Transportation question - MCO to ship

[mickeyluvr]

Trying to figure out the best way to get from the airport to the ship and back...is it cheaper to rent a car one way, turn it in at Canaveral and take a taxi to the ship? Or are buses/limos the way to go, and how do I make reservations with them? There are 3 of us...also, we know we will be wanting a car in WDW for a few days after the cruise, should we rent in Canaveral (to be returned at MCO) or take a bus or limo back to MCO or WDW and get the car there? Appreciate the help!

 

[mmouse37]

This is what we always do. first checkout www.mousesavers.com and look for the section on rental cars. They often have codes that you can use to get you a good discount on rentals. Avis seems to be the easiest....we have used them 3 times before for our cruises and never had a problem. This last time we tried Budget and did have problems.

You can book your ressie online or call www.avis.com and book a one-way rental from MCO to P3F (location code for Avis at the Radisson at Cape Canaveral). We have gotten a mini van for about $55 including tax, so for only 3 of you a midsize should be less. Pick up your car at MCO and then drive to the Radisson. If you fly down the day before you can stay overnight at the Radisson or if you fly down that day you can just drop the rental off at the Radisson (Avis is attached to the Radisson) and hop on one of the Avis/Radisson shuttles to the ship. No need for a cab.

Just book a one way again for when you disembark. There will be a tent in the parking lot at the terminal where the Avis/Radisson shuttle will bring you back to the rental office to pick up your car for your stay at WDW. Just return it to MCO when you are ready to leave for home.

We recently had 11 people so instead of renting two cars we hired a car service that had a large van. The company was www.yourride.net

You can also check out Happy Limo or Tiffany Town Car if you decide to go the limo route. But we found it much easier to have a rental car.

MJ

 

[1KellyDB]

I'm not sure how much help I will be because our first cruise is coming up in a couple of weeks. I checked around and renting a car is the least expensive way to go for our family of 5 (55.00 for a midsize car and 2 car seats from Saturday evening until Sunday morning. We are picking up an Avis rental at the airport and returning it to the Radisson where we will be staying the night before the cruise. The Radisson offers free transportation to the port if you rent a room there but I am having my husband drop us off at the port in the rental car and he will take the shuttle(thanks to whoever posted this idea! ) I *think* some of the car rental places offer a shuttle to the port when you drop the car off. You might want to check with a few of them. )

 

[mmouse37]

Just to clarify....you do not have to be staying at the Radisson to use their or Avis' shuttles. The shuttles are pretty interchangeable. They each pick up the overflow from the other.

As I said before, Budget also has an office in Cape Canaveral but their shuttle never showed up at the port to pick us up to go to the rental office when we disembarked. This was even after I called to find out when it would be there. My husband finally took a taxi to the rental office and it was in complete chaos...not enough cars, the computer system was down and the wait to pick up a car was about 45 minutes.

We never had any problems with Avis...their shuttles are much more reliable.

MJ