Children and sail and sign cards

[jury2019]

Hello! We are cruising on Carnival next week, it's the first time we are bringing our children. They are 5 years old. I do not plan to allow them spending privileges. Unless we drop them at the kids club, they will not be without us. Is there any reason they need to have their cards on them? Should I get lanyards for them. Thanks!

[sunonfire]

The lanyards will make it easier when you are in port. They have to have their cards to get back on the ship. It is easier if everyone has their own card on them. I have seen parents shuffling cards when trying to get on and off the ship. It just slows the lines.

[Doctorsbaby]

There is zero reason your kids need their cards physically on them. And there is no way my child is wearing something with her name printed on it for anyone to read and walk up to her like they know her. Nope nope nope. 

 

My my daughter is 9 and has yet to have a reason that she needs her card with her as she isn’t allowed charging privileges or run of the ship without us. 

 

If need be to make it faster when getting on/off the ship on port, make one adult responsible for a specific child’s card, other adult responsible to other child’s. Then there isn’t any shuffling required. 

[coevan]

56 minutes ago, Doctorsbaby said:

There is zero reason your kids need their cards physically on them. And there is no way my child is wearing something with her name printed on it for anyone to read and walk up to her like they know her. Nope nope nope.

 

 

seriously? on a cruise ship? OMG

[Doctorsbaby]

23 minutes ago, coevan said:

 

 

seriously? on a cruise ship? OMG

Not on the ship, while in port as mentioned by the second poster.

[Organized Chaos]

5 hours ago, sunonfire said:

The lanyards will make it easier when you are in port. They have to have their cards to get back on the ship. It is easier if everyone has their own card on them. I have seen parents shuffling cards when trying to get on and off the ship. It just slows the lines.

 

I would never let my 5 year old (if I had one that young) carry their own card in port, or onboard the ship. Even getting back on the ship, a child that young doesn't need to carry their own and hand it to security. As long as the parent has the cards out and ready to go, they're not slowing down the line.

 

2 hours ago, Doctorsbaby said:

Not on the ship, while in port as mentioned by the second poster.

 

You don't have to explain yourself to him. He can't reply to anyone without being rude & condescending. Your kid, your rules. Even if you didn't let your 9 year old run free on the ship, I wouldn't think that's so terrible. As far as I'm concerned, there is such a thing as being too young to be roaming free around a giant ship with thousands of people.

[vacationlover16]

We cruised with our children (4 & 6) last year. I wore my son’s card on a lanyard with mine and my husband wore our daughter’s. EZPZ! We didn’t see a reason for them to have them. Like you described, they were only away from us when they were at the kids club in the evening after dinner.

[coevan]

17 hours ago, Organized Chaos said:

He can't reply to anyone without being rude & condescending

 

 

I do have feelings. I sometimes point out the obvious. I am not a paranoid person and believe a majority of people are honest. I am not looking over my shoulder waiting for someone to rob me, i.e locking your laptop in your suitcase. I also give sound advice and some pertinent suggestions. Sorry you feel otherwise. Obviously I misread the post about being at port

[Organized Chaos]

On 10/6/2019 at 5:13 PM, coevan said:

I do have feelings. I sometimes point out the obvious. I am not a paranoid person and believe a majority of people are honest. I am not looking over my shoulder waiting for someone to rob me, i.e locking your laptop in your suitcase. I also give sound advice and some pertinent suggestions. Sorry you feel otherwise. Obviously I misread the post about being at port

 

No, you're not "pointing out the obvious" because it doesn't matter if Doctorsbaby was referring to on the ship or off, how they handle the safety and security of their own child is up to them, not you. It doesn't make them a paranoid person. You see, even when you try to clarify yourself, you can't help but be rude about it. Calling people paranoid because they care about the safety of their young child is rude. The fact that you don't see that and someone has to point it out to you is exactly why you get push back from others. In addition to posting rude & condescending comments to a vast majority of the people you reply to, when you're called out on it, you always pretend to be the victim as if we are attacking you. No one's attacking you, they're simply defending against how you treat everyone.

[aknguyen]

My 6 year old son liked to wear his on a lanyard. He thought it was cool. We did let him spend money in places like the candy shop and arcade so he would need it handy for those times. (We put a limit on how much he could spend online before the cruise. It was money he had saved up from birthday and chores.) When we went on shore, I kept his with mine so it wouldn't get lost.

[cdm289]

When my kids were young, I either left their cards in the room or took them with me.  When entering and exiting the ship, I hand them out fast to each child to get scanned and then took them back again immediately.  I didn't want them to get lost.  Not that it is a huge inconvenience but if lost, you'd have to go to guest services to get a replacement.  Sometimes the line is long.  I liked the suggestion from vacationlover16 of keeping them on your lanyard.  

 

 

[Tapi]

My 8 year old asked to wear his on a lanyard. We said sure. He then proceeded to loose his card ashore at a port of call. It slipped out of the plastic pouch he said. 🙄

 

Thankfully, getting a replacement card was easier than expected. We went back to the cruise terminal and informed an agent ashore about our predicament. She actually had a printed passenger list which she consulted to verify that our son was indeed a passenger. She then asked for his passport to verify his identity (which thankfully we had in our possession) and from there we proceeded onboard the ship and straight to guest services where a new card was issued.

 

Long story short, I don’t see a reason to give a small child their sail and sign card, but after our experience,  I do have reasons against it (oh and this also taught me to make sure that I have ID for everyone, even children, when going ashore). 

Edited October 8, 2019 by Tapi

[coevan]

15 hours ago, Organized Chaos said:

No one's attacking you,

 

 

you are

[jbethel11]

2 minutes ago, coevan said:

 

 

you are

No, Organized Chaos is stating facts, which you cannot seem to realize as now you are playing victim in seek of attention. 

[geoffrywillhardt]

Yep no way my 6yr old is carrying his own S&S Card. He doesn't have charging privileges. His card stays on my wifes lanyard right behind hers. When we get on or off the ship she fans the cards out to be scanned, takes no time at all. At camp they have name badges and as far as I know they don't have any opportunity to spend money so there should be nothing they are missing out on by not having the card. 9-11 yr olds can sign themselves out from camp if given permission from their parents up until 10pm, when our son gets to that age we will discuss and decide if we were going to allow this and therefore allow him to have his own card.     

[pacruise804]

On 10/6/2019 at 6:13 PM, coevan said:

 

 

I do have feelings. I sometimes point out the obvious. I am not a paranoid person and believe a majority of people are honest. I am not looking over my shoulder waiting for someone to rob me, i.e locking your laptop in your suitcase. I also give sound advice and some pertinent suggestions. Sorry you feel otherwise. Obviously I misread the post about being at port

 

I'm not a paranoid person either, but do recognize risks - even if it is from a minority of dishonest people.  Parents who are concerned about their child advertising their name to several thousand strangers (on board or at shore) are thinking of the safety of their child - not theft of a laptop.  The threats in the world we live in today are either more or more known than when we were children.  In the small rural area I live we have to have child clearances to participate at school parties or field trips.  I just ran a race this weekend supporting an agency who help local victims of human trafficking.

 

I don't think every passenger is the boogey man - or that there even is one on every ship.  But to assume someone is paranoid to take a reasonable step of protecting their child's identity and making it easy for someone to groom them is naive.

[mackenzie80]

Personally I would suggest having the childs card on them if possible.  A lady on our cruise her daughter was 7 and in a big crowd in Cozumel she dropped her hand for a second to pick up a shirt, daughter was right next to her, then daughter was gone, she had stepped around a corner, then walked out thinking she had seen mom in the crowd.

 

Child got lost, and because a sign and sail card was on her, authorities got her to where she needed to go, and was able to notify the ship where the child was.

 

I understand children losing things, but in a foreign country some form of ID on them is a good thing.

[Palmetto Pilot]

My 3 year old son wanted to carry his own card like everyone one else, so we went to guest services and had it deactivated. We let him carry it around everywhere (and used it in the card holder slot for the lights) and he felt like like biggest boy ever. It was kinda sweet. 

[jbethel11]

1 minute ago, Palmetto Pilot said:

My 3 year old son wanted to carry his own card like everyone one else, so we went to guest services and had it deactivated. We let him carry it around everywhere (and used it in the card holder slot for the lights) and he felt like like biggest boy ever. It was kinda sweet. 

Aww! I think that's a brilliant idea! If by any chance a child was to be MIA, like @mackenzie80 said, they can show the card to a port agent and can find themselves back to the parents. Also, the parents can keep the "real" card and not worry about it being lost. 

[rmh661983]

They don't need them other than when you get on and off the ship. I get my boys lanyards b/c they like feeling like us but I hold onto their cards other than when we go through security.