Fort Lauderdale to Port Canaveral--Laugh It Up

[honeymooner77]

I messed up my travel plans, so hopefully this will give some chuckles, and I can get advice in return. We are flying into Fort Lauderdale, and the next day we will be leaving out of Port Canaveral on a 3 night cruise. The day our cruise disembarks, we have to get back to Hollywood as quickly as we can for a work commitment. A few days later, we fly home.

 

This is a transportation conundrum. It looks like the most efficient thing would be to rent a car at FLL, drive to Cape Canaveral for a precruise stay where we can leave our car for the three nights, then drive back to Hollywood and keep the car until we go back to FLL for our departing flights. This leaves us with a one week car rental, and a few nights of steep parking charges at our resort in Hollywood. It's efficient, but it is NOT cheap. Here are my questions:

 

1)Any tips for good rates on car rentals? We will probably choose an SUV even though a car would be cheaper, because one of the people in our party does much better with a vehicle that is a bit higher off the ground. Hotwire seems to have the best deals so far, but I'd like to hear about others' experiences.

 

2)if we park at Port Canaveral instead of at the Country Inn and Suites Port Canaveral, will we be on our way much faster at the end of our cruise? When I was planning this trip, I planned for half an hour between ship and work because I thought we were sailing from Port Everglades. WRONG--we will be over 3 hours away that morning :( So we are in a hurry to get out of port and on the road.

 

3)Anything we should know about driving from Port Canaveral to Hollywood or vice versa? This will be our first time driving ourselves around Florida.

 

This is SO not what we were planning. I mistakenly thought our cruise departed from Port Everglades, not Port Canaveral. I'm glad I figured it out before the trip, because it would have been horrible to show up at the wrong port on embarkation day :mad:. But this still stinks; I wouldn't have planned to make a roundtrip of 3.5 hours each way for a 3 night cruise, so now I just need to make an efficient and frugal transportation plan and make the most of it! :rolleyes: I'm bummed because this mistake is going to add a substantial cost to our trip and all this time in the car cuts out precious vacation time. But I think I'll feel better about it once I actually have a plan.

[boo214]

rent a car but do one way rentals. why pay for the car to sit in a lot when you are on the ship. most agencies (budget, avis) have locations right near the port that offer free shuttle service to and from the port. just drop your car, take their free shuttle to the ship and do the same when you get off the ship.

[taszmom]

Car rental is your best bet. Basically it's a straight shot on I95. I95 can be an issue with traffic accidents which sometimes cause them to shut it down. Down south that's not so much of an issue because there are other routes, but up north of Ft Pierce you don't have many options than back roads.

 

There are hotels in Cocoa Beach that have park and stay packages with free parking and free shuttle to and from the port :

http://www.cocoabeachportcanaveralhotel.com/cocoa_beach_hotel_cruise_package.shtml

 

Faster to the Fun may help you get off the ship sooner also.

[boo214]

as for the drive itself, its pretty easy. I'd just take Florida's turnpike north to the fort pierce area and get off at exit 152 (rte. 70, Okechobee rd.) and make a right and get on I-95 north there for the rest of the trip. I'd go to exit 188 (Pineda causeway, rte. 404) and hang a right and follow that all the way to the end (rte 1a, s. atlantic blvd) and hang a left and that will take you to the hotels, car rental agencies and the port. just make sure your rental car has a sunpass for the turnpike tolls.

[crazzyd77]

I love Florida..:D

[EatonDoolittle]

No need for the turnpike and SunPass in the rental car.

Take I-95 North, no tolls, why add miles and tolls by going west needlessly?

[skrufy]

If time is no problem getting back to FLL, renting a car one way each way is a good idea.

I-95 is the easiest way up and back. Its a straight north-south trip. Yes, this road can get a little hectic at times.

[KroozFoolz]

Doing self assist debarkation (you carry off all your luggage) will get you off the ship and on your way sooner. Unfortunately, the park and cruise hotel package will save you money but not time - parking at the port definitely gets you on the road quicker.

[honeymooner77]

Thanks for the input, everyone. We need the car for most of our trip, and we will be in a hurry to get back to Hollywood, so I am going to do a weeklong rental and park at the port.

 

The rest of the week, we will be driving between Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale, and then back to FLL. Do I need Sunpass for that?

[royalcruz]

Thanks for the input, everyone. We need the car for most of our trip, and we will be in a hurry to get back to Hollywood, so I am going to do a weeklong rental and park at the port.

 

The rest of the week, we will be driving between Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale, and then back to FLL. Do I need Sunpass for that?

No, you don't need Sunpass.

[RuthlessBoss]

Thanks for the input, everyone. We need the car for most of our trip, and we will be in a hurry to get back to Hollywood, so I am going to do a weeklong rental and park at the port.

 

The rest of the week, we will be driving between Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale, and then back to FLL. Do I need Sunpass for that?

Bite the bullet and do it this way. Remember, it's at least $15 a day, and you get charged 4 days, not 3. That's the latest money maker now.

[hannibal54]

Have you considered booking a 3 day cruise out of Miami? This would save a lot of your problems.