How much cash do the kids need on the Oasis?

[Derbie]

We are traveling with a 13, 11 and 9 year old.  How much do they need in spending money?  I know at least one of them wants to try surfing.  I am sure there will be some money spent in the game room. All suggestions appreciate.

[BigHouseFootball]

Just do you know you won’t hand any crew member cash, or put coins in the arcade machines. It all goes to your on board account and then you either pay that with cash or it goes into the credit card you put on file. 

 

The surfing (flow rider) is free unless you spring for the private lesson/session and those are quite expensive. 

 

Someone correct me if I’m wrong but I think all you need to do to work the arcade machines is to swipe your sea pass card. So make it clear to your kids how much they can spend so they don’t rack up a tidy little bill in there. 

[Lv2sail_18]

They shouldn’t need any cash on the ship itself, perhaps some for souvenirs at ports.

 

Everything they “buy” on the ship can be charged to their seapass card so there should be a discussion on limits so that they are not unintentionally racking up a huge bill at the end with drinks (e.g. Coke, milkshakes), arcade games, Ben & Jerry’s, etc.

 

The surf simulator (flowrider) is free (included with cruise fare) as are most activities.  They don’t need to spend any additional money on the ship to have a great time and I think that you can get guest services block the kids’ cards from charging so they will need to use your card for any cost items.

 

Games at the arcade cost around $1-$3 each and you can preload the cards with credits, so that when they run out, they’re done.

 

I would suggest checking the on-board account daily so that there are no surprises at the end and any mystery charges can be cleared up immediately.

[Wordell1]

You can get discounts by purchasing arcade credits in bulk.  I think you can get $50 for $40.  Don't need to buy them pre cruise as it is the same on the ship.  You can add them to each child's card individually and allow them to budget the games.  There are also some "happy hour" prices on games - usually the first night and other times throughout the week.

 

[andrew2346]

HI!  As other posters have said...it's a no cash environment.  We took 4 kids on the Anthem 15, 13, 11, and 8.  All but the youngest ran wild and free : )  At the beginning of the trip we set a limit in total for the kids BUT best laid plans.  We did keep an eye on it but frankly I don't want to play police all day on my vacation.  My girls like the specialty coffees and mock tails (frozen drinks)  as well as fresh squeezed OJ, Johnny rockets meals and milkshakes.  That could easily add up to $50 per day per kid or more.  Oh...I don't like this...dump...lets order another.  Shocking what kids will do even when well behaved at home!  So this time I purchased the refreshment package for the girls who like all the expensive stuff and the soda package for my now 13 year old boy.  He doesn't like the coffees, smoothies etc.  I paid $19 a day for the girls and $9 for the boy (soda).  They can do whatever the heck they want with the drinks.  With the boys now (13 and 10) I am going to to watch the arcade expenditures. I will buy credits in bulk.   They are bringing their own cash to shop in the ports.  I hope you have a wonderful cruise!

[orville99]

On ‎1‎/‎21‎/‎2019 at 12:14 PM, Lv2sail_18 said:

Games at the arcade cost around $1-$3 each and you can preload the cards with credits, so that when they run out, they’re done.

We found out the hard way with our 12YO grandson that this is not the case. As long as the child's sea pass card is tied to an active onboard account, once it is activated in the arcade (if you are C&A, there will be a pre-loaded arcade credit on their cards) all they need to do is insert it into the reload machine in the arcade and put however much they want on it. Even if you set daily, or $0, limits on onboard spending on that card, the arcade system is separate and will never "see" any limits on the card.

Edited January 25, 2019 by orville99

[gerif]

It’s been a while, but what always worked for us was to tell each child what their spending limit was and if they were to exceed it, the funds would come out of their own pockets. Amazing how carefully they learned to spend. 

[jimvern1966]

Carnival let me put a cap on my kids card, so I would put $$ onto the card in cash and when they were out I would put more on it.  They were not connected to my credit card.  I'm sure you could do the same with Royal Caribbean.  Those arcade  games add up fast !!! 

[bug42362]

Zero..give them a limit, check every day cut them off if they don’t abide by your rules.  Never had a problem with any of my three.  Sometimes they chose to purchase something above the limit but this was after agreeing to reimburse us upon returning home.  Another reminder to them if they were willing to pay they probably really wanted it!

 

[Danswife12]

They probably will not need to spend money or charge much of anything.  I do not tie my credit cards to my kids sea pass cards, but instead purchase arcade credits via the cruise planner and once they are done with those that's it.  

[fsjosh]

Royal will not allow the kids to be on their own cash account. We tried to do this on our cruise to put a limit on our kid's account and they say that it has to be tied to an adult's account. As it was explained to be, an adult has to be liable for the spending. A kid can't be.

 

And I've been told multiple times that the arcade is open season on accounts. There are no limits there. I just told mine to stay out of the arcade. 

[S.A.M.J.R.]

9 hours ago, jimvern1966 said:

Carnival let me put a cap on my kids card, so I would put $$ onto the card in cash and when they were out I would put more on it.  They were not connected to my credit card.  I'm sure you could do the same with Royal Caribbean.  Those arcade  games add up fast !!! 

I don't think that's correct.  Everything I've heard is the arcade system is separate from on board account, so the only "limit" you can set would be with the kids themselves.  

[jimvern1966]

53 minutes ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

I don't think that's correct.  Everything I've heard is the arcade system is separate from on board account, so the only "limit" you can set would be with the kids themselves.  

Thanks for the information,  so if I get my granddaughter an arcade card she wouldn't be using her seapass card right? 

Edited January 26, 2019 by jimvern1966
Misspell

[Grandma Dazzles]

I think the arcade card puts the credit on the Seapass card - previous posters indicate this.  The credit is used up and then begins charging to the account.  

 

Kids have to be told how much they can use dollar-wise regardless of the method and stick to the amount. If they can’t be trusted to do this then they shouldn’t be allowed in arcade.  Plenty of other things to do. 

Edited January 26, 2019 by Grandma Dazzles

[Grandma Dazzles]

42 minutes ago, jimvern1966 said:

Thanks for the information,  so if I get my granddaughter an arcade card she wouldn't be using her seapass card right? 

 

I think the arcade card puts the credit on the Seapass card - previous posters indicate this.  The credit is used up and then begins charging to the account.  

 

Kids have to be told how much they can use dollar-wise regardless of the method and stick to the amount. If they can’t be trusted to do this then they shouldn’t be allowed in arcade.  Plenty of other things to do. 

[Danswife12]

1 hour ago, jimvern1966 said:

Thanks for the information,  so if I get my granddaughter an arcade card she wouldn't be using her seapass card right? 

She would use her sea pass card for the arcade.  Before you go to sail go to the cruise planner and purchase arcade credits for her.  When you buy the credits you can select the child's name that you would like for them to be applied to.  

 

The kids can't go over what has been pre-purchased for them unless they have charging privileges in their card.  

[Grenouille21]

32 minutes ago, Danswife12 said:

She would use her sea pass card for the arcade.  Before you go to sail go to the cruise planner and purchase arcade credits for her.  When you buy the credits you can select the child's name that you would like for them to be applied to.  

 

The kids can't go over what has been pre-purchased for them unless they have charging privileges in their card.  

 

This is how you avoid the problems the other posters had.  You remove charging privileges from the kids' accounts when you do online check in.  Then they cannot charge anything to their Sea Pass cards, and neither can anyone else.  If you want to let them have soda, coffees, smoothies, mocktails, get the beverage package.  If you want them to have fun in the arcade, pre-load the credits on their cards.  If you remove charging privileges, they can't overspend.  Crisis averted.  

 

You can also go to Guest Services to make sure the kids do not have charging privileges.  

 

We sailed on DCL and another child took my son's card and charged $200 in games in the arcade.  Ever since then my kids do not have charging privileges.  You might trust your child not to overspend, but do you trust the random other kids they meet on the ship?  Best to just remove charging privileges.  

[brillohead]

5 hours ago, Grenouille21 said:

We sailed on DCL and another child took my son's card and charged $200 in games in the arcade.  Ever since then my kids do not have charging privileges.  You might trust your child not to overspend, but do you trust the random other kids they meet on the ship?  Best to just remove charging privileges.  

I trust my kid to treat his SeaPass card like cash and not let other people use it willy-nilly.

When he was still under-age, my kid was told he'd get $70/week ($10/day but could be $30 one day and nothing on other days) for "funsies", and anything else he'd have to pay for himself (I did get him the soda-pop package for the week).  He never once even got to the $70 mark.  

He would usually get room service once during the cruise (I kept some one-dollar bills in the room for tips), sometimes spent $20 in the arcade, one time got $10 worth of candy, and sometimes treated someone to Johnny Rockets with his BOGO coupon.  I think the most he ever spent for a week was $50, it was usually more like $30 total.  

There is simply too much free stuff to do to "need" to spend a bunch of money.  Rock wall, surfing simulator, mini-golf, ping-pong, basketball, pools/hot tubs, ice skating, zipline (Oasis class), slides (certain ships only).... plenty to do that is already included in your base fare.  

As for being able to "lock out" their spending privileges on their card.... f you don't trust your kids to stay within their spending limits, then you shouldn't be allowing your kids out and about on the ship without supervision.  

[Derbie]

40 minutes ago, brillohead said:

I trust my kid to treat his SeaPass card like cash and not let other people use it willy-nilly.

When he was still under-age, my kid was told he'd get $70/week ($10/day but could be $30 one day and nothing on other days) for "funsies", and anything else he'd have to pay for himself (I did get him the soda-pop package for the week).  He never once even got to the $70 mark.  

He would usually get room service once during the cruise (I kept some one-dollar bills in the room for tips), sometimes spent $20 in the arcade, one time got $10 worth of candy, and sometimes treated someone to Johnny Rockets with his BOGO coupon.  I think the most he ever spent for a week was $50, it was usually more like $30 total.  

There is simply too much free stuff to do to "need" to spend a bunch of money.  Rock wall, surfing simulator, mini-golf, ping-pong, basketball, pools/hot tubs, ice skating, zipline (Oasis class), slides (certain ships only).... plenty to do that is already included in your base fare.  

As for being able to "lock out" their spending privileges on their card.... f you don't trust your kids to stay within their spending limits, then you shouldn't be allowing your kids out and about on the ship without supervision.  

I was wondering if you have to pay to eat at Johnny Rockets?  Years ago, we were on a ship to HI and they had one. We only had to pay for shakes, cokes, etc.

 

[brillohead]

3 minutes ago, Derbie said:

I was wondering if you have to pay to eat at Johnny Rockets?  Years ago, we were on a ship to HI and they had one. We only had to pay for shakes, cokes, etc.

 

Oasis class has breakfast for free in JR.  There's a cover charge (I think it's around $9.95/person now?) for the rest of the day, and shakes are probably around $5.  

Someone else can confirm the cost -- I always eat lunch in the MDR on sea days (gotta love Tutti Salad!), and have only ever eaten at JR once in all my cruises, mainly to say that I've done it.  Personally, I can get better burgers, fries, and onion rings at home for less money, and I'd much rather have a Tutti Salad for free!

 

[S.A.M.J.R.]

9 hours ago, Grandma Dazzles said:

If they can’t be trusted to do this then they shouldn’t be allowed in arcade.

Unless they've changed, on Freedom at least, you had to go through the arcade to get to the kids club. 

[S.A.M.J.R.]

8 hours ago, Danswife12 said:

The kids can't go over what has been pre-purchased for them unless they have charging privileges in their card.

Again, unless it's changed, the arcade is a different system from other charges on board.  So even if you turn off charging privileges on their card, they can still use the card to get credits in the arcade.  

[gerif]

1 hour ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

Unless they've changed, on Freedom at least, you had to go through the arcade to get to the kids club. 

If they are not old enough to sign themselves out of AO, they have no reason to carry a card, so that wouldn’t matter. If they are old enough, then they are certainly old enough to be told not to use the arcade. 

[gerif]

9 hours ago, Grenouille21 said:

 

This is how you avoid the problems the other posters had.  You remove charging privileges from the kids' accounts when you do online check in.  Then they cannot charge anything to their Sea Pass cards, and neither can anyone else.  If you want to let them have soda, coffees, smoothies, mocktails, get the beverage package.  If you want them to have fun in the arcade, pre-load the credits on their cards.  If you remove charging privileges, they can't overspend.  Crisis averted.  

 

You can also go to Guest Services to make sure the kids do not have charging privileges.  

 

We sailed on DCL and another child took my son's card and charged $200 in games in the arcade.  Ever since then my kids do not have charging privileges.  You might trust your child not to overspend, but do you trust the random other kids they meet on the ship?  Best to just remove charging privileges.  

Wow - hopefully you got security involved and got your money back from the thief’s parents. 

[lcpagejr]

1 hour ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

Again, unless it's changed, the arcade is a different system from other charges on board.  So even if you turn off charging privileges on their card, they can still use the card to get credits in the arcade.  

Impossible.... You are not held responsible for any charges on another persons Seapass card if you did not authorize it. This is established at time of adding CC to your account,   Once the $50 or $100 arcade card runs out...thats it. I imagine you can recharge...but never had to. I would assume it would have to be done with a person who has charging priviliges  on account