Cell phones or 2-way radios on MR cruise?

[vids1375]

Fellow cruisers -

We will be on the MR cruise in two weeks time with our immediate and extended family (10 adults + 3 kids). We are all from the US and have AT&T/Verizon cell phones. I assume none of these work on the ship or on the shore at the ports. Would you recommend buying 2-way radios to stay in touch? any other options? 4 of the adults are 60+ and are visiting from outside the US - while we would like for everyone to be able to do their own thing - apart from me and my hubby everyone is a first-time cruiser - so we would really like to stay in touch (I am the more paranoid one... hubby couldnt care less and I always know where to find him ...the casino! ;-))

 

Thoughts? Help?

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Fellow cruisers -

We will be on the MR cruise in two weeks time with our immediate and extended family (10 adults + 3 kids). We are all from the US and have AT&T/Verizon cell phones. I assume none of these work on the ship or on the shore at the ports. Would you recommend buying 2-way radios to stay in touch? any other options? 4 of the adults are 60+ and are visiting from outside the US - while we would like for everyone to be able to do their own thing - apart from me and my hubby everyone is a first-time cruiser - so we would really like to stay in touch (I am the more paranoid one... hubby couldnt care less and I always know where to find him ...the casino! ;-))

 

Thoughts? Help?

I think the ships are all equipped now with Cellular at Sea and it is very pricey. As long as the ship is away from the dock and they have it turned on you will connect with it. I think you would be better to keep the cell phones for emergency use and get the walkie talkies if you feel the need to be in touch.

 

BTW - do you consider 60 old????:eek:;)

[vids1375]

Did I mention old anywhere???? :eek:

 

Nooo.... 60s is the new 40s... ;) What I meant was I really just want to stay in touch if we all disperse... we have never done a cruise with such a large group, so I have not faced this issue before. I just feel like we'll be waiting on one another in different places of the ship trying to meet up or sync up...

 

Any ideas on what has worked with a larger group before if folks dont have cell phones?

[MSN-Travelers]

Did I mention old anywhere???? :eek:

 

Nooo.... 60s is the new 40s... ;) What I meant was I really just want to stay in touch if we all disperse... we have never done a cruise with such a large group, so I have not faced this issue before. I just feel like we'll be waiting on one another in different places of the ship trying to meet up or sync up...

 

Any ideas on what has worked with a larger group before if folks dont have cell phones?

 

As others have said, cell phones do work at sea while aboard ship but are very expensive to use. Verizon works in port, not sure about AT&T. With Verizon, the $5 international roaming plan gets you 99 cent per minute air time in port/ashore.

 

We have tried the small handheld radio route before. We have Midland brand radios rated for fifteen miles. They do work but get to be marginal when inside the ship and too many decks are between you and the other radios. We also came to realize that others on the ship had these type radios too and the chatter from other non-family members became annoying (shared common frequency). We also found that these radios can be illegal to use ashore in some countries so we gave up on taking them along on cruises.

 

Quite frankly, as large as these ships appear, they are a small area and it isn't hard to find people. We find that it works best to have an agreed upon location where everybody meets (or send a family representative) at key times during the day. Another alternative is a sticky note on the door letting others know your general location.

 

Enjoy!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Did I mention old anywhere???? :eek:

 

Nooo.... 60s is the new 40s... ;)

OK - you had me worried there, LOL! Those 60 year olds will be kicking up their heels, having the time of their lives and not worrying about what the 'young-uns' are doing!:D

 

 

Quite frankly, as large as these ships appear, they are a small area and it isn't hard to find people. We find that it works best to have an agreed upon location where everybody meets (or send a family representative) at key times during the day. Another alternative is a sticky note on the door letting others know your general location.

 

Enjoy!

I agree. We have traveled with family groups and friend groups and have never had a problem. We just have an agreed upon location to meet. Except for pre-arranged excursions, our only rule has been (with family) that you meet for dinner to catch up on the day and enjoy each other's company:). Other than that people just do their own thing. We would still keep bumping into each other all day. It has worked well for us. (That is for adults. With kids I would want to know where they are. Our DD had to be in the youth program or with us at all times.) Sticky notes left on cabin doors or messages left on room phones are both excellent communication devices. One of the nice things about a cruise is that I can leave that pesky phone turned off and in the room safe.:cool:

[downsized]

The first thing that we do after sail away is turn off our cell phones!

In March we cruised with our family of nine (seven of which had never been on a cruise before!)

We had no problems keeping in touch as we quickly discovered that we all liked the atmosphere at the pool. (It's near the the barbeque and has lots of attentive waitstaff for "beverages"!)

 

I suspect that your group will also discover a "favorite" location, and tend to meet there.

[vids1375]

Awesome !!! Thanks for all the reassuring replies!

 

Sunny AZ girl is probably right... the 60 year olds will probably not want to be found and be happy to be left to their own selves!!! ;-)

 

I will follow the same route and not bother with the 2-way radios. If needed we can try our cell phones.

 

Wooohooo! Sailing in a week's time...

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Awesome !!! Thanks for all the reassuring replies!

 

Sunny AZ girl is probably right... the 60 year olds will probably not want to be found and be happy to be left to their own selves!!! ;-)

 

I will follow the same route and not bother with the 2-way radios. If needed we can try our cell phones.

 

Wooohooo! Sailing in a week's time...

You'll be getting on as we're getting off....:(

 

Watch out for those cougars, LOL!;)