Western caribbean excursions and carseats

[Nurse502]

We are taking our first cruise and will have a 3 year old with us. We are planning on doing some excursions but wanted to know if we will have to tow a carseat around with us to get to our excursions? What do parents do in these situations?

[ColoradoGurl]

You will definitely have to bring your own car seat, but don't be surprised if there's no seatbelt to attach it to, or in some cases, not even a real seat (we traveled in a van last year that had a camping chair in the back for someone to sit in).

 

Most parents I've seen with small kids just take the risk and go without the car seat. Actually, change that to "all," because I've never seen anyone with a car seat. That doesn't mean nobody brings one, but I've never seen one, and the taxis and vans are highly unlikely to carry them.

Edited June 22, 2016 by ColoradoGurl

[PCWalton1]

Or they do not go on excursions that require local transportation. It's up you to decide how safe you want to keep your child but I would assume you will error to the side of caution.

 

You don't mention which ports (or ship) you will be on so it will be difficult for anyone to give you viable alternatives. You may want to post that. :)

[gagirl7143]

This is an unfortunate consequence of cruising with small children. Off the ship there is very little of anything geared to little ones, especially their safety. Our rule has always been that age 6 is a good rule of thumb. I even feel unsafe at times in tour autos that do not have seat belts. Good luck.

[Kingofwylietx]

Our kids are 5 and 9 now, but we cruised with them when they were each around 3. We only did large group excursions, where motor coaches or real buses were used for transportation. It wasn't intentional, it is simply how it worked out.

 

Travelling outside the US will really open your eyes to how our regulations and laws are intended to keep children (and adults) safe. Generally, if you book through the cruise ship, you'll [probably] be more likely to have larger/safer modes of transport on excursions.

 

We did travel with our car seats, but that was primarily for getting around before and after the cruise in taxis and rental cars. I don't recall ever taking a car seat on any of our excursions....but again, those all happened to be on big motor coaches.

 

Good luck and go with your instincts. If a hoopty bubble-gummed-together duct taped car shows up to pick you up....maybe chalk it up to a loss and don't get inside. If it's a nice tour bus, go with the flow.

[madiaka]

I ended up using the ship excursions that had larger buses/vans. I haven't been on Royal yet, but that's what I did on Disney. I had the car seat for the taxi and rental car pre and post cruise. I paid a little more and the excursion had more people, etc. But, I was more comfortable with that choice.