Car seats in St Thomas and San Juan

[babyblue78]

Hi all! We are taking a family cruise in April, and will have DS5 and DD3 with us. Two of our stops are "beach days" at HMC and Grand Turk, so transportation is not an issue. We are planning the below excursions at the other two ports, and are trying to determine the best car seat scenario. Both will be in Britax Roundabouts (we use Marathons in my primary car, and the Roundabouts in DH's truck. We plan to take those since they are smaller and easier to handle). DS5 is small for his age and still meets the limits of the Roundabout, but technically close to being in a booster. However, we do plan to use the carseat as we want to keep him in harness restraints as long as possible and fear that he will want to stay in a booster if we ever let him do it. ;)

 

1) San Juan: We plan to go to El Morro via taxi, and then wander our way back to the ship exploring through OSJ. Are taxis readily available with seat belts? Would we be better off to walk to El Morro? We walked all over Key West with the kids, are the distances similar? If so, we may opt to walk rather than haul around the seats all day. I am open to ideas at this port....

 

2) St Thomas: We plan to take a taxi to Red Hook to ferry over to St John, and taxi to Trunk Bay. I know that the open-air safari buses are common, but are traditional taxis readily available with seat belts on both islands?

 

Thanks! :)

[Mom2B&Z]

I have no idea about San Juan, but we were in St. Thomas in January and easily found vehicles with 3 point seat belts and top tethers. It may not be the first taxi that comes along, but they can be found. I did find I had to be firm with my choice of having a vehicle with appropriate restraints, but it was fine. The open air safari vehicles are quite frankly scary. You shouldn't have much of a problem installing the seats, they should have the built-in lock offs, if they don't then the Marathons definitely do so bring those instead just for that reason. If they are the older style lock offs (ie the grey clips not the two piece red snap ones) test them before you go because I've seen many of the old style fail at car seat clinics, and Britax does not let you substitute a metal (or "H" style) locking clip.

BTW, you're probably better off travelling with the car seat versus the booster, as if you can only find two point (i.e. lap belts) you can still use the car seats, but not a booster. Even without a top tether the seats will perform fairly well in a collision, much safer than a child restrained in just a lap belt.

Good luck and happy travels!

[ToddlerMom]

I go to San Juan about once a year for work. I've never been there with my DD though. Every cab I rode in had seatbelts. They were all mini-vans.

 

Did you know that there is a great trolley service available in old San Juan? I think it is free. You might have difficulty getting a cab at El Murro but the trolley comes regularly. When I was at El Murro a few weeks ago there were 2 cabs waiting but the cabdriver told me that there aren't always cabs there.

[dorito6778]

we walked to el morro when we were in SJ last. it was definitely a long walk, but doable (my, MH, DD in a stroller, and my dad). not sure if a 5yo and 3yo would make the whole walk unless you have a double stroller.

[ToddlerMom]

we walked to el morro when we were in SJ last. it was definitely a long walk, but doable (my, MH, DD in a stroller, and my dad). not sure if a 5yo and 3yo would make the whole walk unless you have a double stroller.

 

I also walked, all by myself, though most of Old San Juan to El Murro. I think that was probably a poor decision on my part. (I'm pretty much a 'go and do' kind of a person - pretty fearless in urban areas.) San Juan can be a dangerous city. My colleagues who live in San Juan were pretty horrified that I walked by myself in Old San Juan. They all have some pretty scary stories to tell about crime in PR. Therefore I probably wouldn't walk to El Murro with my DD.

 

With that said, El Murro is absolutely beautiful and has such an amazing history so I definitely recommend going there.

[nothriver]

As an aside, we've been occasional booster seat users for a couple years, and my 6 yr old greatly prefers her harnessed seats over booster seats. Perhaps because we have cushy high end harnessed seats vs. TurboBoosters, or perhaps because she feels more secure in a harness. But if you child is over 40# and mature enough for a booster, I wouldn't rule out use of a booster for travel. Unless you are flying - in which case I prefer to fly with harnessed seats which can be installed on the plane where a booster needs to be checked.

 

Also make sure to play around with options for transporting the carseats. Ours used to fit like a glove upside down in our stroller. Consider taking one Marathon and one Roundabout if they nest and stack better than two of the same seat. I've worn seats backpack style, strapped them to strollers, strapped them to luggage, strapped them to wheeled devices... Usually a few days before travel I like to get packed and then figure out what I'll do with the car seat.

[Mom2B&Z]

As an aside, we've been occasional booster seat users for a couple years, and my 6 yr old greatly prefers her harnessed seats over booster seats. Perhaps because we have cushy high end harnessed seats vs. TurboBoosters, or perhaps because she feels more secure in a harness. But if you child is over 40# and mature enough for a booster, I wouldn't rule out use of a booster for travel. Unless you are flying - in which case I prefer to fly with harnessed seats which can be installed on the plane where a booster needs to be checked.

Just remember you can't use a booster with a 2 point seatbelt...which is the big advantage to bringing the two harnessed seats. I do see your point though :)

Also make sure to play around with options for transporting the carseats. Ours used to fit like a glove upside down in our stroller. Consider taking one Marathon and one Roundabout if they nest and stack better than two of the same seat. I've worn seats backpack style, strapped them to strollers, strapped them to luggage, strapped them to wheeled devices... Usually a few days before travel I like to get packed and then figure out what I'll do with the car seat.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who wanders around my house with car seats strapped to me pulling luggage to see how far I can go :D

[babyblue78]

Thanks for the feedback! It looks like we shouldn't really have an issue finding a taxi with seat belts as these two ports, so we will continue researching out plans. Both of the kids like to ride on shoulders, so we may take turns and take the walk to El Murro. We walked all over Key West with them last year, so I think we could do it if we need to.

[GracieCat0_1]

DS was 22 mo when he went to OSJ in May. We used a Maclaren Triumph umbrella stroller and walked from the pier to El Morro and everywhere else. We were back on ship late afternoon. I never had any safety concerns about people bothering us. There were tons of people everywhere. You even had to take turns on places on the sidewalks. There were 5 adults present so we always had people to lift the stroller up and down curbs. The cobblestones are difficult at times, but there were certainly strollers of all types out and about. I would only get a taxi if you are concerned about about walking up the hills and it is a small distance, but certainly walkable for active peolple. I would not want to lug a Britax through El Morro! We are most likely going to get a Scenera 40 for our March cruise. The BLVDs are staying home! Also, since OSJ is tight and crowded, the cars probably aren't going to go too fast. Going to the airport though, hold on for dear life!

 

As for St. Thomas, we did once get a ride in a regular car taxi which I think had working seatbelts. It was actually the first car offered to us to go downtown. DS loved the open air taxi and thought it was a roller coaster, but we won't be doing that again for a long time!

[babyblue78]

DS was 22 mo when he went to OSJ in May. We used a Maclaren Triumph umbrella stroller and walked from the pier to El Morro and everywhere else. We were back on ship late afternoon. I never had any safety concerns about people bothering us. There were tons of people everywhere. You even had to take turns on places on the sidewalks. There were 5 adults present so we always had people to lift the stroller up and down curbs. The cobblestones are difficult at times, but there were certainly strollers of all types out and about. I would only get a taxi if you are concerned about about walking up the hills and it is a small distance, but certainly walkable for active peolple. I would not want to lug a Britax through El Morro! We are most likely going to get a Scenera 40 for our March cruise. The BLVDs are staying home! Also, since OSJ is tight and crowded, the cars probably aren't going to go too fast. Going to the airport though, hold on for dear life!

 

As for St. Thomas, we did once get a ride in a regular car taxi which I think had working seatbelts. It was actually the first car offered to us to go downtown. DS loved the open air taxi and thought it was a roller coaster, but we won't be doing that again for a long time!

 

Thank you! I think we will probably walk to the fort, we are active people. Hopefully 4 adults should be able to manage two children, LOL! Unfortunately neither will ride in a stroller, so we will be letting them walk, carry them, and they love to ride on your shoulders. The combination worked well when walking all over Key West.

 

I think that we will wait for a taxi with seat belts and head for a beach in St Thomas, we should be OK.

[sparky-elpaso]

Warning - the walk from the harbor area to El Morro is UPHILL. Gorgeous views.