Ship Shore Excursions and Car Seats

[shirleygr]

Hi, everyone.

We will be taking our two daughters, 5 and 3 on Norwegian Dawn to FL and the Bahamas. We have port calls in Port Canaveral and Miami. We were thinking of booking our excursions through the ship, just to save the hassle of renting a car and having to bring our car seats (we are driving to the port in NY). Does anyone know if you need a car seat in FL if you are using an excursion bus? Also, what about taxis?

On a different note, we are looking at different excursions we think the girls will like and are debating between Atlantis or Ardastra Gardens in Nassau. Any opinions are which they might like better, based on their ages? We are going to Parrot Jungle Island in Miami, but not sure what to do in Canaveral. We were looking at the Sun and Fun tour, Brevard Zoo tour, or possibly Sea World. I would appreciate any advice or experiences.

Thanks in advance for the help!

[Minniemouse27]

[i pushed this together from two posts I made to another site... It covers a lot .. I tried to edit it so it made sense to answer your question.]

 

As a Car Seat Technician I always recommend parents take their child's seat whenever they travel.

 

You need to think when you will use them.

 

Definitely from your house to the airport and then the airport to the hotel and/or ship (unless you have Carnival transfers for their bus... but even then in the event of problem, etc you may need to take a taxi and by law the 3yo needs one in FL).

 

Just for that, it's worth bringing. I know I read a cruise review a year or so ago where a mom thought they were taking a shuttle from the airport in Miami and didn't bring her young child's seat and they ended up trying to take a taxi... the taxi refused to transport the child.

 

For excursions... that depends on where you are going and what kind of transport you are using. You can only use the booster in seat belt positions that have both a lap and shoulder belt, but a harnessed seat can be used with most kinds of seat belt systems. Many of the islands have lax laws on seat belts in cars so you may or may not be able to use the seats.

 

If your children are riding in your car currently in any HARNESSED seats (ie a convertible seat w/ a harness or a combination harnessed booster that harnesses to 40lbs then you use it as a booster w/o the harness over 40lbs) then you can use this seat on the airplane as long as it is FAA approved. Most car seats sold in the US are FAA approved... a handful are not... just look at the stickers on the seat it will say it there.

 

If your children are riding in booster seats then they cannot be used on the airplane, but can be used in other vehicles w/ lap and shoulder seat belts.

 

If you are envisioning just using a booster seat to and from the airport or in port, I would investigate a low back booster seat. You can get one for $20 or less practically anywhere, it will fit in the overhead compartment on the plane easily (you want to try and avoid checking it) and then throw it in a suitcase or in the closet once you arrive at the ship.

 

Most airlines will tell you that a car seat is not "necessary" but the FAA recommends all children that do ride in harnessed seats also ride in them on airplanes.

 

Here are some guidelines for using car seats on airplanes...

 

http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/airplanetravel.aspx

 

The above has a very complete explanation of all the intricacies of using car seats on airplanes along with pertinent links to the FAA, AAP and other sites for supporting info.

 

If you have a harnessed seat you should use that and have your room steward store it for you w/ your luggage if necessary. We did that on our last cruise and it worked really well. My daughter was 2.5yo at the time and we brought her car seat. Used it to and from the airport on both sides of the trip, as well as to the pier from our pre-cruise hotel.

 

We did NOT use the car seat on the buses we went on for excursions. We could of used the car seat in the taxi in Grand Cayman but ended up not doing so since we traveled to the beach on a bus and then returned in the taxi. I couldn't think of anywhere we could have stored the car seat while we were walking the beach.

 

We rode in buses for excursions in Ocho Rios... and for Cozumel. Buses generally don't have seat belts (even here in the US) and have different safety features than cars. You cannot install a harnessed car seat in a vehicle unless there are seat belts and the seating position is forward facing (even for rear facing seats). That means no rear facing or side facing seats.

 

Oh and about laws.... US laws vary but FL allows children 5 & up to use an adult seat belt. BUT... the laws of physics supercede any state law... so if in a crash a 5yo in an adult belt could be seriously injured as they don't fit the restraint.

 

HTH

 

Any questions just give a yell :-)

 

Christine

Mom to Bethany, 3.5yo and CPST

Century 2000

Imagination (2) 2004

Sensation 2005

[shirleygr]

thanks for a very complete answer (and more) to my questions. One of the reasons we were considering booking through the ship for excursions instead of renting a car and going on our own was so we didn't have to deal with stowing carseats in our stateroom. We are driving from CT to the port in NY and parking there, so we won't be flying or doing public transport to the pier. It would be easier just to leave their seats in the van parked in NY, but only if we did not have a problem with using the ship sponsored excursions without a car seat. I know the buses I've been on generally do not have seat belts, but didn't want to find out the hard way that I needed car seats for the girls.

As a car seat tech, let me ask you a question. What do you think of these "portable" car seats that they sell in some of the kids cataloges--like one step ahead? They are basically just a harness, without the carseat shell. Says it meets all US requirements, but is incredibly portable--fits in a totebag. This would be an easy way to deal with carseats if it's a good thing. What do you think about them?

Thanks for your help.