We rented a car....no problems!!!!!

[anastasia3939]

Just took a cruise this Feb 09. One of the stops was St. Lucia. I had been doing A LOT of research on these boards and was struggling to find out information about the feasibility of renting a car for the day and driving around the island. There was much made about the island having winding, scary roads, from people who had traveled the roads with a tour group. Not much info from people who actually rented a car. I went ahead, crossed my fingers, and booked a car anyway......

 

VERY GLAD WE DID!! The roads in St. Lucia are actually very well kept and for the most part paved (dirt access road to Anse Chastanet). Even though the roads are steep and winding, there was plenty of room for traffic going both ways. Driving on the left is weird at first, but you get used to it without much problem. The rental company met us at the pier, gave us a map and off we went to the south of the island to see the volcano (very stinky!), gardens, and do snorkeling at Anse Chastanet (nice black sand beach, good snorkeling! bumpy road). The trip was beautiful and relaxing as we got to go at our own pace!!!! I can see why people taking the tours caution against driving and talk about getting motion sick on the roads.....the tour drivers drive like maniacs!!! We drove slowly and enjoyed the scenery...they would come whipping by and fly around corners!!

I wouldn't recommend driving if you normally take public transportation, or only drive to the corner store....but if you have to drive in your everyday life....and are used to rural country roads...then you should have no problems. We saved tons of money as it cost a total of $80 to rent the car (that included the one day driving permit and optional insurance)...and we would have been spending that per person had we taken a tour. We also got to see everything we wanted to see at our own pace. and No motion sickness!! :)

[cruzingnut]

What company did you use? We are going to be there this month and want to rent a car for part of the day as our ship is moving part way thru the day.

 

Thanks,

Linda

[Dgonza]

How far was the drive from the ship to anse chastanet beach?

[anastasia3939]

We used VC rentals for our rental company. They have a website on line that we booked through. It was about an hour drive to Anse Chastanet. We took our time and didn't whip around curves like the tour drivers!

[scubabecky]

Hi Anastasia,

 

Thanks so much for posting this...exactly what I was looking for. I've already checked out the VC Rental website. Did it cost extra for them to meet you in Castries?

[geologygeek]

Hi Anastasia,

 

Did you have a conventional small 2WD or did you go for something bigger? It's not far on the dirt down to Anse Chastanet, so we are guessing that a conventional will be fine.

 

Cheers.

[anastasia3939]

We rented a standard two wheel drive car. And no, VC rentals did not charge extra to meet us at the terminal. The woman who met us even left us her umbrella and gave us a map and went over our day plans with us so we knew where we were going!!