Parental warning

[Chardonnay Char]

Saw a situation unfold on the Reflection in late

March that is worth warning parents about. I was in line at guest relations when a father and 10-year-old son were disputing a charge to their room bill. The man insisted his son didn't get/charge food from sushi on 5. Later I saw him at a gift shop where he was insisting his son didn't buy expensive sunglasses. Apparently the kid had either lost or left his card unattended at the Kids Club and some other not so honest kid picked it up and used it -- even signed for items. The dad explained he wanted his kid to have his own card so the kid could get drinks or snacks at the club. Upshot was, I think the disputed charges were removed but not without a lot of effort and detective work on the dad's part. But someone suggested a good idea: If you kid has his/her own card, PUT A DAILY LIMIT ON IT FOR YOUR PROTECTION.

[az_tchr]

Excellent idea. It was good of Celebrity to reverse the charges. Probably a good reminder that on board a SeaPass is just like a credit card. Easy to use it to buy anything from a glass of wine to jewelry. Report them immediately to Guest Relations if lost or your simply cannot find.

[wwcruisers]

But, doesn't the card holder's picture show up on the register, when the card is used?:confused: I know that it shows up when they scan your card, upon leaving and returning to the ship. I also wonder whether the person who "used" the card was (or appeared to be) much older. What ship employee would allow an unsupervised 10-year old to order expensive food, or make a high-end purchase in the shops?

Edited April 3, 2016 by wwcruisers

[LMaxwell]

The photo of the person the card is registered to comes up on the screen AND I am sure every single POS terminal has a camera on it. Should have been easy to identify by the crew member and if not, easy for security. Sounds like they gave the dad an unnecessarily hard time in correcting the issue.

[bEwAbG]

The photo of the person the card is registered to comes up on the screen AND I am sure every single POS terminal has a camera on it. Should have been easy to identify by the crew member and if not, easy for security. Sounds like they gave the dad an unnecessarily hard time in correcting the issue.

 

Or the kid was lying and did order those things.

 

Or the Dad was lying and using his kid as an excuse.

 

Or someone else in the cabin ordered those things.

 

Could be 1000 reasons why you shouldn't suspect that a stranger charged stuff to the room. Would actually be pretty ballsy to try that on a ship that is covered in cameras. Could be that Guest Relations was giving Dad "a hard time" because they were investigating.

 

ETA: the advice to put a limit on a kids card is a good one!

Edited April 3, 2016 by bEwAbG

[eandj]

So when the card went missing, the boy didn't tell his dad??? Would have been cancelled on the spot.

All sounds like a mess to me. :rolleyes:

 

 

I wouldn't even think to give a 10 year old the ability to charge things on his card, especially without a limit and without a lanyard keeping that card close by. The child needs to be responsible for his card too.

 

Hope dad learned a lesson.

Edited April 3, 2016 by eandj

[happy traveler69]

Or the kid was lying and did order those things.

 

Or the Dad was lying and using his kid as an excuse.

 

Or someone else in the cabin ordered those things.

 

Could be 1000 reasons why you shouldn't suspect that a stranger charged stuff to the room. Would actually be pretty ballsy to try that on a ship that is covered in cameras. Could be that Guest Relations was giving Dad "a hard time" because they were investigating.

 

ETA: the advice to put a limit on a kids card is a good one!

 

 

I immediately thought the same things....

[dkjretired]

It's been awhile since my kids were little but Celebrity used to allow you to have the card only buy soda's etc.

[OCruisers]

So when the card went missing, the boy didn't tell his dad??? Would have been cancelled on the spot.

All sounds like a mess to me. :rolleyes:

I wouldn't even think to give a 10 year old the ability to charge things on his card, especially without a limit and without a lanyard keeping that card close by. The child needs to be responsible for his card too.

Hope dad learned a lesson.

 

Children carrying their own cards around (not necessarily a bad thing) should be told by their parents to tell them IMMEDIATELY if they lose it!

LuLu

[Queen of Oakville]

Cards can be setup with out charging privileges .

 

I can't remember now if it is X or Royal (or both) but the lack of charging privileges does not apply in the arcade.

 

 

I set up the seapass for my children so that they cannot make charges. They do not carry their seapass with them (they are 8 and 10) as they are always with us (or in the Fun Factory) and can't be about the ship by themselves.

 

When they need a drink, we buy it for them using their seapass card (for their drink package).

 

The only reason for a 10 year old to carry their own card is if they are allowed to roam the ship by themselves and need to get in/out of the cabin on their own.

[smtcan]

When we cruised with our grandchildren they had a basic non alcoholic drink package each, and no charging privileges on their cards. This worked out well for all concerned.

[Chardonnay Char]

OK, the photo on the card that shows up when a sale is made makes sense. That was what the dad was happy about when he said something like, “Oh, you have a photo? Good. “ That was when he was standing in guest relations and talking on the phone to the sushi people. I think that is what finally convinced Celebrity that the father was on the up and up. I’m guessing somebody didn’t look too hard at the kid’s picture, which I suppose can happen when people are busy. By the time I ran into the dad maybe 15 minutes later, it was also apparent the the other kid had signed -- at least for the glasses -- and the signatures didn’t match. They were trying to determine the identify of the other kid.

[drarill]

This happened to us on our first Celebrity cruise. My son was 12 and left his card on the Arcade and two kids used all the money my son had on it and put $50 extra to play more. When my son realized he didn't have his card he went back to the arcade and didn't find it, he immediately went to GS to get a new one. This was on the first day of the cruise and later in the evening my husband saw the $50 charge on our TV. He was only allowed to use $10 on the arcade per day.

Long story short, they both went to GS to dispute the $50 charge and my son was accused of lying. The person that helped them was not nice and my son was in tears when he called me. My husband told the person in GS that he trusted our son and wanted them to check the videos of the area to see if he was lying or not. Later in the evening they called to apologize to us. The videos showed two kids taking the card and charging the $50. When my son changed his card, the old one stopped working and they had to stop playing. We were told that the two teens were called by security with their parents.

The next day we got chocolate covered strawberries from GS in our suite plus a couple of arcade cards for my son.

[Danni@sea]

Sailing in January 2017 with family - including 9 & 14 year old. This scenario hadn't crossed my mind - great topic and great suggestions! Unfortunately kids are easily distracted and misplace things too easily....capped daily limits and a very matter of fact conversation with the kids regarding consequences of loss are definitely in order! Thanks for the great tips! :cool:

[jenZ]

Heck, I am no longer a teenager (sigh) and I lost track of my sea pass card at least twice on my last cruise. Guess I still act like one... Or is it because my fashion choices don't include deep pockets or lanyards?

 

Thank goodness for honest people. And to having fun on vacations.

Edited April 5, 2016 by JenZ

[cruzeluver]

When the father made the original inquiry with guest services the card should have been deactivated, thus the issue in the gift shop should not have occurred. Methinks either father or son is full of baloney.