For those who chose not to bring a car seat...

[Winemyst]

So I've been reading lots and lots of posts and feel like I know the positives and negatives of bringing a car seat. We will be driving to the port, and can leave the car seat in the car......or take it on board

 

For those of you that chose not to bring a car seat, what did you do in port?

 

St. Thomas.....any beaches in walking distance?

St. Maarten?

Nassau, Bahamas - I know of one beach within walking distance, but it was a little shady, any other suggestions?

 

 

If we bring our car seat, we're willing to pay extra for a private tour in a van with seatbelts.....any suggestions on reputable companies?

[rin1]

For St. Thomas I believe there was a chair ride/vista thing within walking distance, but it's been a while.

 

St. Maarten is very doable. Just take the water taxi.

 

So I've been reading lots and lots of posts and feel like I know the positives and negatives of bringing a car seat. We will be driving to the port, and can leave the car seat in the car......or take it on board

 

For those of you that chose not to bring a car seat, what did you do in port?

 

St. Thomas.....any beaches in walking distance?

St. Maarten?

Nassau, Bahamas - I know of one beach within walking distance, but it was a little shady, any other suggestions?

 

 

If we bring our car seat, we're willing to pay extra for a private tour in a van with seatbelts.....any suggestions on reputable companies?

[JennLuvs2Cruise]

I am visiting these ports in June with my 21 month old son.. This is what we have planned:

 

Nassau - Blue Lagoon. You get there by a catarman boat so we will have our son sit on our lap.

 

St. Thomas - Megan's Bay Beach. We plan on having our son sit on our lap during the taxi ride. We did this last June when he was 9 months in Cozumel and he was fine, its just a few minutes.

 

St. Maarten - French beach.. Booking it through the cruise so he will be again on our lap during the transportation ride.

[sunrise&set]

I am visiting these ports in June with my 21 month old son.. This is what we have planned:

 

Nassau - Blue Lagoon. You get there by a catarman boat so we will have our son sit on our lap.

 

St. Thomas - Megan's Bay Beach. We plan on having our son sit on our lap during the taxi ride. We did this last June when he was 9 months in Cozumel and he was fine, its just a few minutes.

 

St. Maarten - French beach.. Booking it through the cruise so he will be again on our lap during the transportation ride.

 

I agree with the above ideas. I know there is a beach right at the pier in St. Maarten. We did take a taxi to a dift beach but then when we got back to the pier, we realized that beach was nice enough that we could have stayed there all day. Love Megan's Bay and Blue Lagoon.

[c-cruise]

For St. Thomas it will depend on what line you are on and where you are docked. If you are at the Havensight pier you could walk over and take the skyride to Paradise Point. If you are at the Crown Bay pier then there is really nothing within close walking distance to do other than some shopping. We have done Coral World on St. Thomas through a ships tour with no carseat. Kind of a small aquarium with a beach right next to it. It was fun for the kids.

[crusinmama06]

The narrow/winding roads in St. Thomas and St. Martin are a hair raising experience. The thoughts of a lap baby in a cab, to me is :eek:

 

Nassau, Bahamas -- you can take the water taxi to a place like Atlantis. But you would have to pay for the day passes for that. You can walk to the British Colonial Hilton -- day passes must also be purchased, not as expensive as Atlantis.

 

In St. Thomas, once, we stayed in port and just walked around (no beach). The other times, we took the cruise line tours which used the full sized buses. We've been to Coral World (Coki Beach) -- nice little place

 

In St. Martin, we also used the cruise line full sized bus tours to go to places like Orient Beach and "Under the Two Flags Tour" to explore both sides of the island.

[Mom2B&Z]

The narrow/winding roads in St. Thomas and St. Martin are a hair raising experience. The thoughts of a lap baby in a cab, to me is :eek:

Having been there in January, I would agree completely!

If you want to go without car seats, I would second the Nassau excursion to the dolphin encounter (my 3yo had a blast with the dolphins!), there is about a 10 minute walk to the water taxi, but they drop you off right at the beach.

In St. Maartin, the water taxi was great. Check out the port forum though, there are some rumblings about water quality at the beach where the ships dock, which to me made a lot of sense. We wandered around the town and had a great time.

In St. Thomas, my boys loved Coral World, but the 25 person `shuttles`offered by the cruise sponsored trips were scary. If you have patience, find a taxi and install a seat. It will save your sanity!

[rin1]

I agree with the above posters re:taxis in St. Thomas (or driving there, period). I don't even remember where we were going, just that it was scary to get there. I feel this way about most island driving, though. I think this is why the OP is focused on walkable sites. Smart. :)

[YOWmom]

We decided to rent a car in St. Maarten this time to go to a beach and Marigot on the French side, and the car rental company provided the carseats for an extra $7 each (not the best quality, no upper anchors but better than nothing). Driving there was pretty easy, but would not be brave enough do so on St. Thomas (they drive on the left, winding roads, etc.) so this time we just stayed on the ship. Last year on St. Thomas we took a taxi van to Magen's Bay and brought our own carseat with us - took a few minutes to find a van that could take us, but all in all not a big deal. Unfortunately there are no beaches in St. Thomas within waking distance but there is one in downtown Phillipsburg on St. Maarten. In Nassau, we haven't been but friends usually go to the British Colonial Hilton, which sells day passes and has a private beach, and is within walking distance.

[AJI2596]

He was almost 2 and he sat on the seat or our lap. In NYC, carseats are not mandatory in taxis, we don't use them there either.

[dstewart1075]

We didn't take our carseat for our 2 year old. We just chose to not take any trips too far from the pier.

 

In St. Thomas we went to Emerald Beach in a van and she was perfectly fine on my lap. It was less than 5 minutes away and also very beautiful (& much less crowded than Megan's Bay).

 

Enjoy!:)

[tiba99]

ok im glad I read this post. I will be taking my 11month old on the Allure and I was concern also with the car seat. So just to clarify I really dont need to bring a car seat. St.thomas and st.martain she should be just fine.

[Mom2B&Z]

otherwise bring a car seat.

 

ok im glad I read this post. I will be taking my 11month old on the Allure and I was concern also with the car seat. So just to clarify I really dont need to bring a car seat. St.thomas and st.martain she should be just fine.

[dstewart1075]

tiba99... Its ofcourse your choice and you have to do whatever makes you feel comfortable. I chose not to bring it and we were just fine. I actually never saw anyone dragging around the car seat while in the ports.

 

You'll make the right choice for you!:)

[crusinmama06]

ok im glad I read this post. I will be taking my 11month old on the Allure and I was concern also with the car seat. So just to clarify I really dont need to bring a car seat. St.thomas and st.martain she should be just fine.

 

No, just to clarify. That's not what some of us are saying. If you want to be 100% safe, you bring a car seat or you walk/take alternate transportation. :)

 

These threads are known to get out of control so I will just say -- if you use a car seat at home, then the laws of gravity don't change when you leave the country. ;)

[tiba99]

I hear you all! I just had a vision in my mind me waiting for a taxi at st.martain and they refuse me cause I dont have a baby seat. lol

But anyways love this sight and thanks again for everyone responses.

[crusinmama06]

I hear you all! I just had a vision in my mind me waiting for a taxi at st.martain and they refuse me cause I dont have a baby seat. lol

But anyways love this sight and thanks again for everyone responses.

 

Oh you don't have to worry about that. ;) All the taxi drivers there want to see is money $$$ -- they won't deny you a ride.

 

Have a good cruise!

[vicarella]

St. Thomas go to Magens Bay.

You could get a private renal with car seats but they wanted 150.00 which is crazy because it costs 8.00 each way otherwise. So we took a safari it was a bit crazy actually. So take a regular taxi and you will be fine.

[NJfoodie]

In Nassau, Junkanoo beach is walking distance and it depends on the time of the year you are visiting. We stopped by in late May last year, when it was in the main tourist season, and it was fine. British Colonial hilton if you wanted a beach for a day pass is also next to it and walkable. What we did was we arranged for a tour through a private company and through the company arranged to have a car seat in the van. I can't remember the name of the tour company but they were well-recommended on the bahamas destination board. They took us around through fort Catherine, the queen's stairs, the fish fry, Atlantis, and a couple other areas. Ardastra gardens was also recommended and i think that might be in walking distance but I would check on the port of call board.

 

I wasn't comfortable having my squirmy 14 month old on my lap in cab knowing that driving in the caribbean can be a heart-stopping experience for me nevermind me holding a baby, but I didn't want to lug his carseat around either.

[niki1785]

I would certainly take a water taxi in St. Maarten, do the ferry in Nassau to Blue Lagoon, and spend the day in St. Thomas doing some shopping! Have a great trip. We're traveling with our 1 year old next week and face the same dilemma just in a couple different ports!

[dsrdsrdsr]

No, just to clarify. That's not what some of us are saying. If you want to be 100% safe, you bring a car seat or you walk/take alternate transportation. :)

If you want to be 100% safe, don't get off the ship. If you travel without a car seat, you'll be better than 99.99% safe, based on the idea that if everyone on board a ship went on a taxi tour, you wouldn't expect to lose more than half a dozen of them.

 

I suspect you're safer in a taxi than walking. Remember you're still at risk of a taxi hitting you, even if you're not in it.