Off the Ship in Seattle: Collecting a Rental Car the Morning You Dock

Regulars in 2026, from an automated read of the port’s schedule we haven’t yet checked by eye: at Pier 66 Norwegian Bliss (Saturdays), Encore (Sundays), Joy (Mondays) and Oceania Riviera (Tuesdays); at Pier 91 Anthem of the Seas (Mondays), Voyager of the Seas and Celebrity Edge (Fridays), Carnival Spirit (Tuesdays), Eurodam and Royal Princess (Saturdays), Noordam and Star Princess (Sundays) and Brilliant Lady (Thursdays).

On that unchecked read, six of the thirteen regulars turn around on a Saturday or Sunday — nearly half, and the weekend columns are the short ones.

We found no published disembarkation time for either pier — your line’s last-morning schedule sets it. Read that before you choose a pick-up hour.

Budget’s Sunday is the trap worth naming. Book Budget on 5th Avenue for a 1 PM Sunday pick-up and you’d have one hour of counter left — the same building’s Avis desk would have six.

For any other day and hour, the hub’s open-now checker runs every desk at once.

The port says public transit is not available to Pier 91, and the Metro stop at the Magnolia Bridge and Pier 91 is permanently closed. So the first leg off Pier 91 is a cab or an app ride, whatever comes after.

At Pier 91 a ground transportation lot near the terminal entrance takes buses, taxis, shuttles and private drop-offs; rideshare has its own lot, and there’s a free cell phone waiting lot.

Enterprise Interbay is the nearest desk, about 2.6 miles and 11 minutes on our routing — fine on a weekday, closed by 1 PM on a weekend.

KOMO Plaza is about 2.8 miles away, and its Avis desk keeps 7 to 7. That makes it the safer weekend pick for Pier 91 passengers.

Same-day luggage storage at the terminals is $5 a bag at Pier 66 and $6 at Pier 91, picked up by 3 PM, per the port (read Sept 26, 2026). That opens a cleaner plan — leave the bags, collect the car, come back for them before 3.

Pier 66 to Canada Place in Vancouver is about 143 miles and 3 hr 10 min on our routing estimate, without the border wait; from Pier 91, about 144 miles.

Before any drop charge, a $52 day from a downtown desk plus the gas to Vancouver comes to about $92, our arithmetic.

The policy column is the one to read first. Avis limits a one-way into Canada to select border-area locations, which may or may not include Seattle — ask before you build on it.

Enterprise says one-way rentals must be booked ahead and may carry a one-time drop charge or mileage charge shown at booking; no brand page we read gives a dollar figure for Seattle to Vancouver. So the drop charge is the number nobody would print for us, not a number we forgot.

Discover Cars’ SEA page lists a one-way to Vancouver as a popular route, and a search there shows which suppliers will quote it at all.

Passports for everyone in the car, and the insurance card if Avis asks for it — the border isn’t the place to find out.

If Vancouver is where you’re boarding next, our Vancouver rental guide covers the other end, and the one-way page explains how drop charges work.

WSDOT charges the I-405 express toll lanes only from 5 AM to 8 PM on weekdays — a Saturday or Sunday departure north or east doesn’t pay them at all.

The SR 520 bridge to the Eastside still charges on weekends, at its lower weekend rates. 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.

In a rental, the toll is rarely the expensive part. One tolled crossing can switch on the company’s day fee — $5.35 on Enterprise’s TollPass, more than a $3.55 mail-rate tunnel trip.

Avoid the tolled roads on the way out and the program stays off. The hub’s toll tables list every program and rate.

Seattle’s average sits above the state’s by about 18 cents a gallon, per AAA, so filling up outside the city can save a little.

Return the car full unless you bought the fuel option. The refill rate a company charges isn’t on the pages we read, and we won’t guess it.

Driving to Vancouver? We didn’t check British Columbia’s gas prices — fill up before the border if you want a number you can compare.

A minivan for a family drinks more than our 30 mpg, so lower the mpg in the calculator above if that’s your car.

Choose the counter by the day you dock — Avis for a weekend afternoon, any of them on a weekday morning.

Then search that desk, or SEA if the car ends at the airport, and compare totals with Washington’s tax and any drop charge in.