Port Canaveral / Rental Car Question

[BigDaddyCVO]

We rented a car in Orlando for a 2 day pre-cruise stay and will be dropping it off at Port Canaveral. Is is more efficient/easier to drop the family (DW & DS) off at the terminal with our luggage, return the car myself, and take the shuttle back to the terminal or return the car first and everyone w/ luggage take the shuttle to the terminal?

 

I'm leaning toward dropping the family and bags off first and returning the car myself, but welcome advice from those with experience.

[GTO-Girl]

We rented a car in Orlando for a 2 day pre-cruise stay and will be dropping it off at Port Canaveral. Is is more efficient/easier to drop the family (DW & DS) off at the terminal with our luggage, return the car myself, and take the shuttle back to the terminal or return the car first and everyone w/ luggage take the shuttle to the terminal?

 

I'm leaning toward dropping the family and bags off first and returning the car myself, but welcome advice from those with experience.

 

I would definately drop the family off first & return the car yourself.......much easier in my opinion

[KYurgo]

What rental company are you using?

[BigDaddyCVO]

What rental company are you using?

 

Budget.

[deedeetoo]

Is it a problem if you don't drop your party off first? My husband is a strong believer is not separating the family. He wants us to all drop off the car together and then take the shuttle to the port. While I understand this will involve hauling around the luggage more than the first option and also getting more seats on the bus, are there any other issues with this?

[BigDaddyCVO]

I was thinking less in terms of keeping everyone together and more in terms of consideration for other people dropping rentals off and piling into the shuttle. It seems more efficient for everyone (as opposed to individual families) if the shuttles are not crammed with entire families going to the port, but rather individuals who have already dropped their families off.

 

My original post was more about how busy the rental company shuttles are. I'd certainly entertain dropping the car off as a family as long as it didn't add to an already chaotic process of getting to the port.

[aria48]

Agreed, the less people needing to use the shuttles, the better and more efficient it is for everyone.

[PedsRN_90]

I am also renting from Budget for a cruise out of Port Canaveral in June. Is it possible to check luggage before returning the rental? I ask because it is just two of us cruising. I don't really want to hang out in the terminal with all of our luggage by myself while he returns the car.

[CheapieD]

I thought we went out of POC in march there was a $10 fee to enter the terminal? Does that only apply for commercial vehicles? I has planned to take shuttle to Rental office and drive back to pick up family post cruise (going to port we took a limo and I thought the driver stopped and had to pay a fee so we decided to go to RA as a group.) Enterprise shuttles ran about every 20 minutes but when I rented a car pre-cruise they brought the car to my hotel.

[PedsRN_90]

CheapieD.. I believe the charges only apply to commercial vehicles (at least, that's what it looks like on the Port Canaveral website). Go here for more info: http://www.portcanaveral.com/cruising/groundtransport.php. Hope that helps!

[Corby114]

Definitely easier to drop off the family and luggage at Port Canaveral and then return the rental car. When arriving at the port you enter the parking garage and receive a parking ticket. You drive straight through the facility and then are directed to an area where the workers ask for your luggage. After completing that task you circle the lot and follow the other vehicles to the exit where the parking attendant retrieves the parking ticket. You are not charged a fee unless you spend more than an hour in the lot. The drive back to the Budget facility takes less than ten minutes. On turnaround days most rental offices are very busy. I waited at least thirty minutes for the shuttle to take me back to Port Canaveral in August 2012. That was around 11:00AM. Many cruisers asked for a taxi to take them back to the port because they didn't want to wait for the shuttle.

[BigDaddyCVO]

Definitely easier to drop off the family and luggage at Port Canaveral and then return the rental car. When arriving at the port you enter the parking garage and receive a parking ticket. You drive straight through the facility and then are directed to an area where the workers ask for your luggage. After completing that task you circle the lot and follow the other vehicles to the exit where the parking attendant retrieves the parking ticket. You are not charged a fee unless you spend more than an hour in the lot. The drive back to the Budget facility takes less than ten minutes. On turnaround days most rental offices are very busy. I waited at least thirty minutes for the shuttle to take me back to Port Canaveral in August 2012. That was around 11:00AM. Many cruisers asked for a taxi to take them back to the port because they didn't want to wait for the shuttle.

 

Thanks for the info. I want to clarify you meant enter and drive through the parking garage rather than a parking lot. Also, were many taxi's available at the Budget lot for those who didn't want to wait? I assume it is that way at the end of the cruise as well, people taking taxi's to the rental lots instead of waiting on a shuttle.

[tneah]

It's just less chaotic to drop the family off with the luggage. They hand the luggage to the porters. I really don't see how one could get lost at the port as long as you remain in one location to meet up.

[Corby114]

In reference to your questions, you drive through the lower level of the parking garage and exit near the area where porters are waiting to collect your luggage. At the Budget rental location the customer service representative called the taxi company which dispatched a cab to that location.

[Corby114]

Shuttle pickup post cruise at Port Canaveral is another story. After leaving the ship everyone grabs their luggage and exits the terminal. Passengers who are renting vehicles from the various companies all head for an area designated for shuttle pickup. There were no organized lines and people were cutting in front of one another. Since I was in no rush my family waited for over an hour for the lines to die down. We had reservations for a Budget rental, but the shuttle drivers were extremely busy. I started a conversation with a Hertz driver who said that there was no planning at this facility and sometimes it's a lot worse than it was today. He stated that 50% of the confirmed reservations at his office were usually no shows. He stated that since he only had a few customers he would gladly drop us off at the Budget location after he dropped off his customers. He received a nice tip for his generous offer. My cousin who was also on the same cruise used a taxi to get to the Budget office because he had relatives who were flying back to New Jersey from MCO in the afternoon.

[BigDaddyCVO]

In reference to your questions, you drive through the lower level of the parking garage and exit near the area where porters are waiting to collect your luggage. At the Budget rental location the customer service representative called the taxi company which dispatched a cab to that location.

 

Thanks.