Daily spending limits for teens

[trmom2]

Hi,

I searched but couldn't find an answer to this question.

 

If you use a credit card for a teen's onboard expenses, can you tell them at checkin to put a daily spending limit on the seapass card that stops the charges? For example, let them spend up to $25 dollars a day and once they reach that limit they are refused charging until the next day. Then they will get another $25.

 

Has anyone done this?

 

I have searched and can't seem to find an answer.

 

Thanks, Laurie

[cb at sea]

I don't think you can do a "daily" limit, but you can load their card with a specific amount....then it's up to them to budget their funds! Good lesson in cash-flow!

[rjmols]

Sorry I don't have the answer to your question, but would like to know what you think is a reasonable daily spending allowance for teens, that have the soda fountain package? What would they need to spend money on? I too would like to set a daily limit just not sure what limit:D:D

[powellzk]

Thanks for asking the q and thanks for answering, Ihad been wondering too.

[GAPeach68]

We are sailing next week on FOS w/ our 11 & 13 yr. old boys. They enjoy getting a virgin daquiri each day. I also know they'll want to visit the Cupcake Cupboard, Johnny Rockets & Ben & Jerry's (hopefully not all in the same day LOL). We are allowing them to spend $20 per day. We will monitor it ourselves and expect them to do the same. We'll see how it goes!

[hotrod1954]

Sorry I don't have the answer to your question, but would like to know what you think is a reasonable daily spending allowance for teens, that have the soda fountain package? What would they need to spend money on? I too would like to set a daily limit just not sure what limit:D:D

It wound'nt take long at the game room or internet station to run up 25.00 bucks

[frogsgirl]

Our 17yr old was given the pep talk of do not over spend, please be sensible (he did have the soda card), anyway 4 days into the trip we logged onto the onboard account on the tv and wondered what the $50 he had spent in the arcade was spent on.................:eek: needless to say the pep talk escalated into the card will be removed talk with his account staring back at him from the tv screen, he soon saw the error of his ways:D

 

The TV was great for spying..oops sorry meant monitoring...the kid and we had no trouble from that moment on.

[bplazo]

I have always just told my daughter what she was allowed to spend and anything over that was hers to pay. Never had a problem.

[rjmols]

Looks like around $20.00 will be OK, they will not use internet or cup cake shop! Do you need to put the $20.00 on each day or is just easier to monitor it on the tv - seeing your account on tv seems a really good way to monitor the situation with out having to go the desk for an update, OR a big shock at the end of the week :eek:

[reallyitsmema]

We have always just bought our son a soda card and then told him he could buy one frozen drink a day or one trip to Ben and Jerry's. He only went to the arcade when it was free, which was usually only once a week late at night for the teens.

 

If he wanted anything in any of the shops on board, he needed pre-approval from us. Any spending beyond what we outlined was his responsibility. We always check our on board account on our stateroom tv everyday so we don't have any surprises at the end of the week.

 

We never had any over spending. I think $20 is high per day unless they are into the arcade and then $20 will go very quickly.

[rjmols]

We have always just bought our son a soda card and then told him he could buy one frozen drink a day or one trip to Ben and Jerry's. He only went to the arcade when it was free, which was usually only once a week late at night for the teens.

 

If he wanted anything in any of the shops on board, he needed pre-approval from us. Any spending beyond what we outlined was his responsibility. We always check our on board account on our stateroom tv everyday so we don't have any surprises at the end of the week.

 

We never had any over spending. I think $20 is high per day unless they are into the arcade and then $20 will go very quickly.

Well I don't really want to encourage them to go into the arcade, maybe I will just wait and let them ask me for money:confused:

[Mommy4lyfe]

You can ask them to put a limit on your child's card; however from past experience they can not. On our first cruise in 2005 I asked them to put a limit on my daughter; at the time she was 13. I told my daughter to make sure she keep all her receipts so I could reconcile account at cruise in. Will she kept the receipts and she spent over $300 on a 9 day cruise. Video arcade and Ben & Jerry's ice cream. As we were leaving the ship I noticed that there were many parents complaining about their children's charges. I felt sorry for one of the parents who my daughter befriended on the ship; her daughter far exceeded my daughter in spending.

 

Now I give my daughter a limit and she knows if she goes over she will repay me from the monies she earn from summer jobs. Have not had any problems after the first cruise because daughter stay away from the video arcade.

[sapphireblue]

We sailed in March with our 16 & 17 year old. They both had the soda package and we told them they had $10.00 per day to buy whatever they wanted. If they didn't use it one day it added on to the next day, so they'd have $20 the next day, and so on. It was an 8 day cruise, so they had $80 each to use wherever. At the end of the cruise they hadn't even used 1/2 of that amount. All of our purchases went onto one account - each child also knew they had to produce their receipts - as we double checked all purchases against the ships account. Had no problems. If they were interested in anything in the shops, they knew they could come to us and we would check it out with them and take it from there. For us - this worked very well.

[rjmols]

You can ask them to put a limit on your child's card; however from past experience they can not. On our first cruise in 2005 I asked them to put a limit on my daughter; at the time she was 13. I told my daughter to make sure she keep all her receipts so I could reconcile account at cruise in. Will she kept the receipts and she spent over $300 on a 9 day cruise. Video arcade and Ben & Jerry's ice cream. As we were leaving the ship I noticed that there were many parents complaining about their children's charges. I felt sorry for one of the parents who my daughter befriended on the ship; her daughter far exceeded my daughter in spending.

 

Now I give my daughter a limit and she knows if she goes over she will repay me from the monies she earn from summer jobs. Have not had any problems after the first cruise because daughter stay away from the video arcade.

 

OK that's me sorted, no charges, certainly don't want that kind of bill at the end of 7 days, especially with 3 kids:eek:

[acethesuperhero]

To be honest, as a 16-year-old gamer I don't see how anyone could rack up $50 in a day with the crappy arcade. Now if they had DDR onboard, or god forbid Tekken, I could play forever...

 

Generally, I buy myself one Red Bull/pineapple mixed drink and sometimes a Ben and Jerry's ice cream a day, which works out to maybe $10. My mother's fine with that, and if she weren't... well I'd just have to bring up her once-a-day slots. :P As for internet, you don't want to use the internet on the ship; it's overpriced and worse than dial-up. If they insist, you can pop into an internet cafe while in port or something.

 

For determining a limit for your kids, you should think about how much you yourself plan to spend. If not much, a $15/day limit will be fine. Sorry, I can't answer whether you can put the limit directly onto the card; however, monitoring via the TV will result in more discussion of how the kid's spending money, which is a good thing.

[Merion_Mom]

To be honest, as a 16-year-old gamer I don't see how anyone could rack up $50 in a day with the crappy arcade. Now if they had DDR onboard, or god forbid Tekken, I could play forever...

 

Generally, I buy myself one Red Bull/pineapple mixed drink and sometimes a Ben and Jerry's ice cream a day, which works out to maybe $10. My mother's fine with that, and if she weren't... well I'd just have to bring up her once-a-day slots. As for internet, you don't want to use the internet on the ship; it's overpriced and worse than dial-up. If they insist, you can pop into an internet cafe while in port or something.

 

For determining a limit for your kids, you should think about how much you yourself plan to spend. If not much, a $15/day limit will be fine. Sorry, I can't answer whether you can put the limit directly onto the card; however, monitoring via the TV will result in more discussion of how the kid's spending money, which is a good thing.

 

Thank you so much for the viewpoint of a 16 year old who is taken on cruises by his parents.

 

So, you think that the CHILD'S spending allowance should somehow be proportional to what the parent spends?

 

I can tell you that if you were my child

 

1. You wouldn't think like this.

 

2. If you did think like this, you wouldn't be on a cruise with me.

[reallyitsmema]

Well I don't really want to encourage them to go into the arcade, maybe I will just wait and let them ask me for money:confused:

It is really up to you and what works well for your family. My son never felt the need to spend a lot on board. He was happy with going to the WJ or Cafe Promenade. He has never been an arcade kid, he used the free gaming systems in the Living room, the foosball table, ping pong and everything on the sports court.

 

If he needed to buy something within reason, we would have been okay with it, he just never wanted to. He usually spent less than $20 in extras for the whole week.

 

Do what works best for your family. If it is $20 per day per kid, go for it! If it is no extras, that works too. We all need to do what works best for us.:)

[acethesuperhero]

Thank you so much for the viewpoint of a 16 year old who is taken on cruises by his parents.

 

So, you think that the CHILD'S spending allowance should somehow be proportional to what the parent spends?

 

I can tell you that if you were my child

 

1. You wouldn't think like this.

 

2. If you did think like this, you wouldn't be on a cruise with me.

 

I am not your child and my parents and I have a very different relationship to you and your children. I tease my mother about the slots all the time, she teases me about other things, and we are generally not confrontational towards each other. Hell, we have fun together on our cruises. Generally, I do think spending exorbitant amounts of money on yourself and not letting the kids do anything is absurd, as is being very frugal yourself but letting the kids go crazy.

[reallyitsmema]

To be honest, as a 16-year-old gamer I don't see how anyone could rack up $50 in a day with the crappy arcade. Now if they had DDR onboard, or god forbid Tekken, I could play forever...

 

Generally, I buy myself one Red Bull/pineapple mixed drink and sometimes a Ben and Jerry's ice cream a day, which works out to maybe $10. My mother's fine with that, and if she weren't... well I'd just have to bring up her once-a-day slots. As for internet, you don't want to use the internet on the ship; it's overpriced and worse than dial-up. If they insist, you can pop into an internet cafe while in port or something.

 

For determining a limit for your kids, you should think about how much you yourself plan to spend. If not much, a $15/day limit will be fine. Sorry, I can't answer whether you can put the limit directly onto the card; however, monitoring via the TV will result in more discussion of how the kid's spending money, which is a good thing.

Well, all I can say is it is a good thing my son never tried that tactic, he would have found himself staying home with grandma.:eek::cool:

[acethesuperhero]

Well, all I can say is it is a good thing my son never tried that tactic, he would have found himself staying home with grandma.:eek::cool:

 

It was a joke. My apologies; that's now clarified with a smiley in the original post. I forget that not all parents have quite the same sense of humor mine do. :)

[KarinaGW]

It was a joke. My apologies; that's now clarified with a smiley in the original post. I forget that not all parents have quite the same sense of humor mine do. :)

 

I do. I've had pretty much the same relationship with my kids and they've grown into intelligent, responsible, productive adults.

 

I have always just told my daughter what she was allowed to spend and anything over that was hers to pay. Never had a problem.

 

I'm right there with you. When I'm paying my daughter is a lot more liberal with her spending. But, when she's spending her own money, she spends much better.

[linda60]

Ladies, Ladies,

Ace is my daughter... She was joking about the spending. She knows what limits I set for her on a cruise and adheres to them. I am glad she is my daughter and not yours to be honest. She is a Gifted and Talented child who is starting college this year at the age of 16. She is a wonderful daughter. You would be lucky to have a child like her.

I know the written word sometimes does not come across the way it is intended but I really think sometimes people are too easy to judge without knowing the entire story.

Lighten up

My daughter and I love cruising, we do at least two a year sometimes three.

[bplazo]

Ladies, Ladies,

Ace is my daughter... She was joking about the spending. She knows what limits I set for her on a cruise and adheres to them. I am glad she is my daughter and not yours to be honest. She is a Gifted and Talented child who is starting college this year at the age of 16. She is a wonderful daughter. You would be lucky to have a child like her.

I know the written word sometimes does not come across the way it is intended but I really think sometimes people are too easy to judge without knowing the entire story.

Lighten up

My daughter and I love cruising, we do at least two a year sometimes three.

 

How funny, I was thinking "ace" was a boy. Cruising with my daughter was the happiest part of my life when she was a teen :).

[will773]

To be honest, as a 16-year-old gamer I don't see how anyone could rack up $50 in a day with the crappy arcade. Now if they had DDR onboard, or god forbid Tekken, I could play forever...

 

Generally, I buy myself one Red Bull/pineapple mixed drink and sometimes a Ben and Jerry's ice cream a day, which works out to maybe $10. My mother's fine with that, and if she weren't... well I'd just have to bring up her once-a-day slots. :P As for internet, you don't want to use the internet on the ship; it's overpriced and worse than dial-up. If they insist, you can pop into an internet cafe while in port or something.

 

For determining a limit for your kids, you should think about how much you yourself plan to spend. If not much, a $15/day limit will be fine. Sorry, I can't answer whether you can put the limit directly onto the card; however, monitoring via the TV will result in more discussion of how the kid's spending money, which is a good thing.

 

I agree with you. I'm also 16 but I don't think I have actually bought anything on a cruise. I have the soda package and I don't play in the arcade, so there is really nothing for me to buy. If I want something from the shop, I will find my parents and they will get it for me.

[will773]

It was a joke. My apologies; that's now clarified with a smiley in the original post. I forget that not all parents have quite the same sense of humor mine do. :)

 

I thought it was funny! :p I totally get where you're coming from though.