Hiring Grand Taxi
 

We are on a cruise that spends two nights in Casablanca. We would like to hire a car and go to Marakesh and spend one night. Any suggestions on the best way to line up transportation to and from Casablanca in advance? We will be there in May

The easiest and most comfortable way to get to Marrakech from Casablanca is by train. Take a taxi from your ship to Casa Voyageur Station, buy a ticket, and go. Information on Moroccan trains: seat61.com/Morocco.htm (go to "Train travel in Morocco").

In actual answer to your question, though as mentioned I think the train is your best option, my experience has always been that my accommodations have arranged my cars & drivers on the rare occasions when they were needed. So my suggestion for you, if you still want a car, would be to contact your hotel or riad in Marrakech to see if they can arrange pick-up at your ship. If not, a Casablanca travel agent could do it. Either way, the cost will be substantially more (many times more) than the train and, to my way of thinking, substantially less fun. And probably slower, though I have no experience with driving the route. Any excuse to take a train!

My two cents--as I recall, it's about a 3 1/2 to 4 hour train ride each way to Marrakech. With only two nights in Casa, that translates to one full day of sightseeing. Do you really want to waste nearly all of it on a train? If you haven't already, do some research on practical sightseeing options. Depending on what time you arrive in Casa the first day, I'd use part of your time to visit the incredible Hassan 2 mosque, the only mosque in Morocco that non-Muslims can enter. You might then consider using the rest of your time to tour a more interesting, nearby city such as Rabat. Traveling to Marrakech for as little time as you have makes zero sense to me.

...one of the only two mosques in Morocco that non-Muslims can enter (other is Tinmal).

Rome2rio.com says Casa to Marrakech by train is 3 hours. Rabat is nice but I'd choose either Marrakech or Fes, 3 1/2 by train. If one is looking for a high voltage hit of Morocco, those are the places, not Rabat. Going anywhere for 1 night is always is a compromise but in this case I'd say go for it.