Please Help

[JHASdiz]

We are going on a cruise in a few months with our 2 babies (2years and 8months) and other family (all adults). I just don't know what to do about car seats... do we bring them to every port, do we try to walk everywhere, do we rent them, do we just stay on the ship, etc... (I'm joking about staying on the ship the entire time but probably the easiest option) We will have a strollers for them.
What have you done when you've taken your babies on cruises??
Ive heard all the negative already (don't take your babies, stupid to cruise with babies, etc) <---not options... so please leave the negativity out of this and just post helpful comments. Thank you!!

 

[DisneyJoe]

Are you worried about Port adventures?

 

[ChuckElias]

I'm not 100% sure I understand the question. Are you asking if you should bring car seats with you at all on the cruise? Or are you going to have them and just asking if you should take them with you when you disembark at each port?

If you're going to have them, the only problem with bringing them aboard with you is storing them in the room. It would be tough to keep them in a closet and I'm not sure if they'd fit under the bed.

But if you do bring them, I guess I taking them ashore in port depends on if you expect to take a taxi or something similar.

 

[JHASdiz]

Are you worried about Port adventures?

I'm not 100% sure I understand the question. Are you asking if you should bring car seats with you at all on the cruise? Or are you going to have them and just asking if you should take them with you when you disembark at each port?

If you're going to have them, the only problem with bringing them aboard with you is storing them in the room. It would be tough to keep them in a closet and I'm not sure if they'd fit under the bed.

But if you do bring them, I guess I taking them ashore in port depends on if you expect to take a taxi or something similar.

Sorry I guess I should have made it more clear... I'm really asking if it's worth taking car seats. I'm just worried about what happens if we don't have them and need to ride in a car when we get off the ship? Idk maybe it's a stupid question and I shouldn't be so worried about it.

 

[ChuckElias]

I can share with you my own experience, if it helps at all. We've been cruising DCL since my daughter was 6 years old. (She's 22 now.) We never took car seats with us. We never had a problem, and never particularly worried about her safety. We took a few taxis (my wife loves to cab it to 7-mile beach on Grand Cayman) and a few vans for shore excursions. Nobody ever required us to have one.

You may feel differently, and that's your call as a parent. But we never needed to have the car seat.

 

[MaryJaneP]

We do not have personal experience, but the old saw of "safety first" would be our guess. We do not know if DCL has any provision concerning car safety seats, and we are less than certain that foreign vehicles have proper car seat mounting points in them. Also, one excursion company may be equipped to handle them while other companies may not, so it may be a case-by-case basis. Nonetheless, it is a great question and it may be partially answered by calling DCL direct and communicating directly with the companies doing your excursions. We hope you have a great cruise and we will be interested in you can update this forum posting after your trip.

 

[larryz]

You might find this link helpful.

 

[pilka214]

I think it depends a lot on what you plan on doing in port. If you plan on taking a Taxi or other from of car/bus transport, I could see it being a safe option... But a whole lot to lug along. No Port you're going to, except possibly port canaveral and key west will have any laws regarding needing a baby seat. It all comes down to what kind of excursions and transport you choose to take in each port... you can always hold your child in your lap anywhere you go. You won't find any purpose for them onboard, since you already have a stroller...

 

[jaklgreen]

I don't know if you have any excursions planned. But we actually like staying on the ship. Even now we rarely get off the ship at ports. We did not do excursions when our kids were really little and saved them more for when they were much older, like swimming with the dolphins. If anything I would just get off at the port and walk around a bit. I never traveled with car seats.

 

[NelleBelle]

If you're doing more of a "sightseeing" excursion booked through DCL, a lot of them use buses that do not allow car seats, you're supposed to hold your kids on your lap (plus, you may be taking a different bus back to the ship, so what would you do with the seats while on your tour?). I think all this depends on whether or not you plan on doing excursions or not. Are you taking your own transportation to the port before embarkation or are you taking DCL transportation (in which case, you'd have to bring the seats on board with you and store them in your stateroom). We didn't cruise when our kids were infants but did WDW when our youngest was 4-weeks old and oldest was 2yrs (and used WDW transportation with no car seats since it was not require and both kids flew on laps). Probably not the most helpful post, but hoping to shed some light with the buses at least Good luck and have fun with those babies--they grow so fast!!

 

[Phonedave]

What cruise are you doing? What is the itenerary? Some excursions may not even be an optiion - they do have age limits on some. The whole question may be moot.

-dave

 

[ChuckElias]

Some excursions may not even be an optiion - they do have age limits on some. The whole question may be moot.

Dave, I usually really appreciate your posts, but you've made a common, and rather stupid mistake, I'm afraid.

 

[MaryJaneP]

Kinda like the SNL/Jesse Jackson skit "The point is moot"!

 

[JHASdiz]

We do not have personal experience, but the old saw of "safety first" would be our guess. We do not know if DCL has any provision concerning car safety seats, and we are less than certain that foreign vehicles have proper car seat mounting points in them. Also, one excursion company may be equipped to handle them while other companies may not, so it may be a case-by-case basis. Nonetheless, it is a great question and it may be partially answered by calling DCL direct and communicating directly with the companies doing your excursions. We hope you have a great cruise and we will be interested in you can update this forum posting after your trip.

UPDATE:
We decided not to take the car seats which ended up being the best decision for us. I have no idea where we would have kept them in the cabin on the ship if we had them, there was barely room for the stroller! Most of the ports we opted to walk or we took a shuttle. The one time we took a taxi it wasn't even questioned where the littles would sit. May not be what others would decide but like I said not taking a car seat was the best decision for us. The cruise was great and we all had so much fun!!

 

[Pixieish]

UPDATE:
We decided not to take the car seats which ended up being the best decision for us. I have no idea where we would have kept them in the cabin on the ship if we had them, there was barely room for the stroller! Most of the ports we opted to walk or we took a shuttle. The one time we took a taxi it wasn't even questioned where the littles would sit. May not be what others would decide but like I said not taking a car seat was the best decision for us. The cruise was great and we all had so much fun!!

I'm so thrilled to hear you had a great trip!!!
I brought 2 car-seats to FL once when we rented a car upon arrival...holy pain in the butt. Gate checking them, lugging them through the airport, etc. etc. Our boys are much older now (11 and 6), but if our youngest needs a booster next trip, we'll probably just buy a cheap one near WDW. (I always get slammed for not making them sit in car-seats on the plane, too...but whatever. My kids, my choice.)