Keeping Track of Teens!

[createmem]

Hello all - on our last few cruises, we used a walkie talke to keep track of our teen daughter as she was allowed more freedom on the ships. While I trust her and her judgement, I don't trust others, and try to keep her safe, while allowing her a bit of "time" away from mom and dad, which is a difficult balance!

 

I recently read an article about a feature on Oasis - paying a fee, your teen being able to reach you from RCL house phones, or even being able to text. We certainly use our cell phones alot on land for keeping track of her comings and goings, and this is intriguing and a feature I would use, as the walkie talkies can be unreliable.

 

Does anyone know if RCL has rolled this out to ships other than Oasis yet, and the plans for that? I think the fee was $18 for the length of cruise? If anyone who has been on Oasis has used this, I would love to know what you thought.

 

Thanks and Happy New Year fellow cruisers!

 

Tricia

[LBumb]

great question and great dilemna. I have walked miles on ships looking for my kids at times.

[madforcruising]

I think you are talking about the "Royal Connect" or WOW Phone.

 

They are apple IPhones but only work on the ship, no ship to shore service, but you can connect or text other WOW phones onboard and regular phones onboard.

You can also locate your kids age 3-11 that wear a special wrist band.

 

Anyway it´s only available on Oasis and I don´t know about any plans to introduce it on other ships than probably Allure.

[marci22]

I have always used the phones in the elevator banks to call the room and leave messages for my teens. That is free. Bring post-it notes for the room, assign meeting times, and leave messages on the room phone.

 

If they aren't in their assigned meeting places at the correct times, they hold your hand the next day. Done!

[VA CDC]

On the Voyager and Freedom class ships, you can rent DECT phones from guest services. These are the same portable phones that the crew uses. They run $25 for the length of the cruise. They don't have a lot available and can run out fast. We normally go to guest services first thing after getting on the ship to check on them. They work very well for the kids to check in, change plans, find out where they are, etc.

[printingchick]

As another said, my policy was to have regular check in times with the teens - never let them out alone for more than a couple hours before meeting at an established place. That worked well for us.

[CruisinManiac]

I have always used the phones in the elevator banks to call the room and leave messages for my teens. That is free. Bring post-it notes for the room, assign meeting times, and leave messages on the room phone.

 

If they aren't in their assigned meeting places at the correct times, they hold your hand the next day. Done!

 

DITTO! Works like a charm.

 

BTW - Thank you for being concerned about your teens whereabouts. Sometimes, I cannot get over the amount of teens and children that are left to themselves and running all over the ship (and hotels for that matter). As we were checking out of our hotel room this morning, we passed two small children that were running down the hallway without a parent in sight.:eek: I mentioned to my husband that we could have easily snatched the children up and into our room, or made a run to the side exit of the hotel with children in tow. Scary! :(

[Nekochan]

I use a walkie talkie and post it notes. After using the walkie talkie, we have to meet IN the room, or my son has to call the room because we can't understand each other on the walkie talkies all the time.

[reallyitsmema]

We used the voice mail in the cabin plus post-it notes. We would leave a note saying where we were going plus the time we left the cabin, our son did the same. We also believe in trust but verify. We would make sure he was where he said he was going to be and he always was except once. The one time we couldn't find him, he had taken a friend to the infirmary for stitches. We had heard them paging a couple for a while. He did come and find us since he had stayed with his friend until the parents had been found.

[hollon]

I did post something just a few minutes ago but it isn't up yet. We were on the VOS, Dec. 20 and my son (12) who went to the adventure club to play the Wii and these bullies who bullied him by throwing his hat around, pushed him out of a chair, threw shoes at him and took the wii control out of his hand and then my husband went up the the teen club regarding all of this and saw kids playing "spin the bottle" w/ them all kissing - RCCL just didn't watch my kids like they said they were. Even if their in the Teen club RCCL told me that they always have someone in there, whether that is true or not, I don't know....... All I know is I was MAD and HURT for my child. Maybe get something (i don't know) to help watch your kids. I was just very hurt by all of this. Good LUCK!

[createmem]

I did post something just a few minutes ago but it isn't up yet. We were on the VOS, Dec. 20 and my son (12) who went to the adventure club to play the Wii and these bullies who bullied him by throwing his hat around, pushed him out of a chair, threw shoes at him and took the wii control out of his hand and then my husband went up the the teen club regarding all of this and saw kids playing "spin the bottle" w/ them all kissing - RCCL just didn't watch my kids like they said they were. Even if their in the Teen club RCCL told me that they always have someone in there, whether that is true or not, I don't know....... All I know is I was MAD and HURT for my child. Maybe get something (i don't know) to help watch your kids. I was just very hurt by all of this. Good LUCK!

 

I am so sorry that happened to your son. How scary! I would hope for better supervision and awareness of what is going on, but it just shows that only parents can be responsible for their own kids.

 

I appreciate all the feedback. We will stick with our walkie talkie, and other methods mentioned above that we also use. It worked the last two times, and I think my daughter likes having the walkie talkie in case she is uncomfortable with a situation. Thankfully, we have yet to have any issues with her, she has always been where she says she will be, and reports back as scheduled. She was mad at us once for being late!

[createmem]

I did post something just a few minutes ago but it isn't up yet. We were on the VOS, Dec. 20 and my son (12) who went to the adventure club to play the Wii and these bullies who bullied him by throwing his hat around, pushed him out of a chair, threw shoes at him and took the wii control out of his hand and then my husband went up the the teen club regarding all of this and saw kids playing "spin the bottle" w/ them all kissing - RCCL just didn't watch my kids like they said they were. Even if their in the Teen club RCCL told me that they always have someone in there, whether that is true or not, I don't know....... All I know is I was MAD and HURT for my child. Maybe get something (i don't know) to help watch your kids. I was just very hurt by all of this. Good LUCK!

 

I am so sorry that happened to your son. How scary! I would hope for better supervision and awareness of what is going on, but it just shows that only parents can be responsible for their own kids.

 

I appreciate all the feedback. We will stick with our walkie talkie, and other methods mentioned above that we also use. It worked the last two times, and I think my daughter likes having the walkie talkie in case she is uncomfortable with a situation. Thankfully, we have yet to have any issues with her, she has always been where she says she will be, and reports back as scheduled. She was mad at us once for being late!

[createmem]

DITTO! Works like a charm.

 

BTW - Thank you for being concerned about your teens whereabouts. Sometimes, I cannot get over the amount of teens and children that are left to themselves and running all over the ship (and hotels for that matter). As we were checking out of our hotel room this morning, we passed two small children that were running down the hallway without a parent in sight.:eek: I mentioned to my husband that we could have easily snatched the children up and into our room, or made a run to the side exit of the hotel with children in tow. Scary! :(

 

 

That is very scary! I get frustrated with my neighbors who let children play outside alone at too young of an age, so I would always be extra vigilant with my daughter! Sometimes accused of being too vigilant, but there is no such thing.

[createmem]

DITTO! Works like a charm.

 

BTW - Thank you for being concerned about your teens whereabouts. Sometimes, I cannot get over the amount of teens and children that are left to themselves and running all over the ship (and hotels for that matter). As we were checking out of our hotel room this morning, we passed two small children that were running down the hallway without a parent in sight.:eek: I mentioned to my husband that we could have easily snatched the children up and into our room, or made a run to the side exit of the hotel with children in tow. Scary! :(

 

 

That is very scary! I get frustrated with my neighbors who let children play outside alone at too young of an age, so I would always be extra vigilant with my daughter! Sometimes accused of being too vigilant, but there is no such thing.

[Ken Greco]

My wife and son have been on 10 cruises, RC and Carnival. After a few days we find the places he hangs out and can generally find him there late at night. Letting teens go on their ownis both gender and age specific. It6 is one vacation you can give the teeens freedom. just have a good sense of the ability of your teen to respect your rules.