Seattle Cruise Port Rental Car Guide (Pier 66 and Pier 91)

The port’s Pier 66 page names Norwegian Cruise Line and Oceania Cruises, with weekly Alaska sailings. Its Pier 91 page names Carnival, Celebrity, Cunard, Holland America, Princess and Royal Caribbean; the 2026 schedule also puts Virgin Voyages’ Brilliant Lady at Pier 91.

Cunard and Regent use both piers across the season, per the 2026 schedule; check your own cruise documents for the pier — the documents settle it, not the brand.

Pier 91 to Pier 66 is about 2.6 miles and 9 minutes on our routing — with no traffic, which a sail-day morning rarely has. Book a desk near the wrong pier and you’ve added a cab ride to the busiest morning of the trip.

Five counters sit in the downtown core, uphill from Pier 66 on Alaskan Way. Pier 91’s nearest are Enterprise in Interbay, about 2.6 miles on our routing, and the Avis and Budget pair at KOMO Plaza, about 2.8 — and Interbay closes at 1 PM on weekends.

We found no rental desk at Pier 66 or Pier 91, and none of the brand pages we read runs a shuttle to either pier. Only Sixt’s downtown page even gives directions from Terminal 91.

The port’s 2026 schedule (published Apr 20, 2026, subject to change) runs from Fri Apr 17 (Norwegian Jade, Pier 66) to Sun Oct 11 (Noordam, Pier 91). Reading this after Oct 11? You’re planning for 2027 — and the tax line below changes on Jan 1.

Try Sunday at 1:30 PM. Interbay shut half an hour ago, Capitol Hill never opened, and Budget closes at 2 on 5th Avenue and at KOMO Plaza — a Sunday turnaround in miniature.

Avis is the outlier, 7 AM to 7 PM every day at 5th Avenue and at KOMO Plaza — the longest city hours we found.

Past 7 PM the airport is all that’s left on our list — nothing in the city stays open later. Avis at SEA lists 24 hours, about 15 miles from Pier 66 and 18 from Pier 91 on our routing; the SEA page covers getting there.

Walking off a ship that morning? The after-cruise page lines these hours up against disembarkation.

Two pairs of brands share a counter — and disagree about it.

Enterprise, Alamo and National all list 1601 3rd Ave. Enterprise’s page sends after-hours returns to Level A of the garage; Alamo and National say Level B, not A. Follow the contract you sign, not the website.

Avis and Budget share 1919 5th Ave and one phone number, yet Budget’s page lists 8 to 2 on Sunday against Avis’s 7 to 7. Book Budget there and ask which hours your rental runs on — the website won’t settle it.

For Pier 91, Interbay is the nearest desk we found, about 2.6 miles on our routing. Its page lists pick-up service, but says nothing about the pier — call before you count on a ride.

Hertz lists no downtown, Belltown or Queen Anne branch; its nearest city desk is on Aurora Ave N at N 143rd (14333 Aurora Ave N), about 9 miles north of downtown, weekdays 8 to 5 only. Enterprise’s other Seattle branches (Georgetown, West Seattle, University District, Lake City, Greenwood, Rainier Valley) are all farther from the piers.

Sixt takes its downtown returns in the West Edge Garage, diagonally across 2nd Avenue, in any open stall. Its hours end at 4 — every day, weekdays included.

Washington’s state rental car tax went from 5.9% in 2025 to 11.9% this year, and it sits on top of ordinary sales tax, not instead of it.

Add Seattle’s 10.55% sales tax, King County’s 1% and Sound Transit’s 0.8%, and a city rental carries about 24.25% in tax, our sum of the state’s rates.

The state’s own worksheet shows 13.7% for the rental car pieces alone in this transit district. That checks out against our arithmetic — the same three rates, added up.

From Jan 1, 2027 the state piece falls to 9.9%, so a 2027 sailing pays about 22.25% in Seattle at today’s local rates — a small relief, not a refund.

Collecting at SEA stacks a facility charge and a concession fee on top — the airport page prices both.

Alaskan Way, the surface street past Pier 66, isn’t tolled, and the port’s Pier 91 directions use I-5 and Elliott Ave W. So a sail-day drive to either pier needs no toll at all — the tunnel is a choice, not a route you’re forced onto.

The tunnel is where a rental bill surprises people. It runs under downtown between SODO and South Lake Union — the quick way through if you stay on SR 99.

Take it on two days of a four-day rental with Enterprise’s TollPass and you’d pay about $17.80 in day fees and mail-rate tolls, our arithmetic. The same two trips on your own Good To Go account, by plate, come to about $3.60.

Visitors can open a temporary Good To Go account without a pass (close it within 90 days) and save $1.75 a toll against Pay By Mail; WSDOT says to check your rental contract, since some companies add fees it can’t control, and it doesn’t say whether adding a rental plate avoids the company’s program.

If the only toll on your plan is one tunnel trip, skip it. Take Alaskan Way or I-5 and leave the program unused.

Seven days in the Bell Street garage is about $231 at the gate rate, $224 prepaid, our arithmetic.

Keep a $52-a-day downtown car through that week and the rental itself is roughly $452 with Washington’s taxes and before any fuel, so the parked car comes to about $683 before you’ve driven anywhere.

Hand it back before boarding. A downtown desk and a short cab ride cost far less — and nobody has to find the garage again after a week at sea.

Driving your own car to the ship is a different question. Our Seattle parking page takes that one.

Price comes second in Seattle. A cheaper car from a desk that shut at 1 PM is a cab to the airport — and a second contract.

Search for the desk that’s open when you’ll walk in, then compare totals with Washington’s tax in them, never the headline rate.