One day car rental for cruise stop in Port Canaveral

[sincerelysarah182]

Hi there,

 

I was wondering if anyone has taken a one day car rental at port canaveral for a cruise stop. We are docking on 30th Oct this year from 1200 - 2130. We have taken a cruise from port canaveral departure port and have hired a car pre and post, so I have experienced the shuttle buses and the whole hire car process. We have no real desire to do a ships excursion, we've been recently to Kennedy Space centre and stayed in Cocoa beach for the a few nights prior to last cruise so we've sorta done the whole beach thing.

 

I know going to Orlando for the day doesn't quite seem totally worth it, but i thought a hire car would give us options to what we could do for the day and they are more reasonably priced than a pre paid tour.

 

On my research though, most hire car places close at 1530-1600, with exception of two (avis and budget) which are opened to 1800. I have been reading horror stories about after hour returns (which most of the hire places offer) but I understand that you only ever hear the bad on internet searches (hench the CC question)

 

The alamo/national/enterprise car hire place is a 12 minute walk from pier and they offer after hours drop off (and this would save on getting uber/taxi back to port) has anyone used them and walked?

 

So just wondering if anyone has had a good experience of after hour drop offs or any tips or recommendations, or if is a definate no-no.

[Clarea]

Our only experience with after hours drop was negative as they billed us for days we didn't have the car.

[JohninDC]

Take lots of photos/video of the car when you drop it off, just in case they come back to you for damages.

[nascarfansb]

Hi there,

 

I was wondering if anyone has taken a one day car rental at port canaveral for a cruise stop. We are docking on 30th Oct this year from 1200 - 2130. We have taken a cruise from port canaveral departure port and have hired a car pre and post, so I have experienced the shuttle buses and the whole hire car process. We have no real desire to do a ships excursion, we've been recently to Kennedy Space centre and stayed in Cocoa beach for the a few nights prior to last cruise so we've sorta done the whole beach thing.

 

I know going to Orlando for the day doesn't quite seem totally worth it, but i thought a hire car would give us options to what we could do for the day and they are more reasonably priced than a pre paid tour.

 

On my research though, most hire car places close at 1530-1600, with exception of two (avis and budget) which are opened to 1800. I have been reading horror stories about after hour returns (which most of the hire places offer) but I understand that you only ever hear the bad on internet searches (hench the CC question)

 

The alamo/national/enterprise car hire place is a 12 minute walk from pier and they offer after hours drop off (and this would save on getting uber/taxi back to port) has anyone used them and walked?

 

So just wondering if anyone has had a good experience of after hour drop offs or any tips or recommendations, or if is a definate no-no.

 

We rented from Enterprise for a port stop 2 years ago and dropped off after hours with no problem and took a taxi back to port.

[Capt_BJ]

Typically, even when returning when an office is open, if there is any sort of a line to return I just write down the gas level and mileage and toss the keys in the drop box. I've done this dozens of times all over the US including right here in Canaveral. I've NEVER had an issue .....

[sincerelysarah182]

Thanks for replies and input....car is reserved :) cannot wait for cruise now