beachbabysc

We were on the Fantasy last year in St Thomas when a family of 5 had clearly not made the all aboard after hearing their names be called several times. Of coarse, at this point everyone on board was watcing out the window to see the crew bring thier luggage and paperwork out to leave for them. Thankfully, we saw them sprinting down the pier...but tjey did have all their belonging out for them.....it was interesting...you could tell but the gestures the crew was upset

We were on that cruise and watched it all happen from the top deck! There was a lot of people cheering as they came aboard. That experience made me resolve to finally get a passport, always buy travel insurance, pay extra for the ship's excursions or at least not wander too far from port, and to make sure I have the number of the ship's agent! (I never even knew there was such a thing!) That was nerve wracking waiting and then watching the crew roll their luggage off the ship! I'm happy they made it!

I've learned a lot from the generous people on this board and registered today in hopes of returning the favor! We just recently rented one way from MCO to port and then port to MCO after the cruise. We used Budget, and because of my experience, we will not use Budget again when going on a cruise from Port Canaveral. At MCO it took 45 minutes to get our luggage, and 1 1/2 hours to get our van. I had a prepaid reservation with a code, had a great price, but the run around was unbelievable. Even though there were lots of vans in the lot, "my" van wasn't ready, we were forced to buy insurance even though we didn't need or want it, and he kept trying to get us to pay for an upgrade to a SUV because he was extremely worried about 6 people in the van with our suitcases being more than the tires could handle! :confused: (The highest weight in our party was 215 and the lowest was 120!) Dropping off at the port took close to one hour from car return to terminal. Renting after the cruise was not any better. We waited in the rental shuttle line for 15 minutes, couldn't get on that one so had to wait 45 minutes for the next one. Once there we waited another 40 minutes to reach the counter that had only one woman working it, and we were 4th in line.

I learned a few things from the CM managing the rental shuttle lines while we were waiting. Budget only has 1 shuttle van to service all the ships in port, while the other companies have several. Getting to your cruise after returning your car with Budget, Disney is the last stop. After the cruise, the number of shuttles available for customer pick-up becomes even more important because Disney has a secure pier. No vehicle is allowed in with anyone who has not gone through security so if your car shuttle picks up passengers from other cruise lines they have to drop them off before they come to Disney. They can only get on Disney's pier with an empty van. With Budget only having 1 shuttle, it creates a long wait. We saw the other car companies' vans come through 3 or 4 times and leave empty while we waited. In fact Hertz had to help our Budget driver shuttle people. At both MCO and the pier, Budget was the only one with a long line. All the other companies had very small lines or no lines at all. So for me, spending a little more with the Hertz, Avis or Enterprise will be money well spent because of all of the time and hassle I will gain back.

All this to say that we flew in the day before our cruise so we had the time to deal with the delays. If I were flying in the day of the cruise, I wouldn't do a one way rental car, from any company, unless I was coming in very early in the morning. Renting and parking at the port would be better, but still with the relatively late time your flight comes in, and the time baggage claim takes, I would be very, very nervous. You might seriously reconsider the Disney transport. I'm not dismissing your reasons for not wanting to use it, because I've had lots of eye-rolling opinions about things I did not want to compromise on concerning my own children, but I think it is your safest option all things considered. You are guaranteed to not miss your cruise with Disney transport. Disney runs cartoons so your child will have something to occupy his time and hold his attention. I think the second safest option for making the cruise boarding time is to hire a very reputable car company and use carry on luggage to avoid the baggage claim delay. (but no guarantees like with Disney transport) Good luck with your decision!

I'm sorry this is long, but I hope it helps someone! :)