Keeping In Contact With Teens Onboard

[Perrier]

Will be sailing Oasis in June w/my 16 yr old twins. They are old enough to go about on their own, or the teen club of course. I'm wondering what is the best way to keep in contact w/them. My first thought was texting, of course. But I'm considering making this a "no phone" cruise. So, the old school "meet here at a certain time" is the only option I can think of. Other ideas?

[texasweather]

I've never done this, but on the "tips and tricks" threads you'll read around here, I saw the great idea that you use your voicemail on your cabin phone as a "where we are/where we are going" type memo system. There are phones all over your ship and you can call into your voicemail to get updates, and/or also leave messages on whoever's voicemail you need to get a message to. As long as they call in and check THEIR voicemail, you're good to go!

[reallyitsmema]

We went the no phone route with our son. We would talk about what everyone's plans were for the day. We used post-it notes in the cabin to communicate with each other if we ended up going somewhere other than where we had planned. We also used the voice mail on the cabin phone to leave messages for each other if we didn't get back to the cabin to leave a note. We would check up on our son to make sure he was where he said he would be and to this day, he doesn't know we did it.:p

[cb at sea]

Yeah...TALK to your teens...tell them where YOU'LL be, so they can come and find you if THEIR plans change. Better to physically SEE them, than to trust a text!

[xxHadleyxx]

My kids are now 19 and 17 and have been off on their own for much of the time over the past several cruises we have taken.

 

We cover basic safety rules with them of course, but otherwise we keep up as someone suggested above--via the phone system on the ship.

 

If the kids are not going to be where they told us they would be (teen club, meeting us for trivia, etc)---we just have them stop at any of the many public phones and leave a message in the room about where they are going--so we can always find them if needed. In return, we offer them the same courtesy.

 

Personally, since my kids have always BEEN where they say they'll be, I don't like the idea of making them come and find me when plans change, especially on one of the mega ships----by the time they did that, the rest of the group would be well into whatever new activity r else have moved on again, and they'd end up sort of left out.

 

we've also been on cruises where the group they hang out with fairly quickly settles into being in one of, say, three places 95% of the time---on those cruises I was OK with a "we'll be in one of the 3 places, and if we end up going anywhere else we'll call"

[akcruz]

We went the no phone route with our son. We would talk about what everyone's plans were for the day. We used post-it notes in the cabin to communicate with each other if we ended up going somewhere other than where we had planned. We also used the voice mail on the cabin phone to leave messages for each other if we didn't get back to the cabin to leave a note. We would check up on our son to make sure he was where he said he would be and to this day, he doesn't know we did it.:p

This is our routine as well. It really is not necessary to use phones to stay in touch.

 

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

[Desert Cruizers]

One of the best ways is to plan your next day and let everyone know where you will be, lunch meet ups etc. last cruise the daughter & I attended some things , DH didn't so I would get an extra Compass, highlight what we were doing and where we were so he knew where to find us. We planned to meet for lunch at a set time. There is also a Community Board near Guest Relations that you can leave notes on & have family members check regularly.

[Keith1010]

We would have specific times and rules for meet up with our children.

 

Keith

[Tommy3putts]

Please please please give them walkie talkies. I know your fellow cruisers will thank you! [emoji16][emoji16][emoji16]

 

It's easier than you think. When the wife and I did our med cruise on Celebrity Reflection in 2014. I had the misfortune of my wife being able to find me no matter where I was on the ship. Maybe it was because she knew the Sunset Bar was my favorite spot.

 

Cheers.

[rucruisn2]

When we cruise with others, friends or family, we bring walky talkys , one for each person. Never had a problem reaching out to met up or check in.

[sayok]

For the past several cruises we've done a combination of the stateroom voicemail and a small (school locker size) white board in the room. We'd have a general plan in the morning of what everyone was doing, sometimes planning to meet for lunch at specific venues, etc., but otherwise we'd keep each other posted as to changes by leaving messages. As someone else mentioned, by the 2nd or 3rd day there seem to be a few favorite places to find each other, and even on the largest ships, we'd manage to cross paths now & then anyway :)