MCO / Port canaveral rental cars

[mmouse37]

I'm also wondering this. From Google Maps, it looks like Budget is 4 miles from the Disney terminal. Do they shuttle for free to the terminal?

Yes

 

[Nannylisad]

All of the car rental places are on Astronaut Blvd (also called A1A or Atlantic Blvd depending on where you are). They range from 2 to about 5 miles away. Hertz is the closest to the port and is in the parking lot of the Marriott Residence Inn. Budget is about a mile or so from there and so on. The car rental places are: Avis, Hertz, Budget, Thrifty/Dollar, Enterprise/Alamo and National. This was posted on another board in this forum: Enterprise/Alamo/National are all the same company. However, their rentals are handled differently. Top of the heap is National, which is the company's "business" brand. If you join National's Emerald Club, you can go straight out, pick your car, and check out at a booth on the way out. Next best is Alamo, which is the company's "leisure" (vacation) brand. You can use a kiosk in the terminal (super easy, no line) to check in, and then go get a car in the garage. Or you can join the frequent rental program and (in Orlando, at least) go straight to the garage, pick your car and check out at the booth. Enterprise is mainly for insurance rentals (when your car is in the shop) and low-end leisure rentals. I personally have had bad experiences with that brand -- dirty, dented cars, etc. Mary MouseSavers.com MJ

Thanks so I'm assuming there is a shuttle

 

[mmouse37]

Thanks so I'm assuming there is a shuttle

Yes, they all have a shuttle to take you to the port.

MJ

 

[Spart02]

Just wanted to thank everyone for sharing this information. I hadn't really considered a one-way rental car for our cruise, being that one-way rentals are usually quite spendy and hard to find. I was able to book a minivan from MCO to the port for $85, which is much cheaper than the $130 private transfer would have been for our party of 7. We will have much more freedom this way, and it's cheaper. So thanks!

 

[k3chantal]

Thanks tigger. That takes me down to $80 one way. Best code I've seen yet. Maybe I should just wait until we get a little closer. This is just the last detail to plan and the anticipation is killing me.

Waiting may not be the way to go...... I can't return a car to Port Carnaveral for my cruise in February because no one is accepting cars. (And I called all the car agencies and they all said the same thing). If I want a car, I will have to park it while on the cruise and return it to Orlando.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

Just wanted to thank everyone for sharing this information. I hadn't really considered a one-way rental car for our cruise, being that one-way rentals are usually quite spendy and hard to find. I was able to book a minivan from MCO to the port for $85, which is much cheaper than the $130 private transfer would have been for our party of 7. We will have much more freedom this way, and it's cheaper. So thanks!

Dude. We have a party if 7 too. How are you going to get all the luggage and 7 people to port in a minivan? Im actually considering one of those 12 passenger vans just so we have room for our stuff??

 

[MinMouse]

We rented a minivan for 6 people ... 4 adults and two teenagers! It was a tight squeeze with all the luggage. Literally had bags between the front seats and on laps. Fun times! We thought maybe two cars would have worked better!

 

[vacation_junkie]

Waiting may not be the way to go...... I can't return a car to Port Carnaveral for my cruise in February because no one is accepting cars. (And I called all the car agencies and they all said the same thing). If I want a car, I will have to park it while on the cruise and return it to Orlando.

Absolutely Incorrect information!

There is no car rental company that will not allow you to drop off a car at PC. What is why there is such a thing called "One way rental".

They need those return cars for the passengers that are disembarking and picking up their rental car in PC!

I just checked Budget , Thrifty , Dollar, Hertz (Dummy reservations) picking up at MCO on the 14th and dropping off at PC on the 15th Which by the looks of it is the day of your cruise and they are ALL bookable as a one way reservation dropping off in Cape Canaveral.

 

[Spart02]

We've traveled many times with our party of 7 and tons of luggage in a minivan. We are used to packing it in tightly. That being said, we can pack relatively light for our upcoming Transatlantic trip. With 6 sea days in a row, I'm okay with doing laundry once. Also, our kids are older (6, 11, and 14), so they don't require all that much stuff.

 

[MinMouse]

I should have said that the minivan we rented for 7 was a small one. We had a Montana extended and now have an odyssey at home. We had no problem getting ourselves and the luggage to the airport at home in the odyssey. The rental was a smaller mini van. Also two teenage girls 15 & 18 don't understand the concept of packing light! Many many trips and still want to bring it all!

 

[Spart02]

We did run into a bit of a snag when we rented one from Seattle to go to Vancouver. The newer minivans are smaller, so our Town and Country was much larger than our rental, but we still made it work. Again, we try really ahrd to pack as light as we can.

 

[crichardson11]

Waiting may not be the way to go...... I can't return a car to Port Carnaveral for my cruise in February because no one is accepting cars. (And I called all the car agencies and they all said the same thing). If I want a car, I will have to park it while on the cruise and return it to Orlando.

I cruised last May and waited until April to book. I ended up with one way being just under $50 and one being just over $50 with budget and that included a $13 car seat. I was happy with that.

 

[k3chantal]

I cruised last May and waited until April to book. I ended up with one way being just under $50 and one being just over $50 with budget and that included a $13 car seat. I was happy with that.

Sounds like I am either incredibly unlucky or you are very lucky. Either way, it can happen that the rental car agencies run out of space to accept cars for one way trips. But I too would have been thrilled in your situation.......

 

[Chef Louis]

Sounds like I am either incredibly unlucky or you are very lucky. Either way, it can happen that the rental car agencies run out of space to accept cars for one way trips. But I too would have been thrilled in your situation.......

I'm not sure when your exact date is but I just checked one day one way rentals from MCO to ZC5 from 2/13-2/16 on Budget and they had cars for every day.

If you are searching one day rentals make sure and adjust the times(pick up and drop off), budget will default to noon both ways and will cause an error of no cars available.

I also use the BCD code S208200, it's an amex code, for pretty big drop in price.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

We have 1 child in our party of 7. All the rest of us are adults. We are flying in for 3 nights prior to do two park days and staying 2 days after the cruise for two more park days. 6 adults, 1 child and almost 10 days of vacation. A minivan is just not going to cut it for us...

 

[CherylA]

This is my plan too for transportation from and back to MCO.
And also one of 2 last steps left to plan. I'm going to jump online and see if I can snag a deal!
Thanks for the codes!

Anyone have a suggestion for where to stay the night before our cruise? Orlando or port canaveral ? Any specific hotel?

Thanks!

Depands what time you are flying in. If it's later I like to stay right at the Hyatt in the airport then rent the car in the morning. If you'll be in before 4:00 or so then maybe try somewhere near the port. The Best Western loked pretty decent for $100 but I haven't stayed there.

 

[Billinaz]

Just wanted to thank everyone for sharing this information. I hadn't really considered a one-way rental car for our cruise, being that one-way rentals are usually quite spendy and hard to find. I was able to book a minivan from MCO to the port for $85, which is much cheaper than the $130 private transfer would have been for our party of 7. We will have much more freedom this way, and it's cheaper. So thanks!

Try this code:

 

[MABrentwood]

Thanks to everyone who posted the discount codes - they work well....I also found a great price on the Costco website.

 

[ktate82]

I'm not sure when your exact date is but I just checked one day one way rentals from MCO to ZC5 from 2/13-2/16 on Budget and they had cars for every day. If you are searching one day rentals make sure and adjust the times(pick up and drop off), budget will default to noon both ways and will cause an error of no cars available. I also use the BCD code S208200, it's an amex code, for pretty big drop in price.

Got great rates for 2 one way rentals, but I have two questions. Will they takes us to the port when we drop off the car and how do we get there to pick up the car after the cruise?

 

[k3chantal]

Absolutely Incorrect information! There is no car rental company that will not allow you to drop off a car at PC. What is why there is such a thing called "One way rental". They need those return cars for the passengers that are disembarking and picking up their rental car in PC! I just checked Budget , Thrifty , Dollar, Hertz (Dummy reservations) picking up at MCO on the 14th and dropping off at PC on the 15th Which by the looks of it is the day of your cruise and they are ALL bookable as a one way reservation dropping off in Cape Canaveral.

This is not incorrect information for that date. I recalled Alamo yesterday and again was given the information that the only way I could rent a car from them on February 14th was to have it be a multiple day. After going round and round with them the representative told me that if I wanted to return the car 'early' the next day, they couldn't guarantee my quoted rate. After calling the physical car agency where I would pick the car up, they shared that they did have 1 15 person van they could rent me for the day for 600.00 dollars. ( double the amount they quoted for 9 days with a large car).

In the end I went with Budget and found the one day rental I was looking for for a decent price. But the Alamo/ National situation is true. Even the employee thought it strange and gave me the email of her manger. Her quote was that something must be happening that weekend for her company to block 1 day/ 1 way rentals.