HELP! Travelling to all inclusive resort

TwinMomma

New member
Hi everyone,
We're planning a last minute getaway from Canada to somewhere down south..likely Mexico (Mayan Riviera) or Dominican Republic.
I am having a lot of anxiety trying to figure out how to travel from the airport to resort. Since we're doing all inclusive, the transfer is included but it honestly terrifies me! My husband and I have been a few times without kids and I vividly remember some crazy fast reckless driving. I'd feel a tiny bit better if it was a larger greyhound type bus but I think the smaller vans are more common (at least that's all we saw the last couple times in Mayan Riviera). Can I install seats in these?

So what do people do? Hire a private transfer? How do you even do that? And what type of vehicle is it usually? Something different than a cab?

Is there a location that would be better to go to... Dominican vs Mexico (Mayan Riviera)? I honestly may base my decision on where to go on car seat safety.

It's almost to the point that I don't want to go at all...the only thing holding me back is the car seat situation. But I realize I have to live my life.

As for specifics, I have 3 year old twins who are about 36-38 inches and 30-32 lbs. They have Foonfs at home but we would likely bring Evenflo SureRides for the plane.

My husband would rather not bring the seats at all (bad experience before) so if there's another option then that would be great. We've looked at CARES for the plane but I guess we can't use it for a bus. Any other options?

Thanks so much for any help at all!! If we can figure this out then we can go on vacation!
 
ADS

BananaBoat

Well-known member
The most honest answer is: you won't really know until you get there.
Unfortunately, most Caribbean/Central & South American locations don't value car safety or have the resources or education to be car safety conscious. My best recommendation would be to go on the TripAdvisor forums for the specific locations you are interested and ask very specific questions around transportation. Even then, there will be no guarantee.

We traveled to the Bahamas when DD1 was 9 months old. She didn't have a seat on the plane because I couldn't convince DH it was necessary. DH didn't want to bring her car seat for just the transfers to the resort, so I did a ton of research and found a taxi that would supply an appropriate car seat for an additional fee. Lots of TripAdvisor members highly recommended this taxi driver and had used them before. Yay! Right? Nope :( The infant bucket that was provided to us was easily 10 years old, smelled of vomit, the harness straps had been cut and tied back on in a knot AND part of the plastic shell of the bucket was black and melted...like it had been on fire :eek:
It was horrible. I wanted to walk, but that wasn't really possible. So we did it and vowed to never again not bring a seat.

Since then, we've traveled to other Caribbean and Mexican destinations and it's really luck of the draw regarding what's available. Try to get assurances in writing if possible, but also be willing to go with it if need be. Or rent a car for ultimate piece of mind. That's what we do when we travel now. I prefer to argue with the rental car people about why we insist on a vehicle with functioning seat belts rather than a taxi driver who doesn't care or understand me.

Good luck!
 
By all means, I would bring seats for the plane ... even if there wasn't a way to use them anyplace else. What was the bad experience before? Maybe we could help you to avoid it happening again?

If there is a rental car company that has offices both at the airport and at the resort, you may want to consider a 1-way rental each way. What I'd do is to reserve a car for the trip to the resort, and make a separate reservation for the trip back to the airport. Don't put any money down, and make sure it's a reservation you could cancel last-minute (most are). Then you can make the call at the time: if the resort's van looks acceptable, then cancel the rental reservation.

I'd be reluctant to travel with anything internationally that requires a shoulder belt or top tether anchor (i.e. vests or boosters). But we've always found a way, at least in cars, to get a decent install of convertible seats.

I haven't been to the Dominican Republic. Mexico is notorious for not having shoulder belts, though.
 

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