Jeep rental in St Maarten?

[tink5697]

I keep hearing that you can just walk off the boat and you will see all sorts of rental places. I'm wondering if anyone knows specifically of what place they used? I would like to reserve it before hand if I could.
Thanks in advance for any input!

 

[northernmouse]

On our cruise last May, we booked at Avis in St. Maarten. The service was very good. It's a little bit of a walk from the terminal; not much, less than 10 minutes, but it was hot in May. For our cruise this coming November, we will book at Budget in advance, because the Budget location is right at the terminal, which make it very convenient for all that snorkel gear we carried!

 

[tink5697]

So Budget was closer, cool! Did you rent a jeep from Avis or just a regular rental? Thanks so much for your response!

 

[northernmouse]

We rented a Suzuki Vitara, it's a smaller 'jeep-like' vehicle that worked well for us (2 adults, 1 - 12 year-old). It had a removable soft-top, with zip-out windows, etc. and was all that available in St. Maarten.

We did get Jeep Wrangler in St. Thomas, from Avis. The Avis dealer was the closest to port in St. Thomas. . . which, (if you decide to rent there) has the added excitement of left-drive, left lane. Very counter-intuitive for the already directionally challenged!

On our next cruise we're going to do an excursion to St. Thomas, as we found the St. Thomas beaches a disappointment after St. Maartin. (Mind you, we only discovered Fenchman's Beach in St. Thomas after we got lost returning the rental car. No time to stop, but it looked stunning as we whizzed by)

 

[tink5697]

Northernmouse: Did you rent the Vitara ahead of time? Was that place close to port? Thanks so much for allt he info!

 

[northernmouse]

You're welcome -- these boards were a great source of inspiration for our first cruises, so I'm happy to do my part

We did rent ahead of time, and I've already booked online for our November cruise. We booked a Vitara in St. Marten again, this time at Budget because it is so convenient. Just went to www.budget.com and did it from there. Click Find Location, go to St. Martin as the country, Philipsburg as the city, and pick the cruise terminal location. Couldn't be simpler.

If you choose to use Avis in St. Thomas, you can also book online at www.avis.com, which is what we did last year. It may cost a little more, (I don't know that it does, but I have read of others bargaining for rentals on the day of arrival) but I like the assurance of having a confirmed reservation at a brand name location.

Good luck . . . and have fun!