Hiring a driver for the day?

[AMAC86]

I often hear of people who said they hired a driver at their port of call for only about $15 or so. I'm sure it depends on the port, but I'm curious about how this is actually done, and whether or not it is safe (will the driver just abandon you on the other side of the island, causing you to miss the ship?, etc.).

 

The ports in particular I'm interested in doing this at are St. Maarten and St. Thomas.

[Fblack]

More like $15 and hour in the Caribbean for a private driver. In St. Kitts we could have had a private driver but chose a shared van for 3.5 hours for $20 per person.

[AMAC86]

Interesting. I guess it depends on the island. I swear I keep hearing people say they hired a driver for $15 (perhaps PP) for the whole day! I wonder if Antigua, Barbados or St. Lucia are cheaper?

 

I would be pretty nervous to ride in an unregulated, uninsured taxi in the US, so that's why I'm leery of doing it outside the US.

[reedprincess]

Interesting. I guess it depends on the island. I swear I keep hearing people say they hired a driver for $15 (perhaps PP) for the whole day! I wonder if Antigua, Barbados or St. Lucia are cheaper?

 

I would be pretty nervous to ride in an unregulated, uninsured taxi in the US, so that's why I'm leery of doing it outside the US.

 

In St. Lucia, if you wanted to hire a car for the day - you are looking at at least around $200US for up to 4 people - definitely, definitely NOT $15 for the day! Barbados is also pricey, but not as much as St. Lucia. Taxi drivers in St. Lucia are licensed and insured - they have a TX license plate. If the driver does not have a TX plate, then he is pirating the route and not a licensed taxi operator. A private hired vehicle/driver would have either an H license plate or a TX, depending on the company. A rental car (which you drove yourself) would have an H. Other countries have similar ways of noting taxis, etc. Most of these islands depend very strongly, if not almost solely on tourism - and yes, while occasionaly something awful does happen, the odds of a driver dropping you off somewhere or abandoning you are slim to none.

Around Mexico and some other countries - you can probably hire a car for $15US an hour - maybe less, but not around the small Caribbean islands.

You may want to check the CC ports of call boards for each specific island to get a better idea of costs and places to visit, distances, etc.

Enjoy!

[AMAC86]

After reading some more threads, it appears that I must've misread. Perhaps they were saying $15/hr, indeed!