JAX - Car Rental for the Day?

[Dare2Believe]

We have a 5:50pm flight out of JAX after our Fascination cruise... thinking about going to the zoo for the day (or something like that), but we need somewhere to leave our luggage.

 

Is there an easy/convenient way to rent a car for just a few hours from JAXPORT?I don't think there's a rental counter at the port, but do they have any companies that will drop off a rental car to the port so you don't have to make the trip to the airport?

[KroozFoolz]

Posted here on this forum earlier this week:

Although not necessarily well advertised, you *can* get car rental drop off/pickup at port of Jacksonville, it just takes a little bit of planning.

 

I was so impressed, I wanted to pass on this info to others.

 

We are just back(yesterday) from a B2B on 10/14/2014 - 10/24/2014 on Fascination out of Jacksonville (B2B 5-day cruises).

 

We rented a car from Avis at JAX (airport location) for our 1 night pre-cruise stay on 10/13, and dropped off at J3X (10536 Atlantic Blvd, Jacksonville, FL 32246 - which is about 7 miles south of Heckscher on 295) in Jacksonville the next morning.

 

When dropping off the car at J3X, I asked about a shuttle "drop off" at the port and was told they stopped doing that a few years ago because it wasn't used very often.

 

However (and here's the good part!), the guy at the counter, Ray, said "We will drop folks off at the cruise port *IF* they call ahead and let us know what they need. We'll make sure a person is available to do a drop off, and if they let us know when they are coming back, we'll come get them, too."

 

He got on the phone and called someone and in about 10 minutes we were on the way to the cruise port, where we were dropped off, no charge. (I tipped the driver though...well worth it!)

 

When we got back to the port on 10/24, I called the J3X location and they said they would have someone come get us. About 20-30 minutes later, we got a phone call saying "I'm here" from the AVIS guy and directed him where to pick us up, right outside the terminal. (Be sure and give them your cell phone number to make meeting up easier).

 

He took us back to the AVIS J3X location, and Bryant was there (with a Budget car rental logo on his shirt) to check us in. (Turns out Bryant is the Budget manager, and was filling in for the AVIS manager that day)

 

I asked what was up with that, him being in the AVIS store with a "Budget" logo'd shirt. He said they were both owned by the same family, so one should book whichever rate was cheapest, and that either place would do the cruiseport dropoff/pickup *if* they knew ahead of time what someone was planning.

 

We just got lucky on our first day that there was a extra person available at AVIS to drop us off to start the cruise. However, since they knew when we were coming back after the cruise, they arranged to have someone available to come get us. He said that the cruise ships didn't really like for car rental agencies to advertise at the port (didn't give a reason, but I'm guessing this is to allow the ship to sell more of their own transfers to the airport). Not being able to advertise at the port killed the car rental business for people wanting dropped off/picked up at the port, enough so that AVIS stopped running the shuttle a few years ago.

 

At any rate, my experience with AVIS is how customer service is supposed to work. Kudo's to AVIS on this trip.

 

Just wanted to pass this info along, in hopes that it might help someone else, and to give good review of AVIS based on the great customer service we received while in JAX.

 

I did a bit of research on "Shuttle drop off at the Jacksonville cruise port" and couldn't find much recent info on the subject.

 

GP

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1934473

 

If you have any questions, I would suggest replying to the thread linked above.

Hope that helps.

[Dare2Believe]

Posted here on this forum earlier this week:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1934473

 

If you have any questions, I would suggest replying to the thread linked above.

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks!!

[aria48]

You can also do it with Hertz.

 

For pick up at Port & drop off at Airport, this link will fill in the correct location codes: http://snipurl.com/portpickup

 

To pick up at the Airport & drop off at the location serving the port, this link will fill in the correct location codes: http://snipurl.com/airportpickup

According to hertz:

The location that services the port:

Hours of Operation: Mo-Fr 0700-1800, Sa 0900-1400, Su Closed

 

Rental Services Provided By Jacksonville, 10531 Atlantic Blvd HLE

Please call the servicing location upon arrival to arrange for pickup service - 904-998-2335. Or cab fare will be reimbursed up to USD 12.00 with receipt.

 

Additional Information The Hertz phone is located on the exterior of the building at the cruise terminal.

Pier - Book pier arrivals at 10531 Atlantic Blvd HLE, which is located approximately 8 miles from the pier.