flying in a day early for cruise out of port canaveral

We are flying in a day early to our cruise. Family was going to drive us from Tampa to port Canaveral. However, we have decided to stay in Orlando or port Canaveral. Now we are trying to decide if we should rent a car. If there is a place to rent a car in Orlando and return in port Canaveral the next day or transportation to port Canaveral from Orlando. So far it looks to be cheaper to rent the car for a whole week than just a day but then we will need to pay to park. Please help thanks for your suggestions. ::confused:

It is normal practice to rent a car at MCO and drop off at Port Canaveral, and then take the complimentary shuttle to the port. Shop around the different companies. We did Hertz and their office is next door to Residence Inn. Very easy.

edit: check out the "The NEW I Work in Port Canaveral" thread here which has all the information you need about Port Canaveral: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1119114&

more edit: correction from AVIS to Hertz. We did AVIS when returning back from Port to MCO.

We've done this multiple times and it couldn't be easier. We usually rent from Avis or Budget because they are located inside MCO airport (very convenient). Budget's office is in Cape Canaveral and Avis is in Cocoa Beach, but they are really both within 2 miles or so of the port. You can get discount codes for each of these agencies by doing a google search, or if you belong to Costco (or similar) they often have special deals.

It's easy - and we've gotten really good rates from Priceline on one-way rentals.

We paid $133 for a one day rental of a minivan with a child seat from Enterprise. If you are flying home the same day the cruise ends, you might want to consider taking the Disney bus to the Orlando airport.

I would post this on the Florida Departures Board which is part of the Ports Of Call Boards of Cruise Critic.

Keith