Car rental from port of Miami to port Canaveral

[Mr and Mrs C]

I’m looking at a cruise this spring that comes back to Miami for 8 am and then another one leaves that afternoon we’d like to book that out of port Canaveral. Has anyone rented a car between the 2 ports? I know it’s about 3.5 hours so figured a car rental might be the quickest and easiest?

[jimbo5544]

18 minutes ago, Mr and Mrs C said:

I’m looking at a cruise this spring that comes back to Miami for 8 am and then another one leaves that afternoon we’d like to book that out of port Canaveral. Has anyone rented a car between the 2 ports? I know it’s about 3.5 hours so figured a car rental might be the quickest and easiest?

We have done this on a side2side on Horizon and Mardi Gras.  The way we did it was to make make a one car reservation from MIA and used a rental company that had a drop off 1/2 mile away from PC cruise terminal (right over the bridge, near Fish lips) was to be first off (thru guest services) and Uber's to MIA.  10 minutes later we were in the car heading north.  Getting off early is the key.  Use Waze for traffic, I have a story with that also, but do not want to scare you.

[ProgRockCruiser]

You might ask in the Ports of Departure area (or this thread will get moved there by a Mod).

 

"About 3.5 hrs" is the best trip time, IMHO - count on longer, maybe up to 4.5 hrs in case of stupid traffic.  But if you get off the ship in Miami around 10am, that still leaves you 5 hrs to get to Canaveral, I suppose.  Or stay overnight in PC, and book a cruise leaving the day after your cruise arrives in Miami.  That would be far less stressful.

[Mr and Mrs C]

5 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

We have done this on a side2side on Horizon and Mardi Gras.  The way we did it was to make make a one car reservation from MIA and used a rental company that had a drop off 1/2 mile away from PC cruise terminal (right over the bridge, near Fish lips) was to be first off (thru guest services) and Uber's to MIA.  10 minutes later we were in the car heading north.  Getting off early is the key.  Use Waze for traffic, I have a story with that also, but do not want to scare you.

Thanks for your help. That gives me something to go on. Are the Ubers waiting right at the port?

[Mr and Mrs C]

4 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

You might ask in the Ports of Departure area (or this thread will get moved there by a Mod).

 

"About 3.5 hrs" is the best trip time, IMHO - count on longer, maybe up to 4.5 hrs in case of stupid traffic.  But if you get off the ship in Miami around 10am, that still leaves you 5 hrs to get to Canaveral, I suppose.  Or stay overnight in PC, and book a cruise leaving the day after your cruise arrives in Miami.  That would be far less stressful.

It would be less stressful but we have 2 nice casino offers that come back one day and leave the same day. If we miss the boat we aren’t out much at all, so I’m willing to chance it. 

[jimbo5544]

Just now, Mr and Mrs C said:

Thanks for your help. That gives me something to go on. Are the Ubers waiting right at the port?

I called when we cleared customs and they were there in less than 5 minutes.  If I was worried about the timing, I might call before we entered the customs area.  Oh BTW def do carry off.

[Mr and Mrs C]

7 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

I called when we cleared customs and they were there in less than 5 minutes.  If I was worried about the timing, I might call before we entered the customs area.  Oh BTW def do carry off.

Yes we always do carry off with our own luggage. We are always off the ship early. 

[csm5986142]

We have done that in reverse - went from Port Canaveral to Port of Miami.  We did the platinum priority debarkation, and were within the first 20 people off the ship.  The complimentary rental car shuttle was waiting for us in the parking lot and we left as soon as we boarded.  There was no wait at the rental car agency and we were quickly done with paperwork and on the road.  Everything went so much more quickly/smoothly than I expected. 

The freeway traffic was absolutely insane - I can't believe how people drive on the freeways between Orlando and Miami (before that I thought California freeways were bad). 😄

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

I would look into a car service to take you port to port directly.  

[Corby114]

Traveling from Port Canaveral to the Port of Miami by car service is going to be mighty expensive. The four plus hour trip on Interstate 95 unfortunately isn't the easiest ride either. You most likely will be charged for the one way fare along with a charge for deadheading the vehicle back to Port Canaveral. Lastly, I would be a nervous wreck trying to go from one ship to another on the same day. Good luck to you!

[JohninDC]

Can you ride the Brightline train from Miami to Orlando and then make your way (Uber?) to PC?

[cruise_co]

9 hours ago, JohninDC said:

Can you ride the Brightline train from Miami to Orlando and then make your way (Uber?) to PC?

We are using Brightline for a flight after a cruise next month.  Our ship arrives at the Port of Miami, but the most convenient flight home (and fastest) was out of Orlando.  So we are taking the 8:50 train to Orlando, which arrives at 12:15.  We like the idea of the high-speed rail, not having to deal with traffic, and the Miami train terminal being so close to the port.  

Edited August 29 by cruise_co

[Knights on the Beach]

I just posted the below video in another thread but there's lots of good info about Brightline in it. We're hoping to do it ourselves in the future but for now, we have 5 cruises booked out of Port Canaveral. 🙂 Not sure if I'd want to do it on a S2S day like the OP is doing unless the timing worked out perfectly since there would be a 45 minute Uber ride from Orlando to Port Canaveral. But it's worth looking into!