how do you keep in touch?

[jaz0308]

We will be cruising for the first time with our two kids. Also going with my brother and SIL and their 4 kids and my parents! 5 cabins among us! How do you keep in touch throughout the day? don't know how to function without cell phones anymore! Any good ideas for finding each other throughout the day? We will be on Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas, if it makes a difference! Thanks!

[monkeyluis]

Plan ahead. That's the easiest. You can use the cabin phones of course, but we are never in the cabins, so they are useless to us. I've read to many issues with walkie talkies. We always plan ahead though. For instance, sometimes my wife wants to sit by the pool & I may want to take a walk or go read in the library, so we'll plan to meet back at a certain time if we have something we want to do, like an activity, dinner, etc.

[khm1]

We will be cruising for the first time with our two kids. Also going with my brother and SIL and their 4 kids and my parents! 5 cabins among us! How do you keep in touch throughout the day? don't know how to function without cell phones anymore! Any good ideas for finding each other throughout the day? We will be on Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas, if it makes a difference! Thanks!

 

We did the same last summer on Explorer. There were 11 of us. It was a fantastic trip for all! We had an unofficial meeting place in the Windjammer, all the way in the back of the ship. If anyone else was there, we would sit together for breakfast and lunch.

 

As big as the ship is, you will run into each other often. Are your cabins near each other? Ours were and we were able to leave post-it notes for one another. We also used the phone to call each other in the cabins. Make a list of cabin numbers for everyone. The phone number is the cabin number.

 

If your reservations are linked, and you have the same dining time. you will be seated together for dinner. We met 7 nights out of 9 for dinner. On one night, DH and I had dinner at Portofino, just the two of us. The other night, we had a late port day in St. Martin and used the Windjammer.

 

It has been mentioned on other threads that communication BEFORE THE CRUISE is needed to prevent bad feelings. It is best to let everyone know that you will meet every night for dinner (or whatever you decide), but do not need to spend every waking moment together. Otherwise, feelings may get hurt. We all did one excursion together in Labadee (snorkeling), but otherwise went in different directions throughout the day. Sometimes we were in small groups, sometimes we split up as individual families. If you have good communication, everyone should have a great time!

[monkeyluis]

Good idea about the post it notes. I meant to say that too. I've heard of people also taking dry erase boards, just a small one.

[jaz0308]

Thank you! Post it notes are a great idea! I had heard about possibly using message boards but wasn't sure if we would be allowed to attach them to the door!

[LAdad]

Walkie talkies have worked well for us on the top 3-5 decks, set on silent-vibrate, and very minimally used of course. We usually get a cabin near the top of the ship and have no problems from our cabin to the pool/ to kids camp (on ships where its located near the top)/ dining rooms.

Used Motorola waterproof walkie talkies that are easy to use but a bit large.

 

We also get a ship phone from the kids camp when cruising Carnival as our youngest is a preschooler. We can then use the phone to call any other ship phone including cabins... and receive calls!

 

However... I like the idea of disconnecting from the electronics and going back to post it notes and white boards! The walking around to check messages sounds like fun and a good way to burn off some buffet calories!

[Cruisin' Chick]

Not sure about that ship or cruise line, but on some ships, the cabin doors are magnetic so if you have a small dry erase board with magnets attached, that would be a good way to let the others know where you intend to be. There was just three of us and we would leave notes for each other, either on the desk in the cabin or on the door (would brought tape).

 

As someone else said, it's easy to run into others even when not intending to. The last couple of cruises I would be watching a movie by the pool on the big screen and I would feel a pat on my head -- from my teen.

 

I can't imagine being "tied" to others (other than hubby and the girl) for the whole cruise. But that's something to state up front that sometimes you may want to do your own thing on board and in some of the ports. But you can have a little meeting at night after everyone checks out the newsletter for the next day and see if there are some activities to join up for (maybe a few of you want to take part in trivia and team up together).

 

And like someone else said, I can't see having to drag around a walkie talkie or cell phone on board. I like the idea of unplugging but I'm the type who doesn't like phones and only has a cell so I can get emergency phone calls from the girl's school.

[cb at sea]

It's really not as hard as you are imagining to find each other. Certainly, children should have specific places to go for specific reasons....they shouldn't be allowed to simply "roam"....that's trouble waiting to happen!

 

You will find that everyone will gravitate to the same places over and over.....and making tentative plans, so everyone knows where to look for others will work just fine.

[m*u*g*]

don't know how to function without cell phones anymore!

 

Post it notes have been around longer than phones. Try those.

 

Or set meet up times and locations. Wear a watch.