question about 18 month old....

My daughter is concerned about driving with our grandson in a taxi. do other travelers normally bring a car seat along? or just carry the kiddo on their lap to the beach?

thanks

My daughter is concerned about driving with our grandson in a taxi. do other travelers normally bring a car seat along? or just carry the kiddo on their lap to the beach?

 

thanks

This sounds like a great question for the FAMILY cruising board. In St. Maarten there are laws regarding car seats so I would think that taxi's would need them.

Look into a combination of Le Galion beach and the Butterfly Farm. This would make for a perfect day with an 18 mth old.

Word of warning if you go to the family board and ask "the car seat question, be prepared to get a lot of very strong opinions on both sides of that argument. Ultimately; you need to do what you're comfortable doing while also complying with local laws.

Here is my experience. We were in St. Martin last February with our 20 month old. While she was technically too big for her infant seat we chose to take that with us vs. forward facing seat and vs. not taking a seat at all. The reason being is we had a Chicco Liteway Plus which is a travel stroller that converts from umbrella style to infant seat carrier (kind of like a snap and go). Thus; when we were in cabs or vans we just strapped the car seat in using the belts. We didn't bother to bring the car seat base you likely used in your own car. This worked perfectly fine for us and we even got some naps from our little one as the drive to Le Galion is roughly 25 minutes.

Le Galion was by no means the most glamorous beach bar we've ever been too but it was perfect for our little one as its protected by a reef which is about 100 metres from the shore. They rent umbrella, chairs and the beach bar had pretty decent food. I'd go back with our little one.

Hope that helps.

thanks for the replies. I think the car seat will be the "sane" bet. Also thanks for the beach recommendation.

Have a great day!

-tom