We will be arriving in STT at 4:02pm. Do you think this is cutting it too close to catch the last car barge of the day to St. John, which departs at 7pm out of Red Hook?

I figure we will need 45 minutes to get off the plane, collect our luggage and get our car. Another hour to navigate across the island to the car barge. If everything goes exactly as planned, and there are no flight delays we could plan to be at the barge by 6pm.

We are traveling on a Wednesday. Is the last car barge of the day generally full?

Thanks!

hi cathy, 3 hours should be plenty of time.
if you are a bit delayed you can drive the inland route to red hook instead of driving through charlotte amalie. this IS the time of day that town get jammed! you might want to go inland just to avoid sitting in the heat and making yourself nervous/crazy.
assume you are aware that you could ferry over from charlotte. last one at 5:30.
or you could taxi to red hook and take the regular ferry until midnight. then rent your car on st. john if somthing happens and you are really late.

I agree w/ Virginia - 3hrs is plenty of time.

And I also agree that it might be better to take the passenger ferry and rent on St. John.

Even in full daylight, the Red Hook car ferry (boarding process) can be a little confusing, or perhaps unnerving.

First, the port area looks more like a junk yard, odd lot. Odd assortment of trucks will be there too (delivery, cement, dump, garbage, etc). It's an unpaved, not well marked lot just off the road. It's not well lit, so if it's after dark, which it might well be if you are going in winter, you may feel a little (or a lot out of place). Don't worry, this place is perfectly fine and this is the way the caribbean islands run.

There will most likely be a queue already forming - just get in line. If you are very early, you'll be able to pull into the lot - there may or may not be an attendant telling you yes, you are in the right line. If the guy in front of you and behind you isn't worried about getting on the ferry, nor should you. I have no idea how far back the 'make it on the ferry' cutoff is, so I can't help you there.

As you pull up to the ferry, there will be a guy directing you to turn around (you back on the ferry).

Once onboard, stay in your vehicle (driver at least). Passengers can go to the top deck or you can all just stay put in the car. A guy will come by and collect $$ cash for the ferry - I think you can buy one way or return fare but don't recall exactly.

The barge ferry is very slow - it takes at least 2x longer than the passenger only ferry.

If this is your first time there, the the whole newness of the experience, driving on the left side of the road (in a normal US car), navigating to Red Hook, perhaps after dark, waiting for the ferry (when you're not 100% sure you're a) even in the right spot, and b) going to make the ferry, as I said can be unnerving.

I'm not trying to scare you away from taking the ferry - the system works, and seems to work perfectly fine. But after a long flight from the mainland to start a vacation, I think taking the passenger ferry, either from CA or Red Hook, is a far more relaxing experience. Next time I go to St. John, either for a day trip from STT or for a week, I'll do the passenger ferry/rent on St. John thing, even if it costs more than the low cost STT guys (Budget).

The taxi (full sized van) at the airport will take you right to the ferry dock with your bags - no navigating the roads, figuring out where to get in line, etc.

CathyF.
I see from another thread that you've been to St. John before, so I assume you know the whole car ferry procedure.

If that's the case, I think you should have no trouble getting the 7pm, maybe even an earlier barge.

J62 - thanks so much for your detailed answer. I have been to St. John before but this will be our first time on the car barge. Your info will help!

We are traveling with our 3 kids so we thought the car barge may be a good choice this time. We are going to try our best to make the 7pm. Worst case scenerio would be to take the pax ferry and return the next day for the car. A hassle but not the end of the world!

We're leaving in 2 days and I can feel myself already slipping into "island time." No worries!