$$ on cards for kids?

[blueswoman]

hi,

We are leaving a week from this Saturday on the New year's cruise! As first time DCL'ers, I had a question. We have two kids, 8 and 11. We would like to let the 11-year old have charging privileges, up to a certain limit. Is there a way to do this (i.e. we don't want him to have carte blanche with the room card!)

When we received our doc package, there was a gift brochure with information about on-board credits. Has anyone done this for their child? If so, how does it work? Do they get a separate card with charge limit just for them? I was considering getting Disney Dollars for the kids, but if they don't use them up, do they get change back, or the Disney Dollars as change?

Thanks for information!

Tara

 

[jwann]

It was my understanding that the kids' cards can charge as much as the adults and that you can't have a limit on any of them. My question - what do you think your 11 year old would charge? Do you think he'll really NEED to charge? We bought enough arcade cards for the trip on the first day and when they were used up - he was done at the arcade. Other than that, he knew where the drink station was if he got thirsty and, of course, he could get all the food he wanted at the pools.

 

[wildabouttheworld]

I have to agree. There are 2 gift shops on board and an arcade that require money. Everything else is free. If your kids get a sticker on their card for drinks and you buy them an arcade card (which is a seperate card with $ on it that you buy with your card) they really dont need charging privledges. We just got back with our 10 year old daughter. She did not have charging privledges. It worked out great. Also, guest services will punch a hole in your card if there are no charging privledges. That way your child can wear their card around their neck and have it with them at all times. The hole punch indicates no charging privledges.

 

[kcashner]

This will be our 10th cruise, and I have never allowed my 12 year old to have charging privleges. Sometimes, she has had the drink package, sometimes not...we discuss what she wants to do and how much it will cost! She knows that she can drink punch, lemonade, etc. at any time free, and can save cokes for dinner. If you want your child to have an arcade card, you can place a pre-set amount on that.

I have not seen any reason for her to have access to the gift shops, etc. with charging privleges. I don't give her my VISA and allow her to go to the store unsupervised...(well, sometimes she talks me out of enough that it seems like I do....). Charging privleges on the ships are no different than handing a child your credit card. This isn't a time when I choose to have to discipline her if she blows it.

All that said, she is turning 13 on our next cruise. I will talk to the teen counsellors about whether or not money is needed for their programs (it isn't in the younger programs). It appears that there is teen bingo, etc.....and I might need to provide a very pre-set limit and kill her if she exceeds it.

 

[blueswoman]

Ok, thanks for the tips! Thank goodness for this board

I was thinking arcade--and I didn't realize they had separate cards for this. You are right--he doesn't need to charge sodas since we are limiting the kids to sodas at meals and whatever else free drinks are around.

Thanks again for the info. Only 12 more days!!!

Tara

 

[MrsPete]

My kids are similar in age to yours. Here's what I think I'll do next time:

A cruise is different from other vacations in that the kids don't have the option of using cash. I wish Disney would "re-wire" their computers so that you could "allow" a child's card to charge only $25 or so. In fact, I bet there are some adults who would benefit from forced limits!

I'm going to tell the kids, "You have $25 to spend. I can check to see how much you've spent every day, so don't go over your limit. If you do, you'll owe me that amount plus interest." They also need a quick lesson in keeping up with one's receipts and keeping a running tab of what's been spent. Handled correctly, it could be a learning experience.

 

[Cruisin]

I guess it depends on your kids and how well they can handle that sort of thing.

We have never removed charging privileges from the kids cards when we cruised and so far this has never been abused by them.

They were 12 and 16 when we first cruised. The 16yr old even booked his own excursions at Castaway Cay and the Teen Junkanoo in Nassau.

They did know that there was a parent set limit to their spending and they were good about sticking to it.

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

My dd is only 8, so she had no charging power, but when she is old enough here's a good idea that a fellow cruiser told me. Under the boarding docs each cruiser has a form to fillout regarding charging, form of payment. He bought an american express gift card in the amount he wanted his dd to use. He then put that account number on her payment form so that her card was linked directly to only that form of payment ( I know they can do this because the cruisers we went with had a son and daughter that had their own credit cards and they were linked directly to those, not their parents). This sounded like a great idea to me. His dd went to guest services everyday to check her balance and it worked out great. He said it was a bit of a shock to see that balance go up everyday, so she was careful on what she spent it on. The gift card had to last the whole cruise - couldn't add anymore. Next time we go I will do that for my dd and give her a little freedom in the gift shops.

 

[jgalecpa]

I think, that properly monitored, this can be a terrific opportunity to teach kids about the prudent use of a charge card.

To do this, it is a good idea the parent check the account nearly daily (with them?) to avoid any surprises.

We will doing just this on Saturday.

Jim

 

[MrsPete]

LOVETHATMOUSE -- I think you are brilliant! Where does one purchase an American Express gift card?

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by MrsPete
LOVETHATMOUSE -- I think you are brilliant! Where does one purchase an American Express gift card?

That is a good idea! The 14 year old I am taking is going to have a spending limit of 250 so putting that on her own gift card would work great! We will already have the unlimited internet package so that wont have to come out of her money and she will have the unlimited soda program too so all she will need it for is anything she buys for the moives, smoothies and gift shop purchases or arcade cards...that should be all...

 

[ChattyKathy]

No offense, but what in the world is a 14 y/o going to spend 250.00 on while on a basically paid for everything cruise...? ( and by basically paid for-I mean the room, foods, drinks, movies...OUCH) I personally think that is alot of money for a kid to spend but that is just me....Is it just me? lol
LOVETHATMOUSE- I think your AmericanExpressCard idea is wonderful too, it will give the kids a guide line to spending and as mentioned also- it is a chance to teach them properly about using a charge card. ...I liked that idea myself

Oh well, thanks guys, this gets my mind churning about my own kids'....


Kathy

 

[minniemouse1]

I agree that $250 is alot of money for a kid to spend. I have no idea if I had to spend that much money on the cruise what I would even spend it on.

 

[jgalecpa]

ChattyKathy:

No offense, but what in the world is a 14 y/o going to spend 250.00 on while on a basically paid for everything cruise...? ( and by basically paid for-I mean the room, foods, drinks, movies...OUCH) I personally think that is alot of money for a kid to spend but that is just me....Is it just me? l

No, but...

Our girls will get $$$ for various things: report cards, gifts, etc. Some goes in the bank, some foes "on their list".

Anything extravagant they want that (1) I don't mind them having, but (2) I AINT GONNA pay for they can use this for. It is also their primary spending money on trips. Sure we buy them some stuff (a shirt, etc) but if they want jewelry, Froo-froo drinks (non-alcoholic, of course), gifts for friends, etc. it comes "off their list".

It is amazing to watch the decision making when it is their money.

Jim

 

[Alex]

My dd has full charging priveleges. The only things she has charged so far are 2 arcade cards and a round of smoothies for her friends all of which she asked permision for. I refuse to go through the bother of removing charging privileges. DD knows very clearly exactly what would happen if she were to abuse that privelege and being grounded on the cruise is NOT on her list of fun disney activities.
If it happens then she will learn a lesson.
It won't though because she knows that it will

 

[dthogue]

The American express gift cards sound like a great idea - If I remember correctly I saw a Visa gift card advertised at our local AAA office - I believe you can buy it for any amount and add more to it if you want. Sounds like a great way to save. I'm going to call AAA tomorrow for more details.

Tammy

 

[clh2]

I thought I read somewhere before our cruise that they don't work how you are describing them. If your DD or DS has charging privileges, they have charging privileges, period.

The explanation I recall is - the charging system on the ship is somewhat outdated. The one example I can think of - is if one of your children had their hair braided. The braider writes up a receipt, the child will hopefully tip them, and then they sign the check. The hair braider then takes that paper receipt and it will ulitmately turn into a charge for the room. At no time does the person selling the drink, or the hair braider check to see if there is any credit available to that child.


If the gift card doesn't have enough money available on it for their purchases - they will just charge the parents card.

Our DD had her own money to spend on the cruise, and after just about every purchase she made, she requested that either DH or me go with her to guest services so she could use her Disney Dollars to pay off her bill.

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by ChattyKathy
No offense, but what in the world is a 14 y/o going to spend 250.00 on while on a basically paid for everything cruise...? ( and by basically paid for-I mean the room, foods, drinks, movies...

Hair braiding, smoothies, arcade cards, popcorn and candy for movies and the gift shop(she wants to buy a watch) and a gift for the boyfriend to bring home....real easy to come up with 200+ there....heck when we go to the Disney Store we never leave there without spending over 100.00.

 

[Cruisin]

I do agree that $250.00 for a 14 yr old to spend on a cruise does seem like a lot of money. That comes to $35.72 a day to spend, on a ship where most everything is prepaid including her sodas and unlimited internet.

But it all comes down to what you are used to. To some people that is an outrageous amount and to others double that amount would not seem to be enough.

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

They offer the amex gift cards at our bank, aaa office, etc. They are very easy to find.

My dd had a grand total of $125 Disney Dollars (but had to split it between WDW for 3 days and the 7 day cruise). She had about $40 in cash for the islands. How did she get so much for an 8 year old? Birthday $$, Report Card $$, but bulk of it came from collecting cans for the past year. We save all our soda cans, bottles and bring them back for the $$ 5 cents a pop adds up!! We just got back Sat, and Sun she was asking to start her "collecting" again. She also won $80 stateroom credit from winning on "WHO WANTS TO BE A MOUSEKEETER", and believe me, she found TONS of stuff to buy - including a nice gift for her teacher, and a pair of earrings for herself to remember the trip by.

Also, on the hairbraiding, they write the full name of the cruiser - that's how they match up which account it goes on. If there wasn't enough money in the account, I am sure that guest services would call the stateroom. We paid everything in cash and when we hit $395, they called us to let us know. All we did was go and add more $$ to the account. I am pretty sure it would work that way with the gift cards.