Car rental for before and after crusie

[CinderellaDreamer]

I am really struggling to find a good price for car rentals for before and after our cruise. We fly in Tuesday night before our cruise and fly back out Tuesday night after our cruise. We have to have a car as we are staying off site. And I really can't figure out if it would be better to turn it in at the airport and take a shuttle to and from the airport, or do a one way rental each time, or just do a two week rental and park it the week of the cruise. The car is so expensive! Tuesday to Saturday rentals are over $200!

I'm looking at Travelocity and USAA for the rentals.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I would definitely try pricing it out for the full amount of time in case that changes things. As well I would try Costco Travel for car rentals as that was the cheapest for us - I also checked every day in case the price lowered. And recently I had good luck using Autoslash.com to find a good deal for a Vegas car rental. I think that of the options you've listed, I personally would lean toward: a) keeping car for the entire time, b) two one-way rentals to/from port. Going to the airport (assuming you mean MCO) to take a shuttle seems to add a significant amount of hassle for possibly not much in the way of savings.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Also, when is your trip? I've found amazing rates for our whole trip, but you have to be watching for them. My best rates are usually secured within a month to two weeks before the trip. Sometimes, I see the rate at 11:30 at night and it's there only until, maybe 6am. Once you get into that time, start checking rates several times a day. Book what looks good, cancel if you find a better rate.

And yes, if you have a Costco membership, go to their site. If not, go to the site for Alamo or whomever you're using.

 

[CinderellaDreamer]

We go in September. I keep checking, but it’s still pretty expensive for now. I appreciate the tips for a better rate. I got $490 for the two weeks on travelocity. We have to get a car to fit five adults.

 

[bumbershoot]

Please be sure to price it out through the car rental companies. Going through travelocity and similar sites can lock you into things, when the agencies themselves are often more flexible.

 

[bumbershoot]

Price out:

1. airport pickup canaveral dropoff + canaveral pickup airport drop off

2. airport pickup and drop off + parking lot fees

3. Airport pickup to airport dropoff + the cost of transfers for everyone to the ship + the cost of transfers for everyone to MCO + airport pickup to airport dropoff.


I’d keep a notebook with each combo. If you are looking at reservations that can be cancelled, when you find a price you like, book it, because you have to do *something* and you’ll have to pay for whatever you choose. The benefit of going through the agencies directly (and Costco I believe) is that you don’t have to pay it up front. Last I checked travelocity you pay it. Anyway, then you keep checking.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

I wouldn't be surprised if keeping it for the whole two weeks is cheapest. You do have to factor in parking fees though. Trouble is that 3 or 4 days (which you have on both sides of your cruise) are treated essentially like a whole week anyway. So you are pretty much renting it for 2 weeks no matter what. Of course, if you did two one-way rentals you wouldn't have parking fees, but then you'd have to do the shuttle shuffle to drop off and pick up the car on each end.

Still, $200+ for 5 people isn't that bad, even though it is a lot of money. DCL would charge you $175 each way just to get to the terminal and back, and most car services would be similar (probably a bit less). But this way, you have the car for all the time before and after the cruise, so you really are getting value for your money.

Hopefully, you'll find something cheaper between now and then.

BTW, i use Kayak and such to comparison shop, and then go to the direct site (or Costco or BJ's website) to see if they have a better deal after I've figured out which one is cheaper. Helps to narrow it down at least.

 

[FigmentSpark]

We paid the price for the parking because it meant we had our rental and no shuttle hassle. We got out to the parking lot and we were off. Done. It was worth the price of parking.

Now, if renting only for each leg had been much cheaper, I might have rethought that, but it wasn't. In fact, it seemed like we were penalized for renting only for a few days instead of the week.

 

[dcassetta]

One suggestion that I read is to make sure and clear your cookies when you re-check prices. That way the websites "think" you're a new shopper.

 

[Quellman]

Don't forget that a car for 5 needs to include LUGGAGE for 5!

 

[Travel60]

We live on Gulf Coast of Florida and in February did the Southern Caribbean b2b with the relocation to PC. This meant we were flying out of MCO to San Juan but returning to PC. We first thought we'd just leave our car at MCO then Disney shuttle from PC. With parking and shuttle fees, that was out-of-sight expensive. Ultimately we did a one-way rental from home to MCO (about $40) and another one way rental from PC to home (about $50). I realize your situation is different because you have a few days on either end but try pricing out one-ways. I know folks on here love CostCo but we use Google Travel to get ideas then deal directly with company.