My wife and I are excited about taking the Sunset Limited from Maricopa to New Orleans in a couple of weeks. We plan to rent a car in New Orleans, and then drive to northern Florida and Georgia. (We would have liked to ride the Sunset to Jacksonville, but that is another story).
Do any of you have any ideas or suggestions about renting a car in New Orleans. We are unfamiliar with the area of the city where the Train station is. I worry if the train is late, and it is dark when we arrive. Please give us any advice.
Thank you
Posted by irish1 (Member # 222) on :
i had the same problem. the train was late and the downtown hertz office was closed. had to go to the airport to get a car. another time i rented a dollar rent a car. cant recall for sure but it was a short cab ride from the depot.
Posted by Geoff M (Member # 153) on :
The only experience was picking up from the airport (where I arrived) and dropping off at the station. The latter was booked and confirmed, and instructions on what to do. When I arrived - nothing. No phone, nobody in the station knew anything about it, and in the end I had to drive to a car park near the riverfront convention centre to drop it off and take a taxi back. I was not best pleased, especially when the office there said there was no such drop-off location - even when I showed them their confirmation slip clearly stating "Amtrak New Orleans"!
That was going back 5 years now. I can't remember what rental company that was.
Personally, if I was booking this now, I'd take a taxi to the airport and rent there. They're far more likely to be open and serving customers than any "downtown" locations.
Geoff M.
Posted by NativeSon5859 (Member # 2993) on :
There is an Enterprise location pretty near the station...maybe a little more than a mile...
1019 BARONNE STREET NEW ORLEANS, LA 70113-1006 Tel.: (504) 593-9068
They are open Monday - Saturday until 6:00pm.
There's also a Budget office on Canal Street which isn't too far as well..
1317 CANAL STREET NEW ORLEANS, LA 70112 US
They are open MO-FR 8-5, SA/SU 8-1.
Also, pretty sure there is a Hertz and Avis location downtown.
There still might be a courtesy phone booth in the station which has the car companies listed but I am not sure.
If the train is really late, would suggest just taking a cab to your hotel and they arrange something from there for the next day.
Posted by NativeSon5859 (Member # 2993) on :
Or...if you are not going to get a hotel...the only other thing to do would be to get to the airport like others have mentioned and then rent one from there. Taxi would cost around $28.
Posted by RRRICH (Member # 1418) on :
Yes that is the problem in New Orleans -- the airport is NOWHERE NEAR downtown -- I'm surprised the current cab fare is only $28
Posted by Konstantin (Member # 18) on :
Thank you for all of your responses. We have decided it is best to rent a car near the airport. If I knew the train would be on time, we could plan differently, but with Amtrak, you never know what might happen. We plan to rent a car near the airport, then drive directly to Biloxi and stay there.
An interesting side note: I had received an email from Amtrak Guest Rewards with a coupon for "up to 20% discount" from Budget Rental Car. We made a reservation with Budget, and included the coupon code. The cost was about $500 for the time we are planning to rent. Then, I made the exact same reservation without the coupon. The cost was about $320. I called budget, and they gave me the $320 rate and cancelled the rate with the Amtrak code. The lady on the phone said that this was typical with Amtrak coupons.