How to get around with toddlers at ports of call? (car seat related)

Hi everyone. I assume if you book excursions through the cruise line and they know the ages of your children, that they make sure that the transportation is safe for your kids.

We are travelling on Allure of the Seas with two 3 year old boys who ordinarily travel by auto in car seats (obviously because it's the law in most places in the US). Our ship stops in Nassau, St. Thomas, & St. Maarten. How do families with small children do things on their own (not booked through the cruise)?

Do people just skip using car seats with taxis? How exactly does this work? We have yet to travel anywhere outside the US with our toddlers and have always has our own transportation with car seats.

Thanks!

Ship's excursions use buses or big vans with bench seats..no carseats can be installed.

In St. Thomas, the most common transportation is an open-air jitney/trolley....

In Nassau, many things are within walking distance...or there is a ferry to Paradise Island....

Your kids will survive. No worries! We grew up without seatbelts OR carseats. Yeah...I know they're safer, but it's not the be all and end all of survival!

Personally I will not take my child in a car or van without a car seat. I do one of the following: take an excursion I know will use a bus, take a local bus or ferry for transportation, take excursions or do activities that are within walking distance. The other option of course is to brig the car seat, and I do that when I fly to cruises to use both on the plane and on taxis, but generally prefer not to take them on excursions where I won't have a good place to leave the seat. You can also book private transportation for a day so you will know you have a safe and easy place to leave the seat. Depending on the size of your boys you may also want to look into the ride safer travel vest.

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It's completely up to you to make sure your kids are safe. We bought a lightweight car seat special for cruising, it's a cosco Scenera from Walmart for $39. I'm sure it's more difficult with two, but I'd do stuff in walking distance or talk to the shore excursion desk and verify they use large busses.

We arranged for private excursions in all of our ports, and requested that they send cars or vans with seatbelts so we would be able to install car seats.

If you are booking private excursions, you need to make it clear that you need a seat for the child - one of us once wound up in a hatchback, since they thought the baby could sit on someone's lap and we were short a seat in Costa Rica. Now I know to explain the situation to the tour operators ahead of time.

Shore excursions will be on large buses that don't require car seats.

Do the buses have car seats already installed?

Do the buses have car seats already installed?

Here's a great read on buses and car seats:

http://thecarseatlady.com/buses-and-trains/

Do the buses have car seats already installed?

No, on buses used for transfers & shore excursions it is not usually possible to use a car seat (no seat belts/ways to secure the car seats).

We cruised with DD at 2, 3 & 4. We drove to the ports 2-4 hours away) and did not take DD's car seat onboard. We walked around ports (St. Thomas, St. Maarten & San Juan) for the most part. One stop in St. Maarten we did the water taxi to town & back (spending time at the beach & exploring town). Honestly, we spent a lot of port time onboard enjoying a fairly empty ship.

Hi everyone. I assume if you book excursions through the cruise line and they know the ages of your children, that they make sure that the transportation is safe for your kids.

 

We are travelling on Allure of the Seas with two 3 year old boys who ordinarily travel by auto in car seats (obviously because it's the law in most places in the US). Our ship stops in Nassau, St. Thomas, & St. Maarten. How do families with small children do things on their own (not booked through the cruise)?

 

Do people just skip using car seats with taxis? How exactly does this work? We have yet to travel anywhere outside the US with our toddlers and have always has our own transportation with car seats.

 

Thanks!

When ours was that young, about 7 years ago, we brought with us a portable car seat, not sure if they even make them anymore.

We jerry rigged into the first cab we took in St Thomas since it was a normal car. On the way back we were in one of those open air taxi things that are prevalent there, we strapped her in it, but basically held her down with our hands on either side.

We brought a car seat on our cruise on Oasis. It fit nicely in the bottom of the closet.

We took an excursion through the ship in Mexico. The excursion used regular taxi vans. No car seats were provided.

I have no cruising experience (yet), but plenty of international travel experience, and I second the recommendation to get a cheaper, lighter seat for travel. The Cosco Scenera is a good choice. What we plan to do on our upcoming cruise is to avoid car travel altogether, but that may not work with your particular port/excursions.

Once your child is old enough and mature enough, you should look into the RideSafer Travel Vest, a booster alternative that can be rolled up and put into luggage. Or an inflatable booster like the Bubble Bum.

That said, we have been in situations where we just cannot use a car seat and have taken the risk. It's something I try to do as little as possible, though. I strongly disagree with the poster who suggested that we all survived without car seats ... no, we all didn't. Sure, all of us here on this forum did ... but many others didn't. However, life cannot be lived without taking risks, and I do agree it's up to each parent to decide how much to take. Being in a car at all, with or without a car seat, is risky, after all. Best wishes.

Don't rely on the cruiseline to provide US level protection (car seats) on local excursions. We have done excursions where instead of a bus they put us in local taxis, etc. even when my girls were under 3. If it's on a bus or jitney, car seats won't work. You need to find out what the transportation is for your excursion - and if it's local taxis, best to bring your own inexpensive car seats and just leave them in the last port if you don't need them at home. Or you could bring the really inexpensive boosters ($15ish) that easily fit in a large duffel. If the transportation is bus or jitney, car seats won't work.

I would look into private excursions. The benefit of those is you go at your own pace, you don't have to do the "shopping" stops and you can leave items (car seats, stroller, etc) in the car/van instead of hauling everything with you. For my family of three, a private excursion was often less expensive than paying for three of us on a ship excursion - and much more fun. Or, go to the ports of call board here and ask about what can be done/seen in walking distance of the port. I have also rented a car in port and kept it for the day if we were going to do a lot of driving.

Best,

Mia

When ours was that young, about 7 years ago, we brought with us a portable car seat, not sure if they even make them anymore.

We jerry rigged into the first cab we took in St Thomas since it was a normal car. On the way back we were in one of those open air taxi things that are prevalent there, we strapped her in it, but basically held her down with our hands on either side.

Portable car seats like that are not at all safe, not crash tested, and provide nothing but a false sense of security, and are illegal to use in the US. Source- I am a certified child passenger safety technician.

kimlizzie do you have an opinion on the bubble bum? or the safety first rider vest? they both seem really portable, and I'm wondering about their safety.

We were on this same itinerary back in November. In Nassau we did Blue Lagoon which was a ferry over to the island so we did not have to worry about it. St. Thomas we did a private sail boat tour that we set up and asked the owner of the ship to get us a taxi that had seatbelts for a car seat. We had purchased a cheaper cars eat for this trip as we did not want to bring along the heavy $300 one we have in our cars.

In St. Martin we did the Orient Beach break and they had a large bus for that. We sat in the very back of it and it did have seat belts. If you book through the cruise line they will tell you any age restrictions. A lot are 4 and up so I would think that those would be ones that might have a different kind of transportation other than bus.

kimlizzie do you have an opinion on the bubble bum? or the safety first rider vest? they both seem really portable, and I'm wondering about their safety.

Both of those are crash tested and meet the US standards. Assuming the child using them is of the appropriate age/size/maturity.

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kimlizzie do you have an opinion on the bubble bum? or the safety first rider vest? they both seem really portable, and I'm wondering about their safety.

Both are great travel options provided your child is large enough to attain a proper belt fir with the bubble bum. With the RTSV I believe that a top anchor is required but can't remember for sure... need to google...

Hi everyone. I assume if you book excursions through the cruise line and they know the ages of your children, that they make sure that the transportation is safe for your kids.

Not at all, do not assume this. Kids will be transported in the same manner as everyone else on the excursion. We've been on dozens and I can think of only a small handful that had seat belts. Often it is busses, but we've ended up in open air taxis, trucks and once a carriage.

How do families with small children do things on their own (not booked through the cruise)?

Not fully understanding the question here? We do things as we would at home. Decide upon a location and find a ride or walk.

Do people just skip using car seats with taxis? How exactly does this work?

Yes, often and that is a hot button issue here at CC.

At least 80% of transportation we've used on cruises wasn't carseat capable so we could either skip it or risk it. Our kids have ridden simply by sitting in a regular seat or even on our laps. Think of it as they way we used to travel in "the olden days"; car seats weren't even commonplace until the late 80s and not the law nationwide until about 1990, possibly later. I know they've only been law in the UK for about 10 years.

Remember a carseat is useless (and even dangerous) if it is not belted to a regular seat.

If it is concerning you too much then just plan to take walking excursions.

I went on the Oasis when my son was 7 months old (Jul 2013). Like you, I was scared about the car seat situation, but I didn't bring the car seat, I did take the stroller though (Britax B-agile). At the different ports, we carried him and held on tight. My husband had him the whole time in the car/taxi/boat. It was fine. Of course as a mother you worry and you think worst-case scenario, but at the end it turned out okay. At the ports, I did take the stroller. We just collapsed it and took it.

I went on the Oasis when my son was 7 months old (Jul 2013). Like you, I was scared about the car seat situation, but I didn't bring the car seat, I did take the stroller though (Britax B-agile). At the different ports, we carried him and held on tight. My husband had him the whole time in the car/taxi/boat. It was fine. Of course as a mother you worry and you think worst-case scenario, but at the end it turned out okay. At the ports, I did take the stroller. We just collapsed it and took it.

Most people on most days do not need seat belts or car seats. But that isn't why we have them. We have them because we don't get any warning for the times we need them.

I'm glad your little one was fine, but holding on tight doesn't work in a collision. (Crash tests have shown repeatedly that crash forces make a child too heavy for even a very strong adult to hold on to the child.) One really needs to plan ahead for those what-ifs to keep a child safe.

Best-case scenario would be to have a car seat, but if it's not practical, then:

1. Tell the driver that he will get a vast tip if he doesn't go above 25 mph;

2. Hold tight to the child, preferably inside a seat belt (lap only if need be).

3. Get a high grade cycle helmet and make the child wear that while in the car.

This will IMO make the risk to the child less than if travelling on (say) a bus without seat belts.

And always remember, in extremis, that you don't make the child any safer if you walk beside the road if you can't get a secured taxi. The biggest casualty group nowadays is pedestrians, and if you are going to get run into by an out-of-control vehicle, you're vastly safer rattling round in a car with no seat belts, than you are if you're on foot. If a car with no seat belts (but a competent driver!) is all that's available, it's probably still safer than walking.

(Crash tests have shown repeatedly that crash forces make a child too heavy for even a very strong adult to hold on to the child.)

Do they give guidelines about the speed and weight of child where holding on is impossible? I'm just wondering if they're talking about motorway driving, or if even at lower speeds it's still impossible.

Best-case scenario would be to have a car seat, but if it's not practical, then:

 

1. Tell the driver that he will get a vast tip if he doesn't go above 25 mph;

2. Hold tight to the child, preferably inside a seat belt (lap only if need be).

3. Get a high grade cycle helmet and make the child wear that while in the car.

 

This will IMO make the risk to the child less than if travelling on (say) a bus without seat belts.

 

And always remember, in extremis, that you don't make the child any safer if you walk beside the road if you can't get a secured taxi. The biggest casualty group nowadays is pedestrians, and if you are going to get run into by an out-of-control vehicle, you're vastly safer rattling round in a car with no seat belts, than you are if you're on foot. If a car with no seat belts (but a competent driver!) is all that's available, it's probably still safer than walking.

I believe more pedestrians are hurt or killed than passengers in NYC (where you don't have to use a car seat).

If you are going without a car seat, at least follow the safest advice given by an expert and not what someone just thinks is safe: http://thecarseatlady.com/traveling-without-a-car-seat/

Here's why buses are generally safe without car seats: http://thecarseatlady.com/buses-and-trains/

Do they give guidelines about the speed and weight of child where holding on is impossible? I'm just wondering if they're talking about motorway driving, or if even at lower speeds it's still impossible.

The video I saw was at 25mph with an adult dummy and a very small dummy (I would say an infant but I don't remember if it said the weight/size of the "child"). I'm not sure what all different speeds they have been done at.