Q's concerning kids /snorkeling

[finally721]

Traveling with a 6 and 11 year old....are they given a Sea Pass (RCL) of their own ?

 

If so are they actually asked to sign for purchases ? I would not allow them to be roaming the ship alone and shopping but are there things to spend $ on during Advenutre Ocean Activities (a soda/juice/t-shirt etc) ?

 

How do little ones hold onto these cards safely ?

 

Seems odd that they would be given cards but who knows...I've seen mention of parents buying kids "soda cards".

 

Also, I see folks take off and do snorkeling on their own at some ports...where do you get the mask/fins ? Does RCL rent them out or let you borrow them from the ship ?

 

One more :) How strict are the age requirements for the Adventure Ocean Guests (KIDS) ? If my 11 year old wants to be with her 12 year old cousin and this is the difference between one group and another are they strict with adhering to these guidelines ? How do they know exactly how old the kids are ?

 

Thank you for any answers !!

[crusinmama06]

Yes all kids are given a sea pass (makes a nice souvenir for a scrapbook afterward ;) )

 

All you have to do is to suspend their spending priviledges. You can do this when you do your online check in (do that at www.rccl.com and enter your reservation number)

 

I don't give my 3 and 7 year old card priviledges. But a 11 year old *may* be different. You could give your 11 year old a lanyard. I;ve seen people say that they bought them at WalMart before the trip. I always buy my onboard at the gift shop.

 

They won't need their card in AO...maybe in the game room but that's it.

 

At certain ports you can rent skorkel equipment. Where are you going? Like on Coco Cay and Labadee you can rent it from RCCL. Some bring their own because they have seen the equipment being "cleaned out" and it is just swished around in some water and laid out for the next user. :eek:

 

The age requirements are VERY strict. There is no getting around them. I have seen parents try to argure the point onboard and even argue the point here but the only ones to suceed getting past the age requirements have been parents who have lied on the reservation about their child's birthdate. But THEN you could get caught boarding with the wrong birth dates and that would be bad.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

When our DD was younger, I always kept her Sail and Sign (Carnival) card with me. She was always either with us or in Camp Carnival so she had no need to have it with her.

 

As she's gotten older, we give her spending money for each cruise. She decides how much she wants to spend on the ship and how much in port. I don't suspend her card because she always asks and follows the guidelines we give her (now, if a couple of our older children had gone on a cruise at her age, I would definitely have arranged it so they couldn't have charged--it would have been a disaster! Each kid is different. :)). She wears her card on a lanyard.

 

As far as snorkeling, we take our own masks and snorkels. They don't take up that much room in our luggage and I don't like the idea of renting equipment that so many others have used. Ewwww.

 

I don't know about the age groupings on RCCL and how strict they are, but I've read on the boards that Carnival will sometimes allow a child to move down to a lower ager group to be with family, but not move up to an older age group. We've never tried, so haven't experienced that personally. They know exactly how old the kids are because you registered with either your child's birth certificate or passport. The counselors have that information.

 

Have a great cruise!

Jayne

 

:)