Our car rental experience

[cruisinqt]

We had a medical emergency on board so we arrived in Aruba today at 10:15 am instead of 9:00 am as planned. We weren’t concerned since we are here till 10:00 pm so we have plenty of time and our car rental was booked for 10:00 am so we wouldn’t be too terribly late. Plus after over 20 years of cruising we’ve come to realize that local tour operators keep themselves updated on ship arrival times and adjust their plans. We still made sure to be one of the first ones off of the ship so we could meet up with our car rental guy from Yess Rental Cars. We docked at 10:15 and started debarking at 10:30. We were off the ship and at our pre planned meeting place, the Citgo gas station across the street, by 10:45. We were literally one of the first ones off the ship. But upon arriving at our meeting place no one was there. We walked around the building and through the parking lot several times but Yess Rental Cars was no where to be found. We waited 20 minutes in the heat then a local lady let us borrow her phone so we could call Yess Rental Cars. When I told the man my name before I could even explain the situation he got onto me for never showing up saying he gave up on me and left. He even claimed to have stayed there till 11:00 am which was not true. When I explained that our ship arrived late he again blamed me for not telling him. I said  “I’m on a cruise ship, how am I going to call you?” Then he blamed me again saying I should have emailed him. I told him the WiFi on the ship was glitchy that morning and I couldn’t even get an email through. I asked him why he didn’t keep up with these things like other reputable companies do and he changed the subject and said he didn’t have a car for me anymore. He didn’t keep up with the ships changed arrival time, he didn’t wait on me, he blamed me (the customer) for everything, and he even rented my car out to someone else. The only help he tried to give me was to suggest that I go to the main entrance near the ship and see if one of the people there had a car available for me. Fortunately we came across a guy in the main rental car parking lot where you meet up for Jays Car Rentals and several other car rental companies. This guy had a nice SUV for $150 for the day so we jumped on it and headed out. He was with Richi Car Rentals and he was super nice and very professional. He said they don’t do reservations, it’s on a first come first serve basis, but he has tons of cars and rarely has to turn someone away. Next time I’ll use him or do Jays Car Rentals like I usually do but I’ll NEVER do Yess Car Rentals again. They were much cheaper and now I see why. You get what you pay for. By the way, we had a blast in Aruba and this by no means ruined our day. I just wanted to warn you guys so you don’t have to go through what I did. 

Edited June 27, 2023 by cruisinqt
Grammatical error

[imlulu]

Sorry to hear that your day started so frustratingly. This will be our first time to a rubs but have booked jeeps a couple of times in Cozumel. Are those available at the port rentals? 

[cruisinqt]

On 7/2/2023 at 8:18 AM, imlulu said:

Sorry to hear that your day started so frustratingly. This will be our first time to a rubs but have booked jeeps a couple of times in Cozumel. Are those available at the port rentals? 

Yes Richi Car Rentals had Jeeps available. I saw several in his lot. (They had all been rented out when we came back in the mid afternoon.) They were expensive it was $300 for a 4 door 4x4 Jeep for the whole day. But from my research Jeeps are very popular for off roading there so they’re expensive at all of the rental places. He had some nice ones though. I think Jays Car Rentals had some too.  

[Duhfur]

What time do you have to return rental to jays?

[Riemercruisin]

On 8/15/2023 at 9:29 PM, Duhfur said:

What time do you have to return rental to jays?

 

6 pm. Not very happy about that, but that's their rules.