Linda216 Posted December 14, 2019 Report Share Posted December 14, 2019 I’m about to book a car rental for before and after cruise, and I’m curious what time I should request them. What’s a good time to be at the port on the embarkation day to drop off car? (I haven’t received my official boarding time but I think maybe you’ve mentioned at 10 or 10:30?) And then on disembarkation day, what’s a good time to book a car for? thanks for your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted December 14, 2019 Report Share Posted December 14, 2019 I would recommend dropping the car off NLT 9:30. When to request the car rental on the other end really depends on how/when you are deboarding. If you “walkoff” with self assist then probably 8:00 would be reasonable. If you have your luggage taken down the night before and go with a departure tag, I would recommend 9:00-10:00. Hoski and USCG Teacher 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda216 Posted December 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2019 What’s the latest we can get off the boat? Not in a rush but I know they hurry you along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted December 14, 2019 Report Share Posted December 14, 2019 2 hours ago, Linda216 said: What’s a good time to be at the port on the embarkation day to drop off car? I'd recommend putting a drop off time of around 10:30am, with the idea you would drop passengers and luggage off at the port first at around 10am, and then drive the car back empty to the car rental facility. 36 minutes ago, Linda216 said: What’s the latest we can get off the boat? Not in a rush but I know they hurry you along. 9-9:30. If you stay much later, it gets awkward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda216 Posted December 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2019 Great info everyone, thanks! @Matt does dropping off the family first at the port help the check in process along? Or is that just convenient if we have lots of luggage? We’ll only have one large suitcase, so I was thinking we’d return car and all (two adults, two kids and 1 bag) take the shuttle to the port. But total newbie here! Any tips are appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USCG Teacher Posted December 14, 2019 Report Share Posted December 14, 2019 3 hours ago, Linda216 said: Great info everyone, thanks! @Matt does dropping off the family first at the port help the check in process along? Or is that just convenient if we have lots of luggage? We’ll only have one large suitcase, so I was thinking we’d return car and all (two adults, two kids and 1 bag) take the shuttle to the port. But total newbie here! Any tips are appreciated. Where it can really help is with the shuttle. As you can imagine, the rental location will be pretty busy with customers dropping off the morning of a cruise departure, and all of those people are looking to back to the port ASAP. Moving solo and luggage free makes getting on a shuttle much quicker and easier than having luggage in tow and needing four seats. Hoski and GrandmaAirplane 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda216 Posted December 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2019 @USCG Teacher Great tip. Makes sense! Thank you. we booked a budget rental car today for the location on 2nd st in Miami and there was a cruise ship terminal option. Hoping I’m doing this right! This blog has helped a ton! Hoski, WAAAYTOOO and USCG Teacher 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda216 Posted December 15, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 @USCG Teacher safe to assume this method is best for disembarkation day? My husband gets on shuttle and gets car and my kids and I wait in the terminal? TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USCG Teacher Posted December 15, 2019 Report Share Posted December 15, 2019 21 hours ago, Linda216 said: @USCG Teacher safe to assume this method is best for disembarkation day? My husband gets on shuttle and gets car and my kids and I wait in the terminal? TIA Hey Linda, sorry for the delay. This one is probably much more of a "your milage my vary" response depending on the port and its traffic patterns. To be honest I've never rented a car leaving the port, only arriving, so I'll have to defer to the many more experienced cruisers on the board... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoski Posted December 16, 2019 Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 On 12/14/2019 at 5:27 PM, Linda216 said: @USCG Teacher Great tip. Makes sense! Thank you. we booked a budget rental car today for the location on 2nd st in Miami and there was a cruise ship terminal option. Hoping I’m doing this right! This blog has helped a ton! We use them all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoski Posted December 16, 2019 Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 On 12/14/2019 at 7:11 PM, Linda216 said: @USCG Teacher safe to assume this method is best for disembarkation day? My husband gets on shuttle and gets car and my kids and I wait in the terminal? TIA Linda I would say that depends. You will have a certain area to line up for the rental car shuttle and depending on how many people are a head of you it may work to send hubby on the shuttle alone to get the rental car but if you are first or second in line just go with him. I say this so he isn't fighting to get back in to pick you up through traffic and where he picks you up will be different than where someone gets the rental shuttle. USCG Teacher 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonL Posted December 16, 2019 Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 This is slightly off topic ...but.... I am sailing Liberty out of Galveston in February and I booked a rental car for 8 days. My hotel has free cruise parking. The convenience of the rental car for my family of 5 is totally worth it. Plus I don't think it's actually going to be much more than if we were to pay for transportation($328 for the 8 days). We went through costco, there isn't any extra cost for miles and you get an extra driver for free as well. Plus you don't have to pay until you pick up the car and I keep checking back to see if the price dropped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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