What rental car drop off is near Port Canaveral docks?

[gstepic]

We will be staying at the Ramada and I believe budget has a drop off a block from the hotel, so that is one option we are considering and we can take a shuttle from the hotel to the dock. The other option is to rent a car that has a drop off near the dock where a shuttle is provided by the rental car company. this may be less of a headache as I have read where unless you make a reservation the shuttles at the hotel fill up. Anyone had any experience with rental cars and where the drop offs are in Port Canaveral?

 

Gary

[gstepic]

Hope replying to my own post is not the same as talking to myself! LOL! I did some calling and Avis does offer a courtesy shuttle to the ships. I know there has been lot of discussion concerning shuttles and other transportation alternatives so hope this information is helpful to someone else.

 

I was able to rent a mid-sized car from Orlando airport to Port Canaveral for $43 including taxes. I was thinking about getting a shuttle from the airport to the Radisson, which is where we are staying, and taking the courtesy shuttle from the hotel. Budget has a drop off a block away from the Radisson. What I like about a rental car compared to a shuttle from the airport is the car will give us a little more freedom because we will have the morning to kill (we get in the night before ) and using Avis should be much less of a hassle getting to the port from the rental car shuttle as opposed to the hotel shuttle.

 

I am getting so excited about our first cruise, I think I mainly am just looking for any reason to talk about anything related to the trip!

 

Gary

[lorieh]

We just used Budget and never again. They do have a shuttle to the ship which takes forever. When we returned, they had no(NONE)cars. We had a reservation for a van and after waiting almost an hour, we got 2 small cars that people were returning. They did not charge for the 2nd car(big deal considering we paid double for the cost of a van)When we got back to Orlando, they could not find our reservation and could not print us a receipt. Time will tell what we actually get charged????

[born2travel]

Hi Gary,

 

Hertz has an office, and shuttle service conveniently close to the terminal, however... I am hoping that your question draws another answer. Budget doesn't sound much better than our experience with Hertz. We are headed back there in late Nov, and are deteremined not to deal with Hertz again.

 

Lest you think it was all negative, the shuttle service was fine. Or maybe we just got lucky in the timing.

 

For years we have marveled at the efficiency of airport-based car rental agencies in getting customers in their cars and on the road. All that changed with Hertz. We waited well over 2 hours in a line that c-r-a-w-l-e-d at 10:30 pm when we arrived in Orlando. There appeared to be lots of staff, but there no one could complete the process in less than 25 min. Similar to the Budget story, there was little relation between the cars people had reserved and what they were being given. In some cases, that can be pleasant but for many... not so much! We had booked a compact car and drove away in a Buick Rendezvous (not bad but I can't help but think some poor sucker in the line behind us and trying to pick up an SUV was looking at quite a disappointment.

 

Two days later we turned in the Buick in Port Canaveral and were shuttled to the ship. 7 perfect days followed. We shuttled back to Hertz and were FIRST in line!!! This time, the paperwork took 40 min, with a growing line behind us. We drove away in a Lincoln Town Car (I do most of the driving and vowed to ditch that land yatch ASAP in Orlando) Next day, we called Hertz at the Kissimmee airport and explained we really wanted something smaller. They were, like all Hertz employees, most courteous and told us to come in at our convenience and they'd make the swap. The paperwork involved for the swap took 90 minutes in an office with 2 employees and no other customers. Also, for the third time, we had to go through the whole song and dance about applicable discounts, insurance, etc, that was all spelled out in our point-of-origin booking. Yes, they have computers... but I cannot believe they are on any kind of network where they actually access reservations, or that there is any standard routine they follow (besides trying very hard to sell unnecessary insurance.)

 

I was on a website that said Avis & Enterprise were also in Port Canaveral, you can bet I'll be watching to see if anyone has anything to say about them!

 

Mary