Excursions with small children - car seat/stroller

Booked on NCL Spirit in Feb. I'm curious ................how do u handle shore excursions with small children who still use car seats? Do you bring the car seat with you?...................do you bring a stroller on the cruise?

Any and all advice is GREATLY appreciated!

A good parent would bring both, surely a car seat if they intend to take cabs or rent a car.

Its been my opinion to leave the todlers at home with their grandparents or uncles and aunts. Babies tend to sleep much of the time and are a different story.

I can assure you they are good parents. They enjoy their children rather than shipping them off to the grandparents.

I'd appreciate an answer to the question......... how do you handle the car seats ..........are they ok to bring if tendering off the ship?

Appreciate any and all ANSWERS to the question.

Hargis, I still bring my boosters for my 5 and 7 year old when we cruise. until last year I also cruised with umbrella strollers. Regualr strollers are too bulky. When the kids were still in regular child carseats I had what is known as a sit n' stroll, it was a carseat with wheels that popped out of the base and a handle that popped up. I usually put the two boosters together in a huge ziplock bag (the giant size ones) and stick a luggage tag on it and check it in with our bags, on our flights as well as checking in to the cruise.

Don your comments are not helpful. It's kind of like saying maybe we should leave all the old soreheads at the nursing home instead of letting them cruise.

Thank you so much!!! I will pass all of this info to my friend.

You see lots of young kids on cruises but very rarely do you see parents with carseats in tow! We didn't cruise with our children until they were 3 years old for obvious reasons but many people do.

Have your friends bring umbrella strollers and re-consider bringing the carseats.

Remember the cabins are SMALL and if they are sharing a cabin with young children there will be no room to maneuver around the carseats as they will be taking up very valuable space in the cabin. Next, getting on and off the ship while hauling carseats is going to be difficult. The lines for the tenders getting on and getting off can be long. Lots of standing in line inching along. Imagine that with carseats and young children port after port?!! Then think about the taxi service on the islands. Heck, most of the time you are very lucky to find a cab with seatbelts at ALL. A carseat without seatbelts is totally useless. Then, think about walking around the ports after you get where you are going. The parents would have to have to haul the carseats around all day on the excursion still while chasing after the kids. This is why you rarely see parents lugging around carseats. Please think this thru step by step.

Yes, the parents have just started thinking about the logistics of all this as they get closer to the cruise.

If they plan no excursions, and just get off the ship, is there much to do right at the ports?

This is the NCL Spirit itinerary in Feb.

I express how much I appreciate all the helpful advice that can be found on this site.

I recommend checking out the Family Cruising board and asking the question there - although I'm pretty sure I saw a similar thread very recently, so you may not have to.

You can find it here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49

Hargis, what are the kid's ages? We've cruised with our kids since they were 2 and 4 and the backless booster seats worked great, even in Mexican rental cars and stored easily under the beds inside our empty suitcases.

New Orleans; Roatan; Santo Tomas De Castilla; Belize City; Cozumel

New Orleans: Audobon of the Americas is a must see!

Santo Tomas: Contact Javier Putal at Hotel Casa Rosada at Livingston regarding a private tour of the Rio Dulce and Lunch at their Hotel. He will pick you up at the port in his boat. Bring lots of goodies and school supplies for the children less fortunate. You will never feel so good or be touched so deeply.

Belize: Take the water taxi to Caye Caulker and have glass bottom boat tour with Tsunami watersports. This is a great trip for those who want to snorkel and those who just want to see the cool stuff like nurse sharks and stingrays and beautiful coral gardens. Follow up with lunch at Rainbow right near where the water taxi stops.

Cozumel: We like to rent a car and head to Punta Sur. They have some minor ruins, a Crocodile preserve and one of the most beautiful beaches in the world according to National geographic, and a sea turtle preserve. Say Hi to Jorge for me!

These are all trips we've made with our kiddos and they were terrific.

We cruised out of FLA on Disney a year ago with our two delighful daughters ages 2 and 4. We used the booster and carseat (sit and stroll) during our airport transfer and in St. Thomas and in St. Martin. We had NO problem getting a taxi with seat belts in either area! We are on the Star mid Jan and we have the same plan! Good luck!

Hargis

I wish you/the parents the best of luck and a wonderful cruise. I would never tell anyone they should not bring their children.

I have recently had to make such a difficult decision - my husband and I are taking a cruise in mid Feb with his work (its paid for, how to refuse such an opportunity) and we are leaving our baby (who will be 7.5 months old then) with his sister. I truly think it depends on the cruise line (NCL has no in-cabin care and no care for children under 3) and even possibly the itinerary. For us, especially with his work, it just would not be appropriate to bring a baby. Plus, I don't feel that it would be a safe place for my son. And of course what others have said about car seats, strollers, diapers, all of those extras that take up space and require carrying around. In addition, I don't feel like it would be a vacation for us - especially as a nursing mom (this too has been resolved, but I won't go into details).

As such, we feel very fortunate and comforted by his sister's willingness and desire to care for our son. We know he will be cared for as one of their own (she and her husband have 2 boys).

Again, best of luck to you. Let us know how it works out, please.

When I cruised with my son and he was 18mths old, I did not bring a carseat. With all the other equipment we had I don't know how we could have handled it. A good, portable stroller however is essential. In the ports we just walked around to whatever we could from the ship and did not take excursions. This worked better with a youngster also because if you need to go back to the ship you are free to do so.

Thanks for replies!

The family has decided to take the stroller and just get off the ship and visit the shops/restaurants.

If the weather is nice, they will have the pool area to enjoy with the children. I've read that the NCL Spirit has a nice kiddie pool area.

They are excited about the cruise. However, they do have the same concerns that various people have posted. That's the way it is with small children. I will certainly let you know how they found the experience when we get back!

I plan to babysit one night so they can have an evening to themselves.

Wishing you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

We were on the Spirit in June with our 8 month old and we did not bring a car seat. All of the excursions involved taxis, buses, etc. that did not have seat belts, so a car seat wouldn't have done us any good. What I did do was keep my son in a sling(type of baby carrier) on my chest, so at least he was firmly attached to me while we were on the road. When we got off the taxi/bus I didn't even need to bother with a stroller(didn't use one once on the cruise), since we kept him in the sling. It was great and it also ensured we weren't being rude to fellow passengers by holding them up with tons of cumbersome baby gear.