Rental Car ?s

[jensen]

I'm thinking about getting a rental car at the airport and staying at a hotel near the port the night before the cruise. The crew will be DH, DS9, DD6 and myself. I'm looking for feedback on my best opion here:

A) Rent the car the entire week, drive to the port and leave it in the port parking. After the cruise, grab a porter to help us get through customs and take our luggage to the car, then head to WDW.

B) Rent the car for one night, one-way. Have DH drop the kids and I at the port to check in, while he takes the car back and uses the rental agency shuttle to get to the port. After the cruise, rent the car for a few days, one-way back to the airport. Have DH use the agency shuttle to go get the car, then come back to get the kids and I at the port, then head to WDW.

I figure plan A will cost me about $100-$150 more than plan B. I think that's a fairly good cost savings and would try it, but I'm wondering how much extra time and hassle is involved? Those of you who have done plan B - please tell me if you thought it was worth it?

Thank you.

 

[Scooby3x1y]

We never keep the rental car while we are on the cruise. I guess it will depend on how much it will be. We fly in the night before and rent a car for $70 one way to PC. Then the week after we have a car to do WDW and a resort for $360 for the week. That car will get us from PC to WDW, then back to Daytona Beach, then back to MCO.

Some hotels will keep it free, but I think the port charges to keep your car there aren't very cheap.

Call me cheap, but I wouldn't pay for the week you are cruising just to save 1/2 hr that it will take DH to grab the car.

This is how we are doing it in Dec.

 

[wdwfan]

I'm stressing a little about returning the car in the morning and catching the shuttle to the port. Could my whole family stay together with our luggage and still get on the shuttle or does my husband need to do it alone?

 

[msabol01]

Personally, we keep the family together. We drop the car with the family and luggage, get on the shuttle and ride to the port. The porters will take your bags right from the shuttle drop off so there's little hassle and no stress of finding the family. Last trip I waited maybe 10 minutes from the time I dropped the car.

 

[Dale-n-Chip]

I'd do the math several ways:

1. Rent for the duration, stay at a hotel near the port, pay for parking at the port.
2. Rent for the duration, stay at a hotel near the port that offers parking priviledges (might pay more for the hotel, but then there's no cost to park at the port).
3. Rent one way to get there, stay at a hotel and return the car. Then a second one-way rental to WDW.
4. If you don't want the car at WDW, price out a car service from MCO/port/WDW and stay either near MCO or near the port at a hotel with a shuttle.

Then you can do the "how much is my time worth" analysis with real numbers.

mk

 

[rhiannon]

You may want to consider the option of renting a car and staying at a Cape Canaveral hotel with a park and sail option. I recently checked into it and a room at the CC Raddison was only about $20 more to park for up to a week than a room alone ( I think $149 vs. $129). You could then take the hotel shuttle to the port and the family could stay together.

Another option -- last time we did a DCL cruise we used a limo service to pick us up at the airport and drive us to a hotel near the port (about $90). We took a cab to the port, although many hotels do offer free shuttles. THen, after the cruise we rented a car to go back to MCO. It worked well for us.

 

[Kangarucci]

We hired a car for our WDW week then drove to Cape Canaveral the night before our cruise. We all, (4 of us), went to drop the car off and then took the shuttle to the port. We wanted to stay together incase there was a hitch.
On our return, we hired a towncar to take us to the airport so that we didn't have any problems/hick ups taking a rental car back.

 

[jensen]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone... I'll look into the park 'n sail packages... can anyone suggest a specific hotel that they preferred?

 

[nashville_minnie]

We stayed at the Radisson in May, room was so-so (just the basics), but shuttle & parking service was awesome & easy to use. If you make a res on-line, you do not have to choose the Cruise Park package to get the free parking. You can get free parking with any room rate. The Cruise Park package is more money because it also includes breakfast. But there is a McDonald's right across the road for a quick cheap breakfast option too.

To answer your original Q - for me, it would definitely depend on the number of days for your cruise as to whether or not you would want to leep your rental while on the cruise. For a 7 day, not a good idea. But for a 3 or 4 day, it just might be. Since we prefer to use National rental car, and they don't have a location at the port, we always keep the car on a 3 or 4 day. It is so much less hassle for about the same money.