aria48

OP, Just a word of caution regarding your plan. I live in the Port Canaveral area. The Beach Line Highway that you must take in each direction is prone to serious accidents. The problem that might cause you is that if the road is closed there are no quick alternative routes. A detour from Orlando would add 1 to 2 hours if indeed you can get to the detour route if you have to reverse direction. Rather than rent a car I would hire one with a driver familiar with the area if you still want to visit these places.

Scotty G is right, happens all the time.

Just yesterday it was closed down: http://www.clickorlando.com/news/beachline-accident-shuts-down-westbound-traffic/25924600

Odds are it won't be, but as he mentioned, there is no alternative route that takes less than 1-2 hours longer. Also, there's a nice little list here: http://rentalcodes.com/FL/port_canaveral.html that lists car hire locations and hours if you still decide to go that route.

Here's a map showing locations of each: http://www.parkingstay.com/p/jacksonville.html

I've stayed at the Springhill also, nice clean place, good breakfast. Walls a little thin, but other than that no complaints

There's about 50 hotels that offer park & cruise packages. There's a map showing the locations of all of them on parkingstay.com

As downtonw and Miami Beach hotels charge guests $25-30+/day for parking, most of the hotels offering these deals will be out near the MIA airport. Some include shuttle to POM -- all will require a $25-30 cab ride back to your car.

 

Budget options often suggested include La Quinta East, Comfort Suites North, and Springhill Suites Medical Center. Better hotels in the Blue Lagoon area (Hampton Inn, etc.) usually do not include a "free" shuttle to POM.

There's a map here that puts what he said in perspective: http://www.parkingstay.com/p/miami.html

THere's a map here, http://www.parkingstay.com/p/ft-lauderdale.html that shows which hotels offer shuttles and any addition charges for shuttles. Be aware that the cost of a shuttle will probably be equal to or more than what a taxi would cost you as it is such a short distance.

The Hertz downtown location has a shuttle to the port. It's located in the parking garage across the street from the Courtyard Downtown/Brickell, can walk right over. The Sunday hours for that location are 7:00-4:00

On parkingstay.com there is a table listing all the hotels that offer parking packages. There's also a few hotels that offer a coupon for 40% off parking at the port. Some people prefer going that route.

Where do you find these packages offered?

There is 5 hotels that offer these packages. List: http://www.parkingstay.com/p/port-canaveral-area-hotels-view-port.html#FLY

There's almost 50 hotels that offer parking packages (for the most part you have to book a 'package rate' or pay extra for parking...it's not included in regular rates. There's a few exceptions, but usually those hotels are in less desireable condition/locations.) There's a pretty good listing on the parkingstay website to get you started.

Here's a list of hotels that offers cruise & fly packages: http://www.parkingstay.com/p/port-canaveral-area-hotels-view-port.html#FLY

Alternatively, you could book ANY hotel which offers a park & cruise rate (rate that includes shuttle to the port) and then just book your own shuttle seperately from one of the services mentioned above or any other shuttle service.

[url=http://www.parkingstay.com/p/port-canaveral-area-hotels-view-port.html#FLY][/url]

We are staying at the Country Inn & Suites one night pre-cruise. Can you suggest the closest store to pick up a couple bottles of wine?

 

Thanks!

This might help... http://www.parkingstay.com/2013/01/country-inn-suites-cape-canaveral.html

Here is a link to some Tampa hotels that offer the cruise pkg that will give you transportation. The Westshore and Rocky Point areas are near the airport and seem to be better priced than those in the downtown area.

 

http://www.parkingstay.com/p/tampa.html

 

 

We have stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Rocky Point. They have an airport shuttle, clean hotel, hot breakfast and roundtrip shuttle to/from the port. The Hampton Rocky Point and Chase Suites Rocky Point are both next door and offer the same package. http://www.hiextampa.com/

 

Hampton RP- http://hamptoninn3.hilton.com/en/hotels/florida/hampton-inn-tampa-rocky-point-airport-TPARPHX/index.html

Chase Suites RP- http://www.chasehoteltampa.com/amenities/hotel-amenities.htm

 

 

The Springhill Suites Westshore Tampa is also a popular choice. I'm not sure if they offer a cruise pkg but it may be worth checking out.

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/tpash-springhill-suites-tampa-westshore-airport/

 

 

.

Springhill Westshore does offer the cruise package...it's the 4th hotel on the parkingstay list.

There's a map on parkingstay.com that should help with the research, shows what each hotel offers for their park & cruise package.

If prices are same, I'd go Avis. They are both owned by same parent company so there really is no major difference in the cars/policies/service. I've found the Budget is usually a little busier, so for that reason I'd choose Avis.

Probably lots of answers that are different. At Airport we like the Renaissance. Has shuttle too. The Hertz lot is right next door.

 

There is also a Hyatt right in the airport proper. Then you could pick up your car the next morning.

I am at that Renaissance right now. It's older property which has been updated, but there are little issues.so it's not one of my favorites. Tub/Shower dripped water all night in my room. .

I've also stayed at the Hyatt Place, Courtyard, Country Inn & Suites, Marriott, LaQuinta which are all in the same area. None of those stood out as any better than the other, they are all about equal.

Orlando would be the closest.

Winter Park & Kissimmee would be second closest (about equal)

I have found the same problem with a one way rental booking for Ft. Lauderdale to FL West Coast end of April. Even thru AAA, all daily rates look reasonable until finalization, then total cost jumps about $90 to cover drop off charge. Would welcome suggestions from anyone who has had better luck.

I get $9.95/day for FLL to LAX at end of April & no drop off charge, not sure where you are booking to, but it works for other cities too. Try the links here: http://www.rentalcodes.com/oneway.html .

The rates for same dates are like $196/day using carrentals.com.

I also recommend that Springhill.

I'll be staying there in a couple weeks.

Best part is, there is 2 tv's so you aren't stuck watching what the kids are watching.

Plenty of time

As mentioned above, seems like about once every other month or so, the 528 gets shut down because of accident/smoke/livestock on highway or some other calamity, just be aware this does happen and the detours and alternate routes are CONSIDERABLY longer.

Happened again this week: http://baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2013/12/12/fatal_crash_closes_p.html

Over the holidays, that's a tough one because a lot of the discounts are blacked out for those dates. I've been trying to beat a rental I made back in October for the Christmas to New Years time period & rates keep getting higher. Best I came up with for your rental was $60/day at Budget (total of $154 for the rental) using the search box on the Florida page of rentalcodes.com That is probably as good as you'll see during the holidays. Everything else seems to be double that or more. The only other option I can think of would be to try throwing in a bid on priceline.com for less as long as you know there is no chance you will have to cancel.

anybody have any rental code deals ...... this is very pricey

What are your pick-up & drop-off dates?

There's a pretty good map & listing of hotels with cruise packages on http://www.parkingstay.com/p/tampa.html which you can use to weigh your options. Looks like there is 4 or 5 hotels in the Rocky Point area that might work.

I've stayed at the Chase Suites & would recommend it. They have a very good complimentary breakfast, the rooms were spacious and the area safe & quite.