travelling in car/taxi/shuttle with 2 yr old

[lidolovers]

Hi all,

 

This will be our first cruise with our 2 yr old and only the second time we've ever travelled with him. We need advice!

 

We will be landing in Ft Lauderdale the day before the cruise and also staying one night after the cruise. We are unsure of the best/easiest way to travel with him...We have heard that SOME people bring their own carseats, however this does not seem ideal as who wants to lug around a heavy carseat in addition to everything else? We are only going on 4 'trips' - between airport and hotel (both ways) and between hotel and port (both ways).

 

Do you know of taxi companies that have carseats?

 

Did any of you bring carseats? If so, can u recommend a good one to travel with (lightweight). Our son is about 30 lbs and will be 2.5 yrs old at travel time.

 

Thanks!

[CarnivalGirl3]

We didn't do taxis at port since we didn't bring her car seat. (No need to, we drove to port.) I'm also not lugging her car seat around and that's the main reason I haven't flown with her. I can't figure out how to get her, her car seat and bags from baggage claim to rental car. So, I'll wait till she's older to fly.

 

If we flew, then again, we'd bring her car seat and she'd have her own seat, as that's safest.

 

Now, if it's just a shuttle to/from parking/port, I'd be ok with no carseat. We did take the shuttle from parking to port, but it was one block, no thru traffic. We could have walked. We did not take transportation on the ports. The driving there always scares me, though, I've need seen a wrack.

 

How far is airport to hotel to port? Does the airport/hotel/ship offer a shuttle?

[Mom2B&Z]

There are a multitude of threads on this topic, but my opinion is that children should be in an appropriate restraint at all times. We have travelled with a car seat and booster through multiple airports, transfers to port and even in port. With a little planning, it can be done.

I love the Britax seats for travelling internationally as the built in lock offs make installation a breeze. If you plan on using your seat only in the US, then the Cosco Scenera or Diono radian are both good choices. The Scenera is very inexpensive and almost disposable after the trip, the radian is popular because it folds for storage. We neve had any problems storing our Britax marathon in our cabin, just put it on the floor of the closet and forget about it.

If you want examples of how to get children, luggage and car seats to and from airport terminals, cruise terminals etc just ask :)

[flhokie]

A couple of things to think about....

 

Will he just be sitting in the seat on the plane with their lap belt? Little ones can easily get out of the seat belts. A car seat or CARES harness would probably make the flight better for all of you.

 

What kind of vehicle will you be in for transfers? Some hotels/transfer companies might use buses, but if you are in a car/taxi he will have to be in a car seat. You might be able to arrange a car service with a car seat in advance if you're going to schedule your own transportation.

 

We will be taking DD on her first cruise next year (at 2), but won't be flying as the port is 3 hours from us. Needless to say she'll be in her carseat for the drive to the port. However, we will not be taking the carseat on the ship (don't really plan to get off the ship in port--if we change our minds it will just be the shops in walking distance).

[6rugrats]

Hi all,

 

This will be our first cruise with our 2 yr old and only the second time we've ever travelled with him. We need advice!

 

We will be landing in Ft Lauderdale the day before the cruise and also staying one night after the cruise. We are unsure of the best/easiest way to travel with him...We have heard that SOME people bring their own carseats, however this does not seem ideal as who wants to lug around a heavy carseat in addition to everything else? We are only going on 4 'trips' - between airport and hotel (both ways) and between hotel and port (both ways).

 

Do you know of taxi companies that have carseats?

 

Did any of you bring carseats? If so, can u recommend a good one to travel with (lightweight). Our son is about 30 lbs and will be 2.5 yrs old at travel time.

 

Thanks!

This topic has been discussed hundreds of times on this board. There is a "search" function in the upper right hand corner. To pull up more information then you ever wanted to read, simply go there and type in "car seats".

 

That said, it is the law in the state of Florida that a child your son's age, traveling in cars, and this includes taxis, MUST be in an appropriate child restraint. Taxi companies do not provide car seats. If you think about it, where would they put them? They need the trunk space for luggage and the seat space for passengers.

 

If you don't want to bring a car seat, either arrange for a car service in advance that will provide them,or take a shuttle that does not have seat belts, thus no way to attach a car seat.

[blancheneigedlp]

Hi all,

 

This will be our first cruise with our 2 yr old and only the second time we've ever travelled with him. We need advice!

 

We will be landing in Ft Lauderdale the day before the cruise and also staying one night after the cruise. We are unsure of the best/easiest way to travel with him...We have heard that SOME people bring their own carseats, however this does not seem ideal as who wants to lug around a heavy carseat in addition to everything else? We are only going on 4 'trips' - between airport and hotel (both ways) and between hotel and port (both ways).

 

Do you know of taxi companies that have carseats?

 

Did any of you bring carseats? If so, can u recommend a good one to travel with (lightweight). Our son is about 30 lbs and will be 2.5 yrs old at travel time.

 

Thanks!

 

Orange Shuttles from FLL will provide a car seat for you; they are for me at the end of this month. They are charging me $25/pp including car seats each way.

 

I also booked with Joyce Prince in St. Maarten and she is providing car seats for me too.

 

HOWEVER, I just traveled to WA with my 3 year old twins and I took our extra car seats with me because we were renting a car ($80/week to rent one car seat, and I need 2, no thanks!) and I used them on the plane and it was GREAT! No three year old undoing the airplane seat belt and wanting to run all over the plane! I have the Cosco Sceneras as our extra car seats, they were $40 off Amazon and they only weigh about 8 pounds each. I got these straps to attach the seats to our carry ons (http://www.amazon.com/Traveling-Toddler-Seat-Travel-Accessory/dp/B000JHN3AS/ref=sr_1_1?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1356902216&sr=1-1&keywords=car+seat+luggage+strap) and they worked GREAT!

 

So I'm actually considering taking the car seats on the cruise with me too. It would be great to have my boys contained on the plane and not have to worry about whether the shuttle car seats are 20 years old! I just have to figure out whether I can handle 2 kids, 2 car seats and our luggage by myself!

[canadian85]

I would suggest asking the hotel if the shuttle is a bus type (without seatbelts) or if it's a van. If you end up bringing carseats and the shuttle has nothing to strap to, you'll be lugging them around for nothing.

We used Carnival shuttle which didn't have seatbelts (because we didn't take carseats). We did take a couple trips in ports without carseats in a regular van, I was more comfortable with that risk than I would be doing the same on American highways.