Rental car for the day in St. Maarten?

Has anyone done this, was it easy and stress-free? Is there even a car rental place close to dock?

Hubby and I are torn as to what to do; we're not a big fan of organized tours (plus they get so expensive!!) and we'd love to just drive around and stop where the fancy takes us, but on the other hand, dealing with rental cars can be stressful...And if the weather is inclement, we'd be stuck with a reservation, I guess??

I have posted this before but will mention it again.

We rented from Hertz at the airport for our weeks stay in Grand Case prior to our cruise. We dropped off the car at the cruise terminal. Hertz is available at the cruise terminal and we had no issues with our rental.

Thanks! I'll check Hertz now :-)

Thanks! I'll check Hertz now :-)

We've rented a couple of times from Hertz at the pier and highly recommend them.

We rented Hertz. Right off the ship in the cruise port.

Best way to get out and see the island without the crowds (or with if you prefer)

Totally worth it. Easy peasy. Keep in mind traffic back to the port can be heavy 1-2 hours before ship leaves as everyone is headed back.

-Sean

Good advice, thanks!

Could those of you who've toured the island by car point us towards an itinerary? Where did you etc.?

We now have organized tours booked for the four other ports we're stopping at, not sure whether to try and do that for St. Maarten, too, or whether to keep the car; leaning towards keeping the car reservation

Good advice, thanks!

Could those of you who've toured the island by car point us towards an itinerary? Where did you etc.?

We now have organized tours booked for the four other ports we're stopping at, not sure whether to try and do that for St. Maarten, too, or whether to keep the car; leaning towards keeping the car reservation

Our goal was to drive around the island but we never made it. Too much to see and do. 1st stop was Maho beach. Tough to find a parking spot kinda had to make one up.

Next stop was Marigot. Great little town. Spent a bit of time there. Had lunch and enjoyed the shops and crafts.

Then we hit Grand Case and the kids had a blast at the beach. Waves were pretty big there when we went which made it fun.

By that time it was getting late (2pm or so) and we figured we should head back. All aboard was 4:30.

Best advice I can give...If you find something you enjoy.... don't rush off to the next place, stay and enjoy it.

-Sean

We spent one week prior to our cruise in a condo on the beach in Grand Case. We had a rental car for the week but never left the beach until the day before our cruise! That day we drove down to Marigot because 20+ years ago we had been there on another cruise. The outdoor market was fun but the rest of Marigot didn't live up to our memories. Grand Case was SO much nicer!

When we left Grand Case to head to the port, we drove first to Orient Beach and spent a couple of hours walking the beach and having a beer or two. We also drove past the butterfly farm but decided we didn't have enough time to check it out. Got to the port just as boarding started so off we went.

Driving the island is easy. Basically there is the one main road that circles the island. We had no interest in watching the planes come in (hey we were on one of those plus on Grand Case we saw plenty of small planes landing) so hanging at the beach in Grand Case was just what the doctor ordered!

We did rent a car for our day in St Bart's and enjoyed beach hopping, beer tasting and shopping that day as well!

Our goal was to drive around the island but we never made it. Too much to see and do. 1st stop was Maho beach. Tough to find a parking spot kinda had to make one up.

 

Next stop was Marigot. Great little town. Spent a bit of time there. Had lunch and enjoyed the shops and crafts.

 

Then we hit Grand Case and the kids had a blast at the beach. Waves were pretty big there when we went which made it fun.

 

By that time it was getting late (2pm or so) and we figured we should head back. All aboard was 4:30.

 

Best advice I can give...If you find something you enjoy.... don't rush off to the next place, stay and enjoy it.

 

-Sean

With that route, you DID drive around the island.

About the only thing that you missed was popping over to Orient as you drove past, but you would have had a great view as you passed Paradise View, above Orient.

gary

With that route, you DID drive around the island.

 

About the only thing that you missed was popping over to Orient as you drove past, but you would have had a great view as you passed Paradise View, above Orient.

 

gary

Gary -

Sadly we went back the way we came. I wasn't sure how long it would take to keep going or what the roads would be like so rather than risk it we knew how long the drive would be going back the way we came in. Next time we will have a much better idea of where to go and what to do.

-Sean

Are you saying that from Grand Case you went back through Marigot to return to Philipsburg? Or even back to Maho?

That had to at least double your travel time. Triple if Maho.

Grand Case to Philipsburg should be on the order of 30 minutes. Great roads.

gary

Are you saying that from Grand Case you went back through Marigot to return to Philipsburg? Or even back to Maho?

 

That had to at least double your travel time. Triple if Maho.

 

Grand Case to Philipsburg should be on the order of 30 minutes. Great roads.

 

gary

Gary -

Next time I'm taking you with us. :D

-Sean

We have ZERO interest in Maho! If we skipped Maho and went straight to Marigot, would that save us from the worst of the traffic? I'm getting a little frightened by everyone saying how bad traffic is...

If we went straight up from Philipsburg (well I know now there isn't a "straight up" but the most direct way possible!), would it be reasonable to go to Marigot and then either Grand Case (even though it sounds like that's rather rough?) or Mullet Beach (I think we'd prefer that over Orient Beach, which sounds very overrun and touristy)? How is the beach close to the port, I've read conflicting things about that...I'm thinking we could start early from Mullet Beach to be on the safe side and if we have plenty of time left, stop at that one (Grand Bay or something??)

How much time do we need to plan from the moment we arrive back to the rental car company to the moment we arrive back at the ship?

We have ZERO interest in Maho! If we skipped Maho and went straight to Marigot, would that save us from the worst of the traffic? I'm getting a little frightened by everyone saying how bad traffic is...

If we went straight up from Philipsburg (well I know now there isn't a "straight up" but the most direct way possible!), would it be reasonable to go to Marigot and then either Grand Case (even though it sounds like that's rather rough?) or Mullet Beach (I think we'd prefer that over Orient Beach, which sounds very overrun and touristy)? How is the beach close to the port, I've read conflicting things about that...I'm thinking we could start early from Mullet Beach to be on the safe side and if we have plenty of time left, stop at that one (Grand Bay or something??)

How much time do we need to plan from the moment we arrive back to the rental car company to the moment we arrive back at the ship?

I only found Grand Case rough on one visit and that was in January apparently from a north swell which happens at that time of year from what I was told from a one of the "beach boys". The very next day many snorkel tours in St. John were taken to a different place for the same reason.

Keep in mind that Mullet is the beach past Maho so coming back you will face the same traffic issues.

If you rent from the pier. I would turn the car in 30 minutes before all aboard time as they need to check the car and there may be a line-up and who knows maybe an issue with a car.

Why would you go to Great Bay? It has pollution concerns and the parking is awful. If you have time and want to stop at a beach on the way back to dropping your car off then I would recommend Little Bay. Tell them at Divi that you are going to rent paddle boards or something like that if the security gives you a hard time because you have a car. Shouldn't be a problem but always good to have an answer for them.

I realized after I wrote this post where Mullet Bay was, so will probably not go there - I think we'll just try to avoid the bridge altogether and just go straight up to Marigot and then on to Pic Paradis and Grand Case. The idea of going to Great Bay was born out of the fact that is it almost walkable to the pier, so I thought if we had tons of time left and wanted more beach time ,we could always stop there on the way back? Didn't realize it was so polluted!!

After Marigot, you could head up to Grand Case - which I have never heard of as particularly rough, or Orient Beach. Dawn Beach - facing east, can be rough sometimes, but is a good alternative to Orient, and is an easy 15 or 20 minute drive back to the pier. The only really bad traffic is generally run into when trying to come through Philipsburg from the Maho/Mullet area.

Thanks for the info! I figure if we skip going over that bridge and came back down the East side of the island, we should be ok traffic wise, hopefully...the fact that it's Sunday should help, too, I think.

Thanks for the info! I figure if we skip going over that bridge and came back down the East side of the island, we should be ok traffic wise, hopefully...the fact that it's Sunday should help, too, I think.

Your plan sounds good. Sunday coming from the airport can be busy to the Simpson Bay Area because of the timeshare owners/guests coming from the airport. Coming from the east side on a Sunday should be no problem.

After Marigot, you could head up to Grand Case - which I have never heard of as particularly rough, or Orient Beach. Dawn Beach - facing east, can be rough sometimes, but is a good alternative to Orient, and is an easy 15 or 20 minute drive back to the pier. The only really bad traffic is generally run into when trying to come through Philipsburg from the Maho/Mullet area.

You know how I say that Dawn can be rough in the summer well it was never as bad as that day in Grand Case that one January. We left and went to Le Galion beach and then drove back to Grand Case for lunch. While on the back porch eating at Le Soleil the only people playing in the waves at the shore was a lady with one arm and three children in the 3-7 age. She watched them like a hawk and rescued them on several occasions. She was braver than us that's for sure.

The week at the beach in Grand Case was late January in 2015. The beach was beautiful and very calm! Our condo was right next door to the Rainbow Cafe and the beach was lovely! No issues with bad surf at all on the entire beach.

One other note about car returns at the pier. When turning in our Hertz car we had picked up at the airport and kept got the week prior to returning before boarding our WS yacht, there wasn't anyone to take our return. We filled out the paperwork and I videotaped the outside of the car, dropped papers and keys in the box and off we went to our cruise!

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Old post I know. Does anyone know if Hertz is still operational in SXM? I like having a car for the day. Thanks for any news!