A traveling Mom’s tip: use lanyards for kids on a cruise
by Anne Larison
One essential thing I bring on cruises for myself and the twins is a lanyard for each of us.
Especially in the last few years as the boys have become more independent. They are not always with Tim and I around the ship and need to have their ship card with them. I don’t have to worry about them losing their card or leaving their card in the stateroom.
We use a plastic sleeve attached to the lanyard, but cruise lines may also use a hole-punch tool to put a hole in the corner of the ship card and attach the card directly onto the lanyard. The picture of our son Josh above was on a shore excursion at St Thomas earlier this year – as you can see his ship card is securely fastened to the lanyard around his neck.
I don’t always want to carry a purse or fanny pack and using my lanyard is a great alternative to using a pocket. The boys have easy access to their card as we depart and return to the ship for shore excursions. One less thing to worry about!
I started requiring my son and neice to wear fanny packs when going to disney ever since they could walk. We usually put a few treats in there for them to snack on, as well as a card with our contact info. We taught them that if they are lost, they go into a store and tell the person behind the register they are lost.
More recently, we’ve started doing the lanyards when staying on property at Disney. We put their room key as well as the same card with contact info in it.
Works GREAT.