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car seats on shore excursion


nyislesfan

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HI all. We will be traveling a toddler who uses a car seat, what is everyone's experience with this. We will be driving to port and just take on ship. Has anyone ever done this? Any problems? or do you just use no car seat, which we really don't want to do? Thanks

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HI all. We will be traveling a toddler who uses a car seat, what is everyone's experience with this. We will be driving to port and just take on ship. Has anyone ever done this? Any problems? or do you just use no car seat, which we really don't want to do? Thanks

You shouldn't have any problems taking it on the ship at all. Just keep in mind that cabs and busses in many ports may not have seat belts, so you wouldn't want to lug around a car seat in those ports for no reason. Check out as much as you can ahead of time and play it by ear.

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In wondering the same thing. We will definitely bring the carseat on the ship with us. We are flying into FLL and driving to Miami in August. My youngest will just be 2 yrs old. I often wonder about carseats on excursions as well.

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thanks for the info. We will be driving to the port(nyc) and then taking 8 day eastern caribbean. I will have to do my research to find out about the ports and shore excursions and the car seats. thanks again. Debbie

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When our kids were younger, we had to shlep two whole car seats for taxi rides and then onto the Explorer. We never used them however for any excursions.

 

Now that the kids are a bit older, we can get away with bottom-only boosters (they take up much less room).

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i took my son at 16 mos on the NCL Dawn and 2 1/2 on the Explorer of the Seas. For the Dawn, we left out of NY where we live, so i just had someone drop us off at the pier w/my car, so he could sit in the carseat. and for the explorer, we took the plane to FL, but i opted to just belt him in. the main problem, is like everyone is saying, most of these cabs and air buses, don't have seat belts to harness in the carseat. i understand the importance of the safety of the carseat, but i think you will find it very frustrating lugging it around w/everything else you have to carry (stroller...is key...umbrella type...even for walking around on the ship at times or if the baby falls asleep). and then to try to load all that gear into these cabs and buses is not so easy either. i usually held in on my lap or sat him in between me and another family member. again...not ideal...but unfortunately...the transportation is not either...sometimes.

good luck

gina

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Just wanted to give you our experience with it. The buses on the shore excursions do not allow car seats on the bus. So when we have attempted to take car seats, the driver takes the seat and places it under the bus in storage.

 

As far as cabs, we just avoided them at all costs. :eek: Some of those cabs in the carribean islands are scary.

 

We have had both of our children (who are car seat age) on many different shore excursions...we have never been allowed to use our car seats.

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We went on NCL Dawn last summer with our 2 kids (2 and 7 at the time). My DS (7) obviously didn't need a car seat, but my DD (2) I thought would. I did extensive research about this and it turns out that the cabs in NYC (and most places I would suspect) do not require them for her age. When taking the cab from Penn Station to the port, I was very nervous. I placed her between me and DS in the back with the seat belt very tight. She was fine. In the ports, the cabs don't require car seats and she sat on my lap most times. I agree that the cabs in the caribbean are a little scary. But, that's not necessarily from speed, but from jockeying around so much. The rides were a bit rocky at times. But, she did fine. They do make portable car seats for just such an occasion if you're nervous about it. I just can't remember who. I'm sure if you google "portable car seat" you'll find them. They fold flat and can be used with any seat belted vehicle (which are few and far between in the caribbean I'm afraid).

 

If it were me, I'd probably insist on buses. No car seats, much less risk.

 

P.S. OK I found one. Try this link: http://www.nextag.com/Safety-1st-Tote-n-64108043/prices-html

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