How to find the kids....

[Two kids and a dog]

Has anyone found any good ways to stay in contact with others in your party? We tried walkie talkies once, but maybe ours were too cheap, we couldn't get a hold of each other.

 

 

Any other ideas?

[KenMo]

Post-it notes.

 

Voice mail using the phones in the cabin.

[lmncruise]

Thanks for starting this thread...I am interested to hear everyone's tips. We are bringing our kids along for the first time on the Magic in July. I would like to be able to give my 16 yr old and 13 yr old some freedom, but would feel better if we could communicate periodically. Does anyone have any experience texting? Is that possible or outrageously expensive?

 

Thanks-

[librarymom]

We pick specific times and places to meet. I also give my dd a list of which activities I'm doing and i know she will show up at some point.

[jcearth]

We have little ones (3 and 4) in Camp Carnival, so they give you a phone that can call all the rooms on the ship - this is helpful if you are out and trying to find people in the room. When we sailed Disney a few months ago, all rooms had two wave phones that could call each other and all the rooms on the ship. The kids club there would also text the phone with information about the kids (usually if they wanted to be picked up). The only problems we ever encountered were that neither the Carnival nor the Disney phones ever rang loud enough to be heard if you were out and about. We solved this by periodically checking the phones to see if someone had called.

 

Carnival has an app right now in beta testing aboard the Breeze where you can use their wifi about the ship to call each other through the app. You have to sign up for it, and I believe that they will have a fee for its usage, but not a lot of information has been released yet.

 

Barring that, we always use the old standby of making a schedule and communicating it with others in our party, and leaving notes on cabin doors or in the room with our whereabouts.

 

If all else fails, and I need to find someone, I make a priority list of the most likely place the person would be, and search it in order. If I can't find them, I head to the nearest bar, order a bucket of my favorite beer, and stop worrying about it. :D

[missypriss19]

Texting charges depend on your carrier. Check with cellular at sea. Me and my son have done this. I also know where he is going to be and when. And he knows that I check that up on him. Even at 17 I know where he is and who he is with. And after years of cruising together he still knows my rules. He can not go into any cabin and no one is allowed in ours.

[Georgia Peach 4]

We usually find a spot that is out of the way, near the casino or something where there is seating along the walkway. If someone is looking for us and we are having trouble meeting up. We will just stop there for a few minutes. Usually no longer than 20 minutes when someone says "I knew I would find you guys here"

 

We also use notes in the room for our son, like "be back by 5 to get ready for dinner" or "chillin by the pool, 2nd level" so he will know where to find us

[Two kids and a dog]

And after years of cruising together he still knows my rules. He can not go into any cabin and no one is allowed in ours.

 

 

Must remember to instate that rule, did not occur to me last time.

[Pookeybear1966]

Post it notes. Years ago we used walkie talkies.

 

We are putting up a dry erase board this next cruise next week.

[CheckersMidwest]

When we cruise, we have one cabin and our kids have the next door one. We don't bother with extra keys (this time we could cut through on the balcony to each other's rooms). Our kids are 21 & 16.

 

I have left post it notes on the door , but keep in mind someone else might remove it, or change the message. :rolleyes:

 

We use the rule , 'dressed & ready for dinner by______". It has always worked. Curfew in the evening too.

 

Not only is it a good idea to stay away from other kids' cabins, I've told our daughter not to even give her cabin number to anyone. Not even other girls she's met, in case they'd give it to someone else. They're also advised to just stay away from floors/areas with cabins in general.

[SkyMaster]

Just head for the atrium elevators. I've noticed the kids are usually there, pushing the buttons. :D

 

"SKY"

[davids68girl]

Thanks for starting this thread...I am interested to hear everyone's tips. We are bringing our kids along for the first time on the Magic in July. I would like to be able to give my 16 yr old and 13 yr old some freedom, but would feel better if we could communicate periodically. Does anyone have any experience texting? Is that possible or outrageously expensive?

 

Thanks-

 

We were on the Magic in January with our 16yr old & 11yr old old boys. I would talk with the boys in the morning and find out what they wanted to do that day. Then I would write down what DH and I were planning for the day and we'd work out times to meet. Meals were always a required meet time and then we'd work out a few others so we were in contact with them every couple hours. When it was worked out I had a master plan I posted in the room and I left post it notes in case anyone changed their plans.

 

We put all the phones away and didn't text-although it would have been nice.

[TOPNET]

Handcuffing them to a nearby railing has always worked for us! (Kids do get a bit grumpy after a couple of hours though!) :D:D:D

[thomarvin]

We used a white board. Till someone else liked the idea too and took it. Now we have use sticky notes. But there really are only a few spots that we go. Our kids usually dont have trouble finding us. When you really think about it, as big as these ships are, there are not alot of "public areas". Lido for lunch and pools or wherever the trivia is going on. We all like those.

[khrivnak]

Never cruised, but my "plan" is to have the kids take their ipods (I have an iphone which I can turn off cellular I'm told) and purchase a wireless internet plan. They have a textfree app that can be used through wireless that we can text back and forth through their ipods.

 

Not sure if it'll work, but thats my plan for now.

[Jane2357]

When I sail with a group - I have a small white board that I put up next to our cabin door - others in the group can stroll past and there is the schedule for the day. For in cabin use - sticky notes. If I had kids - I'd have a pre-arranged meeting spot and have them check in at certain times. Please don't bring walkie talkies - SO annoying to other passengers.

[sandi422]

We gave up on using the whiteboard. It was written on by others. Sometimes nasty stuff. We use post it notes in the cabin and pre-arranged meeting times. When my kids were mid teens they had to check in every few hours. And we always met for dinner!

[mum2bradley]

We pick specific times and places to meet. I also give my dd a list of which activities I'm doing and i know she will show up at some point.

 

We do the same!

[forwardcabin]

...If I can't find them, I head to the nearest bar, order a bucket of my favorite beer, and stop worrying about it. :D

...excellent approach...sit out on Lido for a while and they will come looking for you.

[Athankfulheart]

We have them hand us their Fun Times with things they plan to do highlighted or circled. They can get another copy for themselves. If something changes then they need to update us. Things can also be written in such as "pool" or "laying out" or " TBD" in which case they can update us. They can update us in person or by leaving a message on our cabin phone.

 

The above only happens for 13yo and older. My 10yo daughter has the options of camp, staying with mom & dad or hanging with older sisters (20,19) depending on what everyone is doing. The little boys (6,8) are always with mom & dad, big sisters or at camp. Its generally not up to them though :p Regardless, we have a "go nowhere alone" rule that sticks for everyone.

 

Ps. We do spot check to be sure that our kids are safe. Knowing where to find them is a big deal to us. Slacking on communication gets you automatic "boring time" with us.

[kids-in-2-centuries]

The only thing I see to add is to grab two copies of their club's schedule...one for them to carry and one for you to carry. We discuss in the morning what activities they want to do each day and I tell them where I will be so we can meet up. Having a copy of their schedule helps me know when to expect them and where they are at on the ship...

[4spring]

We do the post it notes in the room , set meeting times, and general run down on where they aare going to be also. One thing that I ran across last cruise is my son missing curfew. He got confused on the time and need less to say i ended up searching the ship for him (ran across 2 dads doing the same. This cruise I plan to find out the names and cabin numbers of the kids he's hanging around with.

[Not_Done_Living]

Never cruised, but my "plan" is to have the kids take their ipods (I have an iphone which I can turn off cellular I'm told) and purchase a wireless internet plan. They have a textfree app that can be used through wireless that we can text back and forth through their ipods.

 

Not sure if it'll work, but thats my plan for now.

 

it may work -- but it will be crazy expensive, as each device needs its own plan -- and you wont know if it works until you use it -- after paying for the plans.

 

We just used post it notes -- everyone got their own color -- and then set times to meet for lunch and dinner (our family eats together -- period).. and the in the room curfew --

 

as well as the don't enter others cabins and no one in ours -- it all worked out very good.

[panoramaofthepast]

Has anyone found any good ways to stay in contact with others in your party? We tried walkie talkies once, but maybe ours were too cheap, we couldn't get a hold of each other.

 

 

Any other ideas?

I took my granddaughters cruising last summer. [ages 13 and 10] We had breakfast together and "planned" the morning. If they decided to change location, they would come back to the cabin to tell me or leave a message. I have used post a notes, but a dry erase marker on the mirror works well, too, especially with my creative one who drew pictures! I would also leave notes if I changed location.

 

They were not allowed in another cabin if there was no adult present; they were not allowed to have anyone in our cabin unless I was there.

 

It worked like a charm - they had controlled freedom and I think I finally semi-relaxed about Day 3 of a 5 day cruise!

[Ourfirstfamilycruise]

I am going on a cruise in July with my teen kids and I am going to try using a steno-note pad in the mailbox thingy next to the cabin door, you know the one where they put your final bill. I am hoping no one else will realize it is there and not leave unwanted notes, unlike the whiteboard that people mess with.

 

I am also making them wear watches so they know what time it is so we can have check-in times.

 

My luck, they will be attached to me at the hip and all of this will be for nothing, LOL.