Kids and Car Seats

[XJflyer]

We will be cruising in Jan. with our son, daughter-in-law and their two daughters (ages 11 mo. and and almost 3). I have never cruised with small children before and we are wondering what most parents do about car seats. Even if we figure that all ground transportation will be via buses where car seats aren't really needed, what about the flights? It would be so much easier on the flights to get the kids to stay put and possibly sleep if they are in their car seats. But then what do people do with the car seats during the week? Do they fit anywhere in the cabin out of the way? Seems like they would be too tall for under-the-bed storage.

 

Any advice along this line would be appreciated!

[Nliedel]

Car seats are MUCH safer in the event of an air emergancy. Every time I see a mom holding a baby I just cringe. On my emergancy landing a baby was severely injured because he flew out of his mothers arms. I still want to grab my babies and hold them tight every time I think about it.

 

Your steward can stow your carseats for the duration of the cruise.

[KelJ]

Car seats are MUCH safer in the event of an air emergancy. Every time I see a mom holding a baby I just cringe. On my emergancy landing a baby was severely injured because he flew out of his mothers arms. I still want to grab my babies and hold them tight every time I think about it.

 

Your steward can stow your carseats for the duration of the cruise.

 

Nancy! You've been on a plane during an emergency landing, and you've been on a ship during a list. While I have always thought you would be great company on a cruise, maybe I should steer clear of you!:D :) ;)

In all seriousness, I'm glad that you seem to have a knack for successfully tempting fate!:p Kelly

[Nliedel]

Nancy! You've been on a plane during an emergency landing, and you've been on a ship during a list. While I have always thought you would be great company on a cruise, maybe I should steer clear of you!:D :) ;)

 

In all seriousness, I'm glad that you seem to have a knack for successfully tempting fate!:p Kelly

 

Well the plane thing was when I was 7, so it's once every 23 years. You're safe till I'm 65 or so. :D

[XJflyer]

So that was on RCCL? They will store your car seats for you? If that's the case, then that solves that!

 

Thanks everyone.

[Oneleep51]

Hello. Last year when we cruised on Disney we brought a car seat zip-up cover bag and stored it in the corner of the balcony. This seemed to work great.:)

[KelJ]

Well the plane thing was when I was 7, so it's once every 23 years. You're safe till I'm 65 or so. :D

 

Well, in that case, want to join Bob, me and the boys on the 12-16-06 Voyager?!:)

[crusinmama06]

Check with your airline first. We flew US Air when we went on the Disney Cruise. They took my older daughter's car seat (then 4 years old) and said we couldn't use it (it was a normal convertable car seat good up to 40lbs), THEN they wanted to take my youngest daughter's infant carrier car seat. THAT's where I drew the line. I couldn't see holding a 7 month old baby the whole plane ride when I paid FULL PRICE to have her in her own seat. And I knew a 7 month old would be able to sit up in her own airplane seat.

 

So I talked to the head stewardess who said that we could keep the carrier car seat with us IF we angled it (she was almost standing), so the seat would not block the area in front of our seats (where you put your legs). And no we wen't in any bulk head seats or anything. We were in normal seats.

 

And in the shuttle buses, you aren't allowed to bring the car seats. So you will have to find a place to stow them.

 

So definatly check with the airline before you drag your seats with you.

[Nliedel]

Some seats are NOT compatable with airline seats. Sorry I did not mention that before. If your seat is FAA approved it will say so when you buy it. Most recently manufactured seats are.

 

I did NOT have them store a seat for me. This was a friend of mine. The steward put it somewhere and brought it back the last night. Probably the same place they put the luggage that won't fit under the bed.

[XJflyer]

I am a Flight Attendant, so that part of it (the air travel) I can handle. I was just concerned about what to do with the darn things once we get on the ship. We won't have any balconies so that idea won't work, but if the cabin steward will find a spot for it, that would really be nice. Obviously we are not the first people to have this situation, so they must be solving it somehow!

 

Thanks for all the input!

[QTMichele]

I am a Flight Attendant, so that part of it (the air travel) I can handle. I was just concerned about what to do with the darn things once we get on the ship. We won't have any balconies so that idea won't work, but if the cabin steward will find a spot for it, that would really be nice. Obviously we are not the first people to have this situation, so they must be solving it somehow!

 

Thanks for all the input!

 

Please take the car seat - it is SO much safer for the children to be in them than not to have them at all. I'm sure you'll find a storage solution!

 

As a side note, I noticed the ages of your grandchildren. As a "car seat mom," I couldn't help but send my "wisdom" your way to do my part in educating others on the importance of car seat usage AND rear/forward carseat positioning. Please check out the link I've included (read the article, if you have time), scroll down to the end of the article and click on the videos. Notice the HUGE difference in the child's body between a forward facing seat and a rear facing seat. Now imagine NOT having a seat at all and what devistating effects that could have on a child.

 

I hope my soap box doesn't turn anyone off, but I just couldn't help myself. :eek:

 

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

[crusinmama06]

Please take the car seat - it is SO much safer for the children to be in them than not to have them at all. I'm sure you'll find a storage solution!

 

Oh I am a "car seat mom" too. We live in PA where you have to be 80lbs before you can get out of using a car seat so my daughter will be about 15 years old before she gets out of her booster..lol. :p

 

BUT, like I said before, the excursion shuttles do not have seat belts and do not allow car seats on those buses. And the taxis often don't have seat belts either. So for us, we just choose not to use a taxi and keep our excursions limited to only one or two a trip.

 

This is a link that gives you tips on how to deal with car seats on planes and on excursions....

http://www.cruisemates.com/articles/family/familycruisefaqs3.cfm

[QTMichele]

Oh I am a "car seat mom" too. We live in PA where you have to be 80lbs before you can get out of using a car seat so my daughter will be about 15 years old before she gets out of her booster..lol. :p

 

BUT, like I said before, the excursion shuttles do not have seat belts and do not allow car seats on those buses. And the taxis often don't have seat belts either. So for us, we just choose not to use a taxi and keep our excursions limited to only one or two a trip.

 

This is a link that gives you tips on how to deal with car seats on planes and on excursions....

http://www.cruisemates.com/articles/family/familycruisefaqs3.cfm

 

Travelling makes things so difficult, doesn't it?! I've never travelled out of the country with my children - travelling within the states is difficult enough! :( Hopefully the OP will at least bring the car seat/s to use while travelling in the US. Although the taxis I've been in have always had seat belts (at home and abroad), I haven't travelled in every taxi in every country (I'm sure many don't have seat belts) and can't imagine how I would transport a car seat on every excursion. Good luck to everyone who is in this same dilemna, travel safe and happy cruising!!! :D

 

PS - I LOVE how you spell your name, Michele!

[cassidyk]

We cruised last year with our daughter at age 5 months and I would definitely suggest a soft carrier or sling for the baby if you are going to be on buses where you can't use the car seat. It worked really well for us and made me feel a little secure having her literally attached to me. Just a suggestion....

[pkmason]

We were on the Serenade in January of this year and the cabin steward took my son's car seat and stored it. I have no idea where they put stuff like car seats, but it appeared back in the cabin after dinner on the last night. I would just remember to put one of your luggage tags on it so it makes it's way back to you.

 

Pam

[XJflyer]

Ok ok ok! Hold on a minute! Yikes! I just have to make it clear that I would NEVER condone a child riding in a car without a car seat! Speaking of "car seat moms" I am a charter member of that club. I'm very, very strict with car seats in cars!! (And seat belt use on adults for that matter!)

 

Regarding air travel - yes it is all about safety. Even if you consider how very safe flying is, and that a catastrophic event is extremely unlikely, almost every flight does encounter turbulence. Having said that, I do feel that kids that are buckled up in passenger seats are relatively safe during mild, or even moderate, turbulence. But the problem is that most kids don't want to stay buckled up when they should ... they don't understand the significance of the seat belt light being illuminated --- what they do understand is car seats. They are familiar with them, they sleep in them, they know they can't come out of them until the ride is over. That to me is the most compelling reason to use a car seat on a flight - what I mean is, you don't even have to say... what if we have an emergency landing.. it's your every day average flight that you would unnecessarily risk injury. So IF I thought the kid would stay buckled I admit I MIGHT be tempted to consider going without the car seat on the plane IF we would be stuck stepping over it all week in the cabin. But the bottom line is that I don't think she (the 2 yr old) would stay seated without the car seat, so that's why I started this thread to see what others have done with the car seat while on board the ship.

 

And I appreciate everyone's input on this - it sounds like I can expect the cabin steward to stow it for us during the week (great idea about the luggage tag too!). That was what I wanted to be sure of. And I really like the sling idea for the public transportation for the baby, when car seat use isn't possible. (BTW, you can't use the slings on the plane during taxi, takeoff, landing).

 

cruisinmama: As far as your experience on US Air when you were asked to adjust the car seat so that it didn't block access to the aisle - that should have been only if the car seat was not in the window seat (unless there is also a car seat in the window seat, and any other adjacent seats). So if you have the car seat in the window seat you can have it rear facing or forward facing at any angle. So sometimes rearranging seating with other passengers might help the situation (easier said than done sometimes, I know!). That's too bad that your flight attendants didn't help you work that through.

[crusinmama06]

cruisinmama: As far as your experience on US Air when you were asked to adjust the car seat so that it didn't block access to the aisle - that should have been only if the car seat was not in the window seat (unless there is also a car seat in the window seat, and any other adjacent seats). So if you have the car seat in the window seat you can have it rear facing or forward facing at any angle. So sometimes rearranging seating with other passengers might help the situation (easier said than done sometimes, I know!). That's too bad that your flight attendants didn't help you work that through.

 

Thanks XJFlyer for the advice! And yes, we actually had all three seats in the row (including the window seat). And she still wanted to take my rear facing car seat. So she propped it up, forward facing and the edge of the car seat was lined up with the edge of the plane's seat. What a ride that was for my daughter (who was an infant at the time)

 

Actually, it was funny during our last flight. She is 2 now and is usally a toddler that won't sit still for 30 seconds...BUT on the plane, she loved to sit all buckled in using the plane's seat belt and didn't make a fuss at all.

 

Have a great time!

[lisaland15]

We took the car seat with us on our cruise to Alaska in June (my daughter is almost 3). We flew into Seattle and drove to Vancouver, B.C.

 

No problem on the flight up. But the flight from Anchorage to Houston was long. It was a night flight leaving at 8:50pm (arriving 6:30am). I figured the car seat would be great and she'd sleep in it the whole way home. (She falls asleep in it regularly at home.) My daughter was fine the first few hours, but around 2:00am or so, she just couldn't get comfortable sitting bucked in the car seat, and started crying to get out. We had the 3 seat row to ourselves, and I really wished the car seat wasn't there and then she could have slept more comfortably in two seats (with the plane's seat belt stretched around her waist) and me in the third. I ended up holding her much of the time. :(

 

The shuttle bus for our tours in Ketchikan, in Skagway, and from Whittier to Anchorage--no seat belts (neither did the taxi in Vancouver to the ship).

 

The shuttle bus in Juneau had a car seat already in it and the taxi from the hotel in Anchorage to the airport had a booster seat in it.

 

We've been on several Caribbean cruises (Cozumel, Belize, Grand Cayman, etc.) and it's rare to find seat belts (at least for us) for tours (ship-sponsored or private) or in taxis.