Port Canaveral Car Rental

[juncker]

We have a RC cruise scheduled out of Port Canaveral. Our plan is to rent a car after the cruise and drive to the Orlando area for a few days at Disney. My concern is that when the ship disembarks, that the lines at the car rental places will be horrible. Is this the case? Should I just expect to take 1-2 hours to get a vehicle? Does anyone know any way around this? Is there a company that you can do the paperwork ahead of time and have an express pick up the keys and go?

Which car rental company does the best there? Any recommendations?

 

[j1d1]

We rented a car from the Budget right near PC after a Disney cruise last October. There were only a couple people in line. From pickup at the port to driving away was probably 15 minutes. Maybe we got lucky, but it wasn't bad at all. The transport that they provided from the port to Budget could only hold a certain number of people. A lot of people are travelling with family, so a full van might only result in 2-3 cars being rented. By the time the van came back around, the people from the previous van were already taken care of. I wouldn't think it would back up too badly.

 

[Capt_BJ]

what you want to look at is the 'port load' for your days in question

some days there is one relatively small cruise ship turning around in PC and here the impact on the rental offices is small and no big deal

And then there are days like one just last week where SIX ships were in PC at the same time; 5 turning around and one visiting port call. A total capacity of over 13,000 beds ...... the rental offices can be SWAMPED on a day like this (remember that means some 10,000 + folks arriving to board and a corresponding number leaving .....)

https://www.portcanaveral.com/PortC...s/FY2019/Copy-of-Master-Cruise-Schedule19.pdf

 

[richmo]

Another thing that might help is to use the link that @Capt_BJ provided above and determine the terminal at which your ship will be docked. Hopefully it'll be Terminal 1 (CT1). The reason I mention this is that if you're at Terminal 1, it is a short walk to the Alamo/National/Enterprise rental center on Mullet Rd. If you're at CT6 or CT10, no such luck...it may look walkable, but you'd have to go over a bridge that isn't designed for pedestrians. Anyway, if you're at CT1, you can get yourself off the ship as quick as you can and walk over to the rental center to get your car (makes it a lot easier for return too). Alamo lets you do a lot of the checkin online, but it isn't going to be like Orlando where you can just go out to the car and go...

 

[Capt_BJ]

you'd have to go over a bridge that isn't designed for pedestrians.

understatement ..... foot traffic is not allowed on this bridge (actually 3 bridges) .... no foot paths at all, and fences surround ... security will stop you

it would be a long walk anyway!

and since OP says RC cruise (and posted in RC area) ... T-1 is the primary RC terminal



but IF you are one of the first off and walk ... the first shuttle will probably beat you . . . .