Car Rental Port Canaveral

Hi, we have an upcoming cruise out of Port Canaveral in November. The plan is to arrive Orlando on a Sat, drive to the cruise terminal Sunday morning, drop off the significant other with the luggage at the cruise line, go turn the car in at the rental office in Cape Canaveral, and the catch a shuttle back to the cruise line. When we return on Thursday the plan is to do the same in reverse. I have a very good rental discount from work with Avis and Budget and can use either company as after pricing them both with the same car they were within $8 of each other.

I have read horror stories of people getting jammed up on cruise day at car rental companies in Port Canaveral. Understaffed, slow shuttles, cars not available even with a paid for reservation. I understand with so many people on cruise days these things are bound to happen but I sure would like to minimize if possible. Any tips from the pros that utilize the Port Canaveral terminal? Anyone with experience for Avis and/or Budget?

We do Avis almost every time when we cruise from Port Canaveral. However, most cruises we rent the car before the cruise, but take a shuttle (Cortrans) back to the airport after the cruise. Only once did we rent a car after the cruise because we were not flying back that day. It took about 20 minutes for the shuttle to pick us up, and another 10-15 minutes waiting in line at the rental agency to get the car.

One thing we did this last time when we dropped the car was use Uber to get back to the cruise terminal. Cost was around $8 and was much faster than waiting for the Avis shuttle, because there were 4 ships in the port that day.

Thanks for the reply. Didn't even think about Uber. Great idea and <$10 to avoid waiting for the shuttle and arriving at their lot with another dozen people would be a bargain. We're visiting family upon our return for a few days so no direct trip back to the airport. Would think it would be simpler to have just one of us go get the car and then pick up the significant other and luggage back at the cruise line after renting the car? No way an Uber driver will have the room for all the luggage my wife hauls around with us. (whoops, did I say that out loud?)

Thanks for the reply. Didn't even think about Uber. Great idea and <$10 to avoid waiting for the shuttle and arriving at their lot with another dozen people would be a bargain. We're visiting family upon our return for a few days so no direct trip back to the airport. Would think it would be simpler to have just one of us go get the car and then pick up the significant other and luggage back at the cruise line after renting the car? No way an Uber driver will have the room for all the luggage my wife hauls around with us. (whoops, did I say that out loud?)

I think that would work fine.