Kids and sea pass-lanyard?

[tadurham]

I'm looking for suggestions to help my 9 and 12 year old children keep up with their sea pass (or whatever the room key is called.) Are lanyards readily available when you first get on the ship? Should we bring our own? Does the card have a hole punched in it? I've also seen badge holders-are they available on the ship? We're going on the Oasis in 2 weeks!!!!

[Mom.to.2]

I'm not sure about the Oasis but on the Explorer, lanyards were given to children for free when they registered in Ocean Adventure. They're also for sale in the gift shop.

 

You can have a hole punched in your card at guest services. If I remember correctly, guests under 21 years old had a sea-pass that came with a hole prepunched in the card.

[FloridaPalms]

Adventure Ocean (kids club) will punch a hole in the card and provide free lanyards for the children. :D

 

Also, be aware that even if the children have restricted charging privileges, they can run up huge sea pass charges from the arcade. :eek:

[James MTL]

We just returned this past weekend from 8 days on Liberty and we had our 2 DS's 14 and 16. being they were kids, holes are automatically punched in so they cannot get alcohol. Just make sure that when you check in first day, you ask them to punch the card at the complete opposite end of the arrow entry end for access to the stateroom. Why son had a lanyard with a key ring which we put through one of the holes. Problem was that the hole was not far enough to the opposite end so he could not slide the card all the way into the stateroom locking mechanism to open the door. This is why I say to make sure they put the holes as close as possible to the opposite end.

[Maybaybie10]

Adventure Ocean (kids club) will punch a hole in the card and provide free lanyards for the children. :D

 

Also, be aware that even if the children have restricted charging privileges, they can run up huge sea pass charges from the arcade. :eek:

 

 

How can they run up charges in the arcade if their seapass card has restrictions on it? And more to the point....how do I NOT let that happen?!! :eek:

[vegasgirl702]

Yes, please be careful with this it is true! RCCL's policy has a loophole & one family had hundreds $$$ of arcade expense. I have a DS who has been cruising since he was 4. We had this problem only once, because we told him no more cruises/vacations otherwise.

 

Some solutions:

-we now buy him a soda "package"

-no arcade spending at all, they have wii, guitar hero @ kids place/fuel

-No Bingo! Can you believe they let a 10 yr old buy $40 worth of bingo cards?

-if all is good, last seaday can go to Johnny Rockets

 

The way I understood ( explained by supervisor @ Guest Relations ), the minute you put a "limit" on what your child can spend----- You just opened a can of worms (seapass card). The arcade has NO LIMIT! Kids version of Casino!

 

Again, talk with your kids and also check your accounts everynight!

[FLHugh]

Also, check your account daily on the TV in your cabin.

[kassimer1]

we went to the bank and got a seperate account with a seperate credit card/ atm card for DS so his seapass is linked to the seperate card so when the money is gone its gone. if you link it to your credit card it will have your limit. only problem is since its an atm card you have to have like 40 extra dollars cause they put a nold on atm cards.

[FloridaPalms]

How can they run up charges in the arcade if their seapass card has restrictions on it? And more to the point....how do I NOT let that happen?!! :eek:

 

Yes, please be careful with this it is true! RCCL's policy has a loophole & one family had hundreds $$$ of arcade expense. I have a DS who has been cruising since he was 4. We had this problem only once, because we told him no more cruises/vacations otherwise.

 

Some solutions:

-we now buy him a soda "package"

-no arcade spending at all, they have wii, guitar hero @ kids place/fuel

-No Bingo! Can you believe they let a 10 yr old buy $40 worth of bingo cards?

-if all is good, last seaday can go to Johnny Rockets

 

The way I understood ( explained by supervisor @ Guest Relations ), the minute you put a "limit" on what your child can spend----- You just opened a can of worms (seapass card). The arcade has NO LIMIT! Kids version of Casino!

 

Again, talk with your kids and also check your accounts everynight!

 

we went to the bank and got a seperate account with a seperate credit card/ atm card for DS so his seapass is linked to the seperate card so when the money is gone its gone. if you link it to your credit card it will have your limit. only problem is since its an atm card you have to have like 40 extra dollars cause they put a nold on atm cards.

 

My advice, unless you have a very mature child, don't give your child ANY charge privileges on his or her seapass. You could try to go with a $100 limit BUT if the child has even $1 left on his card, he can charge ANY AMOUNT! The limit does not kick in until AFTER he or she reaches the limit (per what I was told by Guest Services). Theoretically, he could charge a $500 watch since he has NOT reached his spending limit!!! :eek: After he buys the watch, however, he wouldn't even be able to buy a pack of gum. :rolleyes:

 

The arcade is another story. For some reason, unless this varies from ship to ship (or unless RCI changed it b/c of parental complaints) they don't need charge privileges to put arcade credits on their card. Makes no sense to me.

 

kassimer1 - I believe your child could still spend more than what's on the atm card. RCI does not post the charges immediately to a credit card. I think they wait until it's up to $250 or every couple of days. If that's the case, child (or parents actually) would have to come up with funds to cover any shortage.

 

Best advice is like vegasgirl702 says. Try to cover certain expenses upfront (like soda package). Read kids the "riot act" beforehand and reward responsible behavior. This will be DGS 5th RCCL cruise and we know there won't be any surprises (unlike his first RCCL cruise when he went crazy in the arcade the first day). Our DGS knows we will give him so many arcade credits each day and that's it. He knows good behavior gets rewarded and he is allowed to purchase trinkets at the ports.

[jletsgo]

we have traveled on 5 cruises with our kids and I have always placed a $ limit on their sea pass cards...I have never had a problem. When they reached their set limit, we either raised the limit at guest services or they were done spending for the trip. They always used the cards in the arcade and we never had a problem of exceeding the set limits.