Rental Cars at Port of Tampa

[Bowen9475]

Are there any rental car companies at the port of Tampa? Which agencies are nearby and do any offer shuttles from their offices to the port for cruise departures and do any pick you up at the port at the end of the cruise? Thank you!

 

[keishashadow]

We booked Dollar (who we rarely use) from MCO spent a day @ Universal & drove down to Tampa the day of our cruise.

Specifically selected Dollar because of their free shuttle service to and from the pier.

We dealt with location directly across the street from the airport. We dropped the car, and only waited a few minutes for van driver, just a short drive and we were @ the pier.

Driver told us to call when we were through customs after the cruise & showed us where we should wait for him. Naturally, we tipped well as it sure beat waiting in the long line for cab to airport.

I suggest looking up the local agency's phone number on Dollar's website and confirming that they still offer this accommodation, good luck.

 

[Bowen9475]

Has anyone else rented/returned a car at the port of Tampa?

 

[phred52]

Wow! We JUST did this yesterday returning from a cruise. Also did it pre-cruise driving over from Orlando.

Not a lot out there on the internet about this subject.

Evidently Tampa only has rental car locations in and directly surrounding the airport. We used Dollar specifically because of the free shuttle to the port. Dollar (and Thrifty .... according to our shuttle driver) have free shuttle service to the port of Tampa.

Taxi service was advertised @ $25 per cab, up to 4 people. Also a shuttle service was very easy to get to the airport after getting off the ship ... for only $20.50 per person.

Our shuttle ride was truly free. We dropped the rental car off at the Tampa airport then walked to the glassed in Dollar office in the parking garage.
I simply asked where to find the shuttle to the port ...was told to have a seat ... about 5 minutes later a nice, talkative, 70 something, gentleman knocked on the glass and motioned to us. We climbed into a clean mini-van type shuttle and were off. He chattered the whole time with my DH, pointed out interesting buildings and rattled off facts about Tampa.

He received a nice tip. Our return was as painless. When we exited the cruise building my DH immediately recognized exactly where we were told to stand. We waited about a whopping 5 minutes before the same gentleman drove up, loaded us in and we had direct ride back to the Dollar office at the airport.

Here's the thing. Our flight wasn't until 6 PM yesterday. Thinking outside the box ... I'd reserved a "lock low and go" car from 9am to 5 pm. The out the door cost for that rental was $23. There are 4 of us. We were given ..... a mini-van!! I figured we saved money renting a car for those few hours.... plus we had freedom to explore Tampa for a few hours and not be stuck sitting with luggage waiting until 2 PM to even check our luggage. (can't check luggage until 4 hours before a flight).

Have a great trip. I'd had some anxiety when planning all this, as there just doesn't seems to be much info available out there. I don't like the unknown. I recommend using Dollar if you use the car rental route for the port of Tampa. That free shuttle can't be beat!

 

[Bowen9475]

We are flying into Orlando and spending a few days there before cruising out of Tampa. We want to rent a car at Orlando airport and return to somewhere close to the port of Tampa. Dollar is one we are considering. I have found better prices with Budget but, from what I understand, Budget does not offer a shuttle. The biggest problem with Dollar is that I am getting a drop charge of $125 when picking up in Orlando and returning to Tampa. That adds a lot to the price. Besides Dollar, are there any other car rental agencies that offer a shuttle to the port of Tampa?

 

[phred52]

We drove over from Orlando, too. Easy drive. I ran in to the $125 drop charge too, with Dollar. But using codes I found from mousesavers, even with that pesky drop charge, Dollar was least expensive.

Try Thrifty. According to our Dollar shuttle driver, Thrifty also offers a free shuttle to the Port of Tampa. Other companies either don't offer any transportation or charge a $25 shuttle fee The other options are a $25 taxi ride or one of the shuttle companies who use a full size bus and charge $20.50 per person.

This is the sneaky part of cruising from the Port of Tampa which hits your budget. You initially don't realize there is a significant cost for getting to the pier AFTER dropping your rental car.

I like Port Canaveral, with several car rental options very near-by and where free shuttles abound.

You'll have to figure your best option based on adding in the cost of getting to the pier. It may not be worth renting from Dollar or Thrifty if their cost is still higher than, say, Alamo or Avis when calculating in taxi fare to their rates.