Keeping track of each other- how?!

I thought that we would run into our kids fairly often (October cruise) but we didn't. They swear that they were not hiding from us! :p

I want to make sure that we have a better plan on our next cruise in April, which I expect to have even more people.

Calling the room leaving/listening to messages- how does it work?

I would think the leaving post its or notes in the cabling would require a lot of extra going back to the cabin.

Just assign meeting times & places? How often for a 17&14, every two hours? Would they both have to wear watches? I do not remember noticing a lot of clocks.

walkie - talkies work great.

walkie - talkies work great.

Now you did it.

Britney -- I found that after a few days we knew in general where the most likely places to find our kids were -- arcade, sports court, Boardwalk, Wipe Out Cafe, Sorento's :) -- but we did use the voicemail in the room most often. The kids were required to "check in" every hour or so (they were younger than yours), they would call the room and leave the message saying where they were or if they were planning to go somewhere specific... we would call the room a few minutes after the agreed to check-in time and listen to the message. Since there are phones available all over, it worked out great. If we had plans for dinner or a show we would set meeting times/places. I think there are clocks around, but my son wore his watch anyway. I was axious about it originally but ened up very satisfied with how this all worked out. We'll be on the Oasis in 2 weeks and plan to use the same method. Good luck!

To the OP, what has worked for us is setting up check in times with our teens. We usually compare schedules first thing in the morning and at dinner (one of our rules is we eat together for dinner), so that everyone knows who will be where.

If it is a port day, we are usually together as well, but will review schedules when we get back on board. If it is a sea day, or there is a long stretch between when we would normally see each other, we set up a check point somewhere in between. For teens every 3 - 4 hours is usually sufficient, but only you know your kids and how much you can trust them.

If plans change, this is where the notes/calls come in. We do check to make sure our teens are where they said they were going to be. If they aren't there then we check for notes/calls. We have always been able to find them when we wanted to, and them us.

It really isn't that hard, after a day or so everyone gets into their routine.

ETA - there are clocks around the ship, you just need to know where to look. they do have them in the teen area. personally my son will not wear a watch and I don't want him carrying his phone around (his normal way of checking the time) since he is in the pool, on the flowrider, etc and would need to store it somewhere. Not worth the chance of loosing it.

I thought that we would run into our kids fairly often (October cruise) but we didn't. They swear that they were not hiding from us! :p

 

I want to make sure that we have a better plan on our next cruise in April, which I expect to have even more people.

 

Calling the room leaving/listening to messages- how does it work?

I would think the leaving post its or notes in the cabling would require a lot of extra going back to the cabin.

Just assign meeting times & places? How often for a 17&14, every two hours? Would they both have to wear watches? I do not remember noticing a lot of clocks.

Walkie Talkies. Use them during the day, Charge them while sleeping. So easy

Walkie - talkies do not work well. They are also very annoying to your fellow passengers.

Britney -- I found that after a few days we knew in general where the most likely places to find our kids were -- arcade, sports court, Boardwalk, Wipe Out Cafe, Sorento's :) -- but we did use the voicemail in the room most often. The kids were required to "check in" every hour or so (they were younger than yours), they would call the room and leave the message saying where they were or if they were planning to go somewhere specific... we would call the room a few minutes after the agreed to check-in time and listen to the message. Since there are phones available all over, it worked out great. If we had plans for dinner or a show we would set meeting times/places. I think there are clocks around, but my son wore his watch anyway. I was axious about it originally but ened up very satisfied with how this all worked out. We'll be on the Oasis in 2 weeks and plan to use the same method. Good luck!

How does the voicemail work? Do you call the room and it instructs you how to retrieve voicemail? Or do you have to set up pins?

Walkie - talkies do not work well. They are also very annoying to your fellow passengers.

Just off a Carnival cruise and nobody seemed annoyed by the use of the walkie talkies (even the more upscale people). Volume was turned down to a minimum. Actually got a lot of compliments that they were a smart idea! Will definitely be bringing them on our next cruise!

Now you did it.

:cool: I just might.... :p I wished we had tried the voicemail system last cruise. I did start to worry a couple times when we had not seen the kids and am nervous about it happening MORE often :eek: this cruise.

:o Yes, I may be a bit of a worry wart!

On Allure you could hire some phones for keeping in contact with the rest of your group. We were too late to get them but wished we had.

The walkie talkies were absolutely useless - they just didn't work despite buying ones with a good range. All we heard was other people jabbering away!

We used voicemail a lot as we could use any of the telephones around the place and leave a message.

As has been said, we got to know where our kids would be most of the time during the day and we spent the evenings together.

I would suggest going straight to hire the phones as they worked very well.

Before we leave for a cruise we pick one place inside and one on deck where we will be in general area-works for us(husband , friends to find each other.) Friends grandchildren also managed to come by every few hours and wave. Before we leave cabin we usually check in with friends . At breakfast we make plans for day.

How does the voicemail work? Do you call the room and it instructs you how to retrieve voicemail? Or do you have to set up pins?

It's been a while, but I don't think we needed to set-up PINs, I think you just called your room #, listened to the prompts, and chose the one to "hear new messages".

Last time we traveled with a large group we chose a lounge we liked the best and spent a lot of time hanging out there. We were in port every day so keeping track of everyone was only an evening chore. Since none of us are really into shows or trivia and the like, for the most part, someone from the group was always there so we just checked in with that person, told them where we were going and if they decided to leave, they told the person who was staying behind. Since there were about 20 of us (all adults), this worked out great.

walkie - talkies work great.

And teenagers just love carrying them around so mommy can call them.:rolleyes:

Our group used magnetic-mount whiteboards that we hung on our cabin doors. We used them to say what our plans for the day were and to leave notes for other members in our group. It worked surprisingly well for us.

And teenagers just love carrying them around so mommy can call them.:rolleyes:

It was use the w/t or stay home with grandparents.:p

We were on the Indy a couple of years ago with 10 relatives, including my older sister and her husband...my father was freaking out at one point, because she had left the group to go find me at Olive or Twist, but we had somehow crossed paths and I missed her on the way down....

Did I mention that my sister was a 53 year old mother of 6 and grandmother of 3 at the time...???

:D

I guess you never stop worrying about your kids!!!

If you have AT&T I highly recommend turning off the data on your phones and using texting to keep in touch. It's 50 cents per sent message, and if you have a family texting plan (I have unlimited texting) it doesn't cost anything to receive the texts. It was perfect if my son needed me RIGHT NOW instead of whatever time we'd decided earlier. Or if I hadn't heard from him and needed to know where he was. End of the cruise I think I'd spent less than $5 total on it. Well worth it to me for the piece of mind.

Leaving voice mail messages worked great for my family. They have to leave a message every couple of hours or when they were going to another area on the ship. I cannot remember how I retrieved messages when I wasn't in the room :o

My kids are in their twenties now but still have to leave a message when they reboard the ship if not with me :D

We bring a small magnetic dry erase board and put one on each room door. Then we leave messages for each person (i.e., where we'll be, etc.) Post-its work ok, but they can fall off easily as people walk by all the time.