Cocoa Beach etc Report

[Tabbymom]

I've been posting the whole trip over on the main RCI message board - here's the Cocoa Beach and car rental sections:

 

We flew into Orlando the day before the cruise and rented a car from Avis with no problems (I joined the Preferred Member program through work so didn’t even have paperwork to fill out). We drove over to Cocoa Beach and stopped at Ron Jon’s to shop for about an hour, then headed down to the Doubletree. As Hilton Honors members, we were upgraded to an executive room on the 6th floor facing south with a great view of the beach and ocean.

 

The room was fine although the beds were doubles instead of queens and felt small. We did not notice any noise from air conditioners.

 

We took a walk down the beach and watched a guy trying to take off via kite – not sure you can hang glide like that but he did achieve some loft of a few inches. Before dinner we stopped at Publix to pick up a few sodas and juices, aloe gel, and last minute toiletries. I had researched ahead of time and we planned to eat at Fischer’s which was supposed to be the pub attached to Bernard’s Surf. It turns out that the two places were combined when it was sold last November, names adjusted, and the menu changed; the old web site had never been taken down. It was late and our hotel was not near the port so we didn’t want to find anywhere else so ate there. It was OK but nothing special. We headed back to the Doubletree in great anticipation of the next day.

 

We woke up to a beautiful day and another great view out our window. There was a complimentary continental breakfast on the executive floor of the Doubletree so we quickly ate and packed up. After one more stop at CVS for even more last minute toiletries, we headed to the Avis return facility at about 11:00. There were several groups of people waiting for the shuttle to the pier, and more fresh off the ships waiting for a car. We had to wait about 20 minutes for the next shuttle after turning in the car.

 

After a 10 minute drive we were at Port Canaveral. Three ships were in port – the Mariner, the Disney Wonder, and the Carnival Sensation. We laughed at that last one since that was the ship we were on 4 years ago – it looked small compared to the Mariner. It was really quite thrilling to see the ship at the dock – so big and beautiful. Our driver stopped at the other ships first and there was a line waiting to get to the RCI drop off but we finally made it.

 

____________________________________________________________

And disembarkation:

 

There was an Avis shuttle just leaving as we left the terminal, but the next one was arriving. It loaded just us and another couple (honeymooners from Brazil); only waited maybe 5-6 minutes before leaving. It swung by the Carnival and Disney terminals but there was no one waiting there. As a preferred member I did not need to wait in line at Avis to pick up my car; they just gave me the papers and keys and we were off.

 

Our flight wasn’t until 4:00 but we were tired and it was overcast, so I called UAL and learned that there were seats available on earlier flights. So we headed to MCO. One warning if you need gas before turning in a car – don’t go to the first station north of the airport – they were charging $5.50. Yikes! I didn’t want to go hunting so we just returned the car without filling up and paid the $10 refill fee. (The Avis agent advised that there were more stations a little further north than the rip-off one.)

[snelsonbrown]

What a nice review - thanks for sharing -

That service station has had a lot of reports against it for overcharging and the sad thing is that you do not know the cost until you get to the pump.

Anyhow I am posting some information that can help if folks will take the time to study it.

Come back and visit us again

 

FINDING BEST GAS STATION WITH LOWER COST

 

http://www.motortrend.com/gas_prices/33/florida/brevard/cape_canaveral/index.html

 

http://autos.msn.com/everyday/GasStations.aspx?m=1&l=1&zip=32920&x=16&y=8

[sadie8]

Shirley, Thanks for the great information. Which station is closest/most convenient to the Avis return?