Starting an onboard account for child?

[lawofraven]

After reading another thread about not starting an account, I got to wondering. How do you set up an onboard account for a minor? My 16 yr old son will be cruising with me, DH, and my Mom. Daniel-son will be sharing a cabin with my mom. Can we link his card to our room account or does he have to go on my Mom's account? I thought I had read about this situation on NCL website before, but now I can't find it. Also is there a way to have him not have a tip line on his slips? I don't ask this to be cheap, I'm just assuming most of his "wants" will be on one of our cards anyway and we will tip well at that time. I want him to learn to tip properly and was thinking of giving him small bills (5's and 1's) to carry so he can learn. It seems more real that way then just writing a number on a slip of paper. Any thoughts?

Angie

[seahorse]

After reading another thread about not starting an account, I got to wondering. How do you set up an onboard account for a minor? My 16 yr old son will be cruising with me, DH, and my Mom. Daniel-son will be sharing a cabin with my mom. Can we link his card to our room account or does he have to go on my Mom's account? I thought I had read about this situation on NCL website before, but now I can't find it. Also is there a way to have him not have a tip line on his slips? I don't ask this to be cheap, I'm just assuming most of his "wants" will be on one of our cards anyway and we will tip well at that time. I want him to learn to tip properly and was thinking of giving him small bills (5's and 1's) to carry so he can learn. It seems more real that way then just writing a number on a slip of paper. Any thoughts?

Angie

 

You will put him on your account. The tips are auto when you purchase a drink. If he has a soda card the tip will be on there. Very rarely do you use money to give a larger tip (sime do, I just add it on to the extra grat. line).

 

Who would you expect him to tip otherwise?

[karfest]

You can link it to your account and anything he purchases will show up under his name so you can track it easier.

 

Tips are automatically included in bar service (sodas and smoothies included) so he won't need any cash onboard for tips. There is a tip line if you want to add more, but I just ignore that line as 15% is already there.

 

My girls didn't buy much on their card but I had them turn their receipts in to me so I could balance the final statement.

[lawofraven]

If he joins the teen program shouldn't he tip the counsellors? If he orders anything while in the program, I would like to know he is doing the right thing. He doesn't want the soda card he wants a smoothie sticker. Our family does not drink coke products so we will bring our own soda onboard. I forgot about the automatic tip.There is a line for an extra tip besides the automatic gratuity, we like to give a little extra on this line but I guess DS doesn't have to. Oh well just one more thing he'll learn.

[dosi]

One thing I have heard of other parents of teens doing is opening the teens account with a limited amount of cash...say $100. That way the teen has the freedom to use his own account and the parent has the security of knowing the bill won't be a frightening surprise!! ;)

[Bberry]

Just wondering...when you purchase the soda card or smoothie card how do they handle the gratuity? I know you have to obtain these sodas and smoothies from the restaurants and bars...is there an additional gratuity that is added to your shipboard account each time you get a refill? If so, to what rate do they apply the 15% (since the soda and smoothie cards are a fixed price)?

 

Just curious :)

[johnql]

I'm almost sure that the gratuity is built into the sale price of the soda/smoothie card.

[breeding]

One thing I have heard of other parents of teens doing is opening the teens account with a limited amount of cash...say $100. That way the teen has the freedom to use his own account and the parent has the security of knowing the bill won't be a frightening surprise!! ;)

 

I just tried this for our two girls and they said that a minor could not have her own account. I wanted to buy on board credit and surprise them with it when we got to the ship. The guy on the phone did say that we might be able to do it once we got on the ship but he couldn't set them up in advance. Does anyone have more information on this?

[lawofraven]

I talked with a friend today who has cruised recently with NCL and purchased a soda card. She's pretty sure she remembers that there wasn't an auto tip. She just showed her card with the sticker and handed over her cup and they filled it. She would give the server a dollar or two as a tip. I don't remember which ship they were on. Is the policy different from ship to ship?