Hello,

From Taxi Regulations:
Children under six (6) years old will pay half price.

I had called a friend who is a taxi driver on STT a few weeks ago asking this same question. The answer was:

If you use a car seat then you pay full fare for the baby/child/car seat because the car seat takes up a seat in the van or car.

If you hold your baby on your lap/in your arms you will not be charged for the baby. Person with baby in lap/in arms can only ride in the back seat.

I then asked... so doesn't the driver get a ticket if stopped by a police officer since car seats are the law and they said EHHHHHHH if you need a taxi and you have a baby/small child you can hold them on your lap, sit in the back seat, its not a problem.

I then said, if the person has a car seat and wants to use it... they said no problem just expect to pay full fare for the baby/car seat spot.

What about renting a car?

--Islander

Islander,
You're the best! 🙂 We'll only be in for one day on the Carnival Destiny. I don't know if the car rental will be worth it to travel to Coki Beach and back. I suppose I can check out the daily rental prices to see if it makes sense. They probably offer carseats too.

I can also check out the excursion sponsored by the ship - I suppose they follow the laws of the port they are in ???

I really don't want to have to carry the booster seats along with us. My 4 year old is big for his age, but being unfamiliar with what is required by law, I'm just trying to make sure I won't be stranded at the ship with no where to go because I didn't bring all the car seats. i'd feel more comfortable with my 2 year old in a carseat however.
Thanks again,
morning glory

Hello Morning Glory,

So bring a carseat for the 2 year old and the other two children can be buckled up in the back. You would have to go in a taxi van. Many taxis that service the cruise ship docks/passengers are safari buses. They are trucks that have the truck beds converted into seating area - its covered and has bench seating, one side is closed in and the other isn't. Its open air. No seatbelts. So you'd have to ask the dispatcher for a van.

You said you are traveling to Coki. You will be charged between $49-$70 round trip. The $49 is with half price for kids under 6 and the $70 is if they charged full fare for the kids. You should be able to get an economy car rented for the day at around $50-$65 and yes they would have car seats. Both Avis and Budget have locations in walking distance from the Havensight cruise dock. You can find their web sites and tel. numbers in our rental car section - click this link https://www.vinow.com/stthomas/getting_around_stt/driving_stt/. You might give them a call and see what rate you get for your day in port and if there is an extra fee for the carseats. If you got a car you could visit more of the island too.

Your kids will enjoy Coral World http://www.coralworldvi.com , which is next to Coki Beach - same area, if you are heading there too.

--Islander

Islander,
You are a wealth of info!! Coki and Coral World are exactly what we were planning for the morning. You are correct that the rental car would give us more flexibility, I'm giving that serious consideration now.
Destiny has an early departure from St. Thomas - 4 or 5 pm I think. Can you remind me of the time to avoid C. A. because of the traffic in town?
MG

Hello MG,

Well avoiding town is directly affected by number of ships :). If there are 6,7,8 ships, I avoid it all day long. LOL.

Traffic downtown gets tight around 4:30pm-5:30pm when folks are getting off of work, taxis are trying to get folks back to the ship etc. Also lunch time there is also some traffic. The traffic right by Havensight, where most ships dock, gets bottle necked around 4-5pm, when folks are trying to get back to the ships.

--Islander