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We are staying in St. Thomas from July 24-Aug 1st. We are renting from Hertz and I am aware you cannot take the rental on the ferry to StJ.
How difficult is it to beach hop to a couple of the beaches and work our way down to Coral Bay and then back to Cruz Bay. There will be my family of six traveling. I remember from years back that there are open air taxis. Are they still around and can you fit six people in them. How expensive does it get. Thanks in advance. Mike
My daughter, sister and I are headed to St. Thomas for the first tiime in July and was wondering the same thing...Is it easy to get around in St. Johns? We are not renting a car at all. Is it better to go on a guided tour or just wing it?Thanks
It isn't so easy to beach hop using taxis. The two beaches where it's easy to get a taxi from town to and back are Trunk Bay and Cinnamon. They have taxis waiting at both of these beaches. For the other beaches, you have to just flag one down that is driving by. If you have a taxi take you to one of the beaches, then to the next, and then have a waiting taxi take you to Coral Bay, it's do-able. Not so sure how easy it is to get a taxi from Skinny Legs...but, you can catch the bus back to Cruz Bay from Coral Bay. It's only a dollar, and I'm sure someone at Skinny Legs can tell you where and when to catch the bus. In the slower summer months the bus schedule can be somewhat erratic...so you might have to be patient. Our taxis are open air safaris and can easily hold 6 people. If you are staying on St. John, renting a car is highly recommended. Hope you have a great time!
During slow season you can probably rent a car for the day only and I think that would be your cheapest option. The other way to go is to hire a taxi for the day. But that would definitely be more expensive.
Taxi's charge per person so if you want to go to more beaches than Truck and Cinnamon and also want to go all the way out to Skinny's, your cheapest option would be to try to rent a vehicle for the day. You'll have to walk from agency to agency to see if anyone has one for rent for one day. If you can't find a vehicle to rent for the day, I'd suggest going to Cinnamon. My guess is that everyone would have a great time there. If you decide to make it a 2 beach day, grab a taxi at Cinnamon back to Trunk and spend some time there before heading back to the ferry in Cruz Bay. Adding Skinny's, while it's a fun stop, may be a bit too ambitious to do with 6 people in one day.
I would suggest talking with some of the STJ taxi drivers (walk to the left when you get off the ferry) and see if you can work something out for several hours or the day -- you may be able to get someone to drive your group to the beaches, to Coral Bay and back for about the same price as renting a car for the day. My wife and I are annual STJ vistors but had occasion to take a cruise that stopped in STT. We hopped on the ferry to get our STJ fix and got a taxi to drive us around for most of the day. I recall it being around $100 but cannot remember for sure. Hope this helps, enjoy!
I rented from Budget in STT about 3 weeks ago, and they allowed the cars to be ferried back and forth from STJ. Apparently some car rental places allow it and some don't.
Hertz does allow it! I spoke with them directly at their STT branch office. The thing is, if you have a problem with the vehicle on STJ it's up to you to get it back to STT for service. That's probably the case with most companies on STT. I'm doing it. Think about it; when's the last time you had a problem that you needed to call for service? The odds of having a problem are slim.
Tim
Hospitality Car Rental, ask for Thomas, he also runs the smoothie stand directly across from the post office in Cruz Bay, I have rented from him for years, lowest prices, he treats you right, you have a place to park while in C.B. plus if you ask him nicely he will double shot your smoothie with Cruzan Rum of your choice.
You can not go wrong with him, his vehicles are not all brand new, but are in great shape and I have never had a problem in 10 years.
The only great way to see STJ is with your own vehicle for a day or two.
Discount Car Rental in St. Thomas do allows 4x4 vehicles which you can take it to St. John.
And if should there be any breakdown, they will take care of the repairs, or send another vehicle as a replacement if needed.
This does make a difference as cost to get the vehicle back to St. Thomas can get pretty expensive via towing service.
But if you have a flat, you get to change it!
And it is ST. JOHN and not St. Johns. (There is no s on the end) St. Johns is in Antigua, folks.
Have a great day!
Jmoon53
