11yo freedom on board

[mmbrad02]

My DD is 11 and we were on the Wish the last week of July.

She has my old iphone as a working phone (just recently received for middle school/sports) and she knew better than to do anything but message us with the DCL app (in terms of buying internet, turning airplane mode off, etc). As others have said, the privilege could disappear as quickly as it came, an she was fully aware. And I do agree, she met a good friend in Edge and they used the app also to determine times to met up and so forth.

We also set the rule of absolutely no one else's stateroom, and also we told her no one else comes in ours. And if she was leaving Edge, we wanted to know where she was headed. But she only she wanted to do that once, and go to the sports area.

Our DD actually was more skittish about roaming around than I thought she would be. She wanted ice cream one day and I told her to go get it - and she didn't want to go by herself. We were on Deck 6 and Edge was Deck 5, almost right below us, and she was comfortable coming and going from there.

One thing helpful with DD was we bought cross body pouch that she could carry the phone in. She had that an a back up power source in there an that was it.

 

[Cheburashka]

Good morning!

We will be cruising with our 11yo this summer. I understand he will be able to check himself in/out of the kids club and Edge. This is the 1st time he'll have this freedom. How have other parents handled this? I was thinking we would give him a specific list of places he is allowed om his own(clubs, pools, concierge lounge) with a caveat he leave a note on a white board in the room if he doesn't find us. Also planning on giving him a (waterproof) watch with alarm set for times to meet up- meals, etc. He is phoneless and we want to keep it that way.

And advice is much appreciated!

I gave my son a lot of freedom onboard at that age. That's one of the benefits of cruising- you know he can't get kidnapped while you're not looking. As long as they are well-behaved and confident enough to go alone, it's fine. I made sure he knew how to find the stateroom, that he knew what to do if he lost his key card, etc. He basically would go on his own to do certain activities (like ride the waterslides for a while or get some food from the pool deck or Cabanas), not spend the whole day on his own. I didn't use a phone of any kind to keep track of him. He was only gone for an hour or two at a time, and the meeting place was the stateroom.

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

Our process for DD9 is very similar to what others have posted. We have an old iPhone that she uses as her phone on cruises, and has so far been very careful with it because she does not want to lose her privileges and freedoms on the ship. She also value being able to look at the Navigator and find activities to do, check out the menus, etc/ Also, she likes to take pictures. She has a Disney Loungefly bag that she takes around on the ship, and the phone fits nicely into one of the side pockets.

We have the standard set of rules - don't go into anyone's staterooms and don't invite anyone into our stateroom; act respectfully around the ship; walking feet and hotel voices; message us when you move from one spot to the other; etc. She will typically make friends in the club and then start going with them to things around the ship, like movies or trivia. We are totally fine with this as long as she makes good choices.

One thing I discovered on our last cruise is that kids don't always understand what food on DCL costs extra money - namely, the popcorn and candy outside the theaters. She didn't realize at first and was a little panicked that she'd be in trouble for buying a Kit Kat bar for a movie! It was fine - she truly didn't know - and it was a learning opportunity. I think that's worth talking about with kids who will have some freedom on the ship for the first time - which things are included, and which things will cost money.

 

[AppleDGang]

I respect the goal of keeping him phoneless, but since you asked - do everyone a favor and get him a stripped-out phone where he can connect to the DCL-GUEST wi-fi and use the DCL app.

He may meet kids in the clubs and want to communicate with them in terms of coordinating meet-ups and stuff. And YOU may want to have the ability to message him if/when you need to.

@squirk I think this is a great suggestion and for the right reasons too. I fully respect and endorse postponing the age for the first phone at home (we did with our kids), but it's really the only way to communicate effectively on the ship.

And especially with any new friends he may meet - they'll all be texting on the DCL app - and not having the app will make it more difficult to him to stay connected to his new friends. Often kids text each other about what time to meet at the edge / vibe - or where to meet up at the start of the day. Which would be really nice for him. And it'll make it so, so much easier for you to stay in touch with him - and that will feel much better for you.

And I also don't think giving him a device to use onboard for the DCL app means that you're being inconsistent in your stance on giving him a phone at home. Those are two very different things - which he'll certainly understand.

 

[artchick98]

My son just turned 10 so we experimented with a bit more freedom on the Wish last week. For the first day he stayed with us since we were all figuring out the layout of the new ship. The next day I had him lead us around and gave him check in/check out privileges for Oceaneers. (If his 7 year old sister was checked in I wanted him to stay with her.) He got his own food at Festival of Foods on the pool deck but we kept him with us in the pools and Aquamouse. He stayed on the pool deck a few times to watch the rest of the movie with instructions to come straight back to the room afterward, which he did. A few times he ran back to the room to pick something up for us and used his own key. I didn't enable charging privileges on his card. He had an old phone which he used to take pictures more than messaging.

 

[CamillaF]

Walkie-talkie- I gave my twin 8 year old twins full freedom they could get ahold of us anywhere on the ship. They had to stick together and no swimming. Let us know where they were. They are responsible kids, who listen and pay attention. I was excited to give them more freedom and see how they did. They did great!