USVI-On-Line

After travelling to St John for the last 30 years I thought we knew it all. Now that grandbabies are coming with us, their parents came as a package deal with my DH, and they were teenagers, my knowledge is nil. I know, I asked, that the little ones need car seats in the jeep and we can rent them on island but what about the taxi vans on St Thomas getting to the ferry?

Any and all hints for this "newbie" is much appreciated.

Two years ago when we went my niece was turning one while we were on the island. We couldn't find a taxi service in St. Thomas with car seats. So my sister hauled hers down with her and used it for the taxi ride to the ferry and in the jeep rental on St. John. We had set up taxi service ahead of time with Christophers taxi in St. Thomas so that she would have enough time to put the car seat in the vehicle without having to make other passengers wait. The private taxi was well worth it. We are going again next April and think we may try to use Rachel this time for a private taxi. She has gotten rave reviews on this board.

We took ours along and used Christopher. We used it on the plane too.

Double check with the airlines but as far as I know, even lap babies are allowed to have a piece of luggage gate checked so if your family does take their own seats, they shouldn't have to include it as baggage allowance.

What I did is fill the carseat bag with extra clothes, his backpack carrier, diapers, etc and gate check it. I could fit nearly everything our son needed into the carrier bag. We bought ours cheap, $20 or so, at a big box store. It had wheels on the bottom as well as straps.

We checked the car seat as luggage and didn't bother with on on the taxi ride across St Thomas. I just held my 2½ year old on my lap and that was fine.

Jumbiegirl wrote:We checked the car seat as luggage and didn't bother with on on the taxi ride across St Thomas. I just held my 2½ year old on my lap and that was fine.

What a cutie pie, Jumbiegirl!

Bought our 18 month old a seat on the plane, so she sat in her carseat on the plane ride, taxi driver allowed us to strap her seat in the van on the way from the airport to Red Hook, on the way back, we took the ferry from St. John to Charlotte Amalie, and there were too many people in the van to the airport for her seat to be strapped in, so she rode on my lap. Then back into her seat for the plane ride. I don't know what kind of seats you have, but we had a Britax Roundabout, it installs very quickly into the taxis using their seatbelts (I didn't bother with the tether for the taxi ride).

Thank you all for the information. I have passed it along to my daughter. Can't wait for our trip.