Southern Caribbean Jeep Rental Suggestions?

[sprat10]

We are going on Southern Caribbean cruise and want to rent a jeep on one of the islands. Which island would be the best to do some self exploration? Any suggestions on the ins and outs of this kind of touring? St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and St. Maarten. Thanks!

[habby]

We are going on Southern Caribbean cruise and want to rent a jeep on one of the islands. Which island would be the best to do some self exploration? Any suggestions on the ins and outs of this kind of touring? St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and St. Maarten. Thanks!

We've rented on St. Thomas, Barbados and St. Maarten. My observations (as a passenger):

 

St. Thomas has a lot of twists and turns, you drive on the "other" side of the road, the curves are banked wrong, and there's a lot of traffic with impatient drivers.

 

On Barbados, we rented from Stoutes (the office was right at the cruise terminal). Drive on the "other" side of the road, not as much traffic as on St. Thomas. Road signs don't tell you what road you're on, they tell you what "city/area" you're headed to. Roundabouts. Personally my absolute favorite place on earth (just a "feeling" that I can't explain). We like to go to the non-touristy places there like Crane Beach (east coast) and the Animal Flower Cave at the North Point, and there's a wonderful restaurant at Bathsheba that overlooks the ocean.

 

St. Maarten - I don't remember what side of the road they use. Nice drive around the island. Easy to negotiate except in the major downtowns. Honestly though the next time we go there, we're just going to stay near the port area. We realized we missed so much that was right there.

 

Haven't been to the other islands yet, so can't help there.

[mdrobtx]

We've rented and drove on all of these islands except St Kitts.

ST T, ST L and ST M for a week each.

It all depends on what you want to see and do.

My email addy is in my profile. Email me if you want more specifics.

 

Michael........