TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin taxi vs car rental

We rented a car for one day from Elton at Rodael Car Rental (Kenny recommended him, as Kenny had no availability). We are flying in for a week of sailing out of the Moorings base at Oyster Pond. There are four of us adults plus our luggage, and we are using the car to drive from the airport to the Moorings base at Oyster Pond. We were also going to use it to provision the boat at Grand Marche at Phillipsburg on either Friday night or Saturday morning and possibly to pick up a couple things from the Ace Superstore (some swim noodles, maybe an air mattress or two and a beach umbrella?) . We could also use it to go to dinner Friday night, but not sure if that will be necessary. Having second thoughts - would I have done better to just cab from the airport to Oyster Pond then cab again to and from the markets? The car is $65 plus tax . Thanks! Looking forward to arriving this weekend!

That seems very high for a one day rental. I would check around for a better price or hire Wilfred Brooks, a sponsor here, who will take you all in a van for more comfort and space for all your purchases. He comes very highly recommended and will provide excellent service.

may seem high, all depends on what type of vehicle you are renting.

A rental for one day is always much higher than what the per day rental would be, if you rent for a week.

Do you know the island well? If so, you could definitely do that. If you don't, I might opt for the taxi. Wilfred could definitely take all your stuff in his van, as he has a big van.

On the one hand, a rental car might be very tight for 4 of you and luggage, unless you've rented quite a big one.

On the other hand, the flexibility of having your own car for last-second runs before your boat departure may well be worth the extra few bucks.

Looking at a cab fare chart I have from a couple of years back the cab fare from airport would be $30 for 1-2 passengers, $10 extra for 3-5 passengers. I believe that includes one bag per person not sure rate for all. bags.

This only gets you to one place. If you stop for provisions along the way there would be a "wait" charge added. So, to me, the car rental sounds reasonable. Plus taking cabs would mean another charge each place you went.

BUT does the car have to be returned back to airport? That doesn't help you.

Thanks for your thoughts. We are picking the car up at the airport on Friday, leaving it at Oyster Pond Saturday afternoon. Out the door with taxes (I'm guessing about $80) I don't think we're saving anything over cabs but we're hoping to gain a little convenience. I think the cab from the airport for 4 of us will be about $45 with luggage, guessing at least $15 each way up and back from Oyster Pond to Grand Marche to provision the boat. The Moorings Miami staff has been so incredibly NOT-helpful in answering any questions about what might or might not be supplied on the boat (clothespins? binoculars? beach towels?) that I won't be surprised if we need to make a run to Ace Superstore for missing items. We're trying to pack light and avoid duplicating items, but Miami's answer to every question is "probably" or " I think so". I'm hoping the Oyster Pond Moorings staff is a little more helpful, but the Moorings won't supply any contact information to reach the base directly, so I guess we'll find out on Saturday! And a fellow TTOL sailor suggested renting a phone through Queen of SXM so I am glad for that advice as well. We've sailed in the BVI several times and TTOL is such a great source of information! Thanks, everyone