Cozumel stop on DCL Fantasy with toddlers

[welnerj]

Need advice please, any help is appreciated! My family and I will be going on our first Disney cruise in May aboard the Disney fantasy. My DD will be 18 months and DS is 3 years. We like the Playa Mia Beach Resort excursion in Cozumel but do not want to go through Disney since we need little more flexibility. At their age, the kids are unpredictable and we want to be able to leave the resort whenever we like (for nap time or whatever) instead of waiting until the late afternoon when everyone leaves via the cruise bus. For this reason we would like to just purchase the tickets directly through Playa Mia and take a taxi. I'm finally coming to my question, I promise! So obviously the kids still need car seats and I understand that the resort is a 20 minute ride from port. What do families with young children do in this situation? Carrying two carseats on the cruise is a giant pain just for one excursion. Booking the port adventure through the ship and having a motorcoach is "safer" but I don't want to spend the entire day there either.

Thanks for any insight!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Need advice please, any help is appreciated! My family and I will be going on our first Disney cruise in May aboard the Disney fantasy. My DD will be 18 months and DS is 3 years. We like the Playa Mia Beach Resort excursion in Cozumel but do not want to go through Disney since we need little more flexibility. At their age, the kids are unpredictable and we want to be able to leave the resort whenever we like (for nap time or whatever) instead of waiting until the late afternoon when everyone leaves via the cruise bus. For this reason we would like to just purchase the tickets directly through Playa Mia and take a taxi. I'm finally coming to my question, I promise! So obviously the kids still need car seats and I understand that the resort is a 20 minute ride from port. What do families with young children do in this situation? Carrying two carseats on the cruise is a giant pain just for one excursion. Booking the port adventure through the ship and having a motorcoach is "safer" but I don't want to spend the entire day there either.

Thanks for any insight!

Unlike the US there are often no car seat requirements in foreign pots. If you want to use car seats, you're going to need to bring your own. Or do without. Be aware there may also be taxis that don't even have seat belts.

 

[DietCokeMommy]

My kids are similar ages and we went without car seats on our trip. We had short drives around St. Thomas and PR that were without car seats.

For longer rides I made sure we had a method of transport that included a car seat (a rental car in PR and shuttle from hotel to port). But for a couple Uber rides and for our St. Thomas excursion we just went without. I’m sure someone reading this will undoubtedly think we’re terrible parents. But it’s a judgement call.

Personally, I’d do what I needed to make sure my kids got their naps in.

 

[hnthomps]

We ended up not doing an excursion in Cozumel for this very reason. We weren't comfortable taking the kids in taxis for that distance without restraints. We had a wonderful time staying on the relatively empty ship.

 

[princessmommyx3]

We have taken taxis in Cozumel 4 times with our kids and always bring along a Bubble Bum or Mifold portable booster seat. Our taxis always had seat belts.

 

[LNMom]

Decide if you are willing to take your chances. My husband jokes that I should be an actuary bc I am so cautious but-- Went to Colombia with a 1, 6, 9 Yo. Took The Seats And Only Used Them Once. It was a hassle to use them in ubers and taxis. We went to Italy For A Month Last Summer, Kids were 2, 7, 10. Took A Compact folding Booster For the baby Who Unbuckled Himself everytime we got into the car And roamed around The car like It Was 1972.

Investigate the route to get to the resort. If it's not an interstate, or a road with a sheer drop off on one side, then think about just going without the seat. But you have to be comfortable with your decision.

Sorry for weird capitalization. I hit some wrong setting.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

We have been to Cozumel 3 times....all with toddlers/preschoolers....none with DCL excursions. We didn't use carseats. I did baby wear so there was some security but obviously not what we are used to.

trip 1- did Nachi Cocum. It was glorious. Quick taxi trip down one straight road. Quiet, nice pool, delicious food.
trip 2- Mr Sanchos. It was awful. We left by noon. NEVER AGAIN.
trip 3- DH went golfing on his own and the kids and I enjoyed the quiet ship. I didn't miss Cozumel at all that trip.

 

[ahain]

[QUOTE="..... Took A Compact folding Booster For the baby Who Unbuckled Himself everytime we got into the car And roamed around The car like It Was 1972......[/QUOTE]

HAHAHAH! This caued a flash-back for me....
I was born in 1960 - my little brother was born in 1965...so I can tell you that we rarely used seatbelts. My little brother loved trains. I can vividly remember one day (little brother was maybe 3-4 years old) when my grandmother came zooming to our house in her Ford Custom and said to my brother, "I hear the train coming, Chuckie...shall we hurry and try to see it cross the road?" My brother was soooo excited, so we all piled in her car and went speeding off to try to make it to the intersection before the train crossed the road (maybe 1 to 1-1/2 miles away)....my brother standing up in the middle of the front seat of the car - grinning so wide and leaning forward in anticipation - like he was helping us to "go fast" by the way he was positioned

How did we EVER survive childhood??

 

[welnerj]

We have taken taxis in Cozumel 4 times with our kids and always bring along a Bubble Bum or Mifold portable booster seat. Our taxis always had seat belts.

Unfortunately my kids are too small for those options.

 

[welnerj]

Thanks for all your help everyone! Still undecided what we should do but regardless, we can’t wait for our first DCL magical experience!!