The car barge between Red Hook, St. Thomas and Enighed Pond, St. John is a working freight ferry, not a tourist service. Nobody meets you at a counter. There is no reservation system. You drive into a line, you pay a guy, and eventually you drive onto a steel deck between a cement truck and somebody's water delivery van.

It is also the only way to get a vehicle to St. John, and most first-timers get at least one thing about it wrong.

Read this before anything else: your rental car probably can't go

The most expensive mistake on this page is assuming you can put a St. Thomas rental car on the barge.

Most major rental agencies operating out of Cyril E. King Airport (STT) prohibit taking their vehicles off St. Thomas. It is in the contract. The barge crew will not check, and will happily load you — the barge company is not your rental company. But if the car is damaged, breaks down, or is involved in anything on St. John, you are outside the rental agreement and outside the insurance that came with it.

Policies vary by agency and by franchise location, and they change. Do not rely on a forum post from 2011, and do not rely on this page. Call the specific location you're renting from and get the answer in writing before you book.

The alternative most people should take: leave the car on St. Thomas, take the passenger ferry from Red Hook to Cruz Bay, and rent a Jeep on St. John from a St. John company. St. John rental agencies expect their vehicles to be on St. John. You skip the barge entirely, you skip the queue, and in most cases you spend less.

The barge makes sense when you are moving your own car, moving a rental from a company that has explicitly cleared it, moving a lot of gear, or staying long enough that the round-trip cost beats a second rental.

The route

One route, two ends:

• Red Hook, St. Thomas — the barge ramp, which is not the passenger ferry dock. It's adjacent. If you follow signs for the passenger ferry you will end up in the wrong line.
• Enighed Pond, St. John — the commercial port on the south side of Cruz Bay, roughly a five-to-ten minute walk from Cruz Bay center. Also not the passenger ferry dock.

Crossing time is short — plan on roughly half an hour on the water. Your total time is dominated by queueing, not by the crossing.

The three operators

Three private companies run the route. They do not coordinate schedules with each other, they do not sell each other's tickets, and they do not honor each other's round-trip stubs. Pick one and stick with it for the return, or buy one-way both directions.

Operator	Phone	Notes
Big Red Barge	(340) 227-0918	Runs seven days
Global Marine LLC	(340) 642-8893	Weekdays only — no weekends or holidays
Love City Car Ferries	(340) 779-4000	Runs seven days, separate weekday and weekend schedules

Current schedules and fares are on our Car and Passenger Ferry Service page. They shift with demand, holidays, and drydock, so treat any printed schedule — including ours — as a starting point and call the day before.

How it actually works

There are no reservations. This is the part people can't believe. You cannot book ahead, you cannot hold a spot, you cannot pay online. You show up and you queue.

You queue in your vehicle. Get in the line at the ramp. Do not leave the vehicle unattended to go get coffee; the line moves in surges and a gap means the loader waves the car behind you forward.

A barge holds a limited number of vehicles. If you're past the cutoff, you wait for the next one. This is why arrival time matters more than departure time.

You pay at the ramp, usually to someone walking the line with a receipt book, sometimes on the boat. Bring cash. Card acceptance varies by operator and by whether the reader is working that day.

The crew directs loading. They will tell you where to go, how tight to pull up, and whether to back on. Follow instructions immediately and don't improvise — they load to a weight distribution plan, and the guy waving at you has done this ten thousand times.

Stay with your vehicle or go up top, depending on the operator and the load. Ask.

Timing: when the queue is bad

This is the practical knowledge that isn't on the schedule.

• Sunday afternoon and evening, St. John to St. Thomas. Weekenders going home. This is the reliably worst direction/time combination.
• Friday afternoon, St. Thomas to St. John. Same thing, inbound.
• The last barge of the day, either direction. If you miss it, you are staying overnight on the wrong island with your car. There is no late option, no matter how much you offer to pay.
• Holidays and Carnival. Reduced schedules plus increased demand. Global Marine doesn't run holidays at all.
• The morning after a big weather event. Barges don't run in heavy seas, and when service resumes the backlog is enormous.

In high season, arriving 45 minutes before a posted departure is not excessive. In low season on a Tuesday, you can often roll up ten minutes out.

What it costs, honestly

Look up the current one-way and round-trip fares on our ferry page before you plan. Two things people miss:

1. Round-trip fares are usually tied to one operator. A round-trip stub from one company is not valid on another. If you buy round-trip and then the return schedule doesn't suit you, you're choosing between waiting and paying again.
2. Do the math against a second rental. For a week-long stay, the round-trip barge cost plus the St. Thomas rental for days you're not on St. Thomas frequently exceeds simply renting on each island as needed — before you even account for the rental agreement problem above.

If you're bringing a rental you have cleared

• Photograph the vehicle thoroughly before boarding. Barge decks are steel, salt-wet, and tightly packed. Door dings happen.
• Fold your mirrors.
• Know your vehicle's clearance. The ramp angle at low tide is steeper than it looks and low-slung cars scrape.
• Don't leave anything visible in the vehicle.

Passengers

Passengers can ride the barge with the vehicle, but there is no reason a non-driver should. The passenger ferry from Red Hook to Cruz Bay is faster, runs far more frequently, is more comfortable, and costs a fraction. Send the driver on the barge and everyone else on the passenger ferry, then meet in Cruz Bay. The barge lands at Enighed Pond; the passenger ferry lands at the Cruz Bay dock. They are a short walk apart.

What changes and when

Barge schedules and fares in the USVI are not stable. Operators come and go, boats go into drydock, hurricane season disrupts everything, and fares move without much notice. Specifically watch for:

• Fare changes — usually announced with little lead time
• Schedule changes — most common at the shoulder-season boundaries and around holidays
• Operator changes — companies on this route have started, stopped, and changed hands repeatedly

Call the operator directly the day before you travel. If you find something on this page that's out of date, tell us — that's how we keep it right.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I take my St. Thomas rental car on the car barge to St. John?

Usually not without checking first. Most major rental agencies at Cyril E. King Airport prohibit taking their vehicles off St. Thomas, even though the barge operators themselves won't stop you from loading one. Call your specific rental location and get confirmation in writing before you plan around it.

Do I need a reservation for the car barge?

No. There's no reservation system of any kind — you queue in your vehicle at the ramp and board when there's room on that trip.

What happens if I miss the last barge of the day?

You're stranded on the wrong island overnight with your vehicle. There's no late option regardless of how much you're willing to pay, so build in a real time buffer, especially on Sunday afternoons and evenings.

Can passengers ride the car barge without a vehicle?

Yes, but there's no reason to. The passenger ferry between Red Hook and Cruz Bay is faster, more frequent, more comfortable, and cheaper. Send the driver on the barge with the vehicle and everyone else on the passenger ferry — the two docks are a short walk apart in Cruz Bay.

Is a round-trip barge ticket valid on a different operator?

No. Round-trip fares are tied to the specific operator you bought from — a return stub from one company isn't honored by another. Buy one-way tickets both directions if you want flexibility on which operator you return with.