Downtown desks close by noon or 1 PM on weekends
Book the Avis or Budget desk in the Embassy Suites, a short taxi from the ship. It opens at 8 every day, so on a normal disembarkation morning it’s open before you’re off — the catch is noon, when it closes on weekends. Downtown’s Hertz and Enterprise desks are closed on Sunday.
| Desk | Weekdays | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avis and Budget, Embassy Suites, 513 S Florida Ave | 8 AM–4 PM | 8 AM–noon | 8 AM–noon |
| Hertz, Marriott Water Street | 9 AM–4 PM | 9 AM–noon | Closed |
| Enterprise, Nebraska Avenue | 8 AM–6 PM | 9 AM–1 PM | Closed |
Hours as each company lists its own desk. Avis, Budget and Hertz publish no port shuttle, and Enterprise’s “pick-up service” doesn’t say whether it reaches the terminals. Checked Sept 28, 2026
Downtown works if
- You’re off the ship before about 11 on a weekend, or 3 on a weekday
- Avis, Budget, Hertz or Enterprise has the car you want
- It goes back somewhere else — PIE, SRQ, MCO or TPA
- You’d rather skip airport charges
TPA is the safer bet if
- It’s Sunday and you’ll be late off the ship
- You want Alamo, National, Sixt or another brand
- The car goes back to TPA anyway
- A rideshare first is fine by you
Three ways across 0.6 miles
Book the desk, then check its hours
Avis QD6 or Budget QD7 is the Embassy Suites desk. The Marriott Water Street’s Hertz keeps weekday hours plus Saturday morning, and Enterprise on Nebraska Avenue lists a pick-up service — ask whether it reaches the terminal, not just downtown.
Taxi, rideshare or streetcar
The port’s own directory lists taxi firms, and the airport’s published meter rate puts the ride at about $5 by our estimate. The TECO streetcar is free and has a Port Tampa Bay station — fine if you don’t mind hauling bags.
Load up and pick a direction
West over the bay for the beaches, north for Crystal River, south across the Skyway for Sarasota, or east on I-4 for Orlando.
Is TPA worth the $24 ride?
Downtown desk
- Avis and Budget at 513 S Florida Ave, 0.6 miles from Terminal 3 by our estimate
- Weekdays 8–4, weekends 8–noon
- A taxi, about $5 by our estimate using the airport’s published meter rate; otherwise rideshare or the free streetcar
- No airport charges
- Hillsborough’s 7.5% tax still applies
TPA’s Rental Car Center
- Fourteen companies, with Avis and Budget open 24 hours
- Uber’s route page averages $24 from Port Tampa Bay to TPA over the past month
- Airport charges: $5.95 a day plus a concession fee
- Simplest if the car goes back to TPA
- Flying out the same day? Remote bag check there, for most domestic flights, runs 5 AM to 5 PM
TPA’s edge is choice, with fourteen companies, plus that bag check on a flight day.
Downtown’s edge is distance — a short hop from the ship, not a 9-mile ride.
Price check: downtown against TPA
| Days | Downtown desk | TPA’s Rental Car Center |
|---|---|---|
| 1 day | $51 | $62 + about $24 by Uber first, its average |
| 3 days | $152 | $187 + about $24 by Uber first, its average |
| 5 days | $253 | $311 + about $24 by Uber first, its average |
Assumes $45 a day, plus fees, the state’s $2-a-day rental surcharge and Hillsborough’s 7.5% tax. TPA adds $5.95 a day plus about 11% — our reading of its concession-fee cap. Uber’s figure is the average on its route page for the past month, not a quote. Not included: fuel, tolls, or a drop charge on a one-way. Illustrative
On paper that’s about $35 over three days, before the ride to the airport.
The morning makes it feel bigger: a short hop to a hotel lobby, or 9 miles to an airport rental hall.
Search downtown Tampa as the pickup and choose the Embassy Suites desk, then set the drop-off wherever the trip ends: PIE, SRQ, MCO or TPA.
- Pick-up: downtown Tampa
- Cancel at no cost until 48 hrs ahead
- Drop-off: TPA, PIE, SRQ, MCO or back downtown
- One-way fee counted in the price shown
Point the car west, north, south or east
| Where | Miles from the terminals | Before you go |
|---|---|---|
| Clearwater and St. Pete Beach | 26–30 miles | Beach day, hotel night or both: the Gulf beaches, before or after. |
| The Dalí, St. Petersburg | 24 miles | $32 an adult for the galleries and $10 to park on site; cards only. |
| Weeki Wachee Springs | North on the Suncoast Parkway | Its own site lists $13 an adult — check the state park page before you go. |
| Crystal River, the manatees | 81 miles, about 1 hr 42 min | Winter only. When the season runs. |
| Sarasota and Siesta Key | Siesta Key about 67 miles | The Ringling is $30 an adult, with the Ca’ d’Zan mansion extra. Sarasota County counts 950 free parking spaces at Siesta Beach, open 6 AM to 10 PM. |
| Busch Gardens | 10 miles | Parking runs $35 a day, or $48 for preferred. |
| Orlando’s parks | Disney about 71 miles, no tolls | Disney and Universal each charge $35 a day to park. Orlando and Tampa, both ways. |
Our route estimates (OpenStreetMap routing to Terminal 3, no traffic, no stops); prices from each attraction’s own site. Checked Sept 28, 2026
Crystal River, if you sail in winter
Manatee season at Crystal River runs Nov 15 to Mar 31, per the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the refuge itself charges no fee.
The city’s Three Sisters Springs boardwalk is $20 an adult in winter and $12.50 in summer.
It’s about 81 miles from the terminals, 1 hr 42 min with no traffic, and about 76 from TPA — close enough to go the morning after the cruise and still make an evening flight, or to stay the night and do it properly.
The quick way north is the Veterans Expressway and the Suncoast Parkway, with plazas at 86¢ to $1.16 each by transponder ($1.16 to $1.45 by plate); U.S. 19 is free and slower.
In a rental, each of those plazas also switches on the company’s toll fee for that day.
Toll plans that bill every day, and ones that don’t
Charged only when you use a toll road
- Enterprise, Alamo and National’s TollPass: never more than $34.65 a rental, billed at $4.95 for each toll day, and it switches on by itself. Tolls get billed at the top rate of video, cash or undiscounted. National’s terms
- Avis and Budget’s e-Toll: $6.95 for each day you use a toll, never more than $34.95 a rental, and tolls are billed at non-discounted rates. Its cousin, e-Toll Unlimited, bills every day instead. Budget’s terms
Charged every day of the rental
- Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty’s PlatePass All-Inclusive: $14.99 for each Florida rental day, tolls included, up to a weekly maximum we couldn’t confirm. PlatePass
- Say no to it and still use a cashless toll, and PlatePass bills you anyway: $9.99 for each toll day, tolls on top.
We read each company’s toll terms on Sept 27, 2026. Every plan is statewide — a Tampa pickup gets the same deal as anywhere in Florida.
A one-day rental barely feels the difference. A week does, because the Selmon, the Veterans, the Suncoast and the Skyway are all tolled, and the quick routes to Weeki Wachee, Crystal River and Sarasota each use one.
The car seat rule, then the bag count
| Enterprise class | Seats | Bags | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midsize car | 5 | 3 | Two people and their cruise bags |
| Standard SUV | 5 | 5 | Four and their luggage; five only if you pack light |
| Full-size SUV | 7 | 3 | Seven seats, though the 3 bags seem to assume people in the third row |
| 7-passenger minivan | 7 | 5 | Seven people who packed for a cruise |
| 8-passenger minivan | 8 | 5 | Eight, or split into two cars |
Enterprise’s published US capacities; the last column is our reading of them. Checked Sept 27, 2026
A crash-tested restraint is Florida’s legal requirement for any child aged 5 or younger, rental car included. For the under-4s that means a carrier of its own or a seat integrated into the car, and at ages 4–5 a booster is allowed too.
The counter charges by the day: Avis’s US seats run “usually” $14, up to $84 a rental, and Budget’s $14.50, up to $87.
Handing an Avis seat back somewhere other than where you got it costs $50 — which matters if the car ends at PIE or SRQ.
JetBlue, Delta, Southwest and American each say they check car seats free of charge, so the cheapest seat is usually the one you fly with.
Picking up a car in Tampa after the ship
Can I pick up a rental car at Port Tampa Bay after my cruise?
Not at the port itself: we found no counter there, and its cruise pages don’t mention rental cars. The closest desks are downtown. Avis and Budget share one in the Embassy Suites, about 0.6 miles from Terminal 3 and open from 8 AM daily; Hertz sits in the Marriott Water Street, and Enterprise is on Nebraska Avenue. None publishes a port shuttle, so you’ll need a taxi, a rideshare or the free streetcar for the short hop.
How do I get from the Tampa cruise port to the airport rental cars?
Taxi or rideshare, about 9 miles. Uber’s route page averages $24 from Port Tampa Bay to TPA. At TPA, SkyConnect trains link the main terminal and the Rental Car Center.
What are the hours of the rental desks near Port Tampa Bay?
Avis and Budget (Embassy Suites): weekdays 8 AM to 4 PM, weekends 8 to noon. Hertz (Marriott Water Street): weekdays 9 to 4, Saturday 9 to noon, closed Sunday. Enterprise (Nebraska Avenue): weekdays 8 to 6, Saturday 9 to 1, closed Sunday.
When is manatee season at Crystal River?
From November 15 to March 31, per the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. By our route estimate, Crystal River is about 81 miles north of the cruise terminals.
More on renting around a Port Tampa Bay cruise
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