Car rentals vs excursions? Southern Caribbean

[J0Y0US]

In general would you say renting a car is possibly a good way to go on many islands? Seems like we can easily get one most places. There will be 6 of us (2 kids which we have portable seat belt restraints) that would mean any excursions start to surge in pricing.

 

Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, St Lucia, St Kitts

 

I can go to the specific island forums but figured I would ask the overarching question first.

[J0Y0US]

Coming back to provide some follow up.

 

Aruba/Curacao/St Kitts - Easy car rental, easy to drive around, ample parking everywhere we went

Bonaire - Golf Kart rental (you do not want to do a car rental here and they have 4 person golf carts)

St Lucia - DO NOT RENT A CAR

 

Just to further outline St Lucia I am so thankful that it was the only port we decided to not rent a car. The port area is a mess, massive backups, no great options for car rentals right in port area (have to go to airport), the roads are fairly hairpin everywhere (which is fine if you are comfortable but means you are not getting anywhere anytime soon).

 

If you have questions I don't get on Cruise Critic a ton except when planning a last minute cruise vacation but I will try to respond if I see you ask a question.

[AKJonesy]

On 1/26/2023 at 5:42 AM, J0Y0US said:

Coming back to provide some follow up.

 

Aruba/Curacao/St Kitts - Easy car rental, easy to drive around, ample parking everywhere we went

Bonaire - Golf Kart rental (you do not want to do a car rental here and they have 4 person golf carts)

St Lucia - DO NOT RENT A CAR

 

Just to further outline St Lucia I am so thankful that it was the only port we decided to not rent a car. The port area is a mess, massive backups, no great options for car rentals right in port area (have to go to airport), the roads are fairly hairpin everywhere (which is fine if you are comfortable but means you are not getting anywhere anytime soon).

 

If you have questions I don't get on Cruise Critic a ton except when planning a last minute cruise vacation but I will try to respond if I see you ask a question.

I'm wondering how active this part of cruise critic is.  But, thanks for that information.  Today, I was just looking at Philipsburg, Sint Maarten and looking at car reviews.  Most got bad reviews but one stood out as near excellent.  If you have something to share in ST. KITTS, I would love to know...meaning, who did you rent from, did you walk up or rent in advance, and if so through which outlet.  Again, thanks. 

[J0Y0US]

On 2/11/2023 at 2:12 PM, AKJonesy said:

I'm wondering how active this part of cruise critic is.  But, thanks for that information.  Today, I was just looking at Philipsburg, Sint Maarten and looking at car reviews.  Most got bad reviews but one stood out as near excellent.  If you have something to share in ST. KITTS, I would love to know...meaning, who did you rent from, did you walk up or rent in advance, and if so through which outlet.  Again, thanks. 

 

St. Kitts

 

We rented from Avis and decided on them over Hertz because they were closer. We walked through the cruise port area, across a grassy small little area, and as soon as you get to the exit of the port area its right across the street.

 

We did have to wait a bit while others who didn't line up rentals before hand were helped (a little annoying) and then got a vehicle which we reserved ahead of time (you wouldn't likely get an SUV if you showed up day of). The vehicle was newer but had a few dings in it but nothing to make you think it was unsafe.

 

One issue we did have was that we rented what was supposed to have a 3rd row but there was no 3rd row in the vehicle. We were lucky though that we could squeeze 4 across as we had a belt style restraint system for them anyways when we travel. This could be an issue for others but since I rented through a business portal I chalked it up to their incorrect information.

 

Driving on the other side of the road was interesting and helped to have others in the vehicle just to make sure you were staying in the lines. The only "hard" part of the driving was going up to Brimstone where there was a bunch of hairpin turns. I am glad we did this first so only on the way down there was traffic but I could see some people having a good amount of difficulty.

 

Also I felt the areas around the island were very safe.

 

I would make sure you hit Timothy Hill Overlook if you spend the day with your own vehicle as you can hit on your way to or from the southern part of the island where pretty much all of best beaches are located.