How do you Commuciate within a group on the ship?

[bsjcb2000]

We went on our first cruise last Oct - it was actually a large family reunion cruise with siblings, neices/nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins etc. While the "Plan" was to come & go as you & your kids wish & meet for certian meals in a set area, there were times that it was diffucult to catch up with each other at times other than the preplanned meals etc. Like several times my brother & niece "circled" the various decks etc looking for my husband & our boys for whatever reason.. We are not real "schedule" people and it's not uncommon for as last minute ideal (hey, lets all go play golf/swim/iceskate etc) and want to do it with several other family members (which we all mutually like to do) and it was just terrible trying to catch up with each other... Yes, we all had cell phones, but to be honest, none of us wanted a huge unexpected cell phone bill or charges, so we just turned our phones off and left them in the safe. on occasion, we'd leave a note in each others room or use the ship phones to leave each other messages, but is there an easier way to communicate within groups while on the ship? Do hand held radios work? can you use them? What does everyone suggest?

 

Keep in mind, we are not looking for ways to schedule our time to the minute, nor do we want to keep track/tabs of everyone at the same time.

 

We have small adults only cruise to nowhere in May for some of us and then our next cruise is May 2014 (if we dont' sneak something in a little sooner!) and we are just curious how other groups commuciate onboard.

 

TIA!

[mojean]

It might help if you all had the fun time capers ahead of time. Give you an idea of where a majority of the folks would be.

[bdklein]

Do hand held radios work? can you use them? What does everyone suggest?

 

 

We tried using Motorola Walke Talkies. Problem is they didn't work well for us on the ship-too much metal, walls, etc. I guess. They worked fine in open areas though.

[TabFox]

Yeah, many people use the walkie talkies...or even a magnetic dry-erase board on your door where you could leave messages.

[taragl]

If you have kids in the reunion group the right age for Camp Carnival, they'll issue you a shipboard cell phone, just like the crew uses. We get one each cruise and they're great for calling the cabin to check who is there.

 

If you have multiple families with kids, you may be able to get a handful of phones for the group.

[cdnmr]

Don't forget you can also set up your voicemail on your cabin phone as well (record your name).

 

There are phones all over the ship you can call and leave messages in each other's voicemailboxes. When you have a message your phone light will be flashing. Mind you it's not too effective if the person doesnt return to their cabin to see the light.

 

Maybe there's a way to check voicemail remotely as well....have never tried that.

[tncap]

Don't forget you can also set up your voicemail on your cabin phone as well (record your name).

 

The red light was flashing on our cabin phone on the Fascination once so I called Guest Services only to be told "oh they all flash, we don't have messages on this ship." All I could do was truly laugh out loud. :)

[deedle7544]

we used walkie talkies, they worked good enough to find out where someone was

[crewsweeper]

Don't forget you can also set up your voicemail on your cabin phone as well (record your name).

 

There are phones all over the ship you can call and leave messages in each other's voicemailboxes.

 

Also have a list of the cabin numbers for everyone and set up a phone tree before hand ( I'm assuming less than 10 cabins involved here). Then everyone can get contacted if events change or something else is happening. Tips on a phone tree, alsways have it round robin back to the starter(anywhere on the list). And have each person calling, leave an message and continue on down until they reach a live person, that way at least the message isn't left in mailbox limbo with the second person called and nobody else gets it. In the worst case everyone will at least have received a message.

[ricks2047]

On most ships, you can go to the Verandah deck, go all the way forward. Knock on the door that says "Bridge" and tell them to make a shipwide announcment for your whole group to meet you in the lobby.

[aggieastrosfan]

I haven't tried this, but am thinking of it, especially for a ship like the Magic that has computers everywhere. Apparently you can get to carnival.com for free, so you could set up a thread on Funville to let your group know where you are.

 

 

Meredith

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[Middleager]

On most ships, you can go to the Verandah deck, go all the way forward. Knock on the door that says "Bridge" and tell them to make a shipwide announcment for your whole group to meet you in the lobby.

 

There must be a limit to this. Otherwise, many people would just keep asking the bridge to make announcements for them, "Joe, your wive Jane is calling for you to go to the gift shop (and help pick out the hat).."

[luddite]

The phones in the cabins have voice-mail.

Notepaper messages work well.

[gcooper]

My family has used walkie talkies in the past, we all set to the same channel the night before we set sail and adjust the channel if needed the first night. Sometimes the signal didn't reach but most of the time we could reach each other.

[NJoyCruise]

Yes, you can set your group up with the funville and leave each other messages. I have not personally used it, but my teenager has, and that's how they keep up with their cruise friends. There are several computer terminals in the ship and its free.

 

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[RoscoeJames]

Just off the Magic and we used I messaging for those that have IPhones. We were even able to send I messages to family at home at no cost. Just need to be on Carnival'sWIFI. You can do this even if not on the Internet plan. Phones were in airplane mode.

[rickkiss]

We had a good experience on the Pride with the walkie talkies. You just have to get ones that are a step up from basic. We had 2 couples on our cruise. 2 of us had a basic set with 2 mile range, the other 2 had a 15 mile range and cost about $10 more. We ended up just keeping one each of the better ones per couple. Only time they didnt work was if you were at opposite corners of the ship.

[Tbay-eh]

We do something really strange - we knock on each others doors before we head out for the day (the walk does me good if we are not all in the same area) and may or may not have breakfast together. We usually always meet for supper and sort of (wishy washy) set agenda for following day - excursions etc. We generally sit in the same area of the ship so if someone is looking they know where we could be. I hate walkie talkies with a passion so I personally will not use one and we don't take cell phones with us. If I need to get a message to someone I just call the cabin and leave a message.

[KPfromCT]

Just off the Magic and we used I messaging for those that have IPhones. We were even able to send I messages to family at home at no cost. Just need to be on Carnival'sWIFI. You can do this even if not on the Internet plan. Phones were in airplane mode.

 

Tell me MORE about this!!!! Please:o:o So you can basically "text" each person that has an iPhone? How do you get Carnival's wifi? Do you need a password? Thank you SO much. We leave two weeks from today with another family, and we ALL have iphones. Thank you again!!!

[luddite]

We do something really strange - we knock on each others doors before we head out for the day (the walk does me good if we are not all in the same area) and may or may not have breakfast together. We usually always meet for supper and sort of (wishy washy) set agenda for following day - excursions etc. We generally sit in the same area of the ship so if someone is looking they know where we could be. I hate walkie talkies with a passion so I personally will not use one and we don't take cell phones with us. If I need to get a message to someone I just call the cabin and leave a message.

 

A Luddite at heart.:)

[RoscoeJames]

Tell me MORE about this!!!! Please:o:o So you can basically "text" each person that has an iPhone? How do you get Carnival's wifi? Do you need a password? Thank you SO much. We leave two weeks from today with another family, and we ALL have iphones. Thank you again!!!

 

Just go to wifi under settings and it will connect you to Carnival's WIFI. You will get prompted on the Internet to log in but ignore. Also make sure you are set up on I messaging on your cell - also under settings. My phone was the only one that would not work but I think I was not set up for I-messaging when we got on the ship but son and wife had no problems. Also anyone at home can receive texts if they too are on wifi. It really came in handy as my FIL just learned he had cancer so staying connected to her family was a great comfort.

[newzandile]

Hmmm, I'm wondering if there is an android equivalent.

 

BUT, (and this is a big BUT) I feel pretty strongly that I do not want to trust my kids (11, 14 and 16) to keep track of their phones OR walkie talkies, especially with them being in and out of the water. It would stress me and burden them. I think we will rely on ship phones and white boards.

 

Of course the last cruise I did we used white boards and other people kept writing on them, it was kind of funny to go back and forth but annoying when they erased legitimate messages we were leaving for each other. This time we are all the way aft though so shouldn't be so much traffic going by our doors. Or we could put them inside the cabins I suppose.

[gcooper]

Tell me MORE about this!!!! Please:o:o So you can basically "text" each person that has an iPhone? How do you get Carnival's wifi? Do you need a password? Thank you SO much. We leave two weeks from today with another family, and we ALL have iphones. Thank you again!!!

 

I think the basic premise is that the wifi signal is on the ship, your phone still connects, but Carnival is only blocking you from using the internet not the wifi.

It also may be that Carnival is blocking only certain kinds of internet traffic (such as browser) but not others (such as messaging).

 

You might be able teach your self how to do this at home if you have wifi.

Unplug the modem from the internet/cable but leave it turned on. Put your Iphones/Android phone in airplane mode with the wifi on (instructions for iphone or android). You can then see that you can still connect to your wifi, just not to the internet.

[Tbay-eh]

A Luddite at heart.:)

 

I was going to go into a big explanation as to why I am not but in thinking about it you are absolutely right. I am definitely one for 1 week of the year, maybe 2 weeks if we do a back to back. Since retiring and spending more time at our camp and away from all the technology I find it very easy to leave it behind when we cruise. Our TV at camp is sitting on the deck with a glass of wine watching the sunset and listening to the loons. Talking like this as snow is falling outside - sheesh

[KPfromCT]

Just go to wifi under settings and it will connect you to Carnival's WIFI. You will get prompted on the Internet to log in but ignore. Also make sure you are set up on I messaging on your cell - also under settings. My phone was the only one that would not work but I think I was not set up for I-messaging when we got on the ship but son and wife had no problems. Also anyone at home can receive texts if they too are on wifi. It really came in handy as my FIL just learned he had cancer so staying connected to her family was a great comfort.

 

WOW! This just keeps getting better!!!! So we can Imessage people at home if they have an iPhone? thank you SO much for this information. This is great!!!!!! I hope your Father in Law gets better!!!! Thank you again!!!!