Car Seats in Europe??

We will be on the NCL Epic in November doing Spain, Italy and France. This is the first time we have traveled out of the country with our daughter. She is 4 years old. We are trying to find out if she will need a car seat on taxis, buses or if we take shore excursions. We are thinking about bringing our own so she is more comfortable on the flight over but we aren't sure what else we will need it on. If it is required does it need to be a Europe approved car seat?

There is still no uniformity among the European countries on this issue so you need to look at each country's own laws. But auto and bus accidents happen in Europe just like in the USA, and parents always want to do their best to protect their kids. With that in mind, it is just smart to take your own car seat :). Here is a link to info on some countries which might be of some help:

http://www.sciuridae.co.uk/child_car_seats/european_child_seat_law.htm

Hank

Thanks for the link it was very helpful. We were leaning toward taking the car seat. Of course the most important thing is to keep her safe and I understand accidents happen. I just didn't know how it works if we decide to take a shore excursion, bus or train. I shouldn't have put taxi in because we would put her in a car seat in a taxi. I'm not looking forward to having to drag it around every port with us.

Yeah, understand that problem. i guess that is one reason (among others) we did not start taking DD to Europe until she was 9. DD was blessed with wonderful grandparents who were more then happy to take over when we traveled. Of course there was a downside. One time we returned from Europe and picked-up our very happy DD. On the way home (in her car seat) she told us that "Nanny let her have ice cream for breakfast!" It was probably less then a week until DD asked us when we were again going away :).

Hank

The tour company may be able to provide the right kind of car seat for their vehicle/country instead of you bringing one. I think, in your situation, I would choose to book private tours guides/vehicles that could do this for me and completely avoid the hassle of bringing a carseat which may or may not work in vehicles in various European countries. I know, for example, that romecabs can do this on request.

To save money, team with with people on your roll call to go on these private tours - it will be considerably cheaper than the ship excursions and you will see roughly 2 - 4 times as much.

The tour company may be able to provide the right kind of car seat for their vehicle/country instead of you bringing one. I think, in your situation, I would choose to book private tours guides/vehicles that could do this for me and completely avoid the hassle of bringing a carseat which may or may not work in vehicles in various European countries. I know, for example, that romecabs can do this on request.

 

To save money, team with with people on your roll call to go on these private tours - it will be considerably cheaper than the ship excursions and you will see roughly 2 - 4 times as much.

Thanks that is exactly what we did!! We are using private companies and they are providing carseats.

If you are on buses or trains you don't need a car seat. Taxis will sometimes have their own car seat in the boot.

At 4 y.o. isn't your child big enough for a booster seat? We took 3.5y.o away this summer and she was big enough to use a booster seat. this was much smaller and lighter than a full car seat and fitted in my sister's suitcase. The seat was inexpensive too. Just an alternative for you to consider. We took 3y.o. on cruise around Mediterranean too. We planned all our own trips in port. I would check out each port to see what you could do. I would be slow to recommend long sight seeing trip as your little one may be very bored. and she may have to do a lot of walking as ancient tourist sights are not exactly stroller friendly.