Renting a Car in St. Thomas?

[westjones]

Has anyone rented a car in St. Thomas and taken the ferry to St. John? If so, have you used Budget? I found this website for them:

http://www.budgetstt.com/html/havensight.html

How much was the ferry?

Was it fairly simple to get around in your own car?

Thanks!
DJ

 

[jel0511]

The car ferry leaves Red Hook every half hour an it's $40 round trip. It talkes about 30 minutes on the car ferry to cross, since it doesn't go as fast as the passenger ferry. Becareful renting a car on ST. Thomas and taking it over to St. John. You should check with the rental agency, since most of them don't allow their cars to be taken over to St. John. If something happens while you're over on St. John, and you weren't supposed to be there, you're in TONS of trouble. There are only a couple of agencies on St. Thomas that will rent a car to someone who intends on taking it over to St. John. I believe they are all located at the airport, but I could be mistaken there. Check with the rental agency you plan to use if you do intend on driving over to St. John.

 

[schrei]

Yes, we rented last week in St. Thomas. We got a taxi to and from the dock as we tendered. We did not got to St John though. Just remember you drive on the opposite side of the road. We rented a Jeep, put the top down, filled the tank and bought the insurance for about $105.

We went to several beaches and a place (Udder Farms) known for their milk shakes.

Hope it helps.

 

[westjones]

Oh I didn't know you aren't suppose to take rental cars over to St. John. We wouldn't do it if we aren't suppose to, it would make us WAY too nervous.

Thanks for letting us know. I guess there is just no way for us to get to 'visit' the visitor center at the National Park over on St. John. We wanted to be able to get our National Park Passports stamped.

Oh well....we will have fun anyway (would have been a neat stamp to have in our books).

DJ

 

[jel0511]

Originally posted by westjones
Oh I didn't know you aren't suppose to take rental cars over to St. John. We wouldn't do it if we aren't suppose to, it would make us WAY too nervous.

Thanks for letting us know. I guess there is just no way for us to get to 'visit' the visitor center at the National Park over on St. John. We wanted to be able to get our National Park Passports stamped.

Oh well....we will have fun anyway (would have been a neat stamp to have in our books).

DJ

I didn't say that all rental cars aren't allowed over, just most of the agencies don't allow it. If you're still going to rent a car, it won't hurt to ask. But, if all you want to do is get a stamp and not go over to St. John all day, it's a VERY long trip for a stamp (30 minutes or so each way on the car ferry and sometimes a wait for the next one back, even though the run every 30 minutes). If you're intentions all along were to go over to St. John and enjoy the island for the day, you can always just take a taxi to the ferry and either use taxi's on the island to get around (readily available), or rent a car over there. There are many car rental agencies on St. John, all a quick walk from the ferry terminal. We go to St. John often and love it there. We just returned from there in November 2003, and are either going back this Nov (if the Panama Canal repositioning cruise happens) or next summer. If you decide to rent a car on St. John, I'd be happy to give some advice on rental agencies.

 

[westjones]

Oh, I didn't realize there were rental car places at St. John. Well we wanted more than a 'stamp', my DH is a big fan of the National Parks, and I have come to love them too. He was hoping for find a hiking trail and go around and seem some of the sights on the island. He said it sounded less developed and more 'rustic' than St. Thomas. We haven't been to either one of these places, so we don't know. We just thought it would be fun to get to spend time in a National Park that we will probably never visit again. And well....we do enjoy collecting our stamps.

Thanks for the advice. I will let him know that we can rent over on St. John. I'm not sure what we will end up doing, just looking at options right now.

Thanks again!
DJ

 

[jel0511]

Just wanted to add, if the reason you're renting the car in St. Thomas to get over to St. John is because of car seat issues with the taxis, there is a way around that. MOST of the taxis on St. Thomas which wait for cruise ship passengers are open air types, in which there are just benches in the beds of trucks, no true seats for car seat safety. You can always arrange to have a private taxi service ( we use this when we fly into STT to get us to the Red Hook ferry for the same reason) meet you at the port to take you to Red Hook. You'll have a car or van, with seat belts for securing a car seat and no worries there. Again, if you decide to go that way, I'll provide you with information. Just PM me.

 

[jel0511]

There are several fabulous hiking trails on St. John, and there is a map available at the National Park building in downtown Cruz Bay. Here is a website that you might find helpful in learning more about St. John. http://www.stjohnusvi.com/stjohn.html It contains a ton of information about St. John and also provides a link to the National Park on St. John. St. John is a COMPLETELY different world compared to St. Thomas, it's definately much quieter and more rustic. We actually only visited downtown Charlotte Amalie once, or our first trip, and have only set foot on the island since then to fly to/from there. I don't like St. Thomas one bit, too crowded, too commercial, you get the picture. St. John is just so laid back, no commercialisim and it's GREAT. I hope you enjoy your day there!

Edited to add:

Here is another link about the National Park.

http://www.nps.gov/viis/map.htm

 

[IrishCowboy]

We've used Budget twice to rent cars/Jeeps and caught the Red Hook ferry over to St John.

In my opinion, it is much cheaper and quicker than renting a vehicle on St John.

 

[Jiffymom]

Heck just hire a driver. You can get a taxi for the day. Leave the driving to them.