How long is the line for rental car: Port Canaveral to MCO

[Peg_S]

I have a car from Dollar reserved for $66. Hertz is $133.

 

Just how bad will the line be at the rental counter on the morning of disembarking? If I'm standing around for two hours to get to the counter... I'm thinking I'll pay more and go with the shorter line.

 

NOTE: our flight isn't until 2pm, so no rush there... we plan to find something to entertain us for a few hours that morning.

 

I'll take any advice.

 

Peg

[Shmoo here]

I have a car from Dollar reserved for $66. Hertz is $133.

 

Just how bad will the line be at the rental counter on the morning of disembarking? If I'm standing around for two hours to get to the counter... I'm thinking I'll pay more and go with the shorter line.

 

NOTE: our flight isn't until 2pm, so no rush there... we plan to find something to entertain us for a few hours that morning.

 

I'll take any advice.

 

Peg

It's really impossible to say when/whether the line will be short or long. It depends on when you get there, and how many others are taking advantage of the good rates.

 

I'll also point out, with a 2 pm flight, you're not going to have a whole lot of time. I suggest you plan on being at the airport pretty much by 12 (or shortly thereafter). More often than not, security can be a bear at MCO. And the line for checking in for your flight - who knows?

 

The latest you can stay on the ship is 9:00. Since it's about an hour from Port Canaveral to MCO, that leaves you only about 2 hours to get over to the car rental place and get to the airport.

[Ex techie]

Shmoo's reply above +1

 

ex techie

[Cedricandsophie]

Agree about getting to the orlando airport early. It will take at least 30 to 45 min to get a car, 45 min drive to airport or anywhere else in orlando. The last time we were there about noon we had almost hour wait in security line. Not including the time it takes to return car or check luggage, unless you check in on the ship. Unless the car is way cheaper than the transfers, I always opt for the least stressful transportation possible. I'd much rather get to airport early, look around shops, have lunch, etc.

[moki'smommy]

Car rental lines vary. I've been the second person in line and waited less than 5 minutes....and I've waited about 30 minutes. Both of these were at Budget. I have rented from Dollar; the only thing remarkable is that they are farther from the terminal and only run one shuttle on cruise days (Budget runs 2 if both are in working order and both drivers are there!)

 

Hint--if you are at the front of the shuttle line and there is room for one person/no luggage, have the driver leave the family at the terminal area and go get the car. The shuttle can almost always handle 1 person with no luggage while a family of 4 may be impossible and mean waiting till the next shuttle comes. At the car place, get off and be in the line to get your car while those others are dealing with their luggage. Get car and check with family as to whether they hopped the next shuttle (and are on their way to you) or you should pick them up at the terminal. Easy either way.

 

Hertz is the closest to the port. I've never used them as I've had great Budget or Dollar codes most of the time.

[Peg_S]

I'm thinking $67 isn't that much in the overall scheme of things.

 

We'll definitely prefer NOT to rise and rush off the ship, so I anticipate we'll be hitting the worst possible lines...but you never know, I might feel like rising early that morning!

 

I can handle a 30 minute line, but not interested in dealing with much more than that. Dollar doesn't have a quick version like some other brands do, (that I can see.)...so no help there.

 

Definitely will try the split-off and meet up system. Good idea.

 

For our flights, we lucked out with an option to move to first class for $158 each, so I jumped on it!.... So the airport process "should" move as swift as it can. (Knock on wood)

 

Thanks again.

 

Peg

Edited December 7, 2015 by Peg_S
Math!

[Capt_BJ]

what day of the week

 

this can make a BIG difference

 

some days DCL is the only ship flipping

 

other days there are 4 or more!!!!!

 

BIG DIFFERENCE

[dexddd]

We've usually used Budget and had fairly good time except the last time. All sailings have been on DCL and there has been more than one ship but I can't say for sure how many each time.

 

The last time we used Budget on a Saturday both going to ship and going back to airport was a total failure. I understand there are a lot of people, but they were not prepared/capable to deal with the number of people booked. When I went to drop off the car, you had to double park and the two ladies working outside had no order - they ran around to who ever yelled the loudest at them rather than some type of first come basis - there was a lot of swearing going on back and forth between the customers and the two ladies.

 

As said above, if you can drop your family off first at the ship and then go drop off the car by yourself on the day you get on the ship, that helps. The last time the line snorkeled from the place where the vans let you get on around the corner of the building. It was a hot morning and people were not happy with the snail pace of the shuttle service.

 

The guy in front of me was traveling with his wife and two young girls and he was ready to snap. When it was our turn to get onto the shuttle, his wife and girls got on and then he did but he didn't think there was enough room although people were moving together to make room. He got off the shuttle and waited. I felt sorry for the wife and kids so if you can get one person to do the car drop-off, that will help.

 

On the way back to the airport, it was crazy as well. First off, the gas station on the same side of the street as Budget and close by had most, if not all pumps marked as out of service - what, is this the 1970s I was thinking? So we had to drive down the street and finally found another gas station but it was small two pump operation.

 

Then we went back to Budget and waited quite some time to get the car.

 

This weekend we are going again but using a different company. One thing I have noticed over time is it seems to be more expensive for the trip back to the airport than for the one from the airport to the port.

[Peg_S]

Capt BJ: According to a cruise port website (can I say the name?) it says the Enchantment of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas are there on embarkation day, (a Monday) and Enchantment again on disembarkation day (a Friday). It looks like Anthem is just making a port stop for the day, but Enchantment is loading and unloading like us.

 

dexdd: You're describing my nightmare.

 

New question: if we go with Disney transfer back to MCO, what time do the buses arrive? If it's not too early, maybe we'll just take the darn bus. Was thinking we could stop and do something on the way to the airport, but looks like we may be spending the time in the rental car line.

 

Peg

Edited December 9, 2015 by Peg_S

[Shmoo here]

Capt BJ: According to a cruise port website (can I say the name?) it says the Enchantment of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas are there on embarkation day, (a Monday) and Enchantment again on disembarkation day (a Friday). It looks like Anthem is just making a port stop for the day, but Enchantment is loading and unloading like us.

 

dexdd: You're describing my nightmare.

 

New question: if we go with Disney transfer back to MCO, what time do the buses arrive? If it's not too early, maybe we'll just take the darn bus. Was thinking we could stop and do something on the way to the airport, but looks like we may be spending the time in the rental car line.

 

Peg

The busses to MCO start filling as soon as everyone starts leaving the ship. Once a bus is full, it leaves. Roughly every 20 minutes, but can be more often if the bus is full. Last bus is held until DCL is sure that everyone who is going to MCO is off the ship, and departs around 9:30-9:45.

 

The ride to MCO takes about an hour.

 

There's lots to see/do at MCO. Shops, restaurants.

[moki'smommy]

We've used Budget and Thrifty. Never had a bad experience but in general Budget was a bit faster and easier. However, I've read several of those nightmare experience reports. Guess we've been lucky.

 

If you do plan a car rental, join the loyalty program for whichever company you use. It saves TONS of time at MCO. It really didn't make a difference at the Cape Canaveral/Cocoa Beach locations.

[Peg_S]

Thanks so much for your help.

 

There are 4 of us... Now that I have a good idea what to expect I'll ask my group what they prefer.

 

Peg

[dexddd]

Capt BJ: According to a cruise port website (can I say the name?) it says the Enchantment of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas are there on embarkation day, (a Monday) and Enchantment again on disembarkation day (a Friday). It looks like Anthem is just making a port stop for the day, but Enchantment is loading and unloading like us.

 

dexdd: You're describing my nightmare.

 

New question: if we go with Disney transfer back to MCO, what time do the buses arrive? If it's not too early, maybe we'll just take the darn bus. Was thinking we could stop and do something on the way to the airport, but looks like we may be spending the time in the rental car line.

 

Peg

 

We just got back from our NCL trip. I couldn't have imagined the nightmare we and everybody else ran into using Avis. I couldn't make up the following if I tried. We had four ships on the day we got off the ship.

 

Our trip to the ship was better than they day we got off the ship. On the day we went to the ship, we got there about 10:10 and were at terminal 1 by 11:15. We dropped off folks for DCL first and there weren't any for Carnival.

 

When we dropped the car of, we went into the office (from the back side) and the line was to about the door (it is a small office though). I'd say maybe about 15 people in line. Glenn the mgr was working and then Tamara came in and they said to split the line into those picking up and those dropping off. Things started to pick up a bit and it is easier for them to have people drop cars then pick up. Shuttle wait wasn't long and the wait at the DCL terminal was only like 5 minutes.

 

On the day we got off the ship, we were out at terminal 1 by 8:35. The first Avis shuttle showed up around 9:45 - a smaller van that sat maybe 10? I know it was the first as there were people who were out there at 8 and they said they had called the local office around 8 to let them know they were there. They were a party of 7 and had one in a wheelchair and another with a cane plus other people mobbed the van so we didn't get on that one. Tamara was driving and she apologized and said "..it was a nightmare at the other terminal...and they had trouble there....". She said she would drop those folks off and be back to pick up the next round. (One of the people in this group was at the head of the line when we got to the office.)

 

It was around 10:10 when she was back and we were lucky to get into the van. She went on to say how it isn't there fault, it is Corporate's fault. She also said there was a long line at the office saying not to get mad at them.

 

When we got to the office we went in the back door again and the line was to the door with again maybe 12-15 people in the line. Glenn was the only one working the counter. He cleared a couple people and then the computers go down. Tamara comes in and they go get paper contracts and start filling those out. They get a couple of those done and then the computers start working again but slowly.

 

Then a lady comes in the front door saying she had been waiting in line for an hour because she had bad knees and was sitting outside and people are like you weren't out there for an hour - she cut in after Glenn cleared his person. She gave him a credit or debit card - it didn't have a name on it and he kept telling her that he could not take it. She then gives another card and he tells her he has to secure so much for a deposit. They go back and forth and then she leaves. In retrospect I'm not sure if she was trying to pull some type of scam.

 

Then Glenn starts working the next person and two ladies come in saying they were waiting an hour and they cut in line. Glenn looks up their reservation and he says that they just made the reservation an hour ago so they hadn't processed it locally yet so then he had to do that and then they sat down as he would help them later.

 

By this time, the lime is out the door and out to the end of the cement pad under the canopy. So maybe 25-30 people. They had brought some folks form DCL. Finally by 10:45 (2:10 minutes later) we were in our car.

 

I can't say how long folks had to wait for shuttles at the DCL terminal, but some observations from where we were at is that Budget had 3 vans (2 of the smaller ones like we had, plus one of the normal ones) during our wait from 8:35-10:10, We only saw one Hertz, and Dollar/Thrifty had a shared van and we saw two of those.

 

Since all of the above had to do with "Corporate" they will be contacted.

[Peg_S]

dexddd: oh my. An hour and a half waiting for the shuttle? and the nightmare at the rental office. Yikes.

 

Thanks for the heads up.

 

Peg

[Capt_BJ]

all the rental offices are small here

 

it is pretty easy for them to get overwhelmed .....

[moki'smommy]

all the rental offices are small here

 

it is pretty easy for them to get overwhelmed .....

 

They are small, but they are also used to the cruise schedules and try to be reasonably prepared for the influx of customers. For example, Budget tries to run at least 2 shuttles on cruise days. And they know in advance exactly how many reservations they have; there can be a problem when a return doesn't come in on time. These are not locations where you can show up and try to rent a car without a reservations (we stood in line quite a while once while a man tied up an agent for ages trying to convince her that she should give him a car because he was a regular renter....he didn't want to believe that she didn't have any cars that hadn't been reserved).

 

We've often been upgraded just because they had a nicer vehicle that needed to be returned to the airport.

 

But the Captain is right--you are talking about an office with 2 or 3 clerks at the counter on a busy day.

[Peg_S]

Haven't checked with my group yet about keeping our rental to MCO or switching to the shuttle. Definitely will bring our patience if we stay with rental. If I pay more for Hertz, will it be "less" chaotic there? Or same chance at them all?

 

Peg

[moki'smommy]

Haven't checked with my group yet about keeping our rental to MCO or switching to the shuttle. Definitely will bring our patience if we stay with rental. If I pay more for Hertz, will it be "less" chaotic there? Or same chance at them all?

 

Peg

 

Hertz is a little less crazy because it is the closest car place to the terminal and because it is usually the most expensive. Close matters because as far as I know, they have only one shuttle...but a round trip to Hertz probably takes the same amount of time as one way to Thrifty (which is considerably farther down the road). Of course any outlet can go nuts on a cruise day. All it takes is one employee calling in sick or something similar and they are totally stressed.

[dexddd]

Haven't checked with my group yet about keeping our rental to MCO or switching to the shuttle. Definitely will bring our patience if we stay with rental. If I pay more for Hertz, will it be "less" chaotic there? Or same chance at them all?

 

Peg

 

Hard to say about Hertz. I know you are sailing DCL and we were over at Terminal 1. That being said, the Avis driver said their problem getting us was because it was "crazy" over at the other terminal.

 

FWIW - We only saw one Hertz shuttle during our wait although it wasn't full and only a couple people got on. Up until our last two trips out of PC we had very good experiences so not sure why the last two have been nightmares.

[ducklite]

I would do two things regardless of which agency you choose. First register in advance for their "bypass the line program" where you go directly to the garage to pick a car, and second, only use one with the cars in the parking deck at MCO. If you need to use a shuttle, forget it.

 

At the port, drop everyone off then go return the car. They can hold a place in line for you. On return to the port let them wait for you while you take a cab to the agency and bypass the onslaught that arrive with each shuttle bus.

[moki'smommy]

I would do two things regardless of which agency you choose. First register in advance for their "bypass the line program" where you go directly to the garage to pick a car, and second, only use one with the cars in the parking deck at MCO. If you need to use a shuttle, forget it.

 

At the port, drop everyone off then go return the car. They can hold a place in line for you. On return to the port let them wait for you while you take a cab to the agency and bypass the onslaught that arrive with each shuttle bus.

 

You don't even need to take a cab to the car place. There is almost always room on the shuttle for one person with no luggage. Ride the shuttle over (you're normally the last one on anyhow as you've typically bypassed some people in the line who want to keep their family and luggage with the driver and they won't fit!). When the shuttle stops at the car place, hop off and go get in line to pick up your car, leaving all those others to unload their luggage, etc. This puts you first in the line from that shuttle load. Since you were the last one on and probably sitting right by the door, this is very easy to accomplish.

[Peg_S]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate your advice.

 

I was considering renting a car and parking it during the cruise (4 day cruise/5 days of parking). The rental price is the same as the two one-ways, and parking at an offsite lot is $7/day. For peace of mind, was considering that - to avoid potential mobs at the rental office on debarkation day.

 

Would have to take the parking lot shuttle to and from the port, but thinking it will be a bit less chaotic.

 

thoughts?

 

(fully realizing the things you worry about never happen, it's the OTHER stuff that blindsides you!!!)

 

If I'm overthinking this whole topic and need to let it go, let me know that too.

 

I trust you!

 

thanks much,

Peg

Edited December 29, 2015 by Peg_S

[ducklite]

You won't save any time parking at an offsite lot. You will still have to wait for a shuttle, schlepp luggage, wait to pay, etc.

[moki'smommy]

If the goal is to save time at the end, you'll need to park in the terminal lot. Of course, that's expensive. There were hotels that gave coupons for 40% off terminal parking--don't know if that promotion is still available.

 

The lines at off site lots are generally shorter than at car rental places and move more quickly but there is still waiting involved in these. You have to determine how much money saved is worth how much hassle.

[airrn]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate your advice.

 

I was considering renting a car and parking it during the cruise (4 day cruise/5 days of parking). The rental price is the same as the two one-ways, and parking at an offsite lot is $7/day. For peace of mind, was considering that - to avoid potential mobs at the rental office on debarkation day.

 

Would have to take the parking lot shuttle to and from the port, but thinking it will be a bit less chaotic.

 

thoughts?

 

(fully realizing the things you worry about never happen, it's the OTHER stuff that blindsides you!!!)

 

If I'm overthinking this whole topic and need to let it go, let me know that too.

 

I trust you!

 

thanks much,

Peg

 

If the cost to rent at hertz is $133, I would just pay the extra $7 and do Disney transport. It's super easy. You just walk outside and buses are waiting. They will put you right onto a bus and off to the airport you go. If your airline participates, you can also have your checked luggage checked in so no dealing with that either. We have done two one way rents, one rental and paid for parking (but parked at the port), and Disney transport. Keeping the car the whole time was nice (but only parking at port so no shuttle), but with the parking cost, it is not always the cheapest.