Renting a car to drive to Port Canaveral

[becky_AK]

Hi all, hoping you can help me out with logistics for my upcoming cruise in November.

We leave on November 10 from PC.

We are staying at a Disney Springs hotel for the 2 days before we leave on DCL. I will have a rental car from National. Debating if I should add November 10 to my car reservation to drive ourselves from Orlando to Port, rather than relying on Uber. Costwise, I think the rental ends up being slightly cheaper due to a business rate that I get. Is National close to the cruise terminal if we drop the car off? We have a 10:15am PAT.

Thank you!

 

[gometros]

Hi all, hoping you can help me out with logistics for my upcoming cruise in November.

We leave on November 10 from PC.

We are staying at a Disney Springs hotel for the 2 days before we leave on DCL. I will have a rental car from National. Debating if I should add November 10 to my car reservation to drive ourselves from Orlando to Port, rather than relying on Uber. Costwise, I think the rental ends up being slightly cheaper due to a business rate that I get. Is National close to the cruise terminal if we drop the car off? We have a 10:15am PAT.

Thank you!

Since you have the car already, I would definitely add the day. I usually rent from A is, which is in the Hilton to drive to the port. It's much cheaper than an Uber.

 

[TeamRipper]

My wife and I always rent a car from National and drive to the port. We like to be able to leave at our leisure and perhaps get a quick Bloody Mary at Grills. We can usually get a one way car rental for less than $50, which is cheaper than Disney transportation. The rental return is on the port and they have a shuttle to take you to the ship. Depending on the number of people in your group, it might be easier to drop off people and the bags and have one person return the car. It is easier to get on the shuttle as a single with no bags, otherwise there could be a wait.

 

[Malestrom Troll]

Once I rented with Alamo and waited an hour and a half for the shuttle. There were taxi drivers stopping by offering rides to the port for $100. Not sure if this is common but it was the first and last time we will drop off a rental to the port.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

Wait times for a return shuttle can vary. The longest I ever waited was an hour at the airport to pick up the car. Returning to port has usually been more like half hour or less. I like to drop my party off so they can get checked in and settled instead of coming with me to the rental counter. Easier to get back to the port with 1 person without bags also.

The one time I did see a big delay at the rental agency, it wasn't the fault of the agency at all. One of the big RCCL ships was late unloading, and the word got out that if you brought passengers to that dock they would be turned away (over-crowding) so the rental agency was holding all guests for that ship at their office and using all of their shuttles to take people to other ships. So those folks did have to wait, but because of RCCL not the rental agency and even if they got to the dock the wait would be no shorter.

 

[lanejudy]

I would drive to the port. Drop off your passengers first, and all luggage, then have 1 person return the rental car. It is much easier for 1 person to hop on a nearly-full shuttle than a whole family plus luggage. It's only about 5 minutes away. Be aware though, that the rental car shuttles may not drop-off until 11am. The rest of the family (dropped off at the terminal) can check-in for themselves, then you can do a quick check-in to get your KTTW card and join them to board. Are you sure you have a 10:15am PAT? I thought the earliest is 10:30am. Boarding doesn't typically begin until 11:15/11:30 anyway.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[becky_AK]

Thanks all! I double checked and we have a 10:30 PAT. How far is the rental drop off from the port in terms of walking distance? Doable? If we drop off the kids and either my husband or I with luggage, neither one of us would mind the walk/jog if it’s a short distance.

 

[Juan M]

We rented and dropped off at Enterprise, which shares a counter with National in Port Canaveral and it was a relatively short 3 or 4 min drive. I don’t recall it really being walkable however. Shuttle service was a bit slow, but that was at about 1:30pm when there was only myself and one other person taking the shuttle to the ship.

 

[Quellman]

It isn't walkable at all. Just use their free shuttle service. You are on vacation!

 

[hogie1]

Hi all, hoping you can help me out with logistics for my upcoming cruise in November.

We leave on November 10 from PC.

We are staying at a Disney Springs hotel for the 2 days before we leave on DCL. I will have a rental car from National. Debating if I should add November 10 to my car reservation to drive ourselves from Orlando to Port, rather than relying on Uber. Costwise, I think the rental ends up being slightly cheaper due to a business rate that I get. Is National close to the cruise terminal if we drop the car off? We have a 10:15am PAT.

Thank you!

Many years ago (2005), when it was just my wife & I, we splurged and rented a convertible to go from Orlando Intl Airport to PC. Best decision we ever made, it was a blast. Plus, if time allows you can check out other things and I believe there's a shuttle from the PC rental company to DCL.