Deactivating Children's sign and sail card?

[susquehannaretriever]

I've read on here in different posts about people not "activating" children's sign and sail card. How do you do this and when do u do this? Not that I don't trust my kids but I don't want to end up w/ a HUGE bill either.:D

[big_duck]

Purser's desk after you board.

[odis]

The employees at check-in before you even board have always asked if we wanted our DD's card activated or not when we gave them our CC for our cards. So if you tell them then, it should be no problem

[mzloolue]

Thanks for asking this question.

I'll go immediately to the purser's desk after boarding.

 

I can't think of anything my son might need to charge that he couldn't ask me about first.

 

And since he is 6'4", but still a kid I want to be sure that he cannot charge on the room key.

 

I don't want him tempted to purchase drinks. They might card him, but they might not...

 

Then I found out about the internet cafe on board...this is the kid who had 1,742 text messages on the cell bill! :eek:

 

He needs to be far, far from the temptation to contact the girl friend

[LHP]

that we have taken on 12 cruises and they never charge anything to their sail and sign cards, because I tell them not to ... no other authority needed around "this house".

[pands]

You shouldn't need to go to the Pursar's desk to get this done...they usually take care of it during check in at the port.

[cali-croozer]

Like a few others stated, no need to go to the Purser's desk........there will be a long line there anyway! They will take care of this for you at check-in when the sail and sign cards are issued. Have done this 3 times.........

[Hootsie]

I left the S&S activated for our teenage daughters. We told them they could order a couple virgin "foo-foo" drinks and not to spend over $25 in the gift shops unless they asked. They knew not to go crazy with it and it was fun for them to feel so grown up.

[kthill]

This has never been a problem for us before but this year was a new situation with new girlfriends.

My older DS did just fine and he actually told us when he was going to use the internet cafe and handwrote his email to his girlfriend ahead of time and then got on just long enough to retype the email.

My younger DS didn't and I really don't think he meant to abuse it he just lacks common sense. He is use to Instant Messaging with his new girlfriend and didn't have any concept that a few minutes a few times a day really adds up when it's almost a dollar a minute. (they do have package plans but we didn't even want to do that) So we cut him off after awhile. I never had a long wait at the purser's desk.

Wonder if there is a way to put a max on how much they spend? If so, that's what we will do next time.

 

I've read on here in different posts about people not "activating" children's sign and sail card. How do you do this and when do u do this? Not that I don't trust my kids but I don't want to end up w/ a HUGE bill either.:D

[LHP]

you can set up their account as "cash" from the beginning and they can only spend the amount of money you put on the card. You can add amounts to the card at the purser's desk if you want to.

[herewecome]

We recently sailed on the Elation in June. We tried to set up a pre-determined amount via cash for our children (at the Purser's desk), but were told that we could not do it since they were tied to our account. We had used a credit card for ours, so our girls would have had a very high spending limit available to them. Not that we were worried about them using it, but worried that they would lose it and it could have been used by whomever found it. We were disappointed and surprised that there was not a better way of setting this up for a family situation. They had been saving their allowance for several months, but were disappointed when they couldn't spend their cash on anything. We ended up buying their items from the ship store. bingo cards, etc. and they paid us back. However, it lost some of the excitement in saving and buying their own things. If I were you, I'd check into this before you get on the ship, because we were given no options. I'd be curious to know if others have run into this situation? Thanks!

[mzloolue]

This has never been a problem for us before but this year was a new situation with new girlfriends.

 

My younger DS didn't and I really don't think he meant to abuse it he just lacks common sense. He is use to Instant Messaging with his new girlfriend and didn't have any concept that a few minutes a few times a day really adds up when it's almost a dollar a minute. (they do have package plans but we didn't even want to do that) So we cut him off after awhile. I never had a long wait at the purser's desk.

 

Exactly. Girlfriend problems is what produced a cell bill with 1,742 text messages. It was not intentional abuse, just being a kid and not paying attention to how many he was doing.

 

I think it will do him good to be unable to communicate with the girl friend for a few days. :)

[LRene]

With kids...you never know. I didn't know you could deactivate a card the first time I took my son when he was 18 (after graduation) and on another cruise line. He was with me at the pool bar and the bartender remembered us from previous cruises. He asked if my son could have a foo foo drink and I said OK...just one. From then on...all the kid needed to do was go to that bar and he got served. Of course, I didn't realize to what extent until we got the bill.

 

AND I walked through the casino one day and he was playing black jack with one of the men in our group! Never got ID'd and didn't look anywhere near 21.

 

Needless to say, he paid me back every penny as punishment after we got home!

[hill6]

That is one reason also you need to check bill on tv or go to pursers desk often and get printout of cards

[palmtre2]

Our 10 yr old loved the fact that we allowed her signing priviledges and SHE checked the accounts on the tv every nite. She had a set amount to spend on ship and her own cash for ports. Often, DH and I got scolded for our spending habits!!!! It helps teach the younger ones fiscal responsibility before they become "out of touch" teens.

[glrounds]

WOW ! ! 1742 text messages in one week ! ! Now that is TRUE LOVE ! ! :D

 

Oh, to be that young and dumb again. :D

[AppleValleyCruisers]

With kids...you never know. I didn't know you could deactivate a card the first time I took my son when he was 18 (after graduation) and on another cruise line. He was with me at the pool bar and the bartender remembered us from previous cruises. He asked if my son could have a foo foo drink and I said OK...just one. From then on...all the kid needed to do was go to that bar and he got served. Of course, I didn't realize to what extent until we got the bill.

 

AND I walked through the casino one day and he was playing black jack with one of the men in our group! Never got ID'd and didn't look anywhere near 21.

 

Needless to say, he paid me back every penny as punishment after we got home!

 

Ouch, but the casino age limit is 18, not 21. Hope he at least won a few hands to help cover his "booze" bill;)

[kevinlsu]

They ask you when you board or are supposed to. I told the to De-activate my 3 youngest's cards and they failed to do so, I was not pleased when I found they were charging away..... It was't too painful.

[fastbysean]

WOW ! ! 1742 text messages in one week ! ! Now that is TRUE LOVE ! ! :D

 

Oh, to be that young and dumb again. :D

 

i still do that many!!! are you saying something :)

[casmichele]

If I set up a S & S account with cash for my daughter, is there a minimum that I have to put on there?

[pands]

We don't deactivate our kids sail and sign cards because we don't trust them to honor our spending limits but rather because they are kids and don't always keep track of things so well. Our concern is more that if they lose/misplace their card someone else on the ship would have access to our credit card limit. They were really good about knowing where there cards were this past trip so maybe...maybe...next time we'll leave theirs active.

[TowMan]

In the past my husband and i have let her have her own "account" with the knowledge that she had a total of $XX to spend without our approval. Anything over that amount had to be paid back when we got home. Never had a problem (course dad was the softy... he'd get her whatever she wanted and it never went against her $$)