limiting 19 yr. old spending on ship

[beachchick]

Wow! Two harsh responses to the OP. This must be a real hot button issue for you.

 

Can't speak for anyone else, but the hot-button aspect of it for me is this: Children who never learn to be responsible for themselves often end up drifting with no direction, unable to hold a job, and not understanding why the entire world doesn't dote on them like their parents did/do. Then, when they are incapable or refuse to take care of themselves, society at large pays the price in lowered productivity and social programs. I'm all for supporting those who need assistance, but "I never had to grow up and the world owes me" is not an acceptable reason. (Off soapbox.)

 

Jeanne55555: I am not saying your son is or will become one of the young adults I described above. But as you are concerned that he is irresponsible with money, particularly yours, I urge you to not have his onboard account linked to your credit card. Instead, decide how much (if any) spending money you will contribute to his trip. Put that in cash on his account. If he spends through it, he either has to add his own money to his account or stop spending. I would also have a long talk with him about money before you leave. Tell him what you expect from him and what you will not allow. He is old enough to understand and he is old enough to take some responsibility for his spending. (BTW, you might also want to have a heart-to-heart about his illegal gambling. No one is perfect and I'll confess to having sneaked into a couple of Nevada casinos when I was his age. But my parents would have raised hell with me about it. If he's using your money to gamble, you might want to consider cutting him off. If he's using his own, he needs to sit down and figure out how he will support himself if he gambles his money away when you no longer support him.)

 

beachchick

[Andee]

When our son was 20 (in 1996), my parents treated him (and us) to a cruise to celebrate their 50th aniiversary. He was a college student; it was our pleasure and our privilege to pay for his tuition, books, room and board, cloithes, and travel to/from college--he paid for fun.

 

On the cruise, we told him that we'd pay for excursions--if he wanted to accompany the four of us, which he usually did; that was because I didn't want cost to keep him from spending time with his grandparents.

 

Any drinking (in those days he was permitted to drink on Celebrity) and gambling were on him. Usually, he had one drink at the pool in the afternoon, and a specialty coffee after dinner, but I think that was because he liked the cute server who made them at the table. He'd take a $20 bill to the casino in the evening; he set (and kept) his own limit. Of course, if he was sitting next to Grandma when he ran out of money, she'd slip him some chips.

 

I don't remember needing to rein in his spending in any way, but it may be that he didn't want to incur the wrath of Mom for taking advantage of me. My father died 10 years later, and my mother two years after that--they always treasured the memories of the fun they had with him on that cruise.

[Happy ks]

The simplest way would be to not put the 19 year old on the same account as you, an account does not have to be set up with a credit card.. Then there would be no way the kid could charge anything at all. If the parents want to allow a certain amount of cash, put that on his account, once it's gone, he's done spending.