Has Anyone Rented From National At Port Canaveral?

[kcbonnies]

I have a handful of free days from National so my plan for my family of five is to rent a car from MCO and drive to the Port and return the car there. At the end of the cruise, I plan to do the same thing in reverse. I am wondering about the logistics. Can I drop the family off at the port and return the car and meet up with them? Does it take a long time?
We have 10:45 port arrival time for a Monday sailing on the dream. We are coming to Orlando the night before. I think the driving time is about an hour, correct? So if we leave our hotel at 9:00, we will have plenty of time correct?
Thanks in advance!

 

[jcarwash]

As a general concept, yes, you can drop off your party at the terminal, drive over to the rental office, and then take the shuttle van back to the terminal. If your party wants to start check-in without you, they can take your passport. You will need to show your photo ID (driver's license) when you return to the terminal.

I've done this split-up and drop-off specifically with Hertz, whose location is close to but not inside the port area. I want to say for the driver it's taken something like 30 minutes or so to catch up with my party? It can feel like a long time, especially if others on the shuttle are being dropped at other cruise lines, but it is nice to just drop off all your belongings at port rather than everyone in your group all having to get onto the rental cat shuttle with all their stuff.

National/Enterprise/Alamo has a new location inside the actual port area (Mullet Road) and so they are even closer than Hertz. You will still need to ride their bus though. I'm using National for my upcoming cruise. I haven't used them at port before.

During disembarkation though, we have all used the rental car shuttle together with our luggage, since it's very easy to use a porter to help you with your luggage and get you out to the shuttle pickup area. I haven't tried splitting up to get the car and then going back to pick everyone up, but conceivably than could be done too. If you use a porter and ask them how to do that (where your party should go to meet you) I'm sure they will advise you -- in my experience the luggage porters have been terrific in making sure you get where you need to be. (Make sure to tip your porter!)

And yes -- it should take about an hour to drive out to port.

 

[MattAZ]

I've used National from MCO to the port and then from the port to TPA (it was cheaper and had better departure times). We left Orlando around 8 and got to the port around 9. Since we got there early we had a quick breakfast at the Mcdonalds a few miles down from the rental car agency. After breakfast we chose to return the car and take the shuttle to the port together. The hardest part was taking our luggage out of the van and into the office. That took several trips while the wife sat with the kids. By 9:30ish The shuttle driver loaded all of our luggage for us and we were off. There were about 8 or 9 people on the shuttle including us, but there was plenty of room for luggage. It was about a 10 minutes drive taking into account traffic, but once we got there the driver unloaded all the bags and the porters immediately picked them up. I left a tip for the shuttle driver and the porters. After waiting in line at the port for 15 minutes we were on our way to check in.

At the end of the trip we took the same shuttle back to the rental car agency. The most difficult part was getting the luggage out of baggage claim, through customs, and out side. Not a long walk, but a lot of people. From there the driver loaded the bags. After a very quick drive to get the van we loaded up and headed for the airport.

I'm sure dropping the family off before hand does reduce some of the hassle carrying luggage around the rental agency, but overall it was not bad.

 

[Heard02]

We've used National on almost all our Disney cruises.
It is fairly quick to drop off family and you return back to the ship.
On day of disembarkation, it also goes pretty smoothly.

 

[jrabbit]

RE: Going TO the Port. I would stay together for this when using National, Alamo or Enterprise. Their "new" location is in the port area - but not a safe walk between the port and the rental car location. They are close, several shuttles, and therefore quick turn around times.