Budget Review--Not Good

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We just returned this weekend from a RCCL cruise. Since many use Budget I just wanted to share my experiences/opinions.


PRECRUISE--flew in the night before and stayed at the new RESIDENCE INN.
Very nice--clean, roomy, nice breakfast with patio area to eat.
Ate at THAI THAI restaurant and it was fantastic.

BUDGET--HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE experience! Did I mention it was horrible? At Orlando airport, we had fastbreak which is supposed to be quicker--the regular line was faster.
Drop off--AWFUL! (Cape Canveral) You had to wait in line to return your car (most places have hand held devices that prints out a receipt in minutes). Here we waited in line for 45 minutes. Then had to go outside and wait in line again for the shuttle but at least they handed out numbers to keep some semblance of order.
Return---WORSE!! We got off the ship at 9:30am and went to wait for the shuttle. There was absolutely no order, just masses of people and luggage. When a shuttle would show up, people would swarm and they could only take 4-6 at a time dependent on the amount of luggage. 2 couples had gotten off the ship at 8am and were still waiting for a shuttle at 9:30!!! After another 30 min we rented from Art's shuttle with these people and then got to Budget and waited in yet another line. This time it took 45-60minutes. This whole experience was just tiring.


Apparently, if you show up at 10:30am to return the car it won't be as bad. Also, DCL cruisers did not have as much trouble with the shuttle at debarkation as the RCCL people (probably b/c it's a smaller ship).

I had read so many positive reports pre cruise so I was a little disappointed. Did anyone else have any of the problems above?

 

[Stephieann]

We used budget on our Oct 29th cruise. Dh took the car back but ....he and my BIL droped me and my sis with my nieces off at the port and then they took the car back. By the got in the terminal and checked in they were back. We got off the WONDER pretty quick when we got back and it did not take them any time at all to get the car and come back to the port to get us!!

We had a GOOD budget Experience. Sorry yours was not as good!!!!

 

[DisneyZell]

I posted my pickup experience in my trip report:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1264995&page=2&pp=15

not fun.

the drop off, however, was painless. They were very nice and efficient, however we didn't drop until about 10:30 which as you mentioned is a better time.

Also...biggest tip I can give anyone is to wait until after 10 and drop your luggage at the port, you drive right in and drop it off...it's fantastic.

sorry you had such a bad experience. I know I won't rent from Budget again because of our pickup experience.

 

[spsneman]

We used Budget on our recent cruise on the Nov 4th Magic and didn't have any problems. Except for the usual push to try and upgrade at Orlando International Airport by some guy who wanted to first smoozsh us with his long family story first and then get on to explaining the rental agreement later. We had just booked a compact car for the first 3 days of our vacation and he asked how many in our party and we said 4 and he right away pounced. My DH starting waivering and looked at me and said "well maybe" and I quickly cut him off and said "no we will take what we booked." (especially after looking at the rental agreement in front of "Mr Pushy" and seeing we were in an intermediate sized vehicle already.) Then he pushed for the insurance which I quickly declined once again to which he was not impressed and seemed to explain things even slower which irritated me even more so. Now I realize that they have to try and upgrade you to make their money, however I think once a customer says "no" they should leave it alone. Friends of ours came with us and also booked the same car and their agent did ask them if they wanted to upgrade but they said no and already had insurance and there was no further pressure from him.
Husbands dropped the vehicles off at Port Canaveral Budget office and had no problems there and received a speedy shuttle dropoff at the Disney Cruise Terminal. On disembarkation day, they returned to Budget to pickup our 2nd rental car booking. (I had to stay behind 1 hr because I had forgotten something in the room and had to wait for them to check) When I arrived at the Port Canaveral office, our friends had already gotten their car and DH was still standing in line. We had booked an intermediate sized car this time as we still had another 11 glorious days of holidays yet and wanted to be sure all our luggage would fit. Our friends got a Chev Malibu and we assumed we would get the same like last time. However DH comes out with keys to a HHR. Now for those of you that don't know cars, its like a PT cruiser with about an extra foot of room in the hatch. Nowhere near big enough to fit all of us and our luggage. So I sent him back inside to get the intermediate sized vehicle that we had booked and had confirmation of. He came out 5 mins later with keys for a Chev Malibu. No problems at drop off for us and guess who we had to deal with again because we were paying cash? Yes, Mr Pushy. Not sure if he remembered us or not but at least it didn't take near as long as the first time. Anyways, that was our experience with Budget.

 

[Vanvmom]

We did Fastbreak at MCO on 11/10. Great experience! Walked up to the inside counter at 6am (Fastbreak booth outside did not open until 7am). The man at the counter called the Kiosk to see if our SUV was there- yes, they had 2 in the lot for us to pick from. He verified that the credit card on file was the one we wanted to use, and sent us to the kiosk to pick up our keys. I wanted to make sure we were not being charged for insurance as our regular vehicle insurance covers rentals. He said that our Fastbreak paperwork already notes the insurance situation, and that when we use Fastbreak all they are supposed to do is verify payment information and send us on our way. LOVED it!

Turning in the vehicle at the port was easy. DH dropped us and the luggage off at the DCL port between 10:30 and 11, then returned the rental. The line was not very long, and since he had no luggage to take to the port he was put on the next shuttle to the port.

When our cruise returned on 11/18, we walked off the ship at 9am and right to a waiting shuttle with only one other person on it. This filled the shuttle and we were off to the rental location. One family was already in line, and I stood behind the other gentleman we shared the shuttle with. The gal at the counter was on the phone with an employee who was calling in because she was late, and while she was helping the next customer the phone rang again. This time is was someone calling from the port to try to rent a car. She told him that she was all out of vehicles until after 11am, but he still wanted to discuss vehicles with her. She again told him that he was welcome to ride their shuttle to their rental location, but that he would have to wait until after 11am to see if there would be a vehicle available for him to rent.

I think I was at the rental location less than 15 minutes before I had the keys in my hand and we were on the road again. Great experience for us! I've had nightmares with Hertz in CA, so I was NOT going to try them in FL. Budget was close by and friendly. DH rents weekly for work, and even he was pleased with the service we received. So sorry that you had a bad experience. Hopefully yours was just a bad timing thing for Budget, and that ours was not the lone good experience.

 

[woody73]

We were on the 11/11/06 Double Dip.

Arrived at MCO on Wednesday 11/8 in the afternoon. The Budget "FastBreak" line took 20 minutes and was slower than the regular line. Then, they had no cars in our category, and we had to wait another 25 minutes for them to "find" a car for us.

We went to the parking space written on the contract sleeve, but there was a different car there. No attendants around to help. Spent 10 minutes searching for our car (numbers were transposed -- car was parked in something like D52 instead of D25).

Returned the car Saturday morning 11/18 near the port. There was one long line to either pickup or return. (They should have a separate line for returns. Or better yet, a guy in the parking lot who can print a receipt on the spot, like at other Budget locations). The two employees working the counter were overwhelmed. It took nearly an hour to return the car and board the shuttle to the port.

Woody

 

[yogibigdog]

Sorry you had a bad experience.

I just used Budget from MCO fastbreak to Port Canaveral and back. It could have not been any easier. Everyone was really nice especially the shuttle driver. We would use them again in a minute. This was our third time and we have not had a problem yet.

 

[maps]

I guess it's a hit or miss since I have rented from Budget before with no problems. This trip however just put a bad taste in my mouth for future rentals at least at Port Canaveral.