wrinkle releasers,gifts cards and more ???

[Jeanne434]

Anyone have any experience with the wrinkle reducer products? Any of them better then the others? Do they smell?
Gift cards- I have a few questions....now when you but them for a cruiser...does the cruiser get an actual card with a predetermined amount on it? (I hear they come in $25 denominations) That is- is it like a say..Walmart gift Card- you give the person $25 and once it is gone the card is disposed of. OR...is it simply $25 added to you Key Card account as a credit ....the child would have no way of knowing what they had spent. I want to give my kids a bit of money for onboard spending- like at the arcade or for smoothies- whatever. But I fear then just using the room card to charge, with no real concept of how much they were spending. I am having trouble saying this...lol....anyone understand my question?

 

[vicnmickey]

I have used Downy and a product from Magic called Wrinkle Remover comes in a metal spray can. They work both great but I am taking the metal can on vacation because it will not spill.
As far as gift cards they do go towards your ship board account. You can turn the kids KTTW charging privilages off and just keep track for them.

 

[mmouse37]

I am confused...I have sailed DCL 7 times and never heard of DCL gift cards....or are you talking about shipboard credit? If they really do have gift cards that you can put an amount on is this something new???

MJ

 

[Padre Disney]

I would love to hear how to work out the same thing for my kids. We just sailed the 3/15 cruise. We wanted to give our 4 kids a little spending money on the KTTK card. We were told it was all or nothing. They would be linked to our credit card and could charge as much as they wanted because we could not set a limit. There is NO way I would let a child have complete access to my credit card line. Not because I don't trust my kids but for fear if they lost the KTTK card who might get it and charge lots of stuff to OUR credit card. I would have had no problem giving my kids each a set amount they could spend and would have trusted them to stay with in that limit.
We ended up turning off the charging privilages. The kids were bugging us all the time to get them this and that. It was terrible. They each had an amount they could spend so that wasn't the problem. It was having to get it for them every time. Our 17 year old was not very happy. So I hope that for the 3/20/04 cruise we can figure out some way around the kids having their KTTK linked to our credit card. If anyone has the magic secret PLEASE share.

Wrinkle releaser: we used downy in a plastic bottle but also put it inside a large ziploc bag. We sprayed all the clothed as soon as got to the room and hung them up. By the next day all the wrinkles were gone. I read the other day were someone sprayed her clothing before showering a hung the clothing in bathroom and the steam from shower worked like magic.

If I remember correct you get the arcade card at the arcade. It is seperate from the KTTK card. Our kids never used the aracade so I'm not sure what amounts you can get them in.

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

On our previous two cruises we did the following -

first cruise (kids were 8 & 10) we turned off their charging privileges but it was only a 3 day and not that big of deal.

second cruise (kids were 10 & 12) we turned them on but they had a limit, once that was reached we went to Guest Services and turned it off (or would have - neither reached it). We also had purchased the unlimited soda stickers so they really didn't need their cards for charging that much.

A friend of ours gave her kids homemade Disney Dollars before her trip earlier this Spring with no charging privileges on their cards. But each evening any purchases were "accounted for" and they had to turn in the equal amount of "dollars".

As for the loss situation, if that happens you'd need to go to Guest Services and report it anyway as the person would need a new KTTW card for other purposes. We were told that this would also turn off that particular credit card on the account and you'd need to attach a new one.

Deb

 

[Jeanne434]

I sort of like the Disney Dollars idea where the parents printed them themselves but it raises more questions-
1- can you get a detailed report each evening so that you know what they spent that day?
2.It is itemized in such a way that you could tell which person charged what?
I really do not want to have to be around for each purchase so I am hesitant to turn off thier charging privelages. These are responsible kids- and as frugal as their mom! But we all know how easy it is to spend more then you realize when it is just a swipe of plastic.
I know we can solve this together!

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

I believe I've seen others post that they were able to get daily printouts to check on their status - it was in relation ship to keeping track and making sure enough cash was on the account - we haven't done that.

The only things we really needed to keep track of, because they had the soda program, was souveniers and credits on arcade cards. The shops would provide a receipt (which by the way I kept so that filling out the customs declaration was easier!). Since food is all included, with the soda program taking care of their biggest expenses, it wasn't a huge deal for us to keep track of. And my girl friend didn't report it was an issue either.

Deb

 

[Padre Disney]

As for the loss situation is our main concern.
I think we found 4 kids cards during our last cruise. We turned them in right away. I wonder how long those kids were aware that they had lost their card BUT had not told their parents. I wonder how long they were lost before they even noticed it was gone. What if a not so honest person used the card in between the time the card was lost and the time it had been turned in and charging privilages stopped.
It is our understanding that DCL won't even let parents set a limit on the KTTK. At least that way if my kid lost the card and someone charged on it we wouldn't have lost so much $$$$. Having the kids card tied to our credit card and with no limit is not reasonable to us.

Can you use a different credit card for each persons name that is in the stateroom? Could one get those pre paid cc from the bank and have a seperate cc number and spending amount for each kid????

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

I'm not sure if you could do that with minors or not. I know when I went to WDW a couple of years ago on a "girls only" trip (2 moms with their daughters) we were able to do a split portfolio on the room. The key cards were coded so you could tell which charges were made by which cards and they posted the one for cards 1 & 2 (me & DD) to my card and those for 3 & 4 (friend and her DD) to her card.

It might be worth a call to DCL to find out - let us know what they have to say.

Deb

 

[Padre Disney]

That would work fine for us. My DH was thinking about getting one of the bank credit cards that you pre pay the set amount and then have all the kids linked to that card. Each child would have a set spending amount with in the limit of the bank card. We just don't like the idea of our entire credit card balance out there just in case one of the KTTK got into the wrong hands.
I thought I read once where a younger boy took his KTTW card and purchased a little girl he becames friends with on the ship a very large somewhat expensive stuffed animal. Nice story but I wonder how upset the parents really were.

What is the general amont that most of you allow your kids in spending money on the ship? I'm sure age makes a huge difference as well as how long the cruise is.

 

[eye R.N.]

but also if you get the soda program, the internet package, and QuarterMaster cards or not.

I have given my kids (17, 14,11) privledges on both cruises and intend to this time as well, with the knowledge that they will pay me back for what they charge. I pay for the trip, and any family activities we do. They pay for any special teen activities and the drinks, other goodies. I gave them each a $10 QuarterMaster card when we arrived, any more is their $$. Last trip my oldest charged a soda mug and split the cost with her teen brother.

It was amazing how conservative they were when it was their money!

A word to the wise, let them know how much the smoothies cost. They have them at every show and those suckers are so addictive the cost can add up. The same for internet access. I was surprised that checking my e-mail came up to about $7.50