Car Seats for 5 year olds

I will be traveling with twin 5 year olds who are small around 32lbs on a RCCL in April. Here are my questions:

• on transfer to the cruise from the airport we were planning on using RCCL but they use a bus so no car seats (even if we brought our own). Is this even legal?
  
• In St. Thomas and St. Marten how do we get around. Do we install our car seats in the cabs?
  
• Should we just bring boosters would that make everything easier even if they are not the right weight yet (40lbs)?
  

Do I have other options???

Thanks!

1. Yes. If there is no way to attach a car seat, you can't.

2. Take a cab and bring your car seats.

3. No, if they aren't big enough to use boosters, boosters aren't safe and you will need to bring a regular car seat.

Most cabs in St Thomas are open air trucks with seats in the back. You will be hard pressed to find a taxi you can use car seats in.

Most cabs in St Thomas are open air trucks with seats in the back. You will be hard pressed to find a taxi you can use car seats in.

This just isn't true. We were told this before going and with a little looking, found taxis with seatbelts and top tethers. It is possible to use car seats in St Thomas with little difficulty. IMNSHO those "open air taxis" aren't safe for adults either. St Maartin, in our experience, was the same: if you look, you will find!

If you use a bus as a transfer, you definitely do not need car seats. The bus is designed to provide protection without a restraint. It is legal, and not at all different than a 5 year old riding on a school bus, which also doesn't have seatbelts. Store the car seats carefully, where the will not get banged around by other luggage but also not become a projectile in the event you are in a collision.

This topic generates a lot of debate on this forum, you may want to try using the search function to find more information.

Most cabs in St Thomas are open air trucks with seats in the back. You will be hard pressed to find a taxi you can use car seats in.

An open air safari truck is not a cab. I have never had a problem finding a cab with seat belts in St. Thomas. The myth of cabs with no seat belts in the Caribbean and Mexico is constantly perpetuated on this forum, and I have no idea why.

Even they are not 40 lbs, lighter weight five year olds can use a booster seat safely. This is what I would do personally.

an open air safari truck is not a cab. I have never had a problem finding a cab with seat belts in st. Thomas. The myth of cabs with no seat belts in the caribbean and mexico is constantly perpetuated on this forum, and i have no idea why.

+1.

Some boosters have a 30 pound weight minimum. Since you will be right there with kiddo to constantly remind them to sit properly, I would personally use boosters. It wouldn't be my everyday seat for home when kiddos aren't being directly supervised, but if you put kiddos outboard, and you between them, and make them sit properly, you will probably be ok.

Most cabs in St. Thomas are not open air buses. That comment always makes me laugh. I have taken my girls to St. Thomas 3 times in their young lives and we have never found ourselves in an open air taxi. The mode of transportation is passenger VANS for their taxis. We saw enough of them while we were waiting for our driver to come pick us up at the designated time.

And when our driver did not arrive (there had been a bad accident that had shut down all traffic to the port). We jumped into another VAN.

And so my husband already knows I am nuts - I asked him to let me take a picture of his seat belt before he put it on.

When my daughter was that age we used the RideSafer Travel Vest:

http://safetrafficsystem.com/ver4/

like your kids, she was light for her age so the vest seemed a little big but especially where we could adjust the seat recline it worked perfectly. This product is still relatively heavy, I had to us a bigger backpack than I normally carry to lug it around, but it does fold relatively flat. it is also relatively expensive but it does not expire and it was great to have an extra "seat" in the car when we had a cousin or unexpectedly picked up an extra kid from preschool.

With a booster seat, you have to check it with the airlines, and there is a huge chance it will get lost or broken. No IT IS NOT SAFE to use a booster if your kids don't meet the height and weight requirements of the product. Some boosters however have weight requirements lower than 40#. I personally would not use a booster for a child that small but technically you have to go by the height and weight requirements of each child restraint.

Shame they aren't a few pounds heavier. If they were, say 35 or 36 pounds, you could feed them up before the cruise, and make sure they have a big breakfast inside them, they might make the weight limit. (As long as one or both of them aren't sick en route. Imagine the nightmare of being stuck miles from anywhere with a child that's only 39 pounds, and in no fit state to eat the extra pound of food to make itself safe! How long would it take to get an emergency child seat out there?)

;)

Harmony LBB are 30 pound minimum. I know there are others, but these are really flat, so they pack easy in suitcases. We also like Bubble Bums for travel, but those require 40 pounds. However, they are so wonderful for traveling. http://carseatblog.com/10427/bubble-bum-review-booster-seat-or-flotation-device/

When my daughter was that age we used the RideSafer Travel Vest:

 

http://safetrafficsystem.com/ver4/

 

like your kids, she was light for her age so the vest seemed a little big but especially where we could adjust the seat recline it worked perfectly. This product is still relatively heavy, I had to us a bigger backpack than I normally carry to lug it around, but it does fold relatively flat. it is also relatively expensive but it does not expire and it was great to have an extra "seat" in the car when we had a cousin or unexpectedly picked up an extra kid from preschool.

 

With a booster seat, you have to check it with the airlines, and there is a huge chance it will get lost or broken. No IT IS NOT SAFE to use a booster if your kids don't meet the height and weight requirements of the product. Some boosters however have weight requirements lower than 40#. I personally would not use a booster for a child that small but technically you have to go by the height and weight requirements of each child restraint.

Another vote for the Ride Safer Travel vest. We use ours all the time while traveling. My kids are boys (both 32-38 lbs) and actually think they are cool to wear around (look like astronauts, I suppose), so I don't even have to carry them. THey are much lighter and less bulky than lugging around a traditional booster seat.

The Harmony LBB is available at select Walmart stores they should have them for $19.99 CRUZ (aka the Carpooler LBB). Here’s the scoop from Harmony on that LBB: The backless version is selling as a feature in select Walmart stores for $19.99 under the name “CRUZ”. Very easy to pack and use.