Sign and Sail charges for Kids

[amyh13]

I am considering letting my DS11 have a little spending money on our upcoming cruise (mainly because I hate going to the arcade :')). Maybe $50 for the ENTIRE cruise.

 

I have read various threads about being able to do it on the kiosk or thru Guest services. I'd love to avoid that if possible.

 

My question, can I set that up online before we leave?? Do I have to give him privileges on our account now and then set up the limit once onboard?

 

He is pretty responsible but I read that sometimes the limit doesn't actually cut-off spending.

[momof1son]

I know that if you use the gift cards (cruise cash?), it applies to their account. My son was given $25 for Christmas, and that's what he used for our most recent cruise. It showed directly under his account, not mine. But you're right, it didn't cut off his spending when it was gone (he went 54 cents over).

[Drazil65]

We give DS (14) a certain amount for the week and have been doing this since he was about 10 I guess. Some of it are the GC he receives for gifts, we do it all at GS once we board.

 

We set a daily limit with him for spending and expect him to keep track of it. It is part of the responsibility of having charging privileges and he sticks to it. The first couple days we are on board I print out an account summary at the kiosk each night and check on his spending (you could do this later in the week as well), as long as he is sticking to the agreed upon daily amount then nothing said (if he did not we have made it clear that his privileges would be suspended for remainder of trip) and all is well.

 

He has always kept good track and it keeps him responsible for his own spending habits as well (teachable moment). We have raised the weekly total as he has become older each year (we cruise yearly at least once) and he knows the drill very well now. It has worked great for us and we really do not have to think too much about it once we are on the cruise as the details are discussed before the trip.

[cruzinsmitty]

I don't know about setting it up at the kiosk but I do know that you can go to GS and have them put a limit on the account for a child. We cruise every other year with kids and do this each time for the older ones. You can not set up a daily limit, you just set a limit once that is reach they will not be able to make any more charges unless you go back to GS and up the limit.

[amyh13]

Thanks for the replies!

 

I think I'll just link it to my account and set a limit at $50. I feel like if he has $50 cash or gift card, he'll want to spend it all whether he needs to or not.

[Neotericisis]

We are taking the little ones for the first time this Aug. They are getting $25 each on their cards for the entire trip, and $25 cash each for in port souvenirs for the entire trip (we are only doing 2 ports, and one is Princess Cays so there won't be much "touring" anyway). DS will be 8 and DD is 9 so they don't need lots of money. I wish we could put a daily restriction on the cards, but Carnival doesn't do that level of detail (I don't blame them). The rule for them will be once its gone, its gone. My daughter will be careful, but I wouldn't be surprised if my son spends it all at Cherry on Top the first night!

 

My husband is a sucker so he'll probably take them to the arcade, or cave and put more on their cards for the arcade- but I won't. Cruising is "all inclusive" so I won't let the little rugrats go crazy. They have more than enough treats with 24 hr ice cream and pizza, room service, the goodies we'll pack on board etc.

[Organized Chaos]

We were on Conquest last year with our (then) 15 yr. old. He had saved money to use as his own spending cash on the cruise. You can choose to set their S&S account to charge your own credit card or just use cash. We used the cash he saved for himself and was able to do it all from a kiosk. It really was quick & simple (except for when one of the kiosks was down and the line at the other was kind of long). Guest services can do it quickly, too, but there's usually a line.

 

We set him up with a daily spending limit of $40. The first day went fine, but when I set the second day up with a $40 limit, it kept telling him he didn't have enough funds every time he tried to play a video game, so I had to go to guest services to ask. Turns out, we had to add each previous day's amount to the current day's desired spending limit. For example, day 1 we set the limit at $40. Day 2 had to be set at $80. Day 3, $120. And so on, in order to get the $40/day limit.

 

As someone else mentioned, you can't set a daily limit for the entire cruise all at once, but you can set a total limit for the entire cruise. If you want to set a daily limit, you have to set it each day (as I described above). Or at least that's how it was then.

 

I wish we could put a daily restriction on the cards, but Carnival doesn't do that level of detail (I don't blame them). The rule for them will be once its gone, its gone. My daughter will be careful, but I wouldn't be surprised if my son spends it all at Cherry on Top the first night!

See my comment above for setting daily limits to their accounts. Unless it has changed since last summer.

 

I know a lot of parents say their kids are responsible & trustworthy, and it's a lesson in managing money properly, so they let them limit themselves. That's fine for some parents, not for others. And neither parent is wrong for using their own method. But even the nicest, most responsible kid breaks the rules once in a while because kids will be kids. There's nothing wrong with setting actual limits on their spending accounts.

Edited March 28, 2017 by Organized Chaos

[amyh13]

We are taking the little ones for the first time this Aug. They are getting $25 each on their cards for the entire trip, and $25 cash each for in port souvenirs for the entire trip (we are only doing 2 ports, and one is Princess Cays so there won't be much "touring" anyway). DS will be 8 and DD is 9 so they don't need lots of money. I wish we could put a daily restriction on the cards, but Carnival doesn't do that level of detail (I don't blame them). The rule for them will be once its gone, its gone. My daughter will be careful, but I wouldn't be surprised if my son spends it all at Cherry on Top the first night!

 

My husband is a sucker so he'll probably take them to the arcade, or cave and put more on their cards for the arcade- but I won't. Cruising is "all inclusive" so I won't let the little rugrats go crazy. They have more than enough treats with 24 hr ice cream and pizza, room service, the goodies we'll pack on board etc.

 

This is my philosophy as well. Other than Cherry On Top and arcade, he probably won't spend much more so $25 would probably be a better number. He will also have to include his little sister of a few things as well. She is 7 and I am not planning to give her charging privileges as she is usually with us or at Camp most of the time. He was allowed a little more freedom on our last cruise so it will be fun for him.

[Smithkids5521]

If you ordered bottomless bubbles for your kids, keep in mind that they may need charging privileges if you happen to be in port (or somewhere that will charge tax). When they try to get their soda, they may owe a small amount (plus you may want to allow them to add a tip for the bartender now and then)

[amydresh]

We were on Conquest last year with our (then) 15 yr. old. He had saved money to use as his own spending cash on the cruise. You can choose to set their S&S account to charge your own credit card or just use cash. We used the cash he saved for himself and was able to do it all from a kiosk. It really was quick & simple (except for when one of the kiosks was down and the line at the other was kind of long). Guest services can do it quickly, too, but there's usually a line.

 

We set him up with a daily spending limit of $40. The first day went fine, but when I set the second day up with a $40 limit, it kept telling him he didn't have enough funds every time he tried to play a video game, so I had to go to guest services to ask. Turns out, we had to add each previous day's amount to the current day's desired spending limit. For example, day 1 we set the limit at $40. Day 2 had to be set at $80. Day 3, $120. And so on, in order to get the $40/day limit.

 

As someone else mentioned, you can't set a daily limit for the entire cruise all at once, but you can set a total limit for the entire cruise. If you want to set a daily limit, you have to set it each day (as I described above). Or at least that's how it was then.

 

See my comment above for setting daily limits to their accounts. Unless it has changed since last summer.

 

I know a lot of parents say their kids are responsible & trustworthy, and it's a lesson in managing money properly, so they let them limit themselves. That's fine for some parents, not for others. And neither parent is wrong for using their own method. But even the nicest, most responsible kid breaks the rules once in a while because kids will be kids. There's nothing wrong with setting actual limits on their spending accounts.

 

Not to mention, our 13 year old had his S&S card on a lanyard that we told him repeatedly that he needed to make sure he kept track of it and had it at all times. Well, he went to the bathroom on lido deck and hung his card up on the back of the bathroom door while he used the toilet and forgot to grab it after getting up. I was sooo relieved knowing that if someone had found his card and tried to spend with it, that it was restricted and they weren't getting anything off of it.