Renting a Car After a Piraeus Cruise: Disembark-Day Desks, Ferries and the Run to ATH

We set the checker to 8 on a Sunday morning.

Two listings answer: the airport, which never closes, and Avis on Syggrou Avenue, open since 7:30.

The port-side Hertz and Europcar stay “unknown” — neither page prints a Sunday, or any day at all.

Unknown, not closed. It does mean a phone call before you build a morning around it.

Sunday disembarkation suits the airport plan: a cab or the X96 out to ATH, and the car from there. The full hours sit on the hub.

Princess asks you not to book a flight home from Athens earlier than 5 hours after the ship arrives.

Docking at 6 AM, that’s an 11 AM departure at the earliest — Princess’s rule, our example.

NCL sells a Late Checkout with Transfer to ATH at $89 an adult and $79 a child, about 4¾ hours. For two adults and two children that’s $336, as NCL prints it.

By our routing, Terminal A to the airport runs about 30.6 miles and 46 minutes with an empty road. Holland America calls it 20 miles and about an hour without saying how it measured; we quote our road figure because it’s the motorway you’ll drive, and plan on the hour.

Metro trains to the airport leave Dimotiko Theatro until 10:54 PM, but only until 9:06 PM Sunday to Thursday while STASY’s night works last; the X96 runs all night — the fares are on the decision page.

A car for this leg alone rarely beats the metro for two people — it wins only if the day goes somewhere first.

Our default, one day from Syggrou Avenue dropped at ATH, is €42.55 (about US$50) before fuel and before any one-way charge.

Hertz Greece charges one-ways only by written agreement, at an amount it doesn’t print — so that box starts at zero, not at a guess.

Use the car for the day if Sounion or the canal comes before your flight. Otherwise, take the train, not the keys.

Taking a Hertz Greece car on a ferry or across a border is “allowed only with the prior written agreement” of Autohellas Hertz, and its Ferry Boat Cover costs €20 (about US$20) a day, at most €60 (about US$65) a rental.

Three days of cover is €60; five days still stops at the €60 cap — our arithmetic on Hertz’s figures.

Get the written consent before you queue for the boat — not at the ramp.

The ferry gates run E1 to E10 along the same waterfront as the cruise gates, by the gate map we read — you won’t go far to find yours.

Other brands’ ferry rules weren’t on any page we read. Ask in writing.

Holland America says there’s no luggage storage at the pier, while a 2022 Cruise Critic piece describes lockers in Terminal A; Bounce lists 13 storage spots in Piraeus from €1.95 (about US$2) a day.

Those two pier accounts conflict — plan as if there’s nothing at the terminal.

That Bounce figure is a reseller’s “from” price, read Oct 3, 2026; check the spot nearest your gate before you count on it.

If the car goes back at the airport, the bags ride with you to the counter and on to check-in. That’s the simplest end to the trip, and the reason we lean that way.

Choose the airport if you can’t confirm the port office for your date, and Syggrou Avenue if 7:30 suits.

If the car ends somewhere other than where it started, ask about the one-way first — the Athens page covers Hertz’s wording.

Conversions on this page use the ECB’s Oct 2, 2026 reference rate, about $1.12 to the euro; your card’s rate will be different.