Rental Car - Port of Miami

[RENEED68]

Hi Everyone - Our flight does not leave until 7:30 pm from Ft Lauderdale so I figured i would rent a car in Miami so we can see some sights before we go to the airport. can canone suggesst a good rental car company near the pier??

[setcarp]

I just called all the car rental places today to see if they had a shuttle to the airport. One of them had an office near the pier (hertz or Budget) and somehow comped you for your taxi ride over there. You still need transportation to the airport too, right?

[TrentS]

There aren't any at the pier anymore, but many of the majors will pick you up and take you to the airport location. The shuttles do not always run very frequently though, it's fastest and easiest to just take a taxi to the airport location of the rental car company of your choice.

 

Budget has a location in the Sheraton hotel on Brickell, but that hotel is closing and being torn down in June and I don't know if that office will be moving or just closing. Enterprise is the only other company that I know still has a location in downtown Miami, not sure of their weekend hours though.

[RENEED68]

I was planning on picking the car up in Miami and dropping it off in Ft Lauderdale

[alanmal]

The major car rental companies are now located in the lower levels of the new garage opposite all the terminals at Ft. Lauderdale airport

[RENEED68]

OK, forgive my stupidity but...I guess I will need to take a taxi so a rental company close to the pier in Miami (does anyone know of one?) and then I can drop off in Ft. Lauderdale?? Thanks for all of your help!

[robinzhere]

Just did this for my Majesty trip in early March. It worked perfectly! I used Alamo because they gave me the best price (about $26 for the day). There was a free Alamo shuttle right at the pier when we were set to go. I'm pretty sure there was a Budget one, too and maybe others. I was a little surprised to find that they bused me all the way to the Miami airport location but that was OK with me. It took us about 25 minutes to get through the line there (I should have registered for the quick pick up but didn't).

 

Since there were only two of us, I booked the smallest size car they had. For some odd reason, the person at the desk gave me grief about whether our luggage would fit in the trunk (we only had 1 rather small suitcase each!) and I said "it has a back seat, right?" I think she was trying to trade me up.

 

We went up to Hollywood Beach, cutting over to A1A once we got out of Miami and found this cute little community that was having a little festival on the boardwalk. We found some cheap on-street parking and spent the day at the beach. They had chairs for rent,but we planned on this and brought a sheet from home to sit on. Around 5 o'clock we asked for directions to Ft. Lauderdale airport and it was only about 15 minutes away and it was very easy to find the car rental center there (all rentals are returned to the same place). We didn't even get to put gas in the car because we didn't see a station on the way but the gauge hadn't moved off the F much and they didn't charge me.

 

Then it was very easy to find the right shuttle bus to the right terminal -- there are signs everywhere.

 

I'm sure the other rental companies have the same sort of deal.

[RENEED68]

Thank you!! I am going to check Alamo out right now!

[signman]

Robin, so you're the one who left me with a less than full tank. Drove 12 miles and the tank took 3 gallons. ;) ;)

 

Seriously, thanks for the details. I'll be doing the exact same thing after my Radiance cruise in October.

[JerseyGirl23]

We are continuing a 10-day land vacation after our cruise in December. I have already made a reservation with Thrifty. Our confirmation says to contact them upon arrival at the Port of Miami and they will send a shuttle to pick us up. We are dropping it off in Fort Myers and they are not charging a drop-off fee.

[Amanda Holden]

I was just checking rental car rates at http://www.alamo.com and I could pick the car up at the Miami Airport and Drop it off at the Port of Miami. Has anyone ever done this? Where do you drop it off at the Port? I have been to the Port of Miami twice, but can't picture where you would drop the rental car off at. Any help/advice would be great. We are spending the day/night in Miami before our Cruise and thought renting a car to explore Miami would be great.

[setcarp]

I booked with Alamo last week after finding out that Hertz and Budget do not have Port to Airport (MIA) shuttles. We are looking to kill a few hours at Parrot Jungle. Anyone ever been there?

[tinkerme1]

I used to live very close to the "old" Parrot Jungle when I lived in Miami. The place was truly amazing and lots of fun. The "new" Parrot Jungle Island is spectacular and a great place to take pictures. You say you only have a couple of hours? I would say that Parrot Jungle Island is about 20 to 30 minutes, give or take some more time for traffic, away from the airport. What time is your flight? Nice way to kill some time! :D Tickets are around $25.00/adults.

[robinzhere]

Alamo says they have a dropoff at the port, but they really mean that they have a shuttle from the port to the Miami airport and vice versa. Or at least that was our experience from early March.

 

I'm reasonably sure they weren't the only one with a shuttle bus there so if you want to use Budget, maybe more research is warranted.

[TrentS]

Correct... Alamo's drop off is at the AIRPORT, and then they will shuttle you to the port. There are NO rental car companies that have drop offs AT the Port of Miami.

[setcarp]

Tink.. thanks for the info. We do not fly out until 8pm, so that leaves us plenty of time. Any other suggestions about what to do for a day?

[jsemonik]

When we sailed on the Majesty in '04 we used Hertz. Their office is right downtown and they refunded the cost of the taxi from the pier to their office.