Car Seat?

[clark3]

Does anyone know if I will need to take a car seat along for dd3 on the trip from the airport to the port? We have disney transfers. Also, will I need a carseat for any of the shore excursions or for cabs in port?? I will be on the 5/24/03 Western. Thanks for any info. I have cruised before, but not since my dd was born so this is a new experience for me.

Thanks,
clark3

 

[MFan]

Disregarding safety for a moment, I believe buses are exempt from carseat laws. Also, I doubt any of the ports (except Key West) have any carseat laws for tourists. With that said, it's a parent's decision on what's safer for his/her child. I am positive there won't be any carseats available unless you pre-arrange it or bring it yourself.

 

[jel0511]

You will not be allowed to use the car seat on the DCL bus, since there are no seatbelts to secure it. I can't help you with the ports of call, sorry......

 

[my3kids]

I'm a stickler for car seats and would probably hire a car instead of the DCL busses for that reason. I probably would take the seat along even if you can't use it on the bus so you'd have it in the ports. Some "taxis" in the ports are more open air busses without seatbelts(on Eastern at least) but you could insist on a real car with seatbelts at the taxi stand, I'd think.

 

[kajohn]

We brought a booster seat for my small 5 year old. We rented a car to take us from MCO to the port and back and rented a car in St. Thomas.

We checked the seat at the airport as luggage and also at the port, so we never had to carry it. Yes it was a pain to store, but I could never forgive myself if we had gotten in a car accident and I didn't have one just for the sake of it being hard to store in the cabin.

 

[DonnaDavid]

I've spent a lot of time debating this one also. I've read a lot of posts addressing the traffic/driving conditions on the Eastern excursion islands, and I've decided to rent a car so that my 22 mo old DD and my 5 yo DS can be safely buckled in. It's a bit of a drag; but I'll have a carseat for the baby on the airplane anyway, and I bought a cheap, lightweight booster for the 5 yo.
By the way, I would recommend www.cruisecritic.com for research on the shore excursions. If you go to the "boards" heading and then click on "ports of call," you can get lots of info on others' excursion experiences.

 

[aprilgail2]

If you are flying your child should be secured in their car seat at all times during the flight regardless so you might as well take it along. I also would not use DIsney transfers since there is no place to secrue the car seat on there, I would rent a car and drive myself.