Traveling with a 6 mo. - car seat?

[Mom2B&Z]

Please share.

 

Gladly! What seat are you using, how are you travelling and what do you plan on doing with the seat on the cruise? Are you a stroller person or use a baby carrier? How many adults and children are in your group?

We carry DS1's booster (Graco low back) in a duffel bag he carries on top of a 22" rolling carry on. I attach a strap to the UAS bars in our Britax Marathon, which DH carries on his back. We have also used an umbrella stroller to carry the car seat, but prefer slinging it over DH's back. The Diono/Radian comes with a carry strap and folds, so it can be easier to transport. I still prefer the Britax for the built-in lock offs. I carried DS2 in an Ergo carrier through airports until he was 4 years old, but he is very little. Honestly I could have trusted him to walk through the airports but he likes the security of being close to us in big crowds. We are 2 adults and 2 children, and have gone through major airports its multiple transfers, some with short time frames across multiple terminals, and have survived to tell the story lol!

There is also a gadget to attach a car seat to a rolling carry on, turning it into a stroller. There are also stroller frames that turn a convertible seat into a stroller. It all depends on how often you travel, where you go, and what you do once you get there.

[Waterloomarc]

Lots of helpful replies in this thread, thank-you!

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lovesublime]

Want to jump in with a bit of advice for those cruising out of Miami. We just returned and traveled with a two year old and a ten month infant. We flew from Houston to Miami and our hotel was supposed to shuttle us from the airport to the hotel. We waited nearly two hours and four phone calls for our shuttle and finally gave up and went down to the taxi level. After waiting in the taxi line up for thirty minutes we were refused because we didn't have car seats for the kids. They will not transport children without car seats. We ended up taking AmeriShuttle for twice the price. Ok, no big deal. AmeriShuttle took us to the wrong hotel. We ended up waiting for nearly two hours in the wrong hotel lobby for AmeriShuttle to return and take us to the right hotel.

 

 

Also, want to add. No regrets on not taking the car seats. ALL our tours and excursions had no seat belts/restraint systems for car seats. It would have been a major hassle to deal with hauling car seats for a ride to/from airport/hotel.

 

 

Just wanted to let those cruising out of Miami to know....no car seat, no ride if you want to take a taxi.

[cruzinlisa]

Gladly! What seat are you using' date=' how are you travelling and what do you plan on doing with the seat on the cruise? Are you a stroller person or use a baby carrier? How many adults and children are in your group?

We carry DS1's booster (Graco low back) in a duffel bag he carries on top of a 22" rolling carry on. I attach a strap to the UAS bars in our Britax Marathon, which DH carries on his back. We have also used an umbrella stroller to carry the car seat, but prefer slinging it over DH's back. The Diono/Radian comes with a carry strap and folds, so it can be easier to transport. I still prefer the Britax for the built-in lock offs. I carried DS2 in an Ergo carrier through airports until he was 4 years old, but he is very little. Honestly I could have trusted him to walk through the airports but he likes the security of being close to us in big crowds. We are 2 adults and 2 children, and have gone through major airports its multiple transfers, some with short time frames across multiple terminals, and have survived to tell the story lol!

There is also a gadget to attach a car seat to a rolling carry on, turning it into a stroller. There are also stroller frames that turn a convertible seat into a stroller. It all depends on how often you travel, where you go, and what you do once you get there.[/quote']

 

The car seat is a Cosco (I think) Convertible seat. Its one of the cheaper, light weight ones that you can get at target/walmart. Also, We use an umbrella stroller. I did a carrier with DD while she was small, but I honestly do not know how she would do know. She is small for her age (2) but she is definitely going through the terrible twos and I could see her kicking, hitting us, etc.:eek:

 

We have two adults- DH and I and just one child. We do not do much traveling, other than by car, and then its not a factor, because the carseat is there. We cruise no more than once per year, so we would not get much use out of anything expensive.

 

As far as how we are traveling- we are traveling by car to our hotel in New Orleans and then the hotel shuttle, which is typically a bus, to/from port. Once on the cruise the carseat will mostly sit out of the way, until we get to port. In Belize we are doing a tender from the ship to a private beach so no use for it there. Cozumel we are taking a taxi to a beach club so we could use it in the taxi maybe. Roatan, we are taking a van tour, so we would use it then.

[Mom2B&Z]

The car seat is a Cosco (I think) Convertible seat. Its one of the cheaper, light weight ones that you can get at target/walmart. Also, We use an umbrella stroller. I did a carrier with DD while she was small, but I honestly do not know how she would do know. She is small for her age (2) but she is definitely going through the terrible twos and I could see her kicking, hitting us, etc.:eek:

 

We have two adults- DH and I and just one child. We do not do much traveling, other than by car, and then its not a factor, because the carseat is there. We cruise no more than once per year, so we would not get much use out of anything expensive.

 

As far as how we are traveling- we are traveling by car to our hotel in New Orleans and then the hotel shuttle, which is typically a bus, to/from port. Once on the cruise the carseat will mostly sit out of the way, until we get to port. In Belize we are doing a tender from the ship to a private beach so no use for it there. Cozumel we are taking a taxi to a beach club so we could use it in the taxi maybe. Roatan, we are taking a van tour, so we would use it then.

You have a lot more car seats in the US than we do in Canada, but I'm going to assume it doesn't have a built in lock off. I hate to say it, but the hotel shuttle probably isn't the safest for your child at that age, even if there are no seatbelts. That's. judgement call though. We have done the western Caribbean itinerary, in Belize we did the Lamanai tour, which involved a boat and coach bus. The boys were fine without restraints, but it is a very long trip. The tender you have planned works well too. We used Bodden tours in Roatan, they provided a vehicle with seatbelts and top tethers without a problem. Personally I would use a car seat in Cozumel, some of the drivers were scaring me as a pedestrian :). The only problem you're going to have with the Cosco seat is finding LATCH bars. Seatbelts can be tricky to find in Mexico, LATCH is almost impossible. So your options are to become adept at installing the seat with a locking clip, or find a seat with a built in locking clip. More and more seats have this feature, and you don't have to buy expensive seats like Britax to get it. I know in Canada the Trufit has it, and it is much less than any Britax product.

Cosco seats don't tend to last children as long as they claim, so if you see that your current seat isn't going to last until 5-6 years old in forward facing harness mode (forgive me, I'm assuming you forward face, if you are extended rear facing I will have different comments), then you could look for a seat that will suit your travel and everyday needs. Just the fact that you don't have to deal with airports makes this a lot easier.

Getting the seat on and off the ship isn't hard, you can either trust it to the porters (which I don't...), or put it on the stroller and either carry or walk with your child in the terminal. Once on board, ask guest services to hold it as luggage.

You may want to try a backpack style carrier, there are many out there and your infant one may have this feature. I know DS1 loved being carried as a baby, and loved it even more when we were travelling, but he's a snuggle bug even at 5 yrs ;)

Let me know if you have any other questions. The techs over on car-seat.org are great for US specific car seat recommendations.

[luvsviola]

Cosco seats are very short. Will be outgrown around age 3, which is way way way too early for a booster. Their top strap height is about 14". Maestro (FF only), Marathon, Harmony Defender (FF only), and TrueFit are about 17" and will get you to a much safer booster age.