Port Canaveral Car Rental

[cruiseboys]

This has probably been asked and answered before.... Anyone have experience renting a car at Port Canaveral? Sailing back to back on Sovereign in September and wanted to spend the turn around day sightseeing. Closest rental office? Rates? Thanks!

[andnickali]

I was there last year and debated renting a car to drive down to Disney. From what I recall there are shuttle buses that drive around the terminal taking you to the various rental agencies. I do not believe there were any cars right there for rent- but I could be wrong.

 

I did not rent the car because of timing- but I am sure if you search the car rental agencies you will be able to pre-book one that has a shuttle service.

[Yvonne]

Budget Car Rental. DH and I have rented from them several times in Port Canaveral and at the airport and have always had good service. They have an office very close to the ships in Port. Just get on their web site and you can reserve a car for the day you need. They have a shuttle that comes to the ship, so you will be shuttled to the office to get your car then when you drop it off they will shuttle you right back, although I do believe they close at 3:00 on weekends (you might want to ask them for sure).

[live2beontheseas]

I would also have to recommend Budget rental. They are very close to the pier and do have a shuttle service. Very affordable and nice cars. Use this link for a promo code and when you book online at their website use the promo code given and save even more.

 

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=1818431

[wolfcathorse]

Budget will be waiting at the far fence to take you to the rental agency. They have a free shuttle to and from the pier. There's no 1-way drop off surcharge in Florida (except for Miami?) so we rented at MCO and drove ourselves to the ship for $38.66. Did the same in reverse when it was time to go home.

[BopRN]

Budget worked great for us in May too! Very convenient and good service to and from the port. Here's a hint for a good rate. Google search for "Budget Promocode" or use other creative terms to do a search. When I wasn't quite happy with the codes I was finding, I kept searching....and we ended up using a group code I found on somebody's wedding website from 3 yrs ago...and Budget accepted it! It's pretty funny...but we were happy with our rate!

[carolemom3]

The Budget rates sound great, but I'm concerned with going through the rental process and making our 1:30pm flight out of MCO. The last time we rented a car at MCO the lines were awful (we were pre-booked but still had to wait in line).

Do you think we can make our 1:30 flight or should we have a car service pick us up? There are 5 of us travelling together.

Thanks!

[SLH]

Budget will be waiting at the far fence to take you to the rental agency. They have a free shuttle to and from the pier. There's no 1-way drop off surcharge in Florida (except for Miami?) so we rented at MCO and drove ourselves to the ship for $38.66. Did the same in reverse when it was time to go home.

That's my plan for next year especially since we will fly in the day before.

[taminator]

The Budget rates sound great, but I'm concerned with going through the rental process and making our 1:30pm flight out of MCO. The last time we rented a car at MCO the lines were awful (we were pre-booked but still had to wait in line).

 

Do you think we can make our 1:30 flight or should we have a car service pick us up? There are 5 of us travelling together.

 

Thanks!

 

I think you'll be OK with renting a car and still making your flight. On our recent cruise, we were given a document asking us what time our flight left upon debarkation. I fibbed a little bit on ours, saying our flight was at 12:30 p.m., and we wound up getting off the ship with the group labelled for 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.

 

After going through customs, getting our luggage, and catching a shuttle to the rental car office, we were on the road by 10:30 a.m. It's about a 45-minute drive to Orlando International from Port Canaveral, so I think you'll be fine. Plus, it'll be cheaper to rent a vehicle for five than paying for a car service.

 

We rented from Hertz on the way to the port and used Budget on the way back. While we got a better rate with Budget, I was surprised they used passenger vans as shuttles (which only held 7-8 people at a time) while other companies like Avis and Thrifty used the large mini-buses you see at the airport.

 

This meant waiting in the hot Florida sun for three Budget vans before we got on board. So factor in the time you have to wait for the shuttle and the time it will take to get your vehicle once you're at the office. All the rental-car places are off-site and less than a 10-minute drive away, longer if the drawbridge is up.

[wraithe]

The dropoff process for Budget is mindlessly easy, they're standing there with their little hand held device and simply print your receipt, it takes no time at all, or didn't for me and I flew out Monday morning. Now the security line inside is a different story, as I said before, MCO is the only place I've seen where security is dumber than Pittsburgh or Washington-Reagan.

[Cuizer2]

Avis has a free shuttle service to and from the port.

[carolemom3]

Taminator - thanks for sharing your experience! My DH will stress BIG time about renting the car & making the flight. Even though Avis & Thrifty are a bit more expensive, I think I'll reserve with one of them for the return back to MCO.:)

[cmich068]

If you rent from Thrifty, join Blue Chip first, and when you make your reservation, put in your bluechip number.

[42trvl]

We used Hertz, which also offers the shuttle to/from the pier.

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

Enterprise also works well. :)