Secondly, Alamo have removed the unpopular summer surcharge, this just leaves Budget with a summer surcharge for rental car collections between 20th June and 20th August – the pressure may result in this surcharge also being lifted, watch this space….

Thirdly, from April 1 st 2012, Alamo will be offering clients the choice between refilling themselves to return the car, or pre-paying for the fuel – this is the same option as currently offered by Budget.

Finally, Alamo have included a new location for us at 6211 N. Atlantic Avenue, Cape Canaveral, increasing the options for this popular cruise embarkation point.  With free one-way rentals from any Florida Alamo location such as Orlando International Airport, 3 drivers aged 21 – 24 with the Young Driver Package along with excellent Toll by Plate rates, this is really good news for cruise fans!

The Iconic Ford Mustang

We now have rates loaded around to next December for Alamo car hire, Budget car hire and Dollar car hire. Budget car hire rates are unchanged from 2011 – however, there is a summer surcharge on all cars collected between June 20th and August 20th. Alamo have also renewed the summer surcharge for the same dates, but just on the larger cars.
Dollar cars remain without a surcharge this summer – and with a guaranteed upgrade from the 2 door version to the 4 door model of each category!

Lovers of the Ford Mustang convertible will be delighted to see that the model is now showing as the convertible car of choice by all suppliers. Of course we can never 100% guarantee a particular make or model – but clients are going to have the best chance ever of driving one of these iconic cars with the top down this summer. Don’t forget that with both Dollar and Alamo you can choose your own car from those available in your category at all the larger locations – particularly Orlando International Airport. A great chance to try a different model for size…

If you are aged 21 – 25 you will need the Young Driver Packages from Alamo or Budget and don’t forget that Alamo’s Young Driver Package includes 3 drivers aged 21 – 24 for the same price – fantastic value!

As always, if you have any questions, please give us a call, or use the chat facility.

Elle

Part of the long term vision was to create an airport that truly represented Florida, rather than just any airport anywhere. We have all noticed the wonderful lakes, swamps, forests, palm trees and ‘Florida’ feel of the airport – this was created rather than accidental. Likewise, managers encouraged the theme park operators to come into the airport and offer both a presence and merchandise – this way passengers coming from the cold north in the middle of winter instantly know that they have arrived in Florida and can start their vacation. The developers have even taken inspiration from the theme parks for the design of the terminals, using curves instead of corners, high ceilings, fountains and palm trees – all contributing to a more spacious relaxed feel. Contrast your experience in these terminals to change-over’s in Newark/Boston or Chicago and you will know the difference. Many other airports are now looking to Orlando for inspiration and attempting themes of their own.

The terminal design of a central landside terminal connected by rail to several airside gates was first tried at Tampa and with the use of the monorail is evocative of WDW. The airport is recognised as one of the most efficient and passenger friendly airports in the US and always seems to rank in the top five airport convenience surveys conducted by J D Power and Associates, but one downside has always been international travel. The first International terminal was added in 1984, but it has always seemed a bit of a mishmash, with passengers having to either re-check their luggage after customs to get from airside to landside, or to tote it along on the monorail. With all the ‘wheeled’ luggage options available now this doesn’t seem like such a hardship any more.

Inside Orlando International

Orlando International has also taken the lead in implementing many industry firsts. MCO was the first airport in the nation to initiate the CLEAR Program, an expedited security screening for trusted travellers; companies like Guess, Oakley and Build-A-Bear Workshop opened their first airport locations at Orlando International Airport; and in 1982, MCO hosted the world’s only simultaneous landing of two supersonic Concorde jets.

We continue to offer U Save at Orlando which allows 2 drivers aged 21 – 25 with no surcharge at all, but we only have this contract with U Save at Orlando, not the other U Save locations.

Budget’s Young Driver Package continues to allow 1 driver aged 21 – 24 with no change to that package.

BA is to move two of its weekly flights from Orlando to Tampa in March, this will provide daily service from the UK to Tampa for the airline, for the first time. Tampa International airport is only an hour or so away from the Walt Disney World / Kissimmee area and flights can often be a little cheaper than flying into Orlando. Because the airport is not as busy as Orlando, overall times of processing at Tampa are usually much quicker.

During November Alamo car hire moved its desks into the terminal area and its cars into the on-site car parks. Because Alamo are currently cheaper than the other providers on our website with almost identical packages, this makes them a very attractive proposition at the airport now.

If you would like to check what is included within your Alamo insurance package do please give us a call when we will be happy to fill you in.

The ever popular Minivan 7 seater (people carrier) category features many different vehicles such as the Dodge Grand Caravan, Ford Freestar, Chevrolet Uplander etc, but some of these are larger than others and some feature useful upgrades such as DVD systems. A quick look through the car can be most revealing, you can check to make sure your luggage fits, and if not, move on to a different car! The ‘Choice Product’ is only offered at locations that have a barrier gate on exit, and it is there that your choice of car is logged against your reservation.

Combined with Alamo’s ‘Save Time’ online check in facility (pre-registration), pre-bookable Sat Nav’s and the Young Driver Package for drivers under 25, this makes Alamo your first choice for car hire in Florida. Although Alamo staff are often known for their fondness of trying to pursuade you to upgrade your car – their customer service should things go wrong is quite superior, and probably worth sticking it out with a few polite “no thank you’s” at the desk! And there is no Christmas Surcharge!!

If you would like more information about how many drivers can be included on the standard package, or anything else to do with your rental, please do give us a call in the office on 01428 741438.

Because of the lack of space at port locations in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Port Canaveral and Tampa, car hire companies such as Dollar or Alamo do not have depots actually at the ports, but most usually provide a complimentary shuttle between the airports and ports.

In Miami, a free shuttle is run by Dollar/Thrifty and Alamo from the main international airport locations to the port and again in reverse. Some hotels also run shuttles both from the airport to the hotel, and from the hotel to the port, however, in higher end hotels the price for the shuttle seems to boost the room rate, while in cheaper hotels, the shuttle appears to boost numbers! Regular cruise passengers advise that you don’t choose your hotel by access to the shuttle, rather choose a great hotel in a great area and make the most of your time in Miami. If you have hired a car for one night, you can then return to the airport to drop off the car and use the shuttle. Budget car hire don’t offer a shuttle between the port and the airport and also don’t offer rentals for less then 2 days.

For passengers arriving at Fort Lauderdale the situation is very similar. Although there is a downtown Dollar/Thrifty location close to the port, you still have to get the shuttle to make the last bit of the journey. There are paid shuttles that run between Port Everglades and Miami International, and Fort Lauderdale and Port of Miami. You can expect to pay at least $15 per passenger for these shuttles, but at least the price is fixed, as opposed to a taxi which will be on a meter.

At Port Canaveral the car hire depots are about 3 or 4 miles away from the port and once again, they run shuttles to and from the port. With the closest airport being Melbourne International, this is not regularly used by UK cruisers. A taxi from Orlando International to Port Canaveral will probably start at $100. While a one day hire using Dollar would be around £30 to £50 depending whether you have an economy car or a large minivan 7 seater. Once again, experienced cruisers drop off their party and luggage at the port, and then return to the car hire depots to get the shuttle back without luggage!

At Tampa, the cruise terminal is quite new and the car hire companies have been slow to provide shuttles. You will most likely have to get a taxi either from the airport or your hotel.

There are some great cruise forums out there where you can get really valuable advice to help you get the most out of your trip and make it as smooth as possible.

Here, one of our regular clients tells us of his visit in 2009.

The race is 500 miles long which is 200 laps of a banked oval with cars, which look very similar to the every day American drivers, circulating at 200 miles per hour. ‘Awesome’ as the Americans say! As my wife and I had done the trip to Florida many times before we hired a Mitsubishi Gallant from Budget Rent a Car through Carhireflorida.net. The nice touch with carhireflorida.net is that Elle is able to pre-register the car before we arrive and we go straight to the garage at Orlando International Airport thus avoiding all the long lines at the rental desk which is not what you want after a 9 hour flight. The other nice touch about this system is that you get none of the high pressure selling trying to upgrade the car etc. Literally within 2 minutes you are underway and I would recommend everybody to do this. [Thank you for the plug John!]

A few days were spent before the race at our house in Kissimmee doing maintenance jobs etc before 2 very good friends of ours joined us to go and see the race. They both race back in the UK with Dave sharing my car in speed hill climbs. After a couple of days showing them around the sites it was time to go racing.

We left home on the Sunday morning, after a leisurely breakfast, at 9.00 am and enjoyed an equally leisurely drive on the Greeneway toll road to Sanford and then on the Interstate 4 to Daytona. For the previous 4 days rain has been forecast for the race but we have a nice warm sunny day and hopefully it will stay away although a 60% chance of rain is forecast!

We arrived about 11.00 am and eventually found our free car park at the back of the Airport. After parking and walking a ½ mile to the complimentary school bus ride we get on a bus and are taken to the circuit. Daytona is a 2 mile steeply banked oval and is huge with seating for about a quarter of a million people. Every ticket sells including the tickets from the touts outside the circuit. If you haven’t been before you must get a cushion to sit on as the aluminium seats get a bit hard after a few hours. Every team has a trailer selling goodies including cushions and our friends purchase one each. We get to our seats at about 1.00 pm and start to watch all the pre race show including a live rock show, air display, marching bands and the driver parade.

After the very moving National Anthem was sung the inevitable “Gentlemen start your engines” was proclaimed by the Governor of Florida at 3.00 pm. The Pace car, driven by Tom Cruise of ‘Days of Thunder’ fame, leads the pack round for 2 or 3 laps and the green flag is dropped. The noise is amazing and is similar in volume to being by the side of a Jumbo jet taking off. The sight of 44 odd NASCAR race cars each having over 800 horse power and dashing into turn 1 which is banked at 37 degrees is stunning. For the first 15-20 laps everybody stands up when the cars go past but then the race begins to develop some semblance of order and we are able to watch the race all the way round the circuit on a big, and I mean big, screen TV. The inevitable yellow flags come out every time there is an incident, then every body has to follow Tom Cruise around the track in the Pace car.
We are supporting Juan Pablo Montoya, ex Formula one driver, who this year has gone into team ownership as well as driving and he starts to make good progress but is involved in several incidents and slips back down the field. After several more incidents it starts to get a little cloudy and the spot lights at the track are gradually turned on so that you would not even notice that it was getting dark.

The big crash of the day came between Dale Earnhardt Jr and Brian Vickers coming off turn 2 where we were. The eventual winner was able to pick his way through the pack, which was spinning everywhere, without any damage. Ten or more cars were put out of the race at this time. The inevitable rain brought the Daytona 500 to an early finish and Matt Kenseth was declared the winner after leading only the last green-flag lap of an eventful Sprint Cup series season-opener. Kenseth overtook Elliott Sadler entering turn one to lead the race for the first time all night on lap 146, right before Aric Almirola made contact with Kasey Kahne on the backstretch, bringing out the caution flag for the eighth time during the day. While running behind the pace car, a slight drizzle that had kept teams with an eye on strategy and the weather radar, transformed into a heavy downpour that ended up washing out any chance for Kenseth’s rivals.

Following 20 minutes of waiting under the red flag, the 2003 Sprint Cup champion was declared the winner. Given that the race was past its halfway-mark and with the radar not showing any hope of the rain stopping, NASCAR decided to make the result official after 380 of the scheduled 500 miles.

We now leave the circuit to be taken back to the parking lot by the ubiquitous yellow school bus ready for the journey home. Our friends went home a few days later and then we settled down to relaxing in Florida for another 4 weeks. The Daytona 500 is a great day out for any motor enthusiast.
www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com for details.

The Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) was originally introduced by the U.S. Customs and Borders Patrol on January 12 2009. There were some problems with encouraging all travellers to complete the form online and full implimentation was delayed for a while. It is now mandatory and you must complete an ESTA at least 72 hours before you travel to the U.S. The ESTA replaces the Green Visa Waiver form traditionally completed on the plane. Once completed it is valid for 2 years. Please make sure you only complete the ESTA at the approved website administered by the CBP. There are a number of websites attempting to complete the ESTA for you and charging for the privilege. It is not complicated, and you should not need any help to complete the form. I have posted some Q and A’s for your information below:

Q: How does the ESTA work?

A: VWP travelers or an intermediary (such as a travel agent) will go online to the ESTA website at https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/ and apply for a travel authorization by submitting basic biographical information, flight information and answers to a few VWP eligibility questions. ESTA will instantly review the information for any possible security risks and determine if the person is eligible to travel to the United States without a visa. Each traveler will receive one of three responses within a few minutes of an ESTA application: Authorization Approved, Authorization Pending, or Travel Not Authorized. Applicants who receive an Authorization Pending response will need to check the ESTA Web site for an update on their application within 72 hours to receive a final response. Applicants whose ESTA applications are denied will be referred to a U.S. consulate for information on how to apply for a visa to travel to the United States.

Q: If a person is denied travel authorization through ESTA, is he/she still able to travel to the United States?

A: The traveler may still be eligible to travel to the United States but will be required to apply for a nonimmigrant visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate.

Q: Can a foreign traveler be denied entry to the United States upon arrival even if they are authorized through ESTA?

A: Yes. ESTA authorizes travel to the United States, but Customs & Border Patrol officers will still assess eligibility for entry into the United States at the port of entry.

Q: Do travelers need to apply for a travel authorization through ESTA prior to every trip to the United States?

A: No, each ESTA will be valid for two years and will permit unlimited travel to the United States in that time frame without having to needlessly update personal information prior to each trip.