Life jackets and car seats for 9 & 6 yr olds

[simo]

I posted this on another board but thought I'd post it here too for some input. We are going on Disney stopping at Key West, Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Castaway Cay.

 

Our kids will be 9 and 6 at the time of the cruise. Neither one can swim well by themselves (for sure not well in the ocean). Are there typically life jackets for rent at the various beaches? What about Castaway? I also thought about them for the tenders - and I suppose could bring their swim vests but it's one more thing to haul through the airport and we try to pack light.

 

Another thing is carseats. Our kids are big enough for booster seats - and I am pretty much a stickler in making sure they ride in those all the time in the car. On the plane they will not need them. I'm thinking with our rental car, we will just request them. Going on some of the taxi rides that I've been on in ports with them seems a little frightening to me and I'm wondering how other people have handled this. Do you bring a booster with you? A travel vest? Take public transport? The public transport would probably be easiest (like a bus) but I haven't found that we can get that for sure at the various stops.

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

[nothriver]

For your younger child, I'd probably bring a carseat or a high back booster. Many carseats are FAA approved, I've always taken my Britax seats which are approved for use on the plane and then I have them for rental cars and taxis. The ones I've seen at rental car agencies and in taxis are filthy and don't look safe at all, I'd much rather have my own seat when possible. One reason I like to take along a FAA approved seat to use on the plane is that I don't need to worry about it getting damaged when I check it, automated baggage handling equipment can be brutal.

 

My sister has a folding booster by Compass, might be the B810 or S810something like that. It "folds" but it is still pretty big when folded, very lightweight though, so that might be an option for you and technically it fits in the overhead bins, so you don't have to check it, and it would fit under your bed on the ship. You can obviously take along a low back booster, easy to store in the overhead bins.

 

We are planning an Alaska cruise and I'm still struggling with what to do about the carseat. We'll be on planes, trains, taxis, shuttles, tour busses and we'll have a very small cabin on the ship. I've just ordered a Radian carseat which folds. I haven't gotten it yet, but my thinking is that it will at least be easier to stow under the bed in the ship. The Radian however has a steel frame and weighs a ton, and I still wouldn't want to haul it off the ship every day for shore excursions especially if we are tendered - I just don't know what I'll do, I'm worried about DD's safety if we rent a car or use a shuttle van or taxi while onshore. I've got almost a year to figure it out but I'm already a bit stressed.

[NoelsCat]

I am a car seat stickler, too. My child isn't old enough to be in a booster (he is only two) but we do travel a lot and I do lug his huge britax everywhere. Last year on the cruise, I made exceptions only for shuttles and buses. I actually rented a car in Cozumel (actually on the mainland) specifically so I could install the car seat. Otherwise I either stayed close to the dock (walking distance) or installed the car seat in the cab (when possible).

Looking at your itinerary, you won't need to worry about this in castaway cay, Key West (a walking port), and in Grand Caymen has tons of options... including seat belts in all the cabs we were in...but you could truly walk to a lot of places there, too.

 

As far as the beaches -- the water stays pretty shallow for quite a while in the beach areas -- even my two year old was able to play in the water without much issue. We also bring "Puddle Jumpers" -- which I would highly recomend to ANYONE with kids. They are exceptional because they are certified coastguard approved but not restrictive like a full life vest. Here's a picture:

 

 

Don't worry, they have other options beside the frog, too. If you go to You Tube and put puddlejumpers in search -- you can see how they work in action. They are good for kids 30 to 50 pounds. Hope this helps.