Our experience with renting a car in Sydney

[npmommy]

Ugh. Totally not worth it. And it's a shame too because the most beautiful part of this port is *just* beyond what you can reach in a few hours with a rental car. I was on the Holland American Maasdam cruise last week. We were in port from 10-3 I believe (not sure of exact hours but it was a shorter port I do know). We rented a car from Enterprise. The office is at least 10 minutes from the port by van/car. I would never attempt to walk it. The rental car process took at least 20 minutes. They do not have GPS.

 

We wanted to get out of town and see this beautiful part of Canada. We did enough research to know the Cabot Trail was sadly beyond the scope of a few hours of driving. However, we thought we could enjoy a day at the Bras d'Or Lakes. We *were* able to drive to this area, but factor in about twenty minutes of getting a little lost/turned around, a quick stop for lunch and well, we only spent about an hour there and then just drove right back.

 

Save your money. Accept that this port is kind of a wash for doing your own thing. Take a ship excursion or just do the fortress. We wish we would've done that but live and learn! I really do wish ships would make this a full port day or do something so the really pretty area of this port could be enjoyed more.

[Nitemare]

According to this, most ships in Sydney port this year spent 9 to 10 hours in port, with a few as short a stay as 7 hours (including the Maasdam last week). Understanding that you need to get back to the car rental place early enough not to miss boarding, there's still plenty of time for most people to get to a rental place (Enterprise doesn't appear to be closest to the pier), and to get a decent distance down the Cabot Trail. We drove the Trail about 12 years ago and loved loved loved it.

 

Maybe on the 7 hour stops someone might think twice about renting a car, but for the vast majority of visitors, I think it's quite doable.

[maryann ns]

Things do not add up here. Many people have reported renting (and from Enterprise) with success. Enterprise will pick you up at the pier so there is no need to walk from what I have heard. Many times we have posted maps here with directions for getting to Baddeck from the pier.

 

There have been some reports of ships with very short times in Sydney and from the above linked information it would seem that HA do tend to have the shorter stays. I do not know why they do not stay longer. There is so much to see in the area an overnight would still not give enough time. However there certainly should have been time to go to Baddeck, tour around and go back on the east side of Bras D'Or Lake.

 

Just for the sake of reference I will put another map with directions here.

 

 

https://maps.google.ca/maps?saddr=60+Esplanade,+Sydney,+NS&daddr=Baddeck,+NS+to:Iona,+NS+to:Christmas+Island,+NS+to:60+Esplanade,+Sydney,+NS&hl=en&sll=46.143263,-60.199435&sspn=0.007538,0.021136&geocode=FR8XwAId9W1p_CmbH50ALPtnSzFfpTDOnDd2Jw%3BFc1tvwIdDPVg_CnPkSNJLGJdSzHz0SeXSM56XA%3BFZJPvQIdijBg_Cl3_U_XX2hdSzG-umoFiqZDow%3BFRVTvQIdPNpg_CmLNVmJ_mddSzHgrABkv7cAyg%3BFR8XwAId9W1p_CmbH50ALPtnSzFfpTDOnDd2Jw&oq=sy&mra=ls&t=m&z=10

[purduemom1]

What I learned from this post is that is is very important to research beforehand and have a clear understanding of how your plans will work out. Know your time frame and just how to execute everything. Take your own maps in case a GPS is not available. This board has so many helpful people that it is easy, but takes time, to make sure you are prepared. I'm sorry the OP had a bad experience and that HAL docks for such a short time.

[maryann ns]

Exactly! And Cruise Critic makes this easy.

 

Checking port times and days is crucial. You just have to go on the Mediterranean ports to see posts about being in Rome or Florence or Istanbul on days when major sites are closed.

[3rdGenCunarder]

We had a short day in Sydney last year on Maasdam.

 

I thought a lot about renting a car. But it was after Canadian Thanksgiving, and I couldn't find out how much would be going on at the Fortress. I was unhappy with a short tour, but we decided to take the ship's tour to the Fortress because of the tight scheduling, and I'm glad I did. The Fortress was open, but there wasn't the usual activity they put on in the summer. Tthey did have three character interpreters just for our group. So had we gone on our own, we'd have missed out on meeting a soldier, a lady, and a cook (who gave us hot chocolate!). I would like to have seen more of the area, but that's how cruises go. Someday, we'd like to go back and see more of Nova Scotia than you can see on a cruise stop.

 

Sometimes it's better to go with a ship's tour, especially if the port time is short. I'd guess we do ship's excursions about half the time, mostly for logistics.

 

We did rent with Enterprise on PEI and they were great. It took only a few minutes to do the paperwork and we were on our way (with maps I had brought from home).

[npmommy]

What I learned from this post is that is is very important to research beforehand and have a clear understanding of how your plans will work out. Know your time frame and just how to execute everything. Take your own maps in case a GPS is not available. This board has so many helpful people that it is easy, but takes time, to make sure you are prepared. I'm sorry the OP had a bad experience and that HAL docks for such a short time.

 

We had maps. We did get "briefly" lost so that didn't help. We did our research and planned but still felt that an hour or so in the lake area was not much. It was almost 11 by the time we left Enterprise. There were quite a few people renting cars that morning and it is just a process. HA has a short stay in Sydney...just barely 6 hours.

 

We loved the area. Just wanted to alert others on HA with a short stay that we didn't think it was worth the hassle and wish we would've just gone to the fortress.

[npmommy]

We had a short day in Sydney last year on Maasdam.

 

I thought a lot about renting a car. But it was after Canadian Thanksgiving, and I couldn't find out how much would be going on at the Fortress. I was unhappy with a short tour, but we decided to take the ship's tour to the Fortress because of the tight scheduling, and I'm glad I did. The Fortress was open, but there wasn't the usual activity they put on in the summer. Tthey did have three character interpreters just for our group. So had we gone on our own, we'd have missed out on meeting a soldier, a lady, and a cook (who gave us hot chocolate!). I would like to have seen more of the area, but that's how cruises go. Someday, we'd like to go back and see more of Nova Scotia than you can see on a cruise stop.

 

Sometimes it's better to go with a ship's tour, especially if the port time is short. I'd guess we do ship's excursions about half the time, mostly for logistics.

 

We did rent with Enterprise on PEI and they were great. It took only a few minutes to do the paperwork and we were on our way (with maps I had brought from home).

 

Exactly. Glad an experienced cruiser had a similar experience ! We went with Enterprise at all of our ports and they are great, just a smidge slower at the Sydney port. In PEI we were in and out in like 5 minutes and they picked us up at the port !