Rental cars in Marseille

[marne-c]

My wife and I are on a 20th anniversary Mediterranean cruise on the Splendour of the Seas departing from Barcelona on November 6th.

 

We are very familiar with the area of Provence inland from Marseille. For the day of our Marseille port visit (Sunday, 7 Nov), we have offered to drive some folks around for visits to Arles, Les Baux, St. Remy, etc., assuming we could get a rental car or two.

 

The ship will be in port from 7am through 11pm. We'd like to have the rental car(s) between 8am and 8pm. For Plan A, the group is nine people. Plan B would be just the two of us.

 

While I have arranged before to rent cars in Europe, the pick-ups always have been at airports. I'm a bit stumped about how to get a rental car at a cruise ship dock, not to mention on a Sunday. (For Plan B, I guess we could take a cab from the dock to the airport and rent the car there.)

 

Please let me know if you would have any advice for us about reserving a rental car (probably two) for that day. Any info or help would be very welcome!

 

Thanks!

 

--Marne Coggan

[WeLoveCruising]

There is a Hertz office in Marseilles, near the train station, which was about a 10 minute taxi ride from the pier. However, when we stopped there on our cruise last year we did have a problem in finding a taxi driver who was willing to take us there - most wanted to be hired for a full day or more expensive tour and didnt want to lose their place by taking us for the short trip. We asked the port agent at the pier for help, and she spoke to a taxi driver in French who then agreed to ride us to the Hertz station. Once we arrived at the Hertz station we didnt have any more problems renting a car. To get back to the ship after returning the car we simply walked across the street to the train station and got a taxi there.

[marne-c]

WeLoveCruising: Many thanks!!!

 

--Marne

[Icky]

Marne-C

 

We are also on the Splendour on 11/6 and have the same plan. Unfortunately, the port time in Marseille has been changed to 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. for this stop. I have confirmed this with RCCL and it is printed on my cruise documents. When we were supposed to be in port until 11:00, we planned to drive to Pont du Gard and then stop at Arles and some of the little towns around there. You mention you are very familiar with the area. Do we still have time to get to Pont du Gard and Arles?

 

Thanks for the information and sorry to break the news to you about the revised itinerary.

 

By the way, we have reserved our car through National in the train station.

[marne-c]

Icky: To and from Arles, with plenty of time to visit -- yes. Pont du Gard is do-able too, but forget the canoe trip down the river.

 

Remember, this will be a Sunday, and many shops will be closed. That could accelerate your touring, especially in-town.

 

--Marne

[Icky]

Thanks for the info Marne. Is Pont du Gard as great as I have read it is. I was only lukewarm on the canoe idea so it's just as well.

 

Thanks again.

[marne-c]

It's very impressive, and in surprisingly great shape after nearly two centuries. I'm sure the local tribes people were astonished that those crazy Romans could make stones fly.

 

--Marne