Renting a car for Day before

[ljql_5969]

I was wondering if it would be cheaper for us to rent a car to get us from the airport to our hotel in Cocoa Beach the night before and then use it to get us from the hotel to the port the next day rather than getting a limo service to transport us from the airport to the hotel and then a taxi from the hotel to the port.

Then again, I guess we need transport back to the airport when we come back. I always don't think about the coming back!!!

Any ideas?

If you rented a car to get there, how have you all gotten back to the airport?

 

[Kim&Chris]

Well, here's what we're doing:

Renting a car from Budget when we arrive the night before. We'll drive to the Budget facility on the morning of the cruise & turn it in. Then, we'll either use their shuttle service, or simply call a cab, to get us to the port.

After the cruise, we're having a limo service pick us up at port & take us back to the airport.

This strategy is saving us alot of money. I could save even more if I used DCL to take us back to the airport after the cruise, but DH wants a limo

 

[lilo62]

We doing pretty much the same thing, but since out flight back home isn't until later in the evening, we are renting a car from Cocoa Beach and driving back to Orlando for the day - either do to WDW or the Marketplace for the day and turn the car into the airport.

I got a pretty good deal both ways from Budget.

 

[joanb]

We are doing the car to and from-we have done the DCL bus in the past but this is so much less.

 

[mmouse37]

We also do two separate rentals...one from airport and return to the port Budget location (or Avis...whichever is cheapest at the time) and then we rent again from the port and drop off at the airport....we have a place to keep our luggage when we are killing time before our flight (like Downtown Disney, etc.) and we can go wherever we want for a few hours. It is so much cheaper than taking the DCL bus.

Check out www.mousesavers.com for some great rental discount codes that you can use. We always book at either Avis.com or Budget.com

Good luck and happy cruising/saving!!!

 

[CrunchyMountainMama]

We are renting two seperate cars as well. We used the Walmart code from mousesavers. com.

 

[mmouse37]

Actually....I wanted to add that at the mousesavers (rental codes page) site there is a code for Shaw's supermarkets....it yielded the best discount when I put the code into the rental website. I do not live in New England but went to Shaw's site and signed up for a Shaw supermarket card....it says as long as you live in the U.S. you can sign up for one....it came in the mail in about 3 days....and like I said, that code yielded the biggest discount!!!

Here is a link to the Budget discount codes on mousesavers.

http://www.mousesavers.com/budget.html#codes

 

[daisy112878]

We are using Budget for the car rental friday-saturday before and for the saturday after. We are getting in early on friday before the cruise and leaving late saturday after the cruise. We got a medium size car I think for $36/trip. We are staying at the Courtyard in Cocoa Beach the friday before and on saturday we plan to return the car to Budget near the port and take their shuttle to the port.

 

[ljql_5969]

Wow, thanks everyone. Just kind of thought of this option this morning and knew that there would be others with the answers out there!

I started calling around for limo prices and they were better than DCL transportation, but still high. Thanks again!!

 

[TiggerzFan]

Great tip, mmouse. I never considered using the Shaw's code ....

BTW, has anyone else noticed that the return one-way rental (Port to MCO) is often much higher than going to Port? That's what I'm finding with Budget this year... and I noticed a $4.99 surcharge (not explained) on the final confirmation page when I did on-line reservations. Are they now charging for the one-ways? We didn't pay that in September.

 

[ljql_5969]

Okay...

I signed up for my Shaw's card so we'll see how that goes.

Another question though...

Alot of the weekend discounts I saw said that the discount was good for a 2 day rental minimum. If I am first renting late Friday night (say 10:00 p.m. or later) at the airport and dropping off early Saturday morning (9:30 a.m. or so). Is that considered a 2 day minimum with a Saturday stay-over?

This was ALOT cheaper than the Disney bus and a limo and provides more flexibility with stopping at a grocery store before we go to the port!

Thanks!