USVI-On-Line

I'll repeat what everyone else said--yes, definitely two cars! Especially since your son is there for his wedding.

I can't believe your son doesn't want another car. If I were on my honeymoon I wouldn't want to carpool with my family. No offense, but you know what I mean. Is it just a cost issue? There were two girls on our trip who decided to get their own car and a small vitara from Courtesy was $380 for the week. I thought that was reasonable.

We had a Liberty in October, and there were four of us. With coolers, beach chairs, floats, etc., we barely all fit in the car. I can't imagine adding another person and their junk to that, especially if we were staying that far out. At least on Great Cruz Bay road we could get a cab if we needed it.

2 cars or valium.

We had 6 folks fitting into a 4 door wrangler just fine. Seatbelts are so 1970.



Cheers, RickG

I don't know how the size of the vehicles you mention in your question compares to a Grand Vitara, which is what we rented in July. But, if this helps, there were four of us and when we went to the beach, it was really crowded. By the time we loaded 4 chairs, a cooler, snorkel gear, and and all our other stuff, we were packed. I don't think we could have fit any one else or any more stuff in it. I'd vote for a larger vehicle or two smaller ones if it were me.

I think the idea of the 2nd rental car as a wedding gift is a great idea. We had 5 in our party and rented one Jeep Wagoneer, a 7 passenger vehicle. We folded down the very back seats to carry all our junk. Bill and I were comfy up front, but Sue, Marty and DJ were pretty squished in the back seat so we took turns riding up front with Bill who was the only person wanting to do the driving. The size of the vehicle was not an issue at all regarding the size of the roads, that's just silly. There are much larger commercial vehicles driving around the island! We liked being together so sharing the car was not a big deal for us.

Thanks for all the replies. Just to clarify a bit, my son and his fiance will be coming in on a Fri. at 4:35. We figured that was probably going to not get them to the courthouse on St.T. in order to get their wedding license. So, they'd have to go back on Sat. We figured we could just drive them to the ferry and get groceries etc. at Cruz Bay.

One consideration was parking if we each had cars. Aren't there some beaches with minimal parking. It will be a busy week there. Money wasn't a factor. Probably two small ones wouldn't be that much more than a large. We are staying three days longer than them.

They will only be about a mile or so from us in their villa so we thought it would be convenient to pick them up as we drove off the east end and drop them off as we returned.

We are a close family, he has been with his girl for nine years-ever since my other son died. We like to do things together. She likes to be with us, too. I guess we figured we'd just go places together or if they wanted to go somewhere else we'd drop them off and pick them up.

Sounds like a close family is great, but maybe not in a vehicle on St. John.
My son is 27 so him driving his own vehicle won't be a problem. I do understand all your points...It sounds like it could be crowded and I don't think taking valium(Rick G) is how I want to spend my time there. I'm still mulling pros and cons. Maybe I'll have my son read this thread so he hears all points of view. Son, sorry I said you could be stubborn Thanks,again everyone. Maybe they could get their own car for five days or so...hmmm?

We didn't have trouble on the days we took two cars to most beaches. Even though I'm close with my friends, having them sit on my lap on North Shore Road was a bit much!

If you don't mind being cozy or aren't planning to take chairs and the like to the beach, you may be just fine. Of course, a mile on STJ is different than a mile anywhere else I've been and it could still be a pain for your son to get the car from you if they needed it and you were not going along.

Success with one vehicle versus two does depend a lot of tolerance of each other's agenda's.

The first time we did a joint jeep, it was with our close friends and there were no problems what so ever. They were newbies, we shared the same beach desires as well as evening plans. We also shared the driving because as someone else mentioned - a mile on St. John is different than a mainland mile.

The next year, the same friends got their own Jeep and it worked equally as well. We had a new baby and a grandmother along so it was best for all involved.

When we did a shared vehicle last year with my mom and her boyfriend, it was both ok and not.

The good - they had no opinions what so ever on beaches and liked to stay in at night while we went to town for meals.

The bad - we played taxi driver (neither mom or boyfriend would drive, too sissy) because when the group did split up, we needed to shuttle them around. After a few days of 20 minute round trips into town, both hubs and I grew VERY tired of the running. By the end of the week, nerves were frayed.

Food and lack of planning contributed to problem. No one planned ahead so it seemed like as soon as we were back at the villa and settled, either hubs or I needed to get back in the car and run to the store for dinner supplies for the stay-at-homers.

Feasibly, they could have taxied home from Cruz Bay but my mother's in-bred frugality lead her to say things like "don't worry about us, we will just stand out in front of Woody's until you feel like picking us up, don't worry if it takes 3 hours."

The lost luggage fiasco also contributed to the running.

We are sharing with the grandparents again next trip and again, neither of them wants to drive, but experience has taught us to:

1) plan ahead better in the food shopping and meal planning

2)not let guilt (literally) drive us to play taxi driver

3)set the ground rules ahead of time - I may insist on adding Pa-Pa as a driver. He drives for a living so there is no good reason he can't drive on St. John.

Get 2 cars. If for no other reason, it gives everyone the choice to do what they want. With one car you are basically joined at the hip.