Teen area and how payment works for certain things

[Martini Family]

Good afternoon, First time poster here.

I (48f) DH (49m) DS (a couple weeks shy of 17) DD (14) will be taking our first RC cruise on the Wonder of the Seas on May 14. We have only done Disney Cruises. In fact I met my husband on a Disney Cruise.   With the kids being teens this time ( they were just under 12 and 9 the last time)  we felt it was time to do something more age appropriate.

  I have a few questions about how things work and costs of some things. We are letting our teens kind of do their own thing while we are on the ship as long as they stick together. It will be a real test of their "love" for each other but it's time for them to branch out a bit. lol  We have bought the soda package for our cruise but I'm pretty sure the kids will want to get something else from the teen bar that is in their area. Does anyone know the cost of those drinks? Also is there a way of letting your kids have charging power but limiting how much they can spend during the day?  

Thank you in advance for your replies.

[Jkaczano]

Wow.  We have very similar families.  We cruised Disney many times when our kids were little but moved over to RC in September 2021 as the boys (now 16 and just turned 15) had “outgrown” Disney.  We’ve now sailed RC multiple times.   
 

kids can have charging privileges on their sea pass cards  I do not believe you can set limits by day and didn’t find it necessary.  
 

mocktails go for about $7 each.  When we sailed Wonder last year, the teen drink bar was not open.  It may have been because it was only the 3rd sailing.  
 

lastly, I encourage you NOT to make your kids stick together.  An almost 17 year old boy and 14 year old girl just may not like the same things and it will severely hinder their ability to make new friends on ship.  As high schoolers they should be able to navigate the ship safely so long as you put rules in place - no inside anyone else’s cabin, etc.
 

 

[DoomSlayer]

If you can catch the refreshment package on sale, I would recommend getting that for the kids if you plan on getting the soda package anyway. Two special drinks a day would pay for that upgrade for them.

I had kids of similar ages I took last March for spring break. As said before, don’t make them hang out together all the time. There will be different interests and they shouldn’t hold each other back. Do set up rules, like checking in often, responding to text messages, and letting you know where they will be before they actually go. When my kids were off doing their own things, I checked on them constantly and would go to wherever they were to keep a visual eye on them.  They followed my rules and had a great time on the trip. 
 

Your 17 year old may not enjoy the teen area too much. Activities are geared towards younger teens and my oldest did not enjoy it. Instead, she found some new friends and they did their own thing — having a blast. I did make a rule that I had to meet anyone she was going to hang out with which she followed. It kind of set a tone for them that I would be watching them in the background for safety reasons, but I wanted them to have fun. It did help though that I am a game developer and was able to break the ice with them talking about games I had worked on that they are actually playing — so they saw me as a cool dad instead of a nosey one. Lol. 

[Martini Family]

While I appreciate your points of view I will definitely be sticking with the rule of them being together. We are a bit of a different family and we , the adults, want to enjoy our vacation too and not be checking in on them constantly. We are going with a tight budget so we did not get the internet package thus they need to stick together. Also as a rule of thumb I trust no one or their kids.  For context my daughter has already had to deal with creepers at the gym while I'm standing there glaring at them. I'm not turning my 14 yr old loose with some "friends" who could leave her and her be vulnerable to an attack.

The almost 17 yr old spends most of his summer working at cub scout camp and is barely more mature than they are sometimes so I'm sure he will be fine.  The 14 yr old is more mature than most 25 yr olds so if anyone will be board it will be her. They don't have to be joined at the hip and can move about the teen area but will be expected to stay together when they are out. They had no problem with this rule ( the alternative was them staying with us the whole time) and I feel fine as long as they are together because they will take care of each other. If they had friends that were coming along I would not make them stay together but it's just them. Also any day we are not at sea we will be together anyway as we have a lot planned.  We all have our issues that cause us to raise our kids the way we do. For the most part we all get along just fine. We are driving 18 hrs straight through and have done this many times without killing each other so we pretty much like each other.  

Thank you for the drink cost update. I was figuring about $10 each. As I said we are on a budget and upgrading the drink package past the soda was not in the budget nor did we find it necessary especially with 3 days off the ship wandering around. 

[ScottD]

I understand you're stance on the kids. So, get them both in the teen club, and while they are there they will be together, but still be free to meet and hang with kids closer to their ages, and still be in the same general area. I think that would keep all parties happy. I think the soda package is fine, let them grab a milkshake or "mocktail"- they sound like responsible enough kids that they will listen to a "stick to one or two purchases" a day rule.  Also, you can use the on board message system without purchasing internet, so that may also give you a little peace of mind. It doesn't always give you a notification, but if you tell them to check in every hour or two, you'll know to check the app to see if they did. 

[TexanTwoStep]

9 hours ago, Martini Family said:

We are going with a tight budget so we did not get the internet package thus they need to stick together.

FYI, you do not need the internet package to stay in touch.  The RC app has a messaging feature, and it's free.  Just connect to the ship's wifi and it'll work.

[Sydnie]

Since I don't think it has been answered yet - If you go to guest services, you can actually set spending limits on their cards. I don't know if you can set a per day limit or a "whole cruise" limit (I only ever had spending turned off for my [much younger] kids). Hope this helps and enjoy your cruise!

[whitsmom]

Several years ago, we set a per day limit for our Granddaughters.  It may have changes since then.

[CanHardlyWait]

You should be able to trust a 17yr old and 14yr old to not spend more than a set amount each day. And frankly if they cannot be trusted to follow a set spending limit, then they shouldn't be left alone.

[Bowen]

Hi! You’re going to have a great time! I love the rule about not trusting other kids, especially in such loose settings that don’t mimic every day life. You can set a spending limit and I absolutely would. My kids know their limits, but they also know I get them a video arcade card each cruise. It just gets uploaded to their sea pass though. On one of our last cruises they racked up a huge amount in the arcade because they thought the money would end when the arcade money ran out. Not so! Lesson learned.

[Kathleen]

I have taken other kiddos with us and I did not have to link their sea pass to a credit card but instead placed cash towards it. You should be able to do that as a way to limit spending. When they have used up the cash they will not be able to charge things to it without adding more at guest services. It was very easy. 

[Bestcee]

On 4/10/2023 at 5:33 PM, DoomSlayer said:

Your 17 year old may not enjoy the teen area too much. Activities are geared towards younger teens and my oldest did not enjoy it. Instead, she found some new friends and they did their own thing — having a blast. I did make a rule that I had to meet anyone she was going to hang out with which she followed. It kind of set a tone for them that I would be watching them in the background for safety reasons, but I wanted them to have fun. It did help though that I am a game developer and was able to break the ice with them talking about games I had worked on that they are actually playing — so they saw me as a cool dad instead of a nosey one. Lol. 

That's interesting. We just got off Oasis, and it was the 15-17 year olds that were in the teen room and activities the most. Our 13 year olds were barely in there because the older kids took it over. 

 

[Bestcee]

For Oasis, the mini-golf, Social 298 (Teen Room), table tennis, Taco Bar, Freestyle Machine, the Sports Court are all right together with the Flowrider and Zipline up half a deck. You may need to define "stick together" if you aren't comfortable with them being 100 feet apart, but in eye distance. We would have a teen doing mini golf, and another across at the sports court and we were comfortable with that. Same with one going to get tacos, while the other stayed in the Social 298 Club. It looks like Wonder is set up similarly. 

Our group had a bunch of teens (ages 13-18). We didn't set a spend limit for our teen, just told him not to spend on his card without asking us first. He didn't (He did have the refreshment package, so drinks weren't an issue). Our group's teens varied with obedience to that rule, and I will agree with the above poster - the ones that didn't follow the parent spend requests were also the ones that had to be parent accompanied by the end of the trip. The 22 year old was put on a cash account by his parents so he wouldn't spend more than he was allowed. And it worked. When he was out of money, that was it. He couldn't spend. 

The Royal phone app worked well enough for us to keep an eye on the teens while also giving them some freedom. The app is free, just have to be 13 or older to sign up and use. We had pretty good luck with the notifications (Android, all permissions on and pause activity turned off). The teens checked it regularly, and responded to notifications, and let us know where they were when we asked. Also, just wandering around the ship, we would often run into the teens. 

Side Note: I don't know if this is common, but by the end of the week, the elevator day change employee had teen groupies waiting for him to change the signs. You may have your teens asking to stay for the elevator person, and it's not code for anything else. 

[DoomSlayer]

2 hours ago, Bestcee said:

That's interesting. We just got off Oasis, and it was the 15-17 year olds that were in the teen room and activities the most. Our 13 year olds were barely in there because the older kids took it over. 

 

We were on Adventure during spring break and it was mainly 13-15 year old teens in the "Optix" teen area.  My 2 younger kids had a blast though as they were in this age range.

[Babsy47]

My 17 year old loved the teen club up through our final pre-COVID cruise when he was 14.  Since COVID, he has not participated.  He just says now that he would prefer other activities.

He has never had a bad cruise experience.  I let him know spending expectations, and he always follows.  He loves the freedom of being on a ship.  We set meeting times for activities and meals we want to do together and we do great.  Cruises have given me great appreciation for just enjoying his company and conversation without feeling pressure to be a parent.  I just love that!

[Martini Family]

On 4/11/2023 at 2:06 PM, CanHardlyWait said:

You should be able to trust a 17yr old and 14yr old to not spend more than a set amount each day. And frankly if they cannot be trusted to follow a set spending limit, then they shouldn't be left alone.

That statement is a little rude and presumptuous since you don't know my children. I know when I and my husband have been on vacation that unless we are paying with cash even as adults we have accidentally spent more than we meant to. It's easy to get caught up in the moment. Hence why a lot of people are in debt. I'm sure they will do fine. 

Thank you to all of the people who let me know abut the ability to connect onboard without the internet package. I find the RC website less than helpful as I'm trying to navigate this. 

 

[CanHardlyWait]

36 minutes ago, Martini Family said:

That statement is a little rude and presumptuous since you don't know my children. I know when I and my husband have been on vacation that unless we are paying with cash even as adults we have accidentally spent more than we meant to. It's easy to get caught up in the moment. Hence why a lot of people are in debt. I'm sure they will do fine. 

Thank you to all of the people who let me know abut the ability to connect onboard without the internet package. I find the RC website less than helpful as I'm trying to navigate this. 

 

Wasn't meant to be rude. Sorry your so sensitive.

[Babsy47]

One thought — on the app (you should download early), you can see charges almost in real time.  There really is not much delay between the charge and it appearing.  Thus, you should be able to keep a pretty close eye on spending.