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We are traveling to St. John from Feb 24th (Sat) – March 3rd (Sat) and are considering renting a car on STT and taking the car ferry to St. John. My only concern is how busy the ferries are on a Saturday in February. For those experienced with the schedule and demand, do you think there will be an issue with getting a vehicle on one of the ferries after 3:30 on a Saturday?
One more question for those familiar with the roads of St. John. Can you get by on the paved roads in a two wheel drive car? I can’t imagine why 4 wheel drive is necessary on a paved road, but I have never been there.
Thank you for all your posts, this message board has been a wonderful source of information.
Jeremy
If you will be at the car ferry in Red Hook at 3:30 you will have no trouble getting to St John before the last ferry at 6 or 7. However, there is no way to tell for sure as recently they have been doing repairs on a few of the barges and only one has been running.
As for a 2-wheel drive vehicle it depends on where you are staying. Most of the Villas are NOT on paved roads and would require 4-wheel drive. You can get around with a 2-wheel vehicle on the paved roads (except for some places when it rains) but it is a lot safer and easier if you have 4-wheel. Go with 4-wheel you will appreciate it.
I would highly suggest a 4WD vehicle. My husband and I first went to STJ on our honeymoon and returned for our 4th annual trip this past summer. The first 3 times we went to STJ we rented a small 2-wheel drive car and regretted it every time (but kept doing it because of the $$). This year we finally bit the bullet and paid the extra money for 4WD, and it was great, we’ll never go back to non-4WD. There had always been roads that we couldn’t navigate with 2WD that we were finally able to see this year.
This summer we were driving along the North Shore Road when the pavement was wet, and we had the car only in 2WD…we slid backward down the hill and spun around 180 degrees…pretty scary. We put it in 4WD and did the hill without a problem. And there are roads that are much scarier than the North Shore Road that you’d definitely need to have 4WD for in the rain.
