Taxis & car seats - St Thomas

[bahama97]

We're planning on going to Magen's Bay on St Thomas. From what I understand, you have to take a taxi there. We will have a (almost) 2 year old with us. Do they have car seats in the taxi - how does that work? What is the speed limit on the island?

TIA!

 

[kajohn]

We rented a car in St. Thomas, for $46 from Budget. We then were able to bring our car seat with us. I rented it from their website before we left on our trip.

Many of the taxis on the island are open air, and I was a little hesitant to put my children on them. The roads are also very mountainous and curvy, and I didn't want my kids riding with someone who is in a such a hurry (as taxi driver's always are, more trips equals more money).

Renting a car also gave us the opportunity to stop at a grocery store to get some chips and pop to take with us to the beach.

 

[jel0511]

I've been to ST. Thomas MANY times, and there will not be car seats available in the taxis. You might be able to wait for a regular car taxi, which will have seat belts for you to secure a car seat. As the previous posted mentioned, most of the taxis in the USVI are open air and aren't very safe, especially for children. The are very curvy and steep. If you really want to go to Magen's Bay, I'd recommend renting a car for a child that little. You'll feel better. Just a note, they drive on the left side of the road on St. Thomas. I wanted you to know, so you'd be prepared and willing to drive on the other side!!!! There are various speed limits on St. Thomas, depending on where you are. For instance, I travel to St. John most of the time. There is a posted speed limit of 20 mph for all the roads not in the main town, and 15mph in the main town. The roads are VERY open and not crowded at all. Most people are going MUCH faster than 20mph, unless you're going around a turn. I guess what I'm trying to say, is there are posted speed limits, but most of the taxi drivers and everyone else for that matter, don't adhere to them. Driving in the USVI can be VERY interesting to say the least!!!!

 

[lbgraves]

So the car rental places don't have seats available? The more I look into this, the more we are going to have to pack into that room and cart around.

 

[kajohn]

The car rental probably has seats to rent. My son only needed a booster seat, so I found it was cheaper to buy one of the small ones than to pay to rent one. The small one fit under the bed when we weren't using it, so it wasn't a pain to store.

I would think though, that a full size car seat would fit in the closet. All your luggage should fit under the bed, and there is plenty of drawer space for clothes as well as a pretty big closet to hang stuff, even with the car seat in there.

The porters will move the carseat from the dock to your cabin and back just as a piece of luggage, so you won't have to deal with it then.

Good luck, and I learned don't stress too much, it all works out in the end!

 

[jel0511]

No, the car rental companies in ST. Thomas and St. John don't have car seats for rent. They have different car seat laws in the USVI than we have here in the US. Also, if you've been there and seen the car rental places, you'd want to bring your own anyway. I wouldn't trust any seat they'd have anyway. I had to bring my car seat on our last cruise, since we needed it for the plane, and for the rental after since we were staying in Florida. It fit in the closet and was out of the way.

 

[bahama97]

For those who have rented a car before on St. Thomas, how much did it cost and what do you do to reserve it before hand?

Thanks!!

 

[jel0511]

I've usually paid between $60 - $70 per day. Prices are a little higher on St. John, if you plan on traveling over there. Go to this website and they have various car rental places available on St. Thomas. Budget has a location right at the cruise dock.

http://www.usvi.net/usvi/

 

[kajohn]

You might try going directly to the Budget website or avis. I found their prices cheaper than renting directly from the locations on the island from the link above. I paid either $46 or $49 for a mid sized car, that sat 5 from Budget. It is about a two block walk to the rental location for budget. It is on the dock past all the dock mall stores. The easiest way to find it is just ask someone when you get off the ship.