FLL taxis - car seats/booster chairs

[Fenten]

I have 2 young children, ages 3 & 6. We will need transportation from the Fort Lauderdale airport to a hotel, hotel to port everglades and back from the port to airport. How would the taxis work if I am not bring any car seats/boosters?

Would I be better/safer to take a shuttle so we would be in a bigger vehicle?

[6rugrats]

Originally Posted by Fenten

I have 2 young children, ages 3 & 6. We will need transportation from the Fort Lauderdale airport to a hotel, hotel to port everglades and back from the port to airport. How would the taxis work if I am not bring any car seats/boosters?

Would I be better/safer to take a shuttle so we would be in a bigger vehicle?

Florida law requires children to be in appropriate child restraints. If you don't want to bring them, take a shuttle that has no seat belts.

Requirements here, and they apply to taxis:

http://sheriff.org/safety/carseat.cfm

[B&Z's Mom]

Ditto to what 6rugrats said. You should also know that a vehicle without seatbelts, while having many features built in to protect occupants, does not protect children smaller than the average 4 year old very well. However, given the choice of bus or taxi with no seats, I would pick the bus.
There are many of us on this board who have travelled extensively with car seats, if you are interested in figuring out how to bring your own seats, which IMHO is always the safest option.
(How fitting is it that my 1000th post is about car seats lol!)

[fozziscooter]

Originally Posted by B&Z's Mom

Ditto to what 6rugrats said. You should also know that a vehicle without seatbelts, while having many features built in to protect occupants, does not protect children smaller than the average 4 year old very well. However, given the choice of bus or taxi with no seats, I would pick the bus.
There are many of us on this board who have travelled extensively with car seats, if you are interested in figuring out how to bring your own seats, which IMHO is always the safest option.
(How fitting is it that my 1000th post is about car seats lol!)

What would you do with the car seats on the ship?

[notentirelynormal]

Originally Posted by fozziscooter

What would you do with the car seats on the ship?

Put them on the floor in the closet.

[6rugrats]

Originally Posted by B&Z's Mom

(How fitting is it that my 1000th post is about car seats lol!)

Congratulation! Yet, these same questions get asked over and over. Maybe they should be answered with a link to your posts?

[JillyChill]

We will be flying into FLL and we will be bringing our car seat. It might be a "hassle" for a little while, but in the end, I think it will be worth it for the safety of our daughter. We will be storing it in the closet in our stateroom. Also, we will be using it when we use taxis on the islands for excursions (mostly just beach days).

[B&Z's Mom]

Originally Posted by fozziscooter

What would you do with the car seats on the ship?

Use them in port?
Store them in the cabin when not in use...as others have said, the closet floor works very well, although if you use a Radian/Diono it could fold up and go under the bed.
Sorry, long day at work and my sarcastic side it out in full force

[fozziscooter]

Originally Posted by B&Z's Mom

Use them in port?
Store them in the cabin when not in use...as others have said, the closet floor works very well, although if you use a Radian/Diono it could fold up and go under the bed.
Sorry, long day at work and my sarcastic side it out in full force

I am trying to figure out what we will do....we will have one toddler seat and one infant seat.

[B&Z's Mom]

Originally Posted by fozziscooter

I am trying to figure out what we will do....we will have one toddler seat and one infant seat.

I would put the toddler seat (I'm assuming that's what you're calling a rear facing/forward facing combination seat) on the floor of the closet, then flip the infant seat upside down and place it on top of the combination seat. It will take up the least amount of room and keep both seats safe. Our experience has been that if we store the seats under our dress shirts, nothing ever touches them. Alternately you could throw a clean towel over the bottom of the infant seat so it wouldn't get any clothes in the closet dirty.

[fozziscooter]

Originally Posted by B&Z's Mom

I would put the toddler seat (I'm assuming that's what you're calling a rear facing/forward facing combination seat) on the floor of the closet, then flip the infant seat upside down and place it on top of the combination seat. It will take up the least amount of room and keep both seats safe. Our experience has been that if we store the seats under our dress shirts, nothing ever touches them. Alternately you could throw a clean towel over the bottom of the infant seat so it wouldn't get any clothes in the closet dirty.

So much to figure out....if it wasn't for all our friends going on the cruise I wou,d of rather gone to a Beaches resort. I am glad that I am starting to do all the planning, etc now!!

[B&Z's Mom]

Originally Posted by fozziscooter

So much to figure out....if it wasn't for all our friends going on the cruise I wou,d of rather gone to a Beaches resort. I am glad that I am starting to do all the planning, etc now!!

It does take some planning, but once you are on board, it is much better than Beaches . Plus soon you'll be a pro at it!

[alj1208]

Here's how we handled the booster seat issue:

*4-years-old: Cruise out of Miami. Taxi from airport to hotel. Shuttle bus from hotel to port. We did NOT bring a booster seat for the ten minute taxi ride from the airport to hotel. Our son used a regular seatbelt. Not a broblem with the cab driver, but our son is big for his age. No booster seat necessary for ride in shuttle bus. A booster seat would have been a waste on the Western Caribbean islands. Transportation was by bus or cab (no seatbelts).

*5-years-old: Land vacation in the Florida Keys. I brought a booster seat for this one. We rented a car and did lots of driving. I knew we would be in the car a lot, so I brought a seat from home to be certain we would have it.

[tikcho]

We have taken taxis from the airport to the port of FLL and MIA many times with kids between 3 and 7. Usually they are able to sit in the back with just a regular seat belt. One time we were told that we will need a van for safety reasons so we had to wait for about 10-15 until a van arrived. We have never taken the shuttle. In FLL the distance from airport to port in less than 15 minutes, in MIA it's a bit longer.

[B&Z's Mom]

Originally Posted by alj1208

Here's how we handled the booster seat issue:

*4-years-old: Cruise out of Miami. Taxi from airport to hotel. Shuttle bus from hotel to port. We did NOT bring a booster seat for the ten minute taxi ride from the airport to hotel. Our son used a regular seatbelt. Not a broblem with the cab driver, but our son is big for his age. No booster seat necessary for ride in shuttle bus. A booster seat would have been a waste on the Western Caribbean islands. Transportation was by bus or cab (no seatbelts).

*5-years-old: Land vacation in the Florida Keys. I brought a booster seat for this one. We rented a car and did lots of driving. I knew we would be in the car a lot, so I brought a seat from home to be certain we would have it.

See post #2, children need appropriate car seats. Yes, the occasional taxi driver will let you off, but it should not be done. It doesn't matter how big/heavy your child is, a 4yo is not developmentally able to sit properly in a seatbelt.
And yes, I practice what I preach. Our 4yo rode in his car seat on our last trip, this year he will be 5 and fortunately no seat is needed with our plans. I will consider using a booster with him when he is 6 yrs, but not before.
Boosters are not a waste on the Western Caribbean islands, we used DS1's booster in Roatan and Mexico. Both had seatbelts, we just had to look.
I get so frustrated with these comments being reiterated over and over when they are clearly not true.
Ok, rant over.

[granger]

We used a company called Top Shuttle when we took our young grandchildren on a cruise out of Miami, they will supply car seats and booster seats if needed.

[fozziscooter]

So much to plan...thank you all so much for your help! I am going to have a lot more questions. We have bought our flight for the way down and are flying into FLL. We will be on JetBlue and we bought a seat for our daughter who will be 22 months when we fly. I am thinking if we bring her car seat on the plane it will be more comfortable for her, etc. If we buy two of those travel things that you just put the car sear in does anyone know if we can just check in the strollers instead of dragging them to the gate? We are going to bring 2 umbrella strollers an I have a nice bag that both will fit in...

[fozziscooter]

If once we board if we do not think we will use or need the car seats will Carnival store them somewhere?

[B&Z's Mom]

Originally Posted by fozziscooter

So much to plan...thank you all so much for your help! I am going to have a lot more questions. We have bought our flight for the way down and are flying into FLL. We will be on JetBlue and we bought a seat for our daughter who will be 22 months when we fly. I am thinking if we bring her car seat on the plane it will be more comfortable for her, etc. If we buy two of those travel things that you just put the car sear in does anyone know if we can just check in the strollers instead of dragging them to the gate? We are going to bring 2 umbrella strollers an I have a nice bag that both will fit in...

What do you mean by "travel things that you may put the car seat in"? Do you mean a clip and go stroller frame that turns the car seat into a stroller? The airlines change their regulations frequently, but if you go to their website and look under the section talking about travelling with children, they will list their rules around checking equipment. I find that if you have purchased a seat for the child, they will allow an extra piece of checked luggage for free, but this is not always the case.
As for Carnival storing the seat, I don't let mine out of my sight, and they fit really nicely on the bottom of the cabin closet.

[Mintycake]

I just wanted to chime in. We were planning on NOT bringing the carseat, my daughter will be 3 years old and is 37 lbs now - 40 lbs is the minimum weight for a booster seat. She will be in a taxi from FLL to port (10 minute drive). I read the second post, but does this apply to public vehicles? In Ontario where I live the law is similar but does not apply to public vehicles (i.e. taxi, bus). We have done a few taxi rides at home without the child seat.