Concerned about best way to stay in touch with family onboard

[allurenewbie]

:confused:For the most part our 13 year old will be with one of us all the time unless she's at the Teen Club. I'm concerned about how we all can stay in touch with one another (husband, wife, adult child and 13 year old) if we want to split up and do different things. I think we have at least 3 phones which are capable of skype phone calls. Don't know the cost of the Internet fees onboard or if our carriers (ATT and T-Mobile) have something available.

 

How about the idea of leaving messages on the cabin phone? Can those be accessed from "house" phones on the ship by any of us.

 

Any other suggestions.

 

Thanks in advance

[alexkrn46]

:confused:For the most part our 13 year old will be with one of us all the time unless she's at the Teen Club. I'm concerned about how we all can stay in touch with one another (husband, wife, adult child and 13 year old) if we want to split up and do different things. I think we have at least 3 phones which are capable of skype phone calls. Don't know the cost of the Internet fees onboard or if our carriers (ATT and T-Mobile) have something available.

 

How about the idea of leaving messages on the cabin phone? Can those be accessed from "house" phones on the ship by any of us.

 

Any other suggestions.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Skype does not work with the cell phones.

Your cabin has voice mail,that would be the easiest way to keep in touch,never tried to access that feature.

 

Texting may work.

[clean1owner]

Just got off the Majesty today. :(:( Internet on board costs $.65 per minute, or $35.00 an hour.

Cell phone costs are determined by your carrier. We have Sprint, and the voice rates are $2.50 per minute, text messages are $.50 to send, and $.05 to receive.

[clean1owner]

What we did was set a specific time and place to meet throughout the day so the kids could let us know what was going on. It worked very well.

[The Martins]

I saw a family using FRS radios (that's what they were called ten years ago...not sure about now). I don't know the range they have inside the skin of a ship, but they seemed to work for their purposes.

[Mainer59]

We usually use the cabin's voicemail but have never tried to acess from another phone. I'll try to remember to test and report next week.

[rummenroman]

Post it notes on the door, voice mail messages back and forth should be all that you need.

[BTSEN5]

Post it notes on the door, voice mail messages back and forth should be all that you need.

 

We ask our son to write a post it note and put it on the mirror that says where he is going and what time he wrote the note. He has also used the phone, because they are all over the ship. He will call and leave a message there too. We have learned to check that every time we come into the cabin.

[cb at sea]

You really won't need all this "keeping in touch" stuff. Just make tentative plans, and everyone will know when and where to look for everyone else. It's really not that hard...the ship LOOKS big, but most of the space is taken up with cabins, and unless it's YOUR hallway, you have no reason to be in those spaces. Public areas are limited and you'll find that you'll gravitate to the same areas over and over.

Just tell each other where you'll be...no texting, or skyping or fretting. Talking works!!!

[Sugar*Magnolia]

Skype will not work on board. You will need to call your carrier to find out the charges for texting, they vary [but carriers, ours is Verizon will usually pro rate and you end up paying for the time you needed it and not for an entire month. we upgrade to an international plan for all 4 phones]. Next cruise i refuse to allow DH and DS to upgrade our plans for the time away, the ONLY time we're able to use our [smart]phones are when we're on certain islands. They didnt work in 09 and 2010 and we found ourselves in December just leaving our phones in the cabin safe.

 

Using the voice mail system on the cabin phones work well, as do post it notes, wipe boards on your cabin door (altho you can get that one obnoxious person who thinks it is funny to change your message). And, have places you meet up. ie: we tell our kids we will be in the solarium on a specific [sea] day or the pool deck, breakfast first. Explain expectations, meet up for meals, shows, snacks...games (like belly flop contest or other things you might chose to do- it makes for a place to meet up and spend time together).

 

Dont worry........Have a wonderful cruise.

[Expar]

Skype does not work with the cell phones.

Your cabin has voice mail,that would be the easiest way to keep in touch,never tried to access that feature.

 

Texting may work.

 

 

I don't know if skype works on board or not, but it does work on my iPhone 4.

[Cruisegirl6]

Email!!!

[Pichu21]

STICKY NOTES WORKS WONDERS!

Just write down quick notes about the area of the ship where you will most likely be, when you'll be back in the room, what you're doing, etc. And every 2 hours or so, quickly pass by the room to see if anyone else has left you a sticky note. Works great with our family, and we were on the OASIS! Largest ship in the world! Like someone else said on here, you'll be surprised how much time you spend in the same area of the ship each day.

 

Good luck!

[masonpips]

Check and see when you board about DECT (or i-version) or something specific to the ship phones. We were able to rent DECT phones on 2 cruises (Adventure and Mariner I think) and these were great. They are working on something similar for the Oasis/Allure but the reports range from "they are gone" to "I hear they're coming back".

 

These were great because it was the same phones that the crew used so they WORKED at sea. We gave our kids one (they shared and were expected to be together) and we kept one. They let us know when they moved from Kid's Club to Sorrento's or back to room or whatever.

 

Last year they didn't have them on Freedom so we used a wipe-off board and notes. Generally we "stay put" (at the pool) and the kids wander and come tell us where they are going. As long as everyone isn't moving all the time, it works well. And have set times to meet for food, etc. too

[alexkrn46]

I don't know if skype works on board or not, but it does work on my iPhone 4.

 

I was told by one Captain it was blocked, neither passengers or crew can use skpe.

[bubbadog]

WE used room phone,can leave messages,and the house phones around the ship:)))):p;)

[tulsamomof2]

Is there a way to check your voice mail messages from a "house"(ship) phone on one of the decks - instead of going all the way back to the room?

[rucruzn2]

Post it Notes and Voice Messages are the best way to keep in touch

[thshhh]

There are family radios that are talk and text. They are called Trisquare EXRS radios. We are using them to text each other. You can find them at walmart.com and I've seen them at BassPro