than the extra ride costs. Providence is about 58 miles from the cruiseport, Rhode Island adds about 15% to a rental, and the MBTA train stops at the airport on weekdays only. A Providence car returned in Boston is a one-way, with a drop charge we couldn’t find published.
Why does Discover Cars show “from $97” for Logan but higher prices in the list?
On Oct 1, 2026 its Logan page title said from $97 while the listings started at $138; we can’t tell which date or car the $97 refers to. Treat any headline as a search result and read the total for your own dates.
How much is the under-25 fee for a rental at Boston Logan?
Avis and Budget charge $27 a day for drivers under 25, and Enterprise $25 a day for drivers 21 to 24, per their Logan pages read Oct 1, 2026.
More on renting around a Boston cruise
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