Needing some advice

[DJW8385]

Hello Cruisers,

My family and I are sailing on the Carnival Magic next month (8/5/17-8/13/17) and we're flying out to Orlando two days prior our cruise. We decided to rent a car from Thrifty rental car (MCO) and we're dropping off the car the morning of our cruise at the drop off location (6599 N. Atlantic). I've searched for reviews about this process and only read two reviews that were negative (yelp). This is where the advice from my fellow cruisers come in handy [emoji3]. Can anyone tell me their experiences with renting a car from MCO and dropping it off at the rental car location on N. Atlantic Ave??

 

Thanks in advance

 

P.S. I'm going to post this in the FL departure page on CC also

 

 

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[JohninDC]

Not specifically that location, but in general when we cruise with the family I drop off wife/kids/bags at the port and then return the car and ride the shuttle to the port. If it is just the wife and I we usually drop the car off and then ride the shuttle together with our bags. Your call.

[eandj]

Like John, haven't rented from here. But...

What is your concern? Time waiting for the shuttle? Stops made before your terminal? Crowds? All could be possible depending on day and time.

 

Are you with a big family and/or small kids and tons of luggage? If so, I'd either Uber to the port or do as lots like John does and drop the group and bags off yourself and then head to the rental office.

[dd likes to cruise]

I also have not used that site, but we did a one way rental with Budget. I'm sure both sites have some of the same issues.

 

Hundreds of people are dropping off cars and wanting shuttles at basically the same time. Multiple ships in port the same day. And people coming off cruises who need to rent a car. And all the workers needing to handle all this at the same time. It can only work so well.

 

The lots are little and tight. But that said we didn't have to wait too long for our shuttle. We did have to find a guy with the hand held thingy to come check our car in for us.

 

If it had been more than 2 of us, I would've dropped off at the port first. Hopping on a shuttle with just you and no bags would be much easier.

[Corby114]

It's very busy at all of the rental car companies on weekend turnaround days in Cape Canaveral. The best advice I can give is to drop off all of your passengers and luggage at the cruise terminal before you return the rental vehicle. After everyone is dropped off take the short drive over to the rental location. If the place is packed and there is a long line for the shuttle just ask an employee for the number of a local cab company for the short trip back to the terminal. I have done this a few times and it works out perfectly. When returning from a cruise I hop on the shuttle and my family waits until I return to pick them up with the rental vehicle. It's normally crazy busy on disembarkation at the terminal when everyone is trying to get on the shuttle buses at the same time. On a Carnival cruise in 2012 we waited at least an hour because everyone was cutting the line. My family was in no rush to get to our condo in Hallandale Beach so I watched the arguing going on. We rented from Budget and there were two shuttles going back and forth. A Hertz shuttle driver offered to take us to the Budget location because he was only waiting for two customers. He explained to the Budget drivers what he was doing. He received a nice tip for his generous offer. He also explained that he does this all the time. He also told me that 25% of customer reservations on turnaround days are no shows. He told me that most locations are very busy between 8:00AM and 2:00PM.

[DJW8385]

Thank you all for your suggestions. We're a small group of four, no kids. It's my mom, brother, his girlfriend and myself on this cruise. I'll most likely drop them off with our luggage at the cruise terminal and then drive back to rental car place and take a cab back if the lines for the shuttles are too long.

 

 

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