Rental car in Charlottetown, PEI

Will be spending the day on Prince Edward Island in July by way of the Maasdam. We had booked a tour through the ship that was cancelled. We're now looking at renting a car for the day and exploring the island on our own.

I have seen some comments on sites that National Car Rental has a kiosk in the cruise terminal--but they were several years old. Before booking a rental online, can anyone tell me if the kiosk is still there? Or, are there any companies within walking distance of the cruise pier?

Thanks!

You could always call their toll free number & ask if they have a booth at the port

Enterprise is not far & they will pick you up

We didn't see any kiosks when we were in Charlottetown last year. There were several rental companies picking people up in the parking lot attached to the cruise terminal. I don't remember which company we rented from but we had to go "All the way to the airport" to sign the papers but even that took like 10 min. Charlottetown is really small city so it doesn't take much time to get in or out. We were at the beach on the north side of the island in a hour or so.

We rented from Enterprise at 83 Huston St, 902-894-5004. It was only a few minutes from the port and they picked us up and dropped us back off.

Enterprise will pick up up from just outside the terminal - they have a shuttle - I use them last year and it was well organized - the will also shuttle you back but I choose to walk back - it isn't that far but I took more than an hour as I wanted to explore the history of the downtown core and see where the true north strong and free was formulated with the Charlottetown Accord.

Cheers

Dennis

Will be spending the day on Prince Edward Island in July by way of the Maasdam. We had booked a tour through the ship that was cancelled. We're now looking at renting a car for the day and exploring the island on our own.

So...how was your day? We will be there in early September and are looking to rent a car. Look forward to hearing your report.:D

The UK Daily Telegraph ran a two page spread on the area this Saturday.

http://*******.com/oftev2n

We cut it out as we are on the Montreal/Boston Seabourn cruise in a week's time.

You may find it a useful read.

Tony

London UK

So...how was your day? We will be there in early September and are looking to rent a car. Look forward to hearing your report.:D

RonsJen, we rented a car in Charlottetown when we there on the Veendam in July. We booked a car with Budget and their office is located at 215 University Avenue, which is just a 15-minute walk from where the ship docks. We quickly got our car and were on the road. We went to Dalkey-by-the-Sea and Prince Edward Island NP, to Brackley Beach (Dunes Gallery and Cafe), North Rustico, the PEI Preserve Company in Glasgow and the Cows Creamery factory. We did some hiking, some gallery visiting, some scenic driving, some ice cream eating and even a little shopping. It was a very enjoyable day.

For those subscribed to this thread (but not the general forum), a new, free no publicity, driving tour guidebook just came out for those renting a car. Here it is:

http://www.tomsportguides.com/CharlottetownDrivingTour-08-30-2014.pdf

Thanks so much for the info!!

I like Tom's Port Guides and this one about rental cars in Charlottetown had some excellent information. However, bringing your own GPS or renting one is certainly not necessary. Using a combination of the map that the Budget folks gave us and a couple of Google Maps I printed up before coming, we had absolutely no problem finding any of the places I mentioned in my previous posting.

I agree. And PEI is fairly densely populated with all kinds of wonderful back roads. If you get lost just stop and ask for help.

Tom's guide is great. I will have to go see the tea cup!

We're renting with Enterprise and will be arriving on a Sunday. I just found out that we must get ourselves to the airport office, as the University Ave. office is closed Sundays. This could be interesting.

If they are not picking you up (which I think they do) then I would take a taxi.

Thanks, Maryann. The taxi could be quicker, but I will call Enterprise.

Great driving maps of the various regions can be found on the PEI Tourism website (http://www.tourismpei.com/getting-to-pei#). At the bottom of the page is a section on "Touring Regions." Choose the one you are interested in, such as the Green Gables Shore. On the resulting page, in a square box, click "View highway map." The maps are quite detailed.

Green Gable shore is the one that I did last year - didn't spend a lot of time at Green Gables but did do many spots in the Park and really enjoyed the reddish beaches and cliffs.

Cheers!

Dennis

Adele - here's a link to my PEI album from last year.

https://plus.google.com/photos/106928179206906309023/albums/5939217907172725057?banner=pwa

The first few pictures are general in nature then it gets down to business.

Enjoy - will email you - either before the cruise or after.

Cheers!

Dennis

Thanks, Dennis! I'll look at your photos. We did the same route in 2009, and we liked it so much that we're just repeating it. We stopped at the Anne house, but once we saw how busy it was, we decided to skip it. Here's the link to my pictures ( - PEI starts at picture 46); I'll see if you chose the same subjects. :)

The Island is really easy to do - we ended up driving longer and farther than we originally planned - hubby wanted to see the bridge, so we did... It was all so scenic - and you're never very far from the ship. We just followed the scenic route signs and stopped wherever we felt like. The GPS was set to the car rental place so we could always get a sense of how long it would take to get back.

With time left at the end for buffer one can walk about Charlottetown itself.

Found out that Enterprise in Charlottetown on a Sunday was indeed a bit of a hassle. We did have to take a taxi to the airport. When we got there, the fellow manning the Enterprise booth was on a break and came back about 10 minutes later. By then there were three groups waiting for cars, and he was the only employee. After we completed the paperwork, he had to walk about 100 yards away to retrieve our car. As we drove away, he was leaving the airport to retrieve a car for the second group. Just be prepared for a wait. The drive is worth it.

We again did the Central Coastal Drive (here's a link to Tourism PEI's map for the Central Drive). It's gorgeous out there -- beaches, lighthouses, farms, great roads. We didn't have enough time to do the entire drive, so we ended up coming back across the Island on Highway 2.

The above link will provide links to the North Cape Coastal Drive and the Points East Coastal Drive.

Thanks for posting. People renting on a Sunday now know to get a taxi to the airport asap!