Bringing a car seat or not on Alaskan cruise?

we can't seem to figure out whether or not to rent a car seat with our car rental (and return it when we return the car, or course), or to bring our own (cross country trip to Seattle) so that we have it on the boat.

Is there any situation in which we'd need it for excursions? we're doing a whale watch/mendenhall glacier tour (3.5 hours, let's hope our 1 year old can keep it together), and the train in Skagway. Probably no excursion in Ketchikan. We don't get to Victoria until late, so most likely one of us will stay on ship with baby-- is there anything in victoria that could involve a taxi ride, just in case?

I'm worried if we don't have it, it could potentially cause an issue, yet I'm not sure in which scenario we'd need it on the ship. THoights?

Sounds like you really won't need a car seat....if you find something you want to do, simply use a bus/shutttle, instead of a private car or cab. You will NOT need it on the ship at all....but there is a corner somewhere to store yours if you decide to use your own seat. Some folks will stick it in the shower, and in the hall (in your cabin) when the shower is being used.

Downtown Victoria is a 20 minute walk from port.

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There is a bus service from the pier also, which does a loop with multiple stops and I think is on/off at will. Take that to the downtown area, walk a bit and see what there is to see. I think it was on the expensive side to avoid a 20 minute walk, but we had my 70+YO parents with us in addition to the twins (~5YO at the time.) I think it was about $10pp with kids free. That, however, will seem dirt cheap compared to most excursions in Alaska! ;p

I wouldn't rent a car seat. They are often filthy, expired, beat up, or may have been inappropriately cleaned. Very unsafe.

For a 1 year old I'd buy a Cosco Scenera NEXT - $34-40 and use it for rear facing. Or use your own. Especially since you are going on a cross country trip.

You can easily get around ports on your own and through ships excursions without needing a car seat.

Just think through how you get from airport to hotel and hotel to port and port back to airport.

Keith

If you are not planning on renting a car, I don't think there is a need for a car seat. All the ports are either in walking distance or provide a bus shuttle. We went 4 years ago with a tiny 11 month old and a small 3 year old and never even thought about the need for carseats. We are returning this year and won't take the carseats. If you are really stuck in Victoria Ketchikan is a compact place with lots of things to look at and a lovely place to just walk around. I think the bus shuttle in Victoria doesn't even charge for little tiny ones, but I may be wrong. If there was something far away from the Inner Harbor that you had to see and take the baby, then I could see a potential need for a taxi, but you can plan what you want to do and make your decision on that. Do taxis or Uber ever have carseats?

No, taxis and Uber don't have car seats. You must bring your own.

We brought ours because I wanted it for the 6 hour flight. I figured if she's accustomed to sitting in her car seat in the car, it might make it easier to manager keeping her contained on the flight. We were even able to fit it on the plane rear-facing which made it super easy to manage her. We used it on the first shuttle, although we didn't need to. From that point on we did not use it and just left it on the ship. We had a suite, so it wasn't really in our way on the ship, although I've heard you can ask the steward to stow it for you. We had a shuttle booked back to the airport, but due to a mix up (my own mistake) we wound up taking an Uber to the airport. I was glad we had it then, because they wouldn't have been able to take us otherwise. We also purchased a rolling stand that you easily attach to the car seat which allows you to roll it around the airport and then stacked our carry on bags on top of it, using it like a dolly.

We could have easily made do without it, but it wasn't a problem or hassle that we had it. Call it a neutral experience (other than being very happy to have an easy way to restrain her on the plane).

On our Alaskan cruise, we traveled with a 4 year old that still uses a "big" car seat, and a 7 year old that uses a small (inflatable) booster. We used the car seat while we were renting a car for a couple of days in Seattle (turned back in at the airport), the cab at the airport, and kept it in the closet of our (normal-sized) cabin for most of the cruise, where it took up space, but there was enough space for the clothes that we needed to hang. In Victoria, we took a trip to Butchart Gardens, where we needed the car seat, and we also used it for a cab back to the airport. It all worked out okay, although it was a little tricky getting the car seat through security on the way back to the ship in Victoria (they visually inspected it and swabbed since it didn't fit through the conveyor.