Walkie Talkies on the Cruise ships

[Love and Joy]

We are going on the EOS and our teenage kids will be in a interior cabin across the hall from us and i was wondering if walkie talkies work on the cruise ship. Please respond if you have any information on this or have used them. I thought they would be good if they were walking around the ship and we could contact them-we dont want to use our cell phones.

[lovecatherine07]

I've had good and bad experiences with walkie talkies on cruise ships.

 

Good for the obvious reasons of locating your family and meeting up when necessary. This was the case on our frist cruise.

 

Bad for the fact that sometimes you're so into the activities you're doing that you don't keep them attached to you at all times. You may throw them in the bag or shut them off all together which makes it pointless to have if your family can't contact you. This was the case on our last cruise.

 

I think they're great for going out in port if you want to split up though!

[Maya57]

We are going on the EOS and our teenage kids will be in a interior cabin across the hall from us and i was wondering if walkie talkies work on the cruise ship. Please respond if you have any information on this or have used them. I thought they would be good if they were walking around the ship and we could contact them-we dont want to use our cell phones.

 

I have alos had good and bad experience with a walkie talkie.

Someone bought me a set from the RCI gift shop

It has 25 channels and many times someone else is on the same channel so you get calls from strangers. Sometimes I was able to pick up the crew.

Like the other post I usually forgot to bring it. I also found places where it did not work, not sure why

[SRQfireman]

They are great to use....we use them all the time....the only kind that may/may not work are whatever have the most "mileage" you can get. There are ones that advertise like 25-30 miles.....get the most you can get. If you cut corners and get cheap ones, you're wasting your time. Even with the most powerful ones, you are not going to connect all the time. With the size of the ships these days, and all the metal, you need every watt you can (the most powerful ones are 5 watts I think) In port is where they really work well as mentioned. People can go different directions while shopping for example, and it's nice to have a "long leash" :)

Things to remember.....don't have the volume cranked up....your fellow passengers don't want to hear your conversation. Some even have a "vibrate mode" where you won't irritate people. When using them, it goes without saying, talking excessively or loudly in a crowd won't make you very popular. (like the theater or dining room for example)

So there's some tips.....enjoy your cruise.....using your cell phones at sea can't be VERY COSTLY

I see somebody else mentioned about channels....I forgot to mention that.....make sure they have alot of channels and "sub-channels" so you know you can almost be guaranteed a channel of your own. Cheap walkies also don't have many channels

[greeneyesviv]

We used some last cruise that has texting worked very well:)

[wraithe]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1193317&highlight=walkie+talkie

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1097797&highlight=walkie+talkie

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1084740&highlight=walkie+talkie

 

Above are three threads that have a ton of information. FWIW, the FRS radios won't do you a bit of good on the shiip. They don't have enough power. The GRMS radios will have enough power, but... you are required to buy a license from the FCC to use them in the States, and they are absolutely not legal to use in any other country, including Mexico and Canada, as well as all the Caribbean islands that are not US protectorates. You can, in fact, interfere with Emergency Services, mostly in the EU, from what I understand. That said, it's up to your conscience, most people on the boards use them on the ship, and that's perfectly legal and okayed by RCL, but IMHO, you're nuts if you take them off the ship into a foreign port, at the very least, you can lose your equipment, middle of the road, have to pay a big fine, and worst case, spend some time in a foreign jail.

[granddutchess]

We use them on all the cruises we have taken. Helps us keep in touch with the kids during the day. We do not use them in port though as we are all together on the excursions.

[olemissreb]

We used Tri-Square TSX300 walkie talkies on our AOS cruise last month and they worked great. They have a vibrate mode so you don't hear the beeping you do with other walkie talkies. They also had a texting mode so you don't have to hear other conversations. There are programmable so you can choose your channel and no one can interfere. We never had any interference from other walkie talkies. The only problem we had was some of our texts wouldn't get to the person we thought they were going to, but I'm sure that was user error.:) You can get these from Walmart.com for about $80/pair.

[BillOh]

Things to remember.....don't have the volume cranked up....your fellow passengers don't want to hear your conversation.

 

Thing to remember 2 (too) You don't have to crank your volume up either, just like cell phones, people think they have to yell into them to be heard on the other end, which usually only makes things worse on both ends.

[Mysticks1]

We used Tri-Square TSX300 walkie talkies on our AOS cruise last month and they worked great. They have a vibrate mode so you don't hear the beeping you do with other walkie talkies. They also had a texting mode so you don't have to hear other conversations. There are programmable so you can choose your channel and no one can interfere. We never had any interference from other walkie talkies. The only problem we had was some of our texts wouldn't get to the person we thought they were going to, but I'm sure that was user error.:) You can get these from Walmart.com for about $80/pair.

 

Thanks for posting this information. I wasn't aware that there were models that offered texting.

[sophiesmom]

We are going on the EOS and our teenage kids will be in a interior cabin across the hall from us and i was wondering if walkie talkies work on the cruise ship. Please respond if you have any information on this or have used them. I thought they would be good if they were walking around the ship and we could contact them-we dont want to use our cell phones.

We have used them often on the BOS, and they work great.

[cb at sea]

You can phone room to room....of course, that won't help when you're "out and about"...but if you make tentative plans, you'll be able to find each other just fine...it's not as hard as you might think!

[NYCRUISR]

We are going on the EOS and our teenage kids will be in a interior cabin across the hall from us and i was wondering if walkie talkies work on the cruise ship. Please respond if you have any information on this or have used them. I thought they would be good if they were walking around the ship and we could contact them-we dont want to use our cell phones.

 

We used them and they worked well for us. I was able to stay in contact with my youngest son whenever. Must be a decent pair.

[satxdiver]

We are going on the EOS and our teenage kids will be in a interior cabin across the hall from us and i was wondering if walkie talkies work on the cruise ship. Please respond if you have any information on this or have used them. I thought they would be good if they were walking around the ship and we could contact them-we dont want to use our cell phones.

 

There are 22 different radio channels on GMRS/FRS walkie talkies and no more by ruling of the US Federal Communications Commission. Irregardless of what the manufacturer claims there are only 22 channels. There are 3000+ pax on a normal cruise ship. Ships are made of steel including the walls between decks and rooms. Radio waves do not like steel and tend not to penetrate them. Walkie talkies are great on the top deck when steel bulkheads are not involved. Below that they can be marginal. Remember there are only 22 radio channels. Ready to hear the communications of strangers? I hope so.

 

A retired electrical engineer

[PhhSC]

We used Tri-Square TSX300 walkie talkies on our AOS cruise last month and they worked great. They have a vibrate mode so you don't hear the beeping you do with other walkie talkies. They also had a texting mode so you don't have to hear other conversations. There are programmable so you can choose your channel and no one can interfere. We never had any interference from other walkie talkies. The only problem we had was some of our texts wouldn't get to the person we thought they were going to, but I'm sure that was user error.:) You can get these from Walmart.com for about $80/pair.

 

Thanks for the info. Checked Tri-Square out on Amazon with various price seleection. Taking the family on a cruise before Christmas and wanted some way of communication. Will give them a try!

[Texaspepper]

Thanks for the info. Checked Tri-Square out on Amazon with various price seleection. Taking the family on a cruise before Christmas and wanted some way of communication. Will give them a try!

 

We have used our Motorola we bought from Costco 3 years ago on all our cruises since. Works from ship to shore and in every area on the ship. . .RCL Voyager, CCL Conquest, Fantasy, Ecstasy; aft to stern; port to starboard. Great in ports and on board. Yes, it has 22 channels. . .but also 10 plus sub channels so we never heard anyone. We used channel 18 sub channel 10. Private and great distance. Unit came with 3 hand sets, ear plug, 3 set charger for $79 less a $10 instant rebate. Oh yes, also National Weather/NOAA Channel and has a built in LED flash lite. Too Cool. (Husband Hint; I can roam around the port city while my wife goes from shop to shop looking at the same things she saw in the last port and we can be in contact.):)

[Jolimont]

We don't find them reliable. We use the house phones.