Children & On Board Account

[Red Fish]

Hi there, we are going on our first cruise as a family in a few weeks. I called P&O but didn't get a straight answer so I thought I'd see if you good people would help me.

 

We will be travelling with children aged 17, 16, 14 and 9. We would like to be able to give them a set amount to use on what ever they choose during the 5 days we will be on board (I was thinking maybe $100 or $150 each). I most certainly don't want them to have access to "unlimited" funds via my credit card but I would like them to have some degree of independence rather than having to ask for everything - especially for the older kids. Naturally, my husband and I would like full access to our credit card. Will this be possible? If so, can I please get some advice on how to organise it? My phone call with P&O really didn't make anything clear.

 

I also read about kids "activating" their own cards and then having unlimited spending at on board arcades with some lines. Is this the case with PO?

 

So many other unasked questions but I'll start here. It is dawning on me that I may be a control freak!

Edited November 3, 2016 by Red Fish
Typo and I'm neurotic.

[wagtail_syd]

Ha, I'm a control freak when it comes to planning family holidays too.

 

I was waiting to see if someone else would reply as we haven't cruised on P&O yet, only Carnival. On Carnival you can choose to link your cruise card to your credit card or load cash onto it. You also have the option to prevent any charges being put onto the card (good for really little kids). The linking of the credit card and turning off of charging could be done online before cruising. We didn't try loading any cash so not sure if that can also be done online or needs to be done in person at reception after boarding.

 

So assuming P&O is similar you could just not link the kids cards to your credit card and instead put $100 cash credit on each and then when it's gone it's gone. They can check their balance as they go to monitor spending.

 

Hope that helps and someone can confirm that P&O has the same set up.

[Katgoesonholiday]

Are your kids mature enough to trust with a verbal amount? That is, you tell them they can spend $X and they have to manage that and repay you any overspend.

 

Another option could be to get each of them a prepaid Visa debit card and then link each guest with their own card.

[Red Fish]

Thanks for the replies! I just thought I'd follow up incase anyone else reads this and wonders. It turns out that it could not have been more simple.

 

At check-in (before boarding) my husband and I linked our cards to our accounts but not to the kids accounts. Once we were on board we then able to go to the reception desk and put any amount of cash, as large or as small as we wished, on the kids cards. Too easy!

 

Edit: Mostly (but not always) the kids are trustworthy but temptation can get the better of them and they do lose track of how much things cost and how much they have spent... Especially when it is my money lol! I just didn't want to have to worry about it ;)

Edited December 9, 2016 by Red Fish
To add a disclaimer about the kids spending tendencies

[Ondine]

Red Fish - Thanks for posting that.

 

We are planning to take extended family next year and this includes 3 children - 10, 12 and 15 year olds. I agree, temptation can get the better of them or maybe they won't really understand that you pay for ice cream and soft drinks but not for your meals.

 

This will put my daughter's mind at rest. Now we just have to save for the trip!

 

Hope you had a good holiday. :)

[Cinderkaos]

Just as an extra note for the Kids accounts,

When we did Indonesia and had to pay the Visa fee (2012) they took the visa fee off the kids cards, Reception fixed it quickly by linking all cards and paying the fee from my card and then made the kids individual again.