The one time I used it, it was rather orderly on the St. John end. Then again it was at 2PM, don't know what it looks like after 3 when the load of St. Thomas contactors and the wholesalers head back. They have not finished the Red Hook side as yet, so I don't know how the loading will be handled there.

RL

Hello Teresa,

Here is an aerial photo, .

--Islander

Thanks for the picture...I'll be there in about 8 weeks 🙂

islander,

is traffic routed "in from left with stacking that side" and exiting to right? keep up the good work.

papabou

Just got back. Used the car ferry for the first time this trip and it was a breeze. Just be sure you can back up the car because all loading is done by backing up! They charged me a $3 dollar port fee at STJ then $42 for a round trip ticket. Very cost effective since 6 of us were in the car.

Could you give me more details about this? Do you catch this ferry in Red Hook?

$42 for the round trip covered the passengers as well?

Thanks.

Shelley, the car ferry charge is per vehicle, including the passengers inside. The ferry goes between Red Hook, STT and Cruz Bay, STJ.

Thanks for your help.

It seems like it would be less expensive and potentially more convenient for my family of 5 to rent a car at the airport, do some grocery shopping, then head to St. John. That way we load the car once and don't have to lug all the luggage in taxis and ferries, and pay for all the people and luggage. We are also traveling with my sister's family of 4.

I was looking to book my rental car through Costco, as I have done in the past on STT. At least one company, Hertz, specifically said you may not take the car off the island or on any ferry.

Some others did not say one way or the other, so I guess I have to call them.

I wondered if anyone had experience with this.

Shelley, I believe Hertz is the only car rental that you can't take off island. In all the yrs we have been going to Stt we did rent from them once and found we couldn't go to StJ that time. It is best to ask though when you do rent.

>>>It seems like it would be less expensive and potentially more >>>convenient for my family of 5 to rent a car at the airport, do >>>some grocery shopping, then head to St. John. That way we load >>>the car once and don't have to lug all the luggage in taxis and >>>ferries, and pay for all the people and luggage.

Exactly!!! 🙂

That is what my husband and I do, and it works really well for us. There is a grocery store on the north side of the road shortly before the ferry dock in Red Hook that we always go to to stock up on groceries before boarding the ferry.

Some people prefer to rent on STJ, but it is definitely more expensive to do so...the groceries are also more expensive on STJ, but some people like to support the economy in STJ rather than STT...it's up to you. We've always rented from Avis at the airport, and none of their paperwork has ever said anything about not taking the vehicles to STJ (though Hertz definitely says you're NOT supposed to do this).

We'll be down to STT and STJ in 9 days and will be renting a car on STT. How often does the car ferry run on the weekends? We stay on STT for a week starting on 6/17 then head over to STJ on 6/24 and return back to STT on 7/9 for the flight home. Are the weekend ferries less crowded?

Thanks!

Can't wait to see the islands again -- the beautiful beaches, the sun, the sun and did I mention the sun? Can you tell it's been raining and gloomy in NJ?

I believe the thing with Hertz is; if you take it to STJ you do not have any support if something happens to the car. Flat tire, run out of gas, locked your key in the car, etc, That is what was told to me by Hertz a couple of years ago.

I always rent from Hertz and have never had any problems,

I rented from Hertz because I was staying on STT. While I was standing there returning my vehicle, a gentleman came up to the desk for his reserved car. They asked him where he was staying and he told them a place on St. John. The girl at the desk told him they do not allow their vehicles to go to St. John and they would not rent to him. The man was clearly upset and without a car. This was in April of this year. I recommend that you not take a chance renting from Hertz if you are staying on St. John. They were great for renters on STT.

Budget and Avis at STT allow you to take the cars via ferry to St John. We are doing it again in July.

Betty, go to the top of this page ad click on "ferry schedules" and you'll find what you asked for. Cheers.

Thanks so much to everyone for their replies. We rented from Budget last time we were there, but were staying on STT, so taking the car over was not an issue.

We are familiar with STT, so are comfortable with getting groceries, driving to Red Hook, etc.

I saw on the ferry schedule that there are several different companies that operate car barges to STJ. Does it matter which one to use and do they all load from the same general area? As they go at different times, it seems like we'd just take the soonest one we can get once arriving at the dock in Red Hook, unless there is any reason to avoid or choose any of them.

One more question. Do we really need a 4 WD or SUV for St. John, or would a car do ok for most travel there? I think we want to explore some of the island and beaches, and just have general transportation.

Thanks!

>>>>I believe the thing with Hertz is; if you take it to STJ you do not have any support if something happens to the car. Flat tire, run out of >>>>gas, locked your key in the car, etc, That is what was told to me by Hertz a couple of years ago.

When I was looking into Hertz a couple months ago, the fine print said that you can be fined $10,000 and subject to arrest for taking their vehicles to St. John...I don't know if that ever happens, but I'm happy with Avis anyway.

Shelley, you can get around St. John pretty well without 4WD...all of the paved roads are easy to get around on with a regular car, though there are a few unpaved roads that you'd want 4WD in order to navigate. My husband and I are going for the 4th year in a row next month, and we've always rented cars b/c they're so much cheaper...but this year we decided to go with 4WD to explore the few unpaved roads that we've never gotten to experience before. The island certainly has enough places to explore that you could keep yourself busy for a couple weeks and never need to venture to the 4WD roads...it's really up to you whether you want to spend the extra money in order to check out the unpaved roads...we were perfectly happy with a car the past 3 years, but now that we've seen everything BUT the unpaved roads, we're ready for them this year.

The main reason most people opt for a 4wd is because when it rains the roads become extremely slippery. The hills are VERY steep with many hairpin turns. It's worth the extra $$.

We rented from Discount Car Rental and there was no problem taking the car over to St John.

It's kind of frustrating at the car barge because they let alot of the locals on first and then they aren't always on time or in our case left early and left other cars thinking they were on time.

I'm sorry, I hated the car ferry. It's scarey.