Scenera, Ultra Cargo, or GoGo Kidz? Advice needed for travel

[HallsofVA]

We're heading out on a cruise in 2 months with our toddler, who's currently 21 months and 25 lbs. We've purchased him a seat on the airplane, and need to figure out what car seat to use. We have him in Wizards in both of our cars. While I'm intrigued with the GoGo Kidz 2 that would allow us to take a Wizard with us, and wheel it around the airport, in my heart I really don't want to lug that heavy seat around (and have to deal with it in our stateroom aboard ship all week.) Plus, since I'll be in the middle seat, I don't want it squeezing me the entire flight (my DH will do that enough from the other side).

I've been looking at buying an inexpensive seat for the trip, and have looked at both the Cosco Scenera, and Graco Platinum or Ultra Cargo. The Scenara is such a great price, and seems to fit my needs, but am I nuts to buy a convertible seat when I only need it forward facing? Please tell me if you think this is a good or bad choice to use for our trip.

The Graco isn't a bad seat, but it's almost twice the price of the Scenera, and I'm not really enamored with the booster feature of it, and don't know that I'd use it that way when my son was ready for a booster. Is there something I'm overlooking that should cause me to lean towards a Graco Cargo?

If you think I should look at the Graco's intstead, would one of the cheaper Cargo versions (that run $50-80) suffice, or should I continue to look at the top of the line ones (that run about $90-100)?

Hopefully someone can give me advice to help me stop stressing out about this! Thanks in advance!

Cathleen

[HeatherW]

Sorry...just saw your post. My DH, and 22mo DD just got back from a cruise and very glad we purchased the Scenera. It is so light. I slung it over my shoulder by hooking the rear tether to another part of the seat and tightening it as needed. We also took our umbrella type stroller...wish we had one that reclined more, though.

Let me know if you need other info about cruising, have a great time!

Heather

[HallsofVA]

Thanks! I just bought the Scenera this past weekend. Glad for the reassurance. We'll be taking our Combi US, which reclines, so we should be fine in that regard.

regarding other cruise questions, where did your DD sleep? We're still trying to work through those details.

[HeatherW]

Well....there's my other #1 thing I would change about our cruise!
Money is tight, so when I planned our cruise, we purchased an Inside cabin....the cruise line put a pack n play in our room and set it up the first night. Way too crowded! So, long story short, she ended up sleepong with us...we had her sleep on the wall side of the bed.
Lets just say that the hard work we did for the 3 weeks pre cruise to get her to bed w/o being held went down the tubes when we returned!!
:( !!

So, if you can afford it....get a balcony...check your cruise prices on line, many will let you upgrade for the difference and the upper cabins may be cheaper now.

PS...if you are going to Cozumel..we ended up renting a car with Avis and they had a Graco Cargo seat for us to use!

Have fun!

H