Cozumel taxis and car seats

My daughter will be 18 months old when we cruise in December. We are hoping to take a taxi in cozumel to the beach. We are 100% bringing her car seat. But my question is do i need to call a taxi company in advance to make sure there will be a taxi with seat belts?

TIA!

Almost all cabs will have seat belts, despite what posters sometimes state in this forum. If the first cab doesn’t, simply decline and take the next one that does.

You can always prearrange a car if you’re more comfortable with that.

Almost all cabs will have seat belts, despite what posters sometimes state in this forum. If the first cab doesn’t, simply decline and take the next one that does.

You can always prearrange a car if you’re more comfortable with that.

Okay thank you! If i do decide to prearrange do you know the best way to do so?

I'll be doing this next week. We are just going to get a cab at the dock. I'll report back if we have any issues.

I'll be doing this next week. We are just going to get a cab at the dock. I'll report back if we have any issues.

Thank you!

We were in Cozumel in November 2017.

Taxis both ways were pretty modern and had seat belts, however, they were not US models of cars and I cannot tell you whether their seat belts lock the same way the US models do or whether they had latch.

If I were you, I'd bring a locking clip with you just in case.

P.S. That said, if we are ever in Cozumel again, we won't even disembark. It wasn't worth it. We went to Ocean Beach Club not too far away. The beach was overcrowded and it was almost impossible to find a spot for all 5 of us. The water was cold and very choppy and my 6 yo couldn't even swim. Heck, I couldn't swim and I am a good swimmer. They had a pool which was a plus. All in all, $17 pp (no food or alcohol included) was an overkill. Supposedly, it included wifi, but only my DH's phone ever got the connection. I would honestly call it a disappointment. The taxi was about $25 each way for all 5 of us - it was the only thing I wasn't disappointed about, really.

Here is our experience from last week.

We arrived in Cozumel on Tuesday morning. Took our time getting off the boat and walked through the port. We arrived at the taxi area and took the first taxi. No issues at all. Seat belt went through the car seat just like it does in our cars. The taxi driver was super nice, even at one point holding our son while we got everything in the car. She turned on the air conditioning (it was really hot) and drove us to Paradise Beach. Waited for us to unload and drove away. My son is 13 months, just fyi.

While at Paradise Beach we talked with another family who had a little trouble. Their cab did not have seat belts, so they were unable to use their harness. She said she just held her daughter. I told her next time just request a different cab. Her daughter was older than our son, probably 4 or 5.

On the way back to port was a different story. Our taxi was a van. We couldn't get the car seat to latch with the seat belt. This taxi driver was super unhelpful. We ended up putting our son in the car seat and holding it. Not ideal at all. He was happy as a clam, but I would have preferred to have it belted down. We drove the 15 minutes to the port, unloaded, the taxi driver stood there and waited, then left.

Overall, I wouldn't worry to much about reserving a car. It was super easy to get a taxi that morning, just some issues getting back.

Did everything go totally as planned, not exactly, but we adapted and never felt our son was in danger.

I hope this helps. Have a wonderful cruise. We had a blast.

Here is our experience from last week.

 

We arrived in Cozumel on Tuesday morning. Took our time getting off the boat and walked through the port. We arrived at the taxi area and took the first taxi. No issues at all. Seat belt went through the car seat just like it does in our cars. The taxi driver was super nice, even at one point holding our son while we got everything in the car. She turned on the air conditioning (it was really hot) and drove us to Paradise Beach. Waited for us to unload and drove away. My son is 13 months, just fyi.

 

While at Paradise Beach we talked with another family who had a little trouble. Their cab did not have seat belts, so they were unable to use their harness. She said she just held her daughter. I told her next time just request a different cab. Her daughter was older than our son, probably 4 or 5.

 

On the way back to port was a different story. Our taxi was a van. We couldn't get the car seat to latch with the seat belt. This taxi driver was super unhelpful. We ended up putting our son in the car seat and holding it. Not ideal at all. He was happy as a clam, but I would have preferred to have it belted down. We drove the 15 minutes to the port, unloaded, the taxi driver stood there and waited, then left.

 

Overall, I wouldn't worry to much about reserving a car. It was super easy to get a taxi that morning, just some issues getting back.

 

Did everything go totally as planned, not exactly, but we adapted and never felt our son was in danger.

 

I hope this helps. Have a wonderful cruise. We had a blast.

Thank you so much for posting this! We are going next week, and I was wondering about bringing a carseat.

Your son was in danger every minute he sat in an unsecured child seat.

Your son was in danger every minute he sat in an unsecured child seat.

Sometimes you have to make due...despite our best intentions when we flew to Cancun with our baby some years ago, despite reserving ahead of time so car with functioning car seat/seatbelt was available...

Sometimes you have to make due...despite our best intentions when we flew to Cancun with our baby some years ago, despite reserving ahead of time so car with functioning car seat/seatbelt was available...

I mean NO functioning carseat/seatbelt was available.

these are the risks of traveling with young children to less developed countries. We all have to do what we are comfortable with.

Our experience with children in Cozumel on two different trips including 4 taxis has been that 1 had shoulder belts and the other 3 only had lap belts. We put our twins in the back seat of the minivan between us on the first trip as we got off the ship without our Safe Rider Travel Vests (just totally forgot). The second time, we had the kids in their vests and were ready, but there were no shoulder restraints on the trip heading to Mr. Sanchos. Coming back, the van had them.

So...it's really hit or miss. Thankfully our twins are now 5.5. We will be taking Graco TurboBooster Takealongs on our next cruise and will pray that our taxis/vehicles all have shoulder straps.

Visited Cozumel last April, my daughter was 4 at the time. We rode in a small SUV type taxt. We sat in the back seat with my daughter in the middle we all wore lap seat belts and everything was fine. The taxi was clean and the driver was very professional. The cost was $15.00 for a ride from the port to Paradise Beach. Paradise Beach was amazing, not crowded at all and it only cost $3.00 per person to get in. The was a huge panorama pool, beach with chairs and lots of shade, food, 2 bars, and water activities.