How do you travel w/ a car seat?

[nrs377]

We'll be in Cozumel w/ our 2 & 3 yr. old, renting a car to drive to the east side, and I would prefer to have them in car seats. I don't have a clue what I'm looking for. I've seen the rollers that you attach your car seat on that makes a stroller, is this what most people use? I've seen the folding car seat, but then you'd have to carry it and your child, that seems like a lot of work. Any advice to direct me towards what I should be looking for? Also, we don't travel a lot so paying hundreds of $ for something that may not be used more then a couple times seems a bit much. Thanks

[SusieV]

Have you called the rental agency to see if they have carseats for rent? That might be easier than bringing them along.

[sherry7]

Good question, and I'm looking forward to reading the replies you get since we're cruising with our baby next month.

 

A tip that I've read before is to purchase a Cosco Scenera car seat, specifically for travel purposes. It's fairly lightweight (about 11-12 lbs), which in comparison to the Sunshine Kid Radian XTSL seat we have (24 lbs), would make it much easier to carry around. Use a luggage straps to wrap around it to carry it easier. Walmart usually has these car seats for right around $40.

[Marie51]

If you rent a car, make sure it has seat belts. Some of the taxis did not even have seat belts when I was in Cozumel.

[lolakat]

We found this to be a real problem when traveling to the islands (Never did Cozumel). You can try to rent a car with a seat as other posters have mentioned. We found most taxis didn't even have seat belts to install our own seats if we wanted to. WE bought a bag that fit the seat and had rollers as well as a back pack type harness. It worked but was very bulky and unpleasant to carry around. Mostly we ended up staying around the ship or occasionally taking excursions with bus transportation.

[southernmomga]

We are taking our car seats with us. For the taxi ride from the airport to the ship. Not planning on any excursions. Safety is really important, it seems you need to find out about the seat belt issue from the car rental company.

[Mom2B&Z]

We'll be in Cozumel w/ our 2 & 3 yr. old, renting a car to drive to the east side, and I would prefer to have them in car seats. I don't have a clue what I'm looking for. I've seen the rollers that you attach your car seat on that makes a stroller, is this what most people use? I've seen the folding car seat, but then you'd have to carry it and your child, that seems like a lot of work. Any advice to direct me towards what I should be looking for? Also, we don't travel a lot so paying hundreds of $ for something that may not be used more then a couple times seems a bit much. Thanks

Have you seen the Travelling Toddler car seat attachment (insert question mark here...apparently I turned on the French language toggle on my keyboard and have no more question marks, apostrophes etc. This should be fun...!) Here is the link http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=bl_sr_baby-products?_encoding=UTF8&node=165796011&field-brandtextbin=Traveling%20Toddler

I almost bought one but DH prefers attaching a long shoulder strap and slinging the car seat over his shoulder. You cannot beat the price at $30 total and you could carry your kids with the luggage.

We too travel with our kids in car seat and booster respectively. I will not transport them unless they are in OUR seats, as I just do not trust rental agencies to have seats that are up to date, not on recall, not in a collision etc. I am a car seat tech (Canadian) and this is one of my obsessions lol! DS1 will have a low back booster and I will insist on finding vehicles with shoulder belts. DS2 has his Britax Marathon, mainly because it has built in lock offs, so if the seat belt in the vehicle does not have an automatic locking retractor (the think that makes the seatbelt stay at one length) or lower anchor tethers (I think they call them LATCH in the US...UAS in Canada) you can still install your seat without a locking clip. I hate locking clips lol!

IMHO I would not buy a car seat just for travel, but I am in Canada and from what I have read seats cost a lot more up here. I could never find a seat for $40! My radian was almost $200...and that was on sale. The Britax seats are $399 or more...but I digress. If you travel frequently, it may be worth looking into the Britax seats, because of the built in lock offs. If we are talking about seats not having seat belts, they are not going to have lower anchor tethers. I cannot imagine someone battling with one of those things in a rental car, but that is just me.

[crusinmama06]

Also, we don't travel a lot so paying hundreds of $ for something that may not be used more then a couple times seems a bit much. Thanks

 

So if budget is an issue, then put your muscles to the test and carry your car seat from home. If that's whats needed to keep your child safe, then so be it. ;)

 

I use travel car seats and backless turbo boosters. Well, I should say I used a travel car seat. My youngest is now 6 and this last cruise (September) was the first one that I didn't lug a car seat with me.

 

Ten years lugging car seats and booster seats on 10 cruises (two cruises by myself - no other adults). Its not convenient -- but my kids were safe.

[goldne]

We always take our carseats from home with us when we're renting a car - for us there's no other option. We have 2 Graco Nautilus's and they're pretty big, but here's what works for us:

 

1. Attach one carseat to our carry-on bag with the Travelling Toddler strap. This thing is awesome...plus your child can ride in the carseat with it attached to your bag so it's kind of like a novelty stroller, very handy for the airport. Be prepared for lots of looks and people commenting "that's so cool!" however. :rolleyes: We bought ours from Amazon a few years ago, it was around $15 I think.

 

2. The second carseat we bought a collapsible luggage cart for. It's so light that our 7 year old can pull it with the carseat on it easily (yes, we sitll have our 7 year old in a 5 point harness carseat).

 

Since your kids are younger however that option won't work for you...there is something on the market which enables you to put the carseat on your back...I forget what it's called but that might work better in your situation.

 

Have a great time on the east side! We also rented a car when we visited the east side and it was a wonderful day. :)

[CrusinAgain]

i dont use the car seat

 

Oh good grief. Are you for real? Knock it off with going around forum to forum posting when you have no idea.

[Mom2B&Z]

We always take our carseats from home with us when we're renting a car - for us there's no other option. We have 2 Graco Nautilus's and they're pretty big, but here's what works for us:

 

1. Attach one carseat to our carry-on bag with the Travelling Toddler strap. This thing is awesome...plus your child can ride in the carseat with it attached to your bag so it's kind of like a novelty stroller, very handy for the airport. Be prepared for lots of looks and people commenting "that's so cool!" however. :rolleyes: We bought ours from Amazon a few years ago, it was around $15 I think.

 

2. The second carseat we bought a collapsible luggage cart for. It's so light that our 7 year old can pull it with the carseat on it easily (yes, we sitll have our 7 year old in a 5 point harness carseat).

 

Since your kids are younger however that option won't work for you...there is something on the market which enables you to put the carseat on your back...I forget what it's called but that might work better in your situation.

 

Have a great time on the east side! We also rented a car when we visited the east side and it was a wonderful day. :)

That your 7yo is in a 5pt harness! Just remember that the Nautilus has to have the whole base on the vehicle seat...it's a quirk with this seat, so while in port look for back seats with good seat depth as well as seat belts.

I love your idea of the luggage carrier with the car seat...adding it to my list of things to buy before we leave :)