Money pits......

[mdeane]

On all of our cruises, this is the first time we have taken teens with us. Could someone please advise me how many money pits the ships have for them. Must they feed the video machines in the arcade or what else must they pay to do. I need to be prepared. Thanks so much.

[Shelly97060]

I can only speak for Princess ( not sure if what line you are sailing). The video arcades cost money and the ice cream from the specialty ice cream stand costs. Soda is extra - but you can contain the cost by purchasing an unlimited soda card. Computer classes or ceramic classes are extra.

 

We travel with teens and find that other then the soda card, tips, and family excursions ( all things we can plan for), they really don't spend much money. Our last trip our teens spent 5 dollars each for the arcade and 2 dollars each for an ice cream.

 

Hope that helps. Have a fun trip.

[CalifCruiser1]

Our kids also go. They love to cruise The arcade isn't what kills me its if my son decides to go and do a spa treatment- I've learned the hard way, now I tell him no spa! (He looks older so they don't ask his age) they also like to play bingo although they don't have very many games But the biggest issue is / was the computer time Our last cruise my daughter took her laptop and that made a big difference. The last couple of cruises they didn't get a soda card. You have to figure out if they will drink that much - remember how much you get off the ship or they may want hot chocolate instead or OJ & apple juice. They just buy the soda as they want it (you have to figure this one out vs buying te card) Oh my son gets me on the candy. Its in the tux shop by the 1/4 lb . good luck and just set limits happy cruising Karon:)

[mytime53]

We just gave our kids a limit (actually handed them cash) and said, "when it's gone, it's gone." We've done that on every kind of trip. If they wanted to spend their own money, that was fine. Oh, and we handed them the cash because that way it made more impact on them...whatever was left over after the trip was theirs to keep. There was actually one trip where although we encouraged them to spend money, both came home with 100% of what we gave them.

We started our kids on that plan (and not just on vacation, but at home, also) at a young age to give them a sense of responsibility about money (and although one of our children usually spent it all, now as an adult that one is quite capable of managing on a budget...much to our surprise!). I know it's not for everyone...but it sure worked for us.

[mousey]

If your teens like arcade games, here's my advice. . . .bring a ton of quarters!!! Heaven forbid the change machine should run out of quarters. :eek: This happened to my DS on our last cruise. When we told him we were sailing on the Star again to cruise to Alaska, one of the first things he said was, "OMG, that's great! That's the ship with the "Turkey Shoot" (some kind of video game in the arcade I'm guessing). Cool!" Didn't ask about the whales, seals or anything else until a few days later. The first big thing was the "Turkey Shoot" game.:D

 

We have always bought him a soda card, but this year he will be a '"teen" for the first time on a cruise, and he wants to get the "teen drink passport" that entitles him to get free smoothies and "virgin" drinks.

 

Internet charges for the DS are not an issue, because we don't allow the use of it on vacation. He rarely uses the computer anyway,except for homework and a few games. He's really into sports of all kinds, so he's outdoors most of the time.

 

He gets a souvinier (sp?) in every port, nothing really expensive. T-shirt, wallet, stuff like that.

 

Nothing else that I can really think of. He never puts anything on the room card without asking permission. He's great about that.:D

[mdeane]

Thanks to everyone for your replies. We are taking our two oldest grandchildren who are boy 12 and girl 14. We are on RCI Radiance so I guess I need to decide about the soda card vs teen drink. I have not heard of that. Will check when we board. Glad to know we need quarters but maybe I will get those when we get to Alaska. The airlines would charge me for weight.lol

 

With any luck, maybe they will not be able to find the arcade...lol. The grandson is more into sports also and hopes for tournaments to play. Not sure I will put their name on the seapass card to sign for things. We are going in July 22 to stay a few days in Seward before we sail. Myra