Alamo Car Rental - Port Canaveral

[neilintoronto]

Just experienced this nightmare. Arrived at 10:30 to complete chaos. Cars parked everywhere, people lined up for the shuttle bus all over the place. Huge wait for the shuttle bus. Some of the workers claimed there was "a lot of traffic" at the port.
But...the same fiasco on the way back from the ship. A crazy line up at the port for the shuttle. The problem isn't "traffic", the problem is that they only have one medium sized shuttle bus for their location. It can only take about 15 people. And yet the lineup was about 50-60 people? It was a joke.

I counted 4 hertz shuttles in the time it took the Alamo shuttle to return from the rental place. In contrast, the Alamo Car Care Center in WDW was great!

My advice: pay the extra $$ for hertz. Or just stick with Disney transport.

 

[scootch]

Just experienced this nightmare. Arrived at 10:30 to complete chaos. Cars parked everywhere, people lined up for the shuttle bus all over the place. Huge wait for the shuttle bus. Some of the workers claimed there was "a lot of traffic" at the port.
But...the same fiasco on the way back from the ship. A crazy line up at the port for the shuttle. The problem isn't "traffic", the problem is that they only have one medium sized shuttle bus for their location. It can only take about 15 people. And yet the lineup was about 50-60 people? It was a joke.

I counted 4 hertz shuttles in the time it took the Alamo shuttle to return from the rental place. In contrast, the Alamo Car Care Center in WDW was great!

My advice: pay the extra $$ for hertz. Or just stick with Disney transport.

We have always loved Alamo and never had a problem but typically get off the ship early. You can take a taxi to any of the car rentals too for $5 per person.

 

[bumbershoot]

The problem isn't "traffic", the problem is that they only have one medium sized shuttle bus for their location. It can only take about 15 people.

They do not only have one bus. I promise you. And we had way more than 15 people in ours.

And remember that they serve Alamo, National, and Enterprise AND not just DCL ships.

 

[neilintoronto]

You're right. They have 2 buses. One is the size of the Alamo buses you see around WDW. How many constitute "way more than 15"? 20? You couldn't fit more than 20 people with suitcases on that bus.

I have also used Alamo many times and never had a problem. Just this location.

I know they were only using one bus to handle all their traffic coming off the Fantasy because it was the same driver 3 pickups in a row (which was over an hour).

My point is that this location was unable to handle the amount of business / customers twice in a row -- one week apart. Unless waiting over an hour for a shuttle is reasonable?

I'm just describing my experience so others can make a (better) informed decision. Start adding $5 per person for a taxi, or a long wait for the car shuttle and maybe you will make a different choice than renting a car to go from WDW to Port Canaveral. I know I will stick to WDW transport next time.

 

[seacruise]

Our experience with that Alamo location is the same as you described. Long wait for the shuttle, even longer wait once you get there. Plus we had the added bonus of them being out of mini-vans and having to cram everything into a Jeep. I just do the Disney shuttle or private transfer now when sailing from Port Canaveral.

 

[Bear3412]

Our trick when renting a vehicle outbound, Get off the ship early or late, both may work.
When you get off, assess the shuttle lines for your particular rental company.
If the lines are huge at the rental car shuttle stations at the port, grab a cab, out front, for 20 -25 dollars to the rental car offices.

When we rent this is our tactic.
Only once was there few pax at the rental car shuttle at the port, so we used it.
Usually we would get a cab. To expedite.

If needed get a cab instead of the shuttle.
Cabs are waiting for you. Minivan size too fwiw, if needed.
No wait. They are waiting on you to install the baggage into the cab.
The only delay would be the kitchen sink.

 

[bumbershoot]

When we took it from the Royal port they had more than 2 shuttles. Especially since they were also working at the Disney port.

Our shuttle was jam packed. Bags went into the bin things and people were squeezed in.

It does help if you drop people off at the port with bags and then just ONE person goes to drop the car. (or going the other way, people and bags wait at the port while one person goes to get the car)

 

[Bear3412]

... or going the other way, people and bags wait at the port while one person goes to get the car ...

This is another tactic. Although still requires an available shuttle. And a possible lengthy wait for a vehicle return. Of course at times this may be one of the best options.

One person takes the rental shuttle to get a car, then returns to port with said car, to get all pax and baggage. Interesting option. Not for us, fwiw.

Or, all pax debark, request porter, get luggage, tip $20, fly through CBP, walk to car in garage, load luggage into car, settle in car, leave port. Pay outrageous port parking fee of $150 , priceless, Visa Moment. Ship to interstate 12 minutes. Ship to MCO 45 minutes.

Choice is yours.

 

[Bear3412]

deleted

 

[MIDisFan]

We just booked our first cruise and I reserved a car through National to get us from WDW to the port. It was only $75 for a full size one way rental so I figured its better than waiting for Disney transport. We are staying in a Cat V room so I wanted to get to the port early to take advantage of the earlier boarding. I'm thinking at worse we will just jump in a cab to get from the rental to the port. Dropping the car off should be fairly quick since there's no need to go to the counter.

Any suggestions as to what time to leave BCV to get to the port?