arcade buget

[3xthecharm]

DH and I will be sailing on a 7-day Eastern with DS 8, 10 and DD 5. The boys would be video game junkies, if I let them. DH and I limit their game time, but I know they will ask for atleast one short visit to the arcade each at sea day. I know they have video games in the clubs which will help.

They are earning their own "extras" money for the cruise. How much should I have them budget for the arcade?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Mjasp]

We gave our DD8 approximately $10 a day.

We looked at it as 1 drink each for us, we wouldn't think anything of ordering a drink each for our enjoyment. BUT She also did not like the clubs, Thank God she liked the arcade.

 

[3xthecharm]

That sounds like a good budget plan. Thanks. I was not sure how expensive the games would be on board. This helps a lot.

 

[pooh luver]

On our first cruise I tried to really limit the time in the arcade because there was so much to do and I wanted to encourage the kids club. The second time we just told him to be reasonable and he could pretty much go when he wanted. He was so reasonable and worried about spending too much he only spent $75 for the whole week. I kept telling him he could go but he didn't want to. It is a fairly small area. I agree with the $10 a day being about right.

 

[ganurse]

i must warn you that we were on the sept e4 c ruise and almos all the games are broken.most of them the same games that were broken 2 years ago.its sad because DH was hoping they would be fixed. it was so bad they refunded our card with no problems. they said they would not be fixed until next year although i tthink when and if they dry dock, they may fix it

 

[3xthecharm]

We don't travel until 12/05. Hopefully they will have them fixed by then.

 

[lbastida1]

I thought I'd tack onto this thread since I have a related question. What kind of video games are in the Oceaneer Lab?
Is it Nintendo, Game Cube or some other and what specific games do they have. ? Do the kids have access to them any time or do they have to wait for a specific scheduled time? Will that time be listed in their Navigator? My DS 9 is concerned he'll have video game withdrawls. I saw some computers in a picture of the lab. Same question for the computers. Are there games on the computers and is there a specific schedule they can access them? Do they ever have a free time where kids can do what they want in the Lab or is it all "programmed fun?"

I'd love to hear your kids experiences in the Lab especially 8 - 10 year old boys. Thanks so much!!

 

[Poly Pal]

We spent $120 charging up the arcade cards for our 2 boys on the 7 day. Our kids did not like the kids' clubs at all, so we sent them to the arcade while we brunched at Palo. They one a small, stuffed tiger at one of the arcade games. I tease them that the tiger only cost me $80!

 

[aprilgail2]

The games in the arcade were all older type games, nothing recent and many broken. I would think that 10.00 a day would be plenty...I bought a 10.00 card before looking at the games and I think the card still has 8.00 on it...if I had looked at them first I never would have bought the card.

 

[3xthecharm]

lbastida1,

I have read that they have Playstation, Xbox, and computer games. I believe that they are able to use them during times of free play. There are certain times during the day when the Lab is doing a specific activity that takes them to other parts of the ship. I would warn your child that there will be times the video games may not be available. You could check your navigator each morning to determine when these out of Lab activities take place.

To determine when their free play might be, I would use process of elimination with the other activities listed in the navigator.

I know what you mean about those withdraw symptoms.

 

[Disneybridein2k3]

My husband and I are traveling w/ our DD10 2/5/05 and I was wondering we can use our KTTW cards to charge but give DD10 a daily budget? I wasn't sure since we are all in the same room and our last cruise (5/10/03) we didn't have DD with us to have to worry about it!

TIA!
Stacy and Ken

 

[FLMOM2BOYS]

We elected to not allow charging priviledges for our 12 and 10 year old. Mainly for the 10 year old, who is prone to loosing things.

As far as the arcade...we spent $120 on the arcade ($100 for the kids and $20 for DH and I to each have one $10 card). The cards were purchased "as needed" in $10 increments.

The kids were each give $100 spending money by a generous "adopted" grandpa...so the money they spent was theirs.

 

[lbastida1]

FLMOM2BOYS
Did you purchase the cards in the arcade?

Thanks

And thanks to 3xthecharm for the very helpful information about the games in the Oceneer's lab.

God Bless Floridians!!

 

[Mjasp]

We didn't give our girls charging priveleges. We just gave them our card, told them to get a $10 card and return our card to us.

Or we went in with them to get it.

 

[MrsPete]

$10/day sounds high to me -- with two kids, that'd be $140! My kids have Gameboy SPs, and I'd rather buy them two new games each (which would also be useful for the drive to and from Florida) instead of spending it on a moment's fun in the arcade.

 

[disneyholic family]

i thought that there are also video games (playstation etc) in the kids clubs......it's not as if they'll be deprived if they can't go into the arcade...
by the way, the arcade on the wonder was kind of tiny....the one time i went in with my kids it was packed (on the day at sea)...
they had free cards that they'd gotten as a gift from the concierge, but they were so unimpressed by the arcade they took one look and turned around and left without spending the free cards....(the place was packed with soaking wet kids in bathing suits....not exactly conducive to wanting to hang around for long..)

of course, my kids are much older than yours, so it's different....but i doubt they would have liked it even when they were young...

 

[FLMOM2BOYS]

Originally posted by lbastida1
FLMOM2BOYS
Did you purchase the cards in the arcade?

Thanks

Yes, either my DH or I would purchase them when we were up there with the boys. My DH and I both enjoy playing video games sometimes too, so we tried to make some of the arcade time "family time"

 

[Mary Anne]

Mrs. Pete, I agree with you, I have two boys 13 and 16 and we didn't give them any money for the arcade. They had their own money and I know for a fact did not spend any of it on that. Personally, I'd invest it in gameboy games for the trip down and back and they can play that at the pool or in the room for some downtime.

 

[TheWog]

Originally posted by lbastida1
Did you purchase the cards in the arcade?

Yes, there is a machine you put your KTTW card in and select the card amount you want. $10, $15 or $20 amounts. It will then pop out a separate card to be inserted in the games.

 

[MarcyIn Florida]

The videogames on board were pretty expensive (One of the games cost $1 a play, and I got the very same game for Xbox a short time later for $5 as a purchase... ) Ten dollars a day should still be fine, but chances are with the games that were on there last time they'll probably get bored of them after a few days anyway. The console games in the kid's lounge will likely be of more interest to them in the long run. If they don't already have them, you could always buy them a Gameboy Advance for around $40 used (or $60 used with the light and rechargeable batteries). You might offer that up as an option, instead, and at least they'll have something to show for it after the cruise is over. Good luck and have fun!

Marcy's Husband