poppan

We rented car seats with our rental car; the supplied seats were Cosco Scenera's.

It was very lightweight and easy to install. Not a lot of padding and no extras, and not the seat I would choose for home use, but it seems good for travel. Above link says it's on sale for $35 right now.

I think I looked up the Florida law and it says car seats required through the age of 3, and age 4-5 can use a car seat, booster seat or seat belt if they're big enough (which most kids wouldn't be). Taxis are not exempt from the requirement.

There is a Super Shuttle right at Miami Airport and it was $15 per person to downtown/port of Miami. We ended up renting a car and car seats from Hertz, otherwise I was going to take the shuttle.

Having said all that, I do take risks sometimes, and I consider it my own business.

Thanks for the latest replies. I love getting these details about how other people manage to get luggage, car seats, and children to the destination successfully. I don't think we will attempt it this time -- given that we are only calling a few beach ports, I am going to go with original plan for shuttles and other transport at the few points where we need it. But it's very useful information for future reference because I'm sure we will need to fly with the car seats at some point.

I'm not really picturing the two Britax Regents balancing on top of my Combi double umbrella stroller :eek: -- but I guess my kids are old enough that I can just check the seats in with the rest of the luggage. Love the bungee cord idea though!! OttawaTraveler -- I have a Beco carrier and another one that I can't even remember the name of -- but same idea as the Ergo, kids can go on my back. Haven't tried it recently, as they get older they are more and more ornery and have ideas about what they will and will not do!!

Thank you rugrats for the details -- I really needed someone to spell it out for me, because I just couldn't begin to fathom how this would work and how other people make it work. I have two 2-year-olds and was not planning on using car seats on the plane. I was going to get 2 umbrella strollers instead of bringing my double stroller.

Lorajo -- that is my basic plan as well -- planning on getting around entirely on shuttles and other modes of transport not requiring me to bring my car seats. That's why I thought of walking -- it looked close enough on the map that I shouldn't have to book a limo or shuttle. I think the bus will be my back up plan for that leg. I don't feel like paying $60 or more to go less than 2 miles.

MNmom -- wow more power to you, if we had a kow-tow emoticon I would have used it here! Re: the ports I was planning on walking and taking buses if we wanted to go farther. If I'm remembering right that is how we have done most ports in our past cruises. Maybe I'm being too ambitious, but the highlight of this cruise is the Panama Canal transit anyway, not any of the ports, so I was thinking it would work out OK (meaning if we don't get to see something b/c we can't walk there, I won't be too disappointed).

OK, I am curious. Most of you seem to think that taking the car seats is no big deal. I have not yet flown with my kids anywhere (we've only gone on driving vacations so far). We have the Britax Regents:

They are, um, large. Awkward to carry. No way I could carry the car seat and still hold my toddler's hand. Multiply that by two... two Britax Regents, two toddlers, including one who does not do the holding hand thing very well in the first place. Plus diaper bag/carry on luggage, and getting the suitcases to the check-in point. I'm just not seeing how I could do this. So I'm curious how *you* do it. What am I missing?

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions...

Keith -- I will have two umbrella strollers (the single-wide kind) -- one for each child -- was planning to have hubby will push one stroller and me push the other, and luggage goes in a cab with my parents. You're absolutely right, I would not want to carry them for 2 miles. Our hotel is right next to the IC (it's the new Kimpton hotel, called Epic Hotel). Glad to hear from someone that it's doable -- it looked doable from the satellite google map but always like to get some first hand info and not rely on an image I know nothing about.

Thanks to all for the suggestion to call the hotel and to Keith for the limo recommendation as well. Will do both. I like to have plans B & C. If it's walkable I would like to do that, although kids may enjoy riding the bus as well.

I saw the thread that you can't take a cab in Miami without a car seat. We don't want to schlep two car seats with us. (I have 2 y.o. twins.)

I'm planning to take the Super Shuttle from the airport to the hotel. But have been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to get from hotel to cruise terminal the next day.

Well I finally looked at the map and the POM looks pretty close to the hotel (Epic Hotel, downtown, it's next to the IC). According to google maps it is less than 2 miles. I'm thinking, I should just buy two umbrella strollers and we'll walk the 2 miles to the POM. Am I nuts? It'll be late November, I'm hoping not too hot and even if it is, I think I'll just have to suck it up because I can't think of another way to get there without car seats unless we ante up and rent a limo or something (from a company that provides car seats, no less).

Any other suggestions? WWYD?

P.S. We can send our luggage with my parents in a cab, so we just have to walk ourselves and our two toddlers there.