Car rental for a day in San Juan?

We will be disembarking the Serenade on February 19 with a 5:30pm flight...

My research on these boards leads me to believe that day passes to hotels in San Juan are pretty ridiculous.

I'm wondering if it is reasonable to take RC's shuttle to the airport and rent a car for the day? It looks like through Expedia a car would only be about $34 a day, which is the price of two cab fares.

My only concerns are whether our luggage will be safe in the trunk of the car? I think we plan on driving to the Old City for lunch and then looking for a beach to sit on for the rest of the day (a couple hours at most). Are the beaches all public? If so, where should we go? To be honest, we don't care to shower before our flight home, and we can change clothes in the airport.

Thanks! Looking forward to our first cruise!!!

Which rental agency gave you that price on Expedia and what category of car is that? To be honest, I am not sure you will have as much time as you think you will based on your flight time. I will sailing the Serenade on Jan 2, 2005 with a return flight at 2:55PM. I will know more by the time my trip is complete but the general concensus is that you will be delayed both in debarking the ship(due to customs) and checking in at the airport. Don't forget about the time it will take to get to the rental agengy and then pick up your car and then once again the time associated with dropping it off. Also, if you get a rental at the airport, you are looking at probably 1-1.5hours roundtrip from pier to airport/airport to Old San Juan. If you are really set on renting a car, you may want to look into Hertz in downtown Condado. They had the cheapest prices I found. They told us they do have a shuttle from their location to and from the piers. You may also be able to work it out so you can grab the shuttle at the pier, pick your car up in Condado, drive around prior to your flight, and then drop the car off at their airport location. As far as your luggage being safe in the trunk, I can't speak about that since I simply do not know. We are renting a car for our precruise stay for one day and plan to store our luggage at the hotel prior to boarding the ship.

Hambone

Will you be on the 2/12/05 sailing of the Serenade? If so, a group of us on this sailing are posting on the roll call board. We plan on meeting for a drink once on board. Please feel free to join us if you'd like.

I found a company called Charlies cars www.charliecars.com . I have read they are pretty good to deal with and theri quote for a mid size car for 2 days was $58, total! They will pick you up at the cruise dock, take you to their local center and you can return the car at the airport.

Good Luck!

Jim