Car seats in port

[richbum]

We are traveling with a 1 year old. For those of you who have cruised with an infant, what do you do in ports for a car seat. Do you lug a big one from home, or do you make arrangements with tour companies ahead of time? Thanks in advance!

[Philob]

Lug one from home or look up on "G" collapsible" car seats.

 

No guarantee they'll provide one even if requested ahead. Car seats are "optional" in most countries. Car seat is also recommended if your flying and you kid has own seat. 

 

 

[ldubs]

59 minutes ago, Philob said:

Lug one from home or look up on "G" collapsible" car seats.

 

No guarantee they'll provide one even if requested ahead. Car seats are "optional" in most countries. Car seat is also recommended if your flying and you kid has own seat. 

 

 

 

X2 -- bring your own.  

[1025cruise]

Bring your own, but be prepared that there might not be a place to hook it in.

[capriccio]

OP - given the age of your child this recommendation won’t help you but if anyone has the same question dealing with a 4 and over child, consider an inflatable car seat like a hiccapop inflatable booster or a BubbleBum booster.  They meet US federal standards.  We have used the former when our 7 1/2 year old granddaughter visits since she was 4.  She has loved it since the very first time she rode in it.  We’ve loved it because it takes up no room when being stored and is extremely easy to inflate and install.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 8/24/2022 at 9:43 AM, richbum said:

We are traveling with a 1 year old. For those of you who have cruised with an infant, what do you do in ports for a car seat. Do you lug a big one from home, or do you make arrangements with tour companies ahead of time? Thanks in advance!

there won't be any transportation with car seats available in ports.

Where will you be sailing to? Will you fly to port? Will the child have her/his own seat on the plane?

 

The best way to guarantee a 1 yo's safety is Cosco Scenera NEXT. Very small and light, and will serve an average child till about 3-4 yo (only in rear facing mode, though, as this seat is outgrown in forward facing mode before rear facing). Best to bring a seatbelt clip with you, because if you are traveling in some countries, you may not have access to latch/isofix or locking seat belts you are used to in cars sold in the US. Practice using it at home so that installing it in a taxi would be swift.

 

You can also just use cruise line's excursions - most of them use buses as shuttles, which would not require the use of a car seat.

 

Traveling with Cosco Scenera NEXT is easy - you can attach it to just about anything with a bungee cord or two:

 

 

Besides this board, here are a couple of additional useful ones:

 

https://community.babycenter.com/groups/a10635/traveling_with_children

 

https://community.babycenter.com/groups/a6680085/traveling_with_children_photos - images of using car seats on the plane or lugging them across the airport. Please remember to use your car seat on the plane - it's the only way to ensure its integrity and safety. If you MUST check it, do so at the gate instead of check-in with all the other luggage drop off.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 8/24/2022 at 2:12 PM, capriccio said:

for a 4 and over child, consider an inflatable car seat like a hiccapop inflatable booster or a BubbleBum booster.  They meet US federal standards.  

one must also remember that bubblebum has a min required weight of 40#. It will not provide a safe and proper seat belt fit for a child under that weight. Also, the child has to be mature enough to be responsible for their own lives in order to use a booster. When you stop using a harnessed seat, you pass the responsibility to the child, and the child needs to be mature enough for that.

 

A good alternative is Cosco Rise or Harmony Juvenile (Youth) boosters with a seat belt guide. This is how we traveled with ours:

[gluecksbaer]

I second the Cosco Scenera Next.  I took two on a cruise and they fit stacked in the closet.  Super easy to travel with.

 

To round out the car-seat conversation:  The Cosco Finale is a good choice for most forward-facing preschoolers who aren't ready for a booster.  (It has a 30lb minimum and isn't great for very tall kids.)

 

The Graco Right Guide is a good choice for older kids who still need a booster (and meet the 50lb minimum).

[Itchy&Scratchy]

4 hours ago, gluecksbaer said:

The Cosco Finale is a good choice for most forward-facing preschoolers who aren't ready for a booster.  (It has a 30lb minimum and isn't great for very tall kids.)

Cosco Finale is a great travel seat.

 

With Cosco Finale (as well as Cosco Scenera NEXT) it's more about the torso height. The top harness slots are abysmally low on NEXT (13" with a 43" overall FF height limit) and somewhat average on Finale (16.5"). A short kid with a long torso will outgrow Finale faster than a tall kid with a short torso. Once a kid's shoulders go above the top harness slots - the seat is outgrown in forward facing mode.

 

My kid (long torsoed and tall) outgrew Cosco Finale in harness mode at 4 (43" tall). But if a kid has an average torso length - 16.5" top harness slots are enough to get a kid to about 5.

 

If a child is average in height, but light in weight - another good harnessed alternative is Evenflo Maestro (50#).

[addie19]

We took our own. If we were flying to port, I looked up laws in each state to find requirements (some are more strict than my own). We also traveled with a gb pockit stroller. I bought a luggage cart that fit our car seat better for toting around the airport (it had 4 wheels!) after I determined that fastening the car seat to gb stroller that we owned wouldn't work. They have versions to attach seats to now. When the kids got bigger, we switched to bubblebum, mi-fold, and I LOVE our whiz rider vests!

 

At one point we didn't need the car seat for the plane, but needed it upon arrival for uber and such, we had a bookbag designed to carry car seats (it was heavy all loaded up!) to assist and gate checked it. I preferred the luggage cart.

 

As for tours: on buses, no car seats needed. Depending on age, sometimes kids were free! Just determine where/what you are going to see, and if seat is needed. We used it off ship in Hawaii multiple days for taxis/uber/turo and in l.a. before and after that cruise. Took tours in Alaska, and Mexico that were on buses and only used gb stroller there. But needed seats while in Seattle...kids were big enough and 1 used a bubblebum and the other his whizrider vest @ ages 3 & 5.

 

DO YOU KNOW HOW EXCITED I AM THAT OUR NEXT CRUISE WE WILL NOT NEED A CAR SEAT OR STROLLER?!!! 🥳🥳🥳😆😆😆

 

Pics of my youngest and the seat and stroller we took to Hawaii. And last year before Alaska cruise in his whizrider vest.

 

Link to luggage cart:

https://a.co/9xgz9YU