Renting a car in the Caribbean

I am looking for advice. We are thinking about a trip to New Zealand, but we are apprehensive about driving on the right. My husband came up with the idea taking a cruise and renting a car on one of the Caribbean islands to see how this will feel. We are looking for suggestions of islands where we are not thrown into busy traffic from the start. For instance, I don't think Jamaica would be a good choice. So we would like an island with less traffic and a car rental that is not located in a large city. Hoping that you all might have some suggestions. (Also a great way to get another cruise booked)!

You need to remember that on many Caribbean islands they also drive on the right. Funnily enough my partner and I were having this conversation at the weekend as we had gone to France in our British car, so steering wheel on the kerb side whilst driving there.

Personally, I can't see what the difficulty is. You would be driving a local car in NZ or in the Caribbean, so you just need to remember the steering wheel goes in the middle of the road. Additionally, they are not busy places to drive in. I can understand somebody not wanting to drive in London, but the places you are looking at have little traffic.

I am looking for advice. We are thinking about a trip to New Zealand, but we are apprehensive about driving on the right. My husband came up with the idea taking a cruise and renting a car on one of the Caribbean islands to see how this will feel. We are looking for suggestions of islands where we are not thrown into busy traffic from the start. For instance, I don't think Jamaica would be a good choice. So we would like an island with less traffic and a car rental that is not located in a large city. Hoping that you all might have some suggestions. (Also a great way to get another cruise booked)!

Do you mean driving on the left side of the road? We drive on the right in America. I'm having a hard time thinking of an island that drives on the left without crazy traffic - Bahamas and Cayman is nuts. Perhaps Antigua? St. John or St. Croix in the USVI -but not a direct cruise stop? Can't comment on Barbados traffic...

The other thing that you are going to run into is that I am not sure if New Zealand uses right side steering wheel or left. On a lot of the islands I have been on they use American cars with the left steering wheel and are also driving on the left. It is an odd feeling to be on the outside of the roadway vs. inside....so I am not even sure you will be comparing apples to apples.

I don't know that the experiment will help much. In fact it might unnecessarily put you off driving in NZ.

Yes, as others have posted, some islands (broadly those with UK history like Antigua, Barbados, St Lucia, Grenada, BVI) drive on the left. But since rental cars tend to be imported from the US, many - as A&JFamily have noted - are LHD. And I've seen more than one American foxed by that.

I frequently drive in Europe, where they drive on the same side as the US.

I've done it my own UK car (RHD). And I've done it in rented LHD cars - and that is very much easier, very much more natural.

No worries in NZ :)

JB :)

Hi

I have driven rentals around Grand Cayman and Grand Bahama island. I have also driven around England (including London) and Scotland for 2weeks. The traffic is significantly lighter in the Caribbean, but you have to be comfortable with your ability. You are, after all, driving a vehicle that could kill someone if you aren't careful. One other thing to remember is that some locations may not have automatics. If that is a problem, be sure to ask.

hope this helps

have a safe trip

most rental cars in countries that drive on the left have bigs signs on the dashboard, with a big red arrow STAY LEFT. I lived in St. Thomas for a while and it's very easy, on takes a few minutes to get use to.

We rented a car in New Zealand (South Island) and drove it for 19 days. The traffic is sane and quite light there. I would rather start there than in the Caribbean.

After New Zealand we drove in two areas of Australia (Uluru with next to no traffic) and Cairns/Port Douglas which had some traffic, but we were used to it by then. My job was to constantly be vigilant to remind DH to be on the left.

I am looking for advice. We are thinking about a trip to New Zealand, but we are apprehensive about driving on the right. My husband came up with the idea taking a cruise and renting a car on one of the Caribbean islands to see how this will feel. We are looking for suggestions of islands where we are not thrown into busy traffic from the start. For instance, I don't think Jamaica would be a good choice. So we would like an island with less traffic and a car rental that is not located in a large city. Hoping that you all might have some suggestions. (Also a great way to get another cruise booked)!

Hmm. We usually rent scooters when on the islands. I know that Bermuda drives on the left as does Nassau. We rented scooters on both of these places numerous times. We also had extensive experience driving on the left with a standard vehicle (so we had to shift with the left hand with the steering wheel on the right and drive on the left-fun, fun, fun). We used to live in a developing country so not much scares us driving wise.

Bermuda has tight little roads with sharp turns but we felt fine on the scooter because we drove slowly (plus the scooters don't go that fast). A cruise from Bayonne stays on Bermuda for three days which gives you a good amount of time to get used to driving on the island (Celebrity cruises). However you cannot rent a car there just scooters but it may give you a feel for that opposite side of the road driving. That might be the one you want to try if you want to take your time getting used to driving on the opposite side of the road. Plus it has a variety of traffic with city (in Hamilton) and country style (out by the airport and beaches). Just a thought.

I'm not sure I would go to the extreme of taking a Caribbean cruise just so I could gain experience driving in a RHD car. Outside of Auckland and Wellington, there isn't a lot of high density driving in NZ. We did a 3 week driving trip if both islands earlier this year, and downtown Wellington was the only place that caused any anxiety. We just left the car at the hotel and took taxis while there.

As previously mentioned, you'll find RHD on most of the islands with a British Colonial history. But the ships dock in the cities ( no, they aren't large cities, but they have the highest vehicle traffic.). And you will find that the roads on some of these islands are very narrow, twisting and turning, and with often poor signage. And the conditions of some of these roads is quite poor. I wouldn't advise this for a first timer. NZ roads will feel like superhighways by comparison.

New Zealand is NOT the Caribbean...are you sure about where you're going?

The placement of the steering wheel and controls serve as a constant reminder. I have had no trouble adapting in England, Scotland and Ireland. Also, the narrow, poorly maintained roads on Caribbean islands would not be a good first shot (not to mention the somewhat free-for-all approach of many of the locals).

Thank you, I did mis-speak, it is driving on the left that is a concern. From the sounds of it, it is not really comparing apples to apples, especially if many of the Caribbean islands use American made cars. It is South Island we are thinking of vacationing, so with the idea that the roads are good and traffic is light, I will encourage my husband that the driving will be fine. But I did think it was a great excuse to take a cruise this spring!

But I did think it was a great excuse to take a cruise this spring!

That had occurred to me too :D

You are very unlikely to find any snow in NZ.

But just to be on the safe side, perhaps you should also take a vacation in Switzerland to get in some practice ;)

Have a great vacation.

Or two.

Or three.

JB :)

That had occurred to me too :D

 

You are very unlikely to find any snow in NZ.

But just to be on the safe side, perhaps you should also take a vacation in Switzerland to get in some practice ;)

 

Have a great vacation.

Or two.

Or three.

 

JB :)

Actually, you raise a good point. If the OP is going to be driving the south island, snow CAN be a concern, unless they are travelling during their summer (our winter months). We drove through some areas which we were told had very difficult driving conditions in their winter.