checking in at port and rental car

[jnadelman]

We will have a rental car that will need to be returned the morning of our cruise.
Everyone has said to drop off one of the adults with the luggage and kids, have them check everyone in, while the other goes and returns the rental car.

I was wondering if there are any other options?
Can we park the car, then all check in, and then return the car? Do they let you park for such a short amount of time?

We want to stay together as a family. But we also don't want to return the car first and deal with getting everything on and off a shuttle, plus we want to be at the port first thing in the morning and who knows when a rental car shuttle will get us there.

[kcashner]

The rental car shuttles start running at 8 am. Many companies run 2 shuttles on cruise days. Remember that they are getting people OFF the ships as well.

If you want to all stay together, you can go as a group in the rental car to the car return place. If you get there at 9:45, you'll be at the port by 10 or a few minutes later.

On one cruise, I was planning to do the "drop off the gang, return the car" number till I realized that the car place was walking distance from the hotel. SO, I decided to take the whole gang to return the car. It was SO easy. Seriously, the teens had all the luggage in the shuttle van by the time I had the car turned in. There were 2 shuttles sitting there when we arrived--one had a few people in it but had room for us, the other was empty. The drivers decided to take the partially full one right away, and put our group in the empty one....which left as soon as I climbed in.

SO.."Who knows when the shuttle will get us there" is not a concern. I've had great shuttle service from 3 different car companies on the way to the port.

No, you cannot drop off luggage portside, park the car, check in, and then return the car. Not an option. Parking at the terminal is for the length of the cruise; there isn't any short term parking.

If you want to keep the group together, take everyone to return the car--a very quick process. If you don't mind splitting up, you'll only move the luggage once if you take the gang to the port first. It's totally easy either way, especially if you have more than one adult in the group.

[lawone]

Originally Posted by kcashner

SO.."Who knows when the shuttle will get us there" is not a concern. I've had great shuttle service from 3 different car companies on the way to the port.

Can you share the names of the 3 rental agencies? I am trying to decide if we need a car to get from the airport to hotel (night before) to cruise.... or if it would be easier to get a towncar to transport us instead and then take a cab to the cruise.....

[jnadelman]

Originally Posted by kcashner

The rental car shuttles start running at 8 am. Many companies run 2 shuttles on cruise days. Remember that they are getting people OFF the ships as well.

If you want to all stay together, you can go as a group in the rental car to the car return place. If you get there at 9:45, you'll be at the port by 10 or a few minutes later.

On one cruise, I was planning to do the "drop off the gang, return the car" number till I realized that the car place was walking distance from the hotel. SO, I decided to take the whole gang to return the car. It was SO easy. Seriously, the teens had all the luggage in the shuttle van by the time I had the car turned in. There were 2 shuttles sitting there when we arrived--one had a few people in it but had room for us, the other was empty. The drivers decided to take the partially full one right away, and put our group in the empty one....which left as soon as I climbed in.

SO.."Who knows when the shuttle will get us there" is not a concern. I've had great shuttle service from 3 different car companies on the way to the port.

No, you cannot drop off luggage portside, park the car, check in, and then return the car. Not an option. Parking at the terminal is for the length of the cruise; there isn't any short term parking.

If you want to keep the group together, take everyone to return the car--a very quick process. If you don't mind splitting up, you'll only move the luggage once if you take the gang to the port first. It's totally easy either way, especially if you have more than one adult in the group.

So, if we want to stay together are we better off
1 - all returning the car together and using the rental car agency shuttle to get us to the port
OR
2 - return the rental car early and walk back to the hotel, and then take the hotel shuttle to the port.

[pam775]

Originally Posted by jnadelman

So, if we want to stay together are we better off
1 - all returning the car together and using the rental car agency shuttle to get us to the port
OR
2 - return the rental car early and walk back to the hotel, and then take the hotel shuttle to the port.

Jeff - I was curious as to what we should do also. I would rather all of us stay together since it is our first Disney cruise. I think we are all going to return the rental car and then take their shuttle to the port. I think we have a better chance of using the rental car shuttle vs. the hotels. I've read some things about how frustrating the hotel shuttle can be, especially the Radisson's.

[kcashner]

The hotel shuttles can be frustrating; the car rental shuttles never are.

My personal favorite rental place at the Port Canaveral area is Budget. I've also used Thrifty and Avis.


Towncar to hotel then cab to cruise--expensive, but would work.

Return car all together and then take car rental shuttle to the port is my preference. If I'm responsible, I don't like splitting the group. BUT, I'm not dealing with little kids or tons of luggage.

I've never had a problem with the car rental shuttles. Most of the time (including our September cruise) there was one waiting when we got there. If other people are turning in cars, the shuttle will wait till it's full. If you are the only family there, it will take off as soon as you're ready. On our September trip, the driver and my friend in a wheelchair had the shuttle loaded while I turned in the car. That means the shuttle driver did the work and my friend watched to be sure everything was on the shuttle. They actually were waiting for me when I came out from the car return counter, and that only takes a minute!

The process was basically the same at Thrifty in May--I had myself + 5 teens. The teens had the luggage in the shuttle when I came out, and we left right away.

Hertz is the closest agency to the cruise terminal; Budget is a few hundred yards farther away. The others are along the same road, but maybe a couple miles away. I choose on the basis of price; I've had uniformly good service at the PC locations from all companies.

AT MCO--DO sign up for the "frequenter renter" program even if you never plan to rent again! It may save you as much as 2 hours in line. WIth Budget, Fastbreak eliminates an entire line--you skip the line in MCO and proceed directly to the car pick up location across the street. My experience--first time when I was stupid, 90+ minutes in the first line, 2 minutes in the second. I've never done the first line again!

There are agencies at the airport that are not at the Port Canaveral area (National, Alamo, etc.) DO NOT use these! You won't be able to do a nearby drop off.

[Renysmom]

Originally Posted by pam775

Jeff - I was curious as to what we should do also. I would rather all of us stay together since it is our first Disney cruise. I think we are all going to return the rental car and then take their shuttle to the port. I think we have a better chance of using the rental car shuttle vs. the hotels. I've read some things about how frustrating the hotel shuttle can be, especially the Radisson's.

Originally Posted by jnadelman

We will have a rental car that will need to be returned the morning of our cruise.
Everyone has said to drop off one of the adults with the luggage and kids, have them check everyone in, while the other goes and returns the rental car.

I was wondering if there are any other options?
Can we park the car, then all check in, and then return the car? Do they let you park for such a short amount of time?

We want to stay together as a family. But we also don't want to return the car first and deal with getting everything on and off a shuttle, plus we want to be at the port first thing in the morning and who knows when a rental car shuttle will get us there.

Hey... NO ONE gave you two permission to venture out of our cruise meet-up thread

Hi Guys!!! See ya in 30 days

[mmouse37]

We just used Budget on the 19th and it was very pain free. We checked out of our hotel in Cocoa Beach and drove to Budget in Cape Canaveral. We got there about 9:20 am or so. There were people just getting off the shuttle from the previous cruise so the shuttle was right there. Hubby checked the car back in and was told we could wait awhile at the rental place or hop the next shuttle to the ship and wait there. I would prefer to wait at the port so we hopped on the shuttle and they took us right over. We were the only ones on the shuttle.

Once at the port we were dropped off with folks waiting who just got off the ship. The porters started coming out about 10:00 ish to collect the incoming luggage. We were third in line at the check in terminal.

Easy cheesy.

MJ

[pam775]

Originally Posted by mmouse37

We just used Budget on the 19th and it was very pain free. We checked out of our hotel in Cocoa Beach and drove to Budget in Cape Canaveral. We got there about 9:20 am or so. There were people just getting off the shuttle from the previous cruise so the shuttle was right there. Hubby checked the car back in and was told we could wait awhile at the rental place or hop the next shuttle to the ship and wait there. I would prefer to wait at the port so we hopped on the shuttle and they took us right over. We were the only ones on the shuttle.

Once at the port we were dropped off with folks waiting who just got off the ship. The porters started coming out about 10:00 ish to collect the incoming luggage. We were third in line at the check in terminal.

Easy cheesy.

MJ

MJ - Sounds like you had a great plan. We are using Budget and that's exactly what we plan on doing. One question for the expert though, if the Budget van drops us off at the port before 10:00 a.m. do they know where to drop us off since we aren't allowed to enter the terminal before that time? And is where they drop us off the same place where our luggage is taken from? Thanks.

[kcashner]

Yes, they know where to drop you. There is only one place they are allowed to drop you. It is across the street from the area where the porters take drop off luggage from private cars, but usually some of the porters will come over and take the bags from the van drop offs. I would have said "always, but we had one cruise where no one showed up, so we rolled our luggage across the street and deposited it with them.

You're really trying to make this harder than it is. Just go to the Budget place to turn in the car. They do the drop off thing about 100 times a day. They know where to take you and how to do it! :-)

[wdwfan]

I also want to keep my family together when we return the rental car. We are renting from Avis. This is my first time doing the return the rental and take the shuttle and with my family in tow. Hopefully, all will go smoothly.

[Melcatfish]

We dropped our luggage at the port then all drove to the rental place (budget) to drop the car off and took the shuttle with our hand luggage back to the port.

Mel
x

[wdwfan]

Originally Posted by Melcatfish

We dropped our luggage at the port then all drove to the rental place (budget) to drop the car off and took the shuttle with our hand luggage back to the port.

Mel
x

I think I like this idea. No hassles?

[mmouse37]

Originally Posted by pam775

MJ - Sounds like you had a great plan. We are using Budget and that's exactly what we plan on doing. One question for the expert though, if the Budget van drops us off at the port before 10:00 a.m. do they know where to drop us off since we aren't allowed to enter the terminal before that time? And is where they drop us off the same place where our luggage is taken from? Thanks.

As mentioned there is only one area where you can be dropped off or picked up if coming by van, taxi or shuttle or even private car (before the actual gates open). When you get off the shuttle before 10:00 you will be with people waiting to hop on the shuttle (who just got off the ship). You can easily tell who is coming and going by the luggage tags. The incoming people with luggage are tagged with the green DCL tags and the outgoing luggage has the character luggage tags.

There were porters still bringing people's luggage off the ship when we got there but we could not use them to take our luggage to the ship. We had to wait until 10:00 and then porters came out to start taking the incoming luggage. They came right to the drop off area. Once the porter had our luggage we walked down the walkway and into the terminal.

MJ

[twinsr241]

Originally Posted by pam775

Jeff - I was curious as to what we should do also. I would rather all of us stay together since it is our first Disney cruise. I think we are all going to return the rental car and then take their shuttle to the port. I think we have a better chance of using the rental car shuttle vs. the hotels. I've read some things about how frustrating the hotel shuttle can be, especially the Radisson's.

We had the same concerns on our first cruise. We were traveling with three little ones and thought it would be best to stick together. We all went and returned the car to Budget -- it was pain free. One of the workers at Budget helped my husband move our luggage from the rental to the shuttle and we were off!! We were at the port around 10:30 or so.
We are planning on doing the same thing when we cruise in 2 weeks.