Looking for car rental & ferry insight

[Suziekue]

Hi,
Looking for some insight on car rentals & ferries please. I've seen that L & L car rental has both STT & STJ locations so I was thinking I might book with them in STT for our trip in November. I've never picked up a car in STT or taken the car ferry over to STJ. Everyone seems to say it's better & you can shop/provision on STT & save. I'd appreciate you sharing experiences with me so I can make an educated decision, thanks in advance!

[kklay]

You need to make sure you have a flight that arrives no later than 4:30 PM - preferably earlier if you plan on stopping and shopping for some groceries. We always rent from Amalie on St. Thomas and have for several years. I have not used L & L but I believe they also have the one parking lot on STJ that we've used several times. Maybe you can work free parking into your rental deal! Just remember the car barge only runs until around 6 - 6:30 PM It might have a 7:00 PM run but I would not chance being on the last run from STT to STJ.

[loria]

for it to be really cost efficient -- you need a large crew -- the saving sin groceries don't do that much (at least in my experience) with a small group. with the current car barge situation -- that is another thing to take into account -- since i doubt that the Mr B will be back in service anytime soon .

[Suziekue]

Thank you both for the information, we'll be staying on STT the first day so the timing should be OK for the barge but there is only two of us so it sounds like we might do just as well to rent on STJ. I was thinking it would save us with taxi costs too but maybe not enough to add value.

[AquaGirl]

We've always rented on StJ. We wanted in-town parking and we didn't want to have to get the Jeep back to STT if it had problems. We've rented a Jeep from Bougainvillea for all of our trips and they were great. We had an issue with the Jeep one time and we just took it back and exchanged it for another one. Their parking is a few blocks from the ferry dock, and has worked fine for us when we go into Cruz Bay.

We've never bought groceries on STT, so can't really speak to the savings. Here are a few things we've done.

- We bring cereal, almond butter, peanuts, pecans, coffee, Splenda, crackers spices, and a few other items in our checked bag. It saves a little because things like coffee are very expensive on StJ. Last time we brought pre-measured ingredients for cookies - thanks to Leslie for this idea
Just be sure not to go over the 50lb limit!

- We go to Pine Peace Market first. It is smaller (thus more limited) than Dolphin or Starfish, but in general, they have better prices. We buy things like juice, soda, bottled water, snacks, etc. Sometimes they have nice fruit and vegetables. Then we go to Starfish for the rest of the items we need. Sometimes we go to Dolphin too.

- We refill our water jugs at the water place in town - much less expensive than buying more gallons.

I've read on the forum that some people ship a box of staples, including suntan lotion, to StJ Connections prior to their trip. This works well if you are going carry-on only.

Happy trip planning!

[KAY]

We prefer renting our vehicle and shopping on St Thomas. While parking at L&L on St John last week they were offering a rate of $50 a week for unlimited parking or $30 a week if you had rented from their St Thomas location.

[equineannie]

Safari taxis on St Thomas are much cheaper than a taxi...

[Suziekue]

Thank you all for your help I really appreciate all of your input. I've been to STJ many times but always took the passenger ferry then got a Jeep. Based on everyone's input and the barge situation this might not be the trip to try renting on STT. Still have several months to wait, who knows maybe the barge situation will be resolved.