What do you do with teenage spending?

RllngRckBrw

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 13, 2006
We set sail in less than 30 days. My wife and I have been trying to find out options for our son (age 15) regarding his ability to spend on the ship as he will be off on his own at times. I don’t know what our options are and would rather not give him full privileges on spending but am not sure if there is any choice. Can he use Disney gift cards on board? Are we able to set a cap on his account only? Should I just verbally give him an limit and monitor it regularly?

What do others do with their teens spending on the ship?
 
We set sail in less than 30 days. My wife and I have been trying to find out options for our son (age 15) regarding his ability to spend on the ship as he will be off on his own at times. I don’t know what our options are and would rather not give him full privileges on spending but am not sure if there is any choice. Can he use Disney gift cards on board? Are we able to set a cap on his account only? Should I just verbally give him an limit and monitor it regularly?

What do others do with their teens spending on the ship?
You cannot set a cap on a KTTW card.

You can block all charges. Or use a gift card to back up that KTTW card (taking credit card off). Or use gift cards directly in the gift shops (but not for things like smoothies). Or tell him what his limit is and monitor it (you can get a printout at guest services daily, if you wish, to see how he's doing).
 
We have always given our daughters charging privileges both on DCL and at WDW, with pretty good results. We did let them know that gift shop items, except food, had to be approved by us. Our funniest charging moment occurred when our then 13 year old stormed off at Animal Kingdom because the yeti freaked her out and we found her down the path, eating a Mickey bar.

On the boat, so many of their food needs are covered that there wasn’t much to charge. Somehow my then 17 year old did manage to charge coffee at Cove Cafe. I’m also sure that Goofy treats showed up on our bill.

Now that the kids are 19 and 22, the next challenge will be limiting the spa charges!
 


We have always given our daughters charging privileges both on DCL and at WDW, with pretty good results. We did let them know that gift shop items, except food, had to be approved by us. Our funniest charging moment occurred when our then 13 year old stormed off at Animal Kingdom because the yeti freaked her out and we found her down the path, eating a Mickey bar.

On the boat, so many of their food needs are covered that there wasn’t much to charge. Somehow my then 17 year old did manage to charge coffee at Cove Cafe. I’m also sure that Goofy treats showed up on our bill.

Now that the kids are 19 and 22, the next challenge will be limiting the spa charges!

The Cove Cafe charge is especially disturbing since the CM had to know upon swiping that she (I’m guessing since you mention spa) was *not* 18 and should *not* have been in there.
 
We're definitely not the norm, but we have never given our children (now 18 and13) charging privileges since we started cruising (about 8 yrs now) until our last cruise this past Dec. They said they don't need it and we agree. However, this Dec, my son decided to add his credit card to his account. However, I will say that this created an issue for us but I won't explain since it has nothing to do with the charging system.

We had discussed it before and said that if they wanted to add charging, they could provide cash or gift card for their account and they would just settle it the day before disembarkation. They don't purchase anything from the stores or order specialty drinks, so essentially, they would just need it to buy popcorn for movies.

Up to this point, they haven't really needed to buy popcorn themselves. When they're with their new found friends and they're hungry, they just go to Cabanas or other counter places to get a snack.
 
I put my sons on our account for spending. I talked to them and told them how much I thought was acceptable for them to spend. I said $10 a day each would be fine. That gave them a chance to buy ice cream or popcorn, etc. Realistically, there isn't a lot to spend money on for a teen. Check your account daily (at guest services) and you'll know whether you need to cut him off or not. But at 15, unless you don't trust him, you should be able to make your expectations clear.

Yes, other people do gift cards and put them on the account for the children. That would work, but there is the embarrassment factor if they've used up the gift card and now can't buy what they've ordered.
 


I put my sons on our account for spending. I talked to them and told them how much I thought was acceptable for them to spend. I said $10 a day each would be fine. That gave them a chance to buy ice cream or popcorn, etc. Realistically, there isn't a lot to spend money on for a teen. Check your account daily (at guest services) and you'll know whether you need to cut him off or not. But at 15, unless you don't trust him, you should be able to make your expectations clear.

Yes, other people do gift cards and put them on the account for the children. That would work, but there is the embarrassment factor if they've used up the gift card and now can't buy what they've ordered.
But that's how they learn what the limits are. And how to use them wisely.
 
I put my sons on our account for spending. I talked to them and told them how much I thought was acceptable for them to spend. I said $10 a day each would be fine. That gave them a chance to buy ice cream or popcorn, etc. Realistically, there isn't a lot to spend money on for a teen. Check your account daily (at guest services) and you'll know whether you need to cut him off or not. But at 15, unless you don't trust him, you should be able to make your expectations clear.

Yes, other people do gift cards and put them on the account for the children. That would work, but there is the embarrassment factor if they've used up the gift card and now can't buy what they've ordered.

When my son received the statement for his account, it was about $20...all popcorn of course...but he said he really didn't need to charge anything...

Anyway, I think that if they are responsible enough to charge, they should be responsible enough to keep tabs on the amount they're spending. So if they are close to their limit, then they could just add more funds so they are not faced with that embarrassing situation.

Actually, my son would tell me at the end of the day how much he charged. We were determining whether it was worth the hassle. His credit card is not US, so he would have to incur foreign charges. When he got home and saw the total charges, he said he didn't need to use it. I had always told them that they are welcome to ask us if they want to buy something and they've rarely asked for anything other than popcorn.
 
We’ve given our son charging privelages since age 9. We’ve told him he can spend x amount during the cruise, and if he went over he was going to have to pay us back after the trip. We also said no buying things for other kids.

It’s always worked for us but my son isn’t a big spender and not overly interested in the few things that cost. He usually gets some popcorn or candy and maybe something from the gift shop.
 
@Dug720 you are correct. (Although I don't think the Cove Cafe was at the Spa. Maybe it's different on other boats, we were on the Magic. Also, as an aside, she was allowed in the spa with me for teen treatments.)

I wasn’t there when the coffee was purchased and I’m certain that the 17 year old was unaware that it was adults only. She looked about 22 at the time so I’m thinking that if they started her order in advance, assuming she was old enough to be there, they just continued with the purchase even though her card indicated she wasn’t an adult. When I found out, I advised her that Cove Cafe was off limits.
 
Last edited:
@Dug720 you are correct. (Although I don't think the Cove Cafe was at the Spa. Maybe it's different on other boats, we were on the Magic. Also, as an aside, she was allowed in the spa with me for teen treatments.)

I wasn’t there when the coffee was purchased and I’m certain that the 17 year old was unaware that it was adults only. She looked about 22 at the time so I’m thinking that if they started her order in advance, assuming she was old enough to be there, they just continued with the purchase even though her card indicated she wasn’t an adult. When I found out, I advised her that Cove Cafe was off limits.

No, the Cove is not at the spa. I meant that you mentioned spa spending as a risk on the next cruise. :)
 
As our kids got older they earned the right to have charging privileges, sign out privileges from the lab/club and this year to get in and off the boat at Castaway Cay on their own. The account tells you exactly which card charged what. If we disagreed with the charge they knew it would be deducted from their own money. We never had a problem. Agree with above posters; mostly popcorn and smoothies.
 
We set sail in less than 30 days. My wife and I have been trying to find out options for our son (age 15) regarding his ability to spend on the ship as he will be off on his own at times. I don’t know what our options are and would rather not give him full privileges on spending but am not sure if there is any choice. Can he use Disney gift cards on board? Are we able to set a cap on his account only? Should I just verbally give him an limit and monitor it regularly?

What do others do with their teens spending on the ship?
I personally do not give my son any spending money. He doesn't need it on a cruise, as all needed food & drink is prepaid with the fare. I'm the old-fashioned parent who doesn't give an allowance, either. Any cash he gets to spend, ever, he actually has to earn himself.
 
Last edited:
With all vacations we give our kids an amount we are willing to spend on them for extras. It really depends on the trip how much that amount is. When we went to the winter Olympics last year that amount was higher so they could by something fun from their first Olympics. They will probably get a little less for the Tokyo Disney trip this fall and significantly less on our cruise next year since we are doing several expensive excursions. They all know that if they go over that set amount, on a cruise ship or otherwise, they are responsible for the charges. All three kids generally have a decent amount of their own money when we travel. Mostly saved from birthdays/Christmas or in the case of the older two from babysitting/pet sitting and doing yard work for neighbors.
 
We have given our kids charging privileges ever since we allowed them to go off separately (low teens) at Disneyworld and Disney Cruise Line. Their instructions were they could buy anything I would normally approve and they would probably pay for anything else. At Disneyworld they mostly paid to eat quick service meals together and find us to take them to sit down meals.

At the end of the day they would separate their receipts into those they knew I would pay and we would discuss the others. Some I paid and the others came out of their money.
This worked well on a cruise since by that time all they wanted was one or two pins and a shirt. When they were old enough to drink they knew I would pay for the first drink ( per cruise ) but they were on the hook for all others.
 
We always gave our son signing privileges from the very first cruise he took (I think he was around 10 or so). We just gave him limits and told him we would be monitoring it. It was never an issue. As others have mentioned, there really isn't much they actually need to spend on the ships. Also, when we were all together and needed to hand over our KTTW card (either on the ships or in WDW), we often let him use his card to pay for the purchases. That way he got used to signing for things, learned when tips were appropriate and how to calculate them if necessary. He's been "buying" dinners for us in WDW for years. :goodvibes
 
We're definitely not the norm, but we have never given our children (now 18 and13) charging privileges since we started cruising (about 8 yrs now) until our last cruise this past Dec. They said they don't need it and we agree. However, this Dec, my son decided to add his credit card to his account. However, I will say that this created an issue for us but I won't explain since it has nothing to do with the charging system.

We had discussed it before and said that if they wanted to add charging, they could provide cash or gift card for their account and they would just settle it the day before disembarkation. They don't purchase anything from the stores or order specialty drinks, so essentially, they would just need it to buy popcorn for movies.

Up to this point, they haven't really needed to buy popcorn themselves. When they're with their new found friends and they're hungry, they just go to Cabanas or other counter places to get a snack.

I completely agree. My kids who are now 18, 15 and 8 have never felt the need to spend money by themselves on a cruise.
 
Our first cruise was in 2011 when kids were 10 and 11, they’ve always had charging privileges. We give them a limit of $5/day for the cruise, which they can spend anyway they want. Anything above their allotted amount they pay us back for as soon as we get home. We’ve never had an issue with this and it has taught them how to budget, and live within their means, at the same time. We’re just preparing them to be responsible adults.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!







Top