Keeping in contact with kids

We are taking our kids and grandkids on a cruise this June. Our children have been on a cruise before, but this will be the first cruise for our grandkids.

The parents are concerned about staying in contact with the children, but still allowing the kids some time on their own. We would really appreciate your ideas of how to handle this. The ages are 10 and 13.

Thank you for your advice!

We are taking our kids and grandkids on a cruise this June. Our children have been on a cruise before, but this will be the first cruise for our grandkids.

 

The parents are concerned about staying in contact with the children, but still allowing the kids some time on their own. We would really appreciate your ideas of how to handle this. The ages are 10 and 13.

 

Thank you for your advice!

Royal Carib has its Royal IQ app for smartphones that I believe lets you text/message between phones on the ship. I think it is around $7-8 per person, but the cost might depend on the length of the cruise.

Hubby and I have devices called "GoTenna" which allows you to text other GoTenna users when cell service is not available. Intended for hikers, etc., but I bought a pair for use on cruises. Haven't tried them yet. Will use them in May and let you know how they work if you are interested. They are not cheap, though, at ~ $200 per pair. I ordered during their crowdfunding project and got a better price.

Enjoy your family cruise!

kathy

I think only a couple of the ships use the app for onboard messaging so far. But some of the other ships now have Voom for internet which makes cell devices available for messaging and even calls through certain apps via the internet.

I was recently on the Allure. I signed up for the 2 devices internet service (I think it was $22.50 a day.) My sister and I had already downloaded Whats App on our phones and were able to communicate with each other on the ship. Main reason I got the service and used the app though was for communication with my children that were on different trips in Europe the same week. I was even able to talk with my son in Spoleto, Italy while we were cruising the Caribbean. But now that I have used this option for communicating on board I hope to have it on every cruise I take in the future whether or not I need to communicate with others not on the cruise.

Also a big help was being able to sign off of one device and sign on to another (my ipad) to load more books to read. So the two devices just applies to two devices signed on at one time. You can switch the devices based on your needs.

I did see/hear a group of couples using walkie talkies on board that week too.

Jo

At 10 and 13, I would give them LIMITED 'freedom"...to and from SPECIFIC things...no "roaming without purpose"!

I think having the kids specify their plans, and parents telling the kids where they'll be, so when the child's activity is finished, they child will come to the parent...check in, and tell the parent what their next activity is, and where. Repeat as needed!

We use the room phones to leave messages. There are phones all over the ship. We would tell the kids where we were going to be but sometimes we would change our minds and decide to go somewhere else. So I would just call the room and leave a message telling them where we went if they wanted to find us.

We allowed them to have freedom. Only meet friends in public areas, don't go to anyone's room etc...

 

We allowed them to have freedom. Only meet friends in public areas, don't go to anyone's room etc...

THIS is far more important than keeping track of where they are on board. they need to be told in no uncertain terms that they NEVER under ANY circumstances enter any other cabin than their own( or the 'rents if applicable) and to NEVER under any circumstances allow ANYONE else in to theirs.

I wanna say the ten YO can be granted permission to sign themselves out of the kid's club. the 13 YO I think will be in the teen club which is far less structured and more of a hangout area than an actual club with activities. if they are not in the kids clubs/teen area then you need to establish boundaries.. can they go to the main pool deck or the sports deck without first clearing it with Mom and Dad? the arcade( which the parents need to know up front will charge a sea pass card even if otherwise charging privileges are off) ?

it does help if everyone goes over the daily compass before going to bed and highlighting( use different colors for each person) where they expect to be/want to do. they also need to go over spending on board. those milkshakes at Johnny Rockets add up!

My kids were 10, 12 and 14 on our last cruise. The 10yo had sign out privileges and the other two were in the teen club. They were always easy to find. Most of the time they were in the kids/teen club, arcade, on the Promenade getting pizza or getting a cone by the pool.

So I will traveling with my dd (16) and she is hearing impaired with cochlear implants. So she often can't use a regular old landline phone. cell phone on speaker works...

I was hoping to not have to spend $$ on internet service just to be sure we keep in touch.. because she will be almost inseparable from me. But teens like to sleep in. And Have you ever seen sun rise on ship! :D:D

If they don't have a gadget or app-- so it goes to the old white board to keep notes or the internet package.

Wonder if they have any special device for hearing impaired texting on board..not teletype or alert system.

Looking forward to it!

When we were on a cruise with my then 14 year old daughter and 15 year old son it was so nerve racking for me. My son isn't as social but my daughter is very social. She made a group of friends right away and was always where she said she would be but I spent the whole cruise worrying. About 2 days into the cruise she slipped at the pool and knocked herself out. We had walkie talkies but when they don't work very well and the teenager talking to you has a foreign accent and is freaking out it's horrible. It's awesome they have apps now. I wish we did. The last cruise they were 18 and 19 and we brought their boyfriend and girlfriend so I had a much better time. Now they're 20 and 21 so they can go on their own cruises!!!!!

Royal Carib has its Royal IQ app for smartphones that I believe lets you text/message between phones on the ship. I think it is around $7-8 per person, but the cost might depend on the length of the cruise.

 

Hubby and I have devices called "GoTenna" which allows you to text other GoTenna users when cell service is not available. Intended for hikers, etc., but I bought a pair for use on cruises. Haven't tried them yet. Will use them in May and let you know how they work if you are interested. They are not cheap, though, at ~ $200 per pair. I ordered during their crowdfunding project and got a better price.

 

Enjoy your family cruise!

 

kathy

Thank you for all the replies. I have a question about keeping up with the cell phones. What do the children do with the phones when they are participating in the water activities on the ship?

The FRS radios work well all over the ship. You can get a pair online for around $40. On our last cruise I saw several families using them. I asked them how they worked. All said they worked from bow to stern and from top to bottom. Just make sure both radios are on the same channel. You can have as many as you need on the same channel.

My high school age daughter got a lot of freedom. We used notes in the cabin and set times. dont forget the watches. We had set times to meetup. I usually had a general idea what she was going to be doing.

The younger two went to camp and loved it. But, I did give my 11 year old a bit of freedom for limited times as long as she was with friends. Make sure they go to the kids club the first night to make friends. They loved meeting new people.

Also, we have a good set of Wilkie talkies and they worked only if we were on the same deck. That was a bummer.

Hubby and I have devices called "GoTenna" which allows you to text other GoTenna users when cell service is not available. Intended for hikers, etc., but I bought a pair for use on cruises. Haven't tried them yet. Will use them in May and let you know how they work if you are interested.

 

kathy

I'm curious to know if the GoTenna worked :)

I have always been a very conservative parent when it comes to freedom. So keep that in mind in my response!

I can see the 13 year old being allowed to go down to the Promenade and get pizza, things like that. Specific reasons for being on her own - going from point A to point B to participate is an activity. Exploring the ship on her own? No way.

The 10 year old has pretty much no need to be on their own at all. Ask yourself this: Would you drop your 10 year old off alone at a very large mall that they had never been to before? These ships are like small to medium floating towns. Most of the people on board would never hurt a child or do anything untoward. BUT .... just as every town has its questionable citizens, so do cruise ships. Remember for every bad person that is in jail, there are lots and lots who just never got caught.

That is my opinion. I truly worry about people letting their guard down just because they are vacation, and in the confines of a cruise ship. Yes there are cameras everywhere, but those don't help in the moment, only for the tragic afterwards.

The buddy system has worked well for us. If the kids weren't in the kids club or teen club (mine are 5 years apart) they were together. They are now 22 and 17. The buddy system worked well along with set met up times, notes in the cabin and using the "house phone" to call the rooms and leave messages. On note, on our last sailing the hotel never changed the names of the occupants of the staterooms, we couldn't figure out why we were getting a call from Mr. Jones when it was really our son in the cabin across the hall, they wouldn't answer the phone because they saw "Ms. Smith" on the caller ID and my sister and her husband were labeled wrong as well! :D

Although the liberty sounds like a big ship, you will be surprised how often you will just "run into them" going from point A to point B.