St. Martin - Rental Car / Butterfly Farm / Le Galion Beach / etc

[HueyDeweyLouie]

Hi Folks,

This will be our first time in St. Martin and have no interest in doing Bernard's Tour. We are looking for more flexibility and are not intimidated with a little self-exploring. If I read the port schedule correct for June 4, the Fantasy will be the only one docked from 7:00am to 7:00pm. With that said, I figured this would be a great opportunity to rent a car and not have to worry about traffic as much or making it back to the ship on time.

What has your experience been with renting a car on this island?

My family consists of me, DW, DS5, DS14. We plan on kicking off our schedule with the following:

• Butterfly Farm (for my DS5)
• Le Galion Beach (for my DS5)
• A little shopping (maybe Marigot, maybe Philipsburg, we'll play it by ear)
• And then wherever else the road takes us in between. Not really interested in Maho, but we'll see, maybe my DS14 might be interested.

Let me know your thoughts and any advice (rental company, gas, safety, etc.)

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

Hi Folks,

This will be our first time in St. Martin and have no interest in doing Bernard's Tour. We are looking for more flexibility and are not intimidated with a little self-exploring. If I read the port schedule correct for June 4, the Fantasy will be the only one docked from 7:00am to 7:00pm. With that said, I figured this would be a great opportunity to rent a car and not have to worry about traffic as much or making it back to the ship on time.

What has your experience been with renting a car on this island?

My family consists of me, DW, DS5, DS14. We plan on kicking off our schedule with the following:

[*]Butterfly Farm (for my DS5)
[*]Le Galion Beach (for my DS5)
[*]A little shopping (maybe Marigot, maybe Philipsburg, we'll play it by ear)
[*]And then wherever else the road takes us in between. Not really interested in Maho, but we'll see, maybe my DS14 might be interested.


Let me know your thoughts and any advice (rental company, gas, safety, etc.)

A tip for mom n dad: guava berry.

 

[mommy_grrl]

if I remember correctly, on other cruise stops in St Martin (RCL, CCL) we were warned about driving in St Martin:

Roads are narrow, they drive FAST. Don't leave ANYTHING in the car when you get out. Take the rental company's insurance as there are a LOT of scams charging you for damage when you return.

Lastly, avoid the Dollar/Thrifty Car rental in St Maarten. A friend had a run in with false "damage" being claimed on their car, even though they pointed out the damage when they checked it out.

We've always taken cabs in St Martin/Maarten, haven't had a problem - you just need to leave extra time for travel, in general, as they have a lot of traffic.