Other Car Rental Questions

[feirlin]

Ive done a lot of reading on here about car rental agencies near the pier. I've seen numerous recommendations for Arthurs and Best Deal. Ive seen a few for the chain agencys (Hertz, Dollar etc). But Im still not sure who to rent from.

Heres the situation.. we will have a 4 and 6 year old in tow and due to my physical health I am not a very fast walker. We dont need something fancy. A compact will do. This is what we are concerned with and I was hoping someone could provide us more information:

1. What agency is closest to the docked ships (Best Deal and Arthurs seem good but is one closer to the ships than the other?) With two young kids and my physical condition closest is best.

2. Who have people found could get them out of the office and on the road the quickest? Again, ansy kids!

3. Our ship leaves at 6pm. How much time should we allow for getting back from Orient beach, getting gas, and returning to the agency? Do we need to worry about the agency being closed?

I appreciate any help anyone can provide! Thank you!

[Natalia]

I can only answer one of those questions with my limited knowledge based also on reading... Ive not yet been to St Maarten. Its my understanding that basically all of the car rental places are in the same location. I would also recommend Arthurs first because everyone here has great things to say about him. I have corresponded with him several times by email and he is very kind, very patient.

 

From what Im told, you go out through the gate (out of the pier area) and turn right. His office (along with the others) is up a little bit on the left. They say its not too far, but I have the same concerns as you do.... I have 2 ladies in my group who cant walk too far.

 

I dont know when your cruise is, but when you get back, please come tell us how convenient the location is... I'd be interested to hear your opinion.

[The Big Booper]

There are 5 agencies within the pier area including Hertz, Budget (I think) and several local operations. I can only speak for Hertz which we usually use.

 

The last few times we rented a fairly new auto a/c Corolla in good shape for $50.00 plus gas, tax, insurance (your US insurance isn't good here). The total with everything came to $74. One person in the party goes in a Hertz shuttle to the off-site parking area (few blocks away) where the car is picked up and driven by the renter back to the pier to pick up the rest of the party if they have trouble walking. In our case both of us went to the storage lot with the company shuttle and just drove away.

 

Hertz and the others at the pier close at 5 PM sharp but since your ship leaves at 6 PM with gangway up at 5:30 PM that shouldn't cause a problem.

 

To my knowledge, Arthurs is several blocks away from the pier gate, we have never used him.

 

A point to consider, the pier is long with two ships on either side nose to tail and if your ship is at the far spot you have to do some walking just to get to the pier gate; the rental agencies are at the end of the area where the bus tours leave. I don't know if handicapped assist is available to run people up and back at the pier.

 

There is a gas station 3 blocks from the pier so filling up before you return the car is no problem. The car is left within the pier at the rental office when you return it.

 

Allow 50 minutes for leaving Orient to drive back to the pier fill the car up and dropping off at the agency office.

 

Feel free to ask more specific questions, I am back here every few days.

[L_T]

There are a number of dependable local car rental businesses in St. Maarten/St. Martin and we have used different ones with good results. We used Panoramic Car Rental (dot com) during our recent three week stay and were very satisfied - I noticed on their website that they rent to cruisers, meeting passengers at the cruise port entrance. We were very happy with the car and service provided and will use Mohamed when we visit again. If you visit their website you can take a look at the vehicles offered and the prices which will give you an idea of price range for the island.

[blloyd23]

We plan on renting a car for the day. We have reservations for an afternoon horseback ride at Bayside Stables which is in the Orient Beach area. I was told that we would get back to the stables at 4:15 at the latest. The car rental agencies close at 5:OO. The previous post says to allow 50 minutes from Orient Beach to return the car. We will only have 45 minutes. Will we have a problem? I don't want to changes our plans and take a taxi as we have other activities planned for the morning.

[atlcple2]

We have rented a Jeep twice from Best Deal Car Rental without incident. They have an office at the pier (most of them do) and they take you to Phillipsburg (about 1.5 miles) to pick up the car. You have to return it in Phillipsburg and they drive you back to the pier. I just rented a sub-compact car through Dollar Rental Car Company for a week in St. Martin for Labor Day as their rates were cheaper than Best Deal for the week's rental.

[texancruzer]

Just my two cents worth.... we were there end of Nov. on Serenade.

 

We rented with Hertz (also in San Juan and on Antigua) for our day in St. Martin months in advance. Right before we left the states for Puerto Rico I reconfirmed all 3 reservations (just like I do for flights)

 

In San Juan there were bad storms in the mountains and we had to cancel our day trip to the rainforest at the last minute - Hertz didnt charge us a penny for doing so.

 

In St. Martin they are as close to the pier as you can get without being ON the pier. My best friend (her and her husband were on the cruise with us) was in a real bad car accident @ 11 month before the trip. She had numerous serious injuries to her legs, ankles and feet and also has trouble walking any distance. This is what we did - my husband and I went down to the rental booth and did paperwork and he went and got jeep and by the time he got back they had arrived allowing her to take her time and walk at a pace that was comfortable for her. To drop off it was as close as any vehicle could get including taxis, buses or other cars.

 

Seems like some other others that "take you to Philipsburg" to pick up and then "take you back to the ship" when you are done would be a hassle with two little kids......

 

blloyd23- YOU ARE CUTTING IT TOO CLOSE IN MY OPINION.... TRAFFIC COMING BACK INTO THE DOCK AREA IN PHILIPSBURG WAS HEAVY LATE IN THE AFTERNOON WHEN WE CAME IN - BUT WE HAD ALLOWED AN EXTRA HOUR !!!!!!

[cccruising]

We just got back from our cruise and we didn't have a good experience with either Arthur's or Best Deal.

 

I had booked a jeep on the internet with Arthur's before we left. When I got there I saw that Arthurs' wasn't with the other 5 or 6 rental agencies right near the dock. So we started to ask where it was and no-one seemed to know. Eventually someone told us to walk towards town. So we did. All of a sudden a car with 4 guys in it drove up to us and said they had heard we were looking for Arthur's and that we were walking the wrong way. One of them jumped out of the car and walked us back into the other direction, past the pier to a dumpy little storefront with an Arthur's sign outside of it. There were about 5 or 6 scary looking guys standing in front of the store and they told us they had Arthur on the cell phone. I got on the phone and the guy on the other end said that he was Arthur and his computers were down for a couple of days so what was my name and what had I reserved and how much had he quoted me. I was getting a little suspicious. In the meantime one of these guys had gone and gotten our 'supposed' car. It wasn't a jeep it was an small SUV. They didn't have any paperwork. It was really weird. I had my wife and 3 kids with me and was beginning to get uncomfortable so I told them we were headed back to the pier where the other rental companies were.

 

So we headed back and stopped at Best Deal and rented a jeep for $70. They drove us to their lot (junky) in Philipsburg and gave us an old dented piece of junk with no gas. I took it next door to get gas and it wouldn't restart. After about 5 minutes I finally got it started and then immediately drove back to the Best Deal office and demanded my money back. They gave me the money back and the gas money.

 

I then went to Hertz, and had a great experience. We rented a brand new van for $70 and picked it up right there.

[WillieBluffU]

I'm with you ccc...sounds a bit scarey

[Jason's Storm]

ccc, which agencies are at the dock?

 

~JS

[The Big Booper]

We plan on renting a car for the day. We have reservations for an afternoon horseback ride at Bayside Stables which is in the Orient Beach area. I was told that we would get back to the stables at 4:15 at the latest. The car rental agencies close at 5:OO. The previous post says to allow 50 minutes from Orient Beach to return the car. We will only have 45 minutes. Will we have a problem? I don't want to changes our plans and take a taxi as we have other activities planned for the morning.

 

The trip back from Orient Bay is not as bad as the trip from Maho or Simpson Bay (s). If you leave promptly at 4:20 and skirt P-Burg and go straight to the docks you should be there by 4:50 or so. Allow 5 minutes to refuel at the gas station 2 blocks from the pier entrance. We told the woman who runs the Hertz franchise we would be back close to 5 so she was waiting for us when we pulled in at 4:56 PM.

 

I would stick with Hertz since it is franchised by Hertz which can put pressure on the operator or even pull the franchise if they mess around with you, like the local operators do. And their car storage area is two blocks from the pier.

 

The other poster talking about Arthur's non-appearance is not the first story told here about him. He might be a friendly fellow but this is not the first time problems running his company have caused him to be a no-show when his customers are looking for him and his cars. There is no back-up if you are a one-man show !!!!

[RN7997]

I got a car through expedia for 24.95 for the day. I can pick it up right at the port from Europcar. Its a cheap Hundai, but it'll get us and our 2 sons 6 and 8 around the island just fine.

[1stCruise34]

I am looking at Expedia and it lists 12 different locations for St Martin. Which one do I use or is closest to the pier?

Modesta Road 32, Simpson Bay

Aeroport Esperance Grand Case, Philipsburg

SIMPSON BAY, ST MARTIN

Airport Rd #15, St. Maarten

Water Front Rd 3, Colebay

Juliana International Airport, Philipsburg

Juliana International Airport, Simpson Bay

Airport Road, Juliana - Saint Martin

Juliana Airport, Juliana - Saint Martin

Grand Case Airport, Grand Case

Airport Road, 120 Simpson, PHILIPSBURG

Queen Juliana Airport, PHILIPSBURG

 

Thanks,

Alyssia

 

I got a car through expedia for 24.95 for the day. I can pick it up right at the port from Europcar. Its a cheap Hundai, but it'll get us and our 2 sons 6 and 8 around the island just fine.

[Jason's Storm]

There are ones that are a lot closer than those. Go to individual sites and you'll have a better selection.

 

~JS

[gtaylor]

None of those listed are anywhere near the Cruise Facility. Also, they generically use St. Martin no matter which side of the island they're referring to.

 

I just did an Expedia search and actually got 14 locations, including Pointe Blanche Port Facility, Philipsburg, which would be the one you would want. Maybe they're rented out on the day you're searching for.

 

You might be better off checking with Best Deal and Arthur's, two locally operated renters who have received good reviews here.

[Hootsie]

We rented a car at the port a couple weeks ago and there was no parking problems at Orient Beach. But the shopping areas are crazy and there is very little to no parking. I wish we would have just taken a taxi to that area because my DH dropped us off and tried to park and we lost him for about an hour. The streets are narrow and they park bumper to bumper.

 

If I went back, I don't think I'd rent a car again.

[1stCruise34]

gtaylor, thank you for the information. The location you found is very helpful and I was able to find it in Expedia after typing in Philipsburg, instead of St Martin for location. I realize you get what you pay for, but I was looking for a cheaper rate then what Best Deal and Arthurs are offering. Will also try the individual big name site as well.

 

With that said Hootsie's post brings up another question. Rent a car or taxi/bus all day? My friend and I are thinking of renting a car, because we really haven't planned the whole day and I was thinking that would be cheaper then paying for cabs. So far we arrive in port at 7 depart at 5, we have an hour long horseback ride scheduled for 9am at Baie Lucas, Oyster Pond. From there I was thinking Orient Beach/Butterfly Farm then back to Philipsburg for shopping in the afternoon. But the parking issue concerns me now.

 

Thanks for all the help,

Alyssia