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Ft Lauderdale rental car recommendations


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We are doing our first RC cruise on the Adventure of the Seas in early March.  We will be visiting a friend in FL and need to rent a car from West Palm Beach airport and return in Ft Lauderdale.  I was hoping you call could recommend a rental agency that is close to that port?  Or that has transport to the port?  I'm unclear of the best option in the situation.  I've never been to FL at all.  Thanks so much!

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We just got off the Indy in FLL Pier 18 on 1/31 and I saw a man holding up an "Alamo" sign.  I am sure there are others but that was the only sign it saw.  I believe most of them transport you to the rental car center at Fort Lauderdale Airport.  I will say that Alamo has a facility right outside of the security check point at Port Everglades.   Closer then the airport.

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1 hour ago, RBRSKI said:

You will have to take a shuttle no matter which company you use.  Alamo is literally right outside the security gate on Eller Drive

I wasn't sure if all companies offered a shuttle.  Does Enterprise?  That is the only company I've rented a car from and I accumulate points.  But I'm open to the easiest option really.  

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The challenge with your scenario, although you may already know this, there is an additional fee plus mileage with a one-way rental.  Normally you get a rate if X per day when you pickup and drop off at the same location.  With one way there is a fee plus mileage at the major carriers like Avis and Enterprise.

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10 minutes ago, Larry Muster said:

The challenge with your scenario, although you may already know this, there is an additional fee plus mileage with a one-way rental.  Normally you get a rate if X per day when you pickup and drop off at the same location.  With one way there is a fee plus mileage at the major carriers like Avis and Enterprise.

I priced enterprise with the same drop off as well as my current situation before I booked the flights. The difference was not significant. I didn't see anything regarding paying per mile? 

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9 hours ago, hoofbeats95 said:

I priced enterprise with the same drop off as well as my current situation before I booked the flights. The difference was not significant. I didn't see anything regarding paying per mile? 

 In my experience the mile surcharge only comes into play when you pick up at one location and return at another. 

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I will price it again. Not much I can do at this point as airfare is booked. Unless I Uber from west palm beach or something?! It was cheaper to fly into west palm beach anyways. So I guess that cost will go to the car. Not much I can do. I jsut need to find a place to drop off near the port so I don't need further transportation to get to the ship. 

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There’s a Budget that’s on 17th street next to the US Post Office that I see many cruisers at on the weekends. It’s located in the same plaza as the Rennisance Hotel and Boatyard restaurant. This location is directly across the street from the cruise port and they offer a shuttle to port. Please see attached pic:

879512CF-0B35-4E96-902A-8C9F7743F56D.jpeg

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I have been on the 25/11/18 Cruise on Harmony and I used Dollar since we were driving from Orlando to Port Everglades. It's was super easy to drop the car and keys at their Port Everglades office and catch the shuttle bus to our ship. When we returned, we used them again and it took like 30 mins for so to wait to find their bus but it did come and once we arrived at their office. we were in and out within 30-45 mins. Budget, Avis and Payless have moved to 2520 Miami Rd, S Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL. I know that Dollar/Thrifty, Avis/Budget/Payless, Sixt, Alamo, Hertz and Ace have free shuttles to/from the port. Enterprise does not have a shuttle service. I hope this helps.

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On 2/2/2019 at 5:26 PM, hoofbeats95 said:

We are doing our first RC cruise on the Adventure of the Seas in early March.  We will be visiting a friend in FL and need to rent a car from West Palm Beach airport and return in Ft Lauderdale.  I was hoping you call could recommend a rental agency that is close to that port?  Or that has transport to the port?  I'm unclear of the best option in the situation.  I've never been to FL at all.  Thanks so much!

A couple other suggestions:

1. Save yourself the hassle and just take an Uber from the WPB airport to your Fort Lauderdale hotel or port (not sure of your schedule or budget).

2. Meet your friend at City Place in West Palm Beach and have lunch or dinner (assuming your staying overnight in Fort Lauderdale before Harmony) and then hop on the bright line train which has a station close by City Place and take it direct to Fort Lauderdale (maybe a 25 min ride). There are shuttles or Uber all day long from the bright line stops to airports and cruise port. 

IMHO renting a car can be a hassle. Why be hassled when your on vacation? 

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28 minutes ago, tonyfsu21 said:

A couple other suggestions:

1. Save yourself the hassle and just take an Uber from the WPB airport to your Fort Lauderdale hotel or port (not sure of your schedule or budget).

2. Meet your friend at City Place in West Palm Beach and have lunch or dinner (assuming your staying overnight in Fort Lauderdale before Harmony) and then hop on the bright line train which has a station close by City Place and take it direct to Fort Lauderdale (maybe a 25 min ride). There are shuttles or Uber all day long from the bright line stops to airports and cruise port. 

IMHO renting a car can be a hassle. Why be hassled when your on vacation? 

Well I don't think you know all my details. What is Harmony? 

We are flying into west palm beach and driving to Vero Beach. Where we will stay 2 nights. Then we will drive directly to the port in ft Lauderdale. So I'm not sure which bits of your post apply now? 

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Can I rent the car at west palm beach airport and return to the same place *and* take a train to ft Lauderdale that will allow me to get to the cruise port without further transportation? I'm pretty confused now about this mention of a train. But I think it would be easiest to drive direct from Vero Beach to ft Lauderdale. That seems the most simple? 

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For simplicity sake, I'd consider two options:

1. How much to rent a car from West Palm Beach airport and return to Fort Lauderdale airport. Take lyft/uber from FLL airport to port if shuttle not provided by rental car company.

2. Figure out how many rides you really need and estimate relying purely on Lyft/Uber to get around. It's not necessarily as much as you think.

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2 minutes ago, Matt said:

For simplicity sake, I'd consider two options:

1. How much to rent a car from West Palm Beach airport and return to Fort Lauderdale airport. Take lyft/uber from FLL airport to port if shuttle not provided by rental car company.

2. Figure out how many rides you really need and estimate relying purely on Lyft/Uber to get around. It's not necessarily as much as you think.

Would returning to FLL Airport be any more convenient that returning to an offsite location? Airports are always so busy! 

I've never used Uber. Can you get estimates before actually getting to the location? 

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17 minutes ago, hoofbeats95 said:

Well I don't think you know all my details. What is Harmony? 

We are flying into west palm beach and driving to Vero Beach. Where we will stay 2 nights. Then we will drive directly to the port in ft Lauderdale. So I'm not sure which bits of your post apply now? 

Edit: Adventure of the seas not Harmony of the seas. None of my suggestions apply of your going to Vero Beach first. 

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17 minutes ago, hoofbeats95 said:

Can I rent the car at west palm beach airport and return to the same place *and* take a train to ft Lauderdale that will allow me to get to the cruise port without further transportation? I'm pretty confused now about this mention of a train. But I think it would be easiest to drive direct from Vero Beach to ft Lauderdale. That seems the most simple? 

https://www.gobrightline.com/

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Just now, hoofbeats95 said:

West Palm Beach airport to Vero Beach appears to be around 90 bucks with Uber. I think I can rent a car for less then given I have to get from Vero Beach to the cruise port as well. 

Agree. Vero Beach is going in the opposite direction you would want to be heading to get to the Port Everglades. Either a car rental or a shuttle service is going to be most economical. 

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20 minutes ago, hoofbeats95 said:

Can I rent the car at west palm beach airport and return to the same place *and* take a train to ft Lauderdale that will allow me to get to the cruise port without further transportation? I'm pretty confused now about this mention of a train. But I think it would be easiest to drive direct from Vero Beach to ft Lauderdale. That seems the most simple? 

In your original post you did not mention Vero Beach which changes the game completely. Forget about the train, it’s not gonna be convienent to return a car and then shuttle to a train station in WPB only to go to Fort Lauderdale. Your absolute easiest and most likely cheapest bet (not convienent by any means though) is to just rent a car. 

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33 minutes ago, hoofbeats95 said:

Would returning to FLL Airport be any more convenient that returning to an offsite location? Airports are always so busy! 

It goes both ways. Off site locations are small and tend to be easily overwhelmed if a lot of people go there, whereas airport locations are staffed well.  

34 minutes ago, hoofbeats95 said:

I've never used Uber. Can you get estimates before actually getting to the location? 

Right here: https://www.uber.com/fare-estimate/

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1 hour ago, tonyfsu21 said:

In your original post you did not mention Vero Beach which changes the game completely. Forget about the train, it’s not gonna be convienent to return a car and then shuttle to a train station in WPB only to go to Fort Lauderdale. Your absolute easiest and most likely cheapest bet (not convienent by any means though) is to just rent a car. 

Why is renting a car not convenient? 

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If you load the uber APP now, before you need it, and play around with it, you can see where cars are relative to where you are, when you put in the request it will tell you how long your approximate wait will be.

You can also schedule a pick up for a specific time and place, I like doing this because it gives me time to look up the "To" address if I don't have it handy.

I am not a seasoned uber user, I've used it maybe 6 times in the last year, but it is really easy (Believe me if I can figure it out any one should be able to). The only time I had issues was on my last cruise in January in Miami, took an uber from the hotel to dinner, one from dinner to this outdoor mall on the water front, then I tried to get an uber back to the hotel and it took forever, the problem was the Miami Heat had a home game directly next door to the mall and I didn't know this little fact until a driver finely picked us up. He said any other time and it wouldn't be an issue.

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