walkie talkies vs rental on ship

[dizneyprincess]

Hi Everyone, we sail on the Allure in August and I am wondering the best way to communicate with my other family members on the ship. There will be my dad, 70, son 25 and myself and I dont know if walkie talkies will work or rent the iphones on the ship. What has been everyones experience? If you have used walkie talkies has there been any issues regarding range and cutting in and out. Thanks:)

[Clarea]

Walkie-talkies are not reliable when separated by a few decks. Too much steel.

 

We leave messages on the stateroom phone.

Edited July 3, 2014 by clarea

[akcruz]

We go old school on cruises. We all get together a few times a day and discuss plans. If things change we leave post it notes or call the cabin phone. It is actually much easier than you would think to keep in touch on board. No need for walkie talkies, cell phones, etc.

 

You are on vacation, relax and enjoy.

Edited July 3, 2014 by akcruz

[CyberTag]

Hi Everyone, we sail on the Allure in August and I am wondering the best way to communicate with my other family members on the ship. There will be my dad, 70, son 25 and myself and I dont know if walkie talkies will work or rent the iphones on the ship. What has been everyones experience? If you have used walkie talkies has there been any issues regarding range and cutting in and out. Thanks:)

 

We just returned from the Allure and rented 3 iPhones. They were hit or miss on the ship and did not always work for texting or calling one another. Having the compass on the phone was very nice, and being able to use the "see location" app of others you are linked to was also helpful. The phones are $30 each and sell out very quickly. Not sure I would rent them again. We rented them first thing when we got on the ship. We could have returned the, on Tuesday and received a refund.

[scorpluvsdolphins]

I bought the internet package. 2 devices on at once. If you have iPhones you can text all u want. I just put it where I couldn't receive phone calls. I had to work some. No choice, work some and cruise or work some and don't cruise. I chose to cruise. Lol

If you are way forward or aft sticky notes work great (kids don't take them off)

If you are sharing rooms put the sticky notes on the mirror or buy a magnetic dry erase board. Doors and walls are metal.

Hope this helps.

 

 

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[Iluvcruising2]

We brought walkie-talkies for the first time on our recent Adventure of the Seas cruise.

 

Indeed, the range is limited within the ship. The signal can't go through too much steel, though it was still fairly useful. For example, because our cabin is aft, and Windjammer is right on top of us, we could communicate easily between cabin and Windjammer.

 

There was another interesting experience. My kids went for a walk around Deck 4 (the outside areas) including up to the helipad. I was in our cabin. For most part, we could communicate. They were calling me every other minute, almost like a toy to them.

 

Also, we used it for communications when my wife and I went ahead to pick up the rental car. My parents and kids would wait in the cabin and leave the walkie talkie outside in the balcony. From there we could communicate from quite far out.

 

E.g. we could call them via the walkie-talkie even while at the Enterprise Car Rental office in Akureyri.

Edited July 3, 2014 by Iluvcruising2

[jticarruthers]

Hit and miss on both options in my experience.

 

Would not do the rental phones on Allure again as they were "dead zoned" the two times we really needed them, walkie talkies do struggle to cover the big ships though and you frequently run into sharing channels with a bunch of other people :)

[Snow cat]

Hi Everyone, we sail on the Allure in August and I am wondering the best way to communicate with my other family members on the ship. There will be my dad, 70, son 25 and myself and I dont know if walkie talkies will work or rent the iphones on the ship. What has been everyones experience? If you have used walkie talkies has there been any issues regarding range and cutting in and out. Thanks:)

 

Please remember that many other passengers find the use of walkie-talkies very annoying.

[cb at sea]

Tentative plans, so everyone will know where everyone else is likely to be...and meet-up times, if needed. It's really not that hard.

 

As far as kids go, I want to SEE my kids...not just talk to them to find out where they are and what they're doing....so I have them find ME so I can physically check!

[LA_CA_GAL]

Hi Everyone, we sail on the Allure in August and I am wondering the best way to communicate with my other family members on the ship.

 

"Communication" is overrated.

 

I try not to for the entire cruise.

[njkruzer]

We have the walkie talkies, motorola, we bought several years ago and they work fine but have not tried to use them on any ship larger than Explorer, where they worked fine.

[Toddcan]

"Communication" is overrated.

 

I try not to for the entire cruise.

 

 

"Communication" covers a lot of ground. Nudge Nudge, Wink Wink, Say no more, Say no more. :D

 

My wife is in my family(duh), so we tend to communicate a lot more often on a cruise than when at home. Communicating on the balcony is nice too. I could not imagine a cruise with no communication. I'd go bonkers

[MrsPete]

Please remember that many other passengers find the use of walkie-talkies very annoying.

 

Definitely. They're loud and irritating, and kids do use them as a toy.

 

I agree with the poster who says, "Go old school." Talk to one another. let the kids know your expectations. Keeping up with one another just isn't a problem.

[jaredgold33]

Something I'm not sure people know about or not...if the iPhones are sold out (like they were on our sailing) you can go to Guest Services and ask to rent Deck Phones. They are $25 each for the week and they are the same phones the crew members use to communicate around the ship. They always work because the network they work off of is very strong. You can also reach any stateroom numbers or onboard ship phones (Guest Services, Dining Res, etc).

[Clarea]

Something I'm not sure people know about or not...if the iPhones are sold out (like they were on our sailing) you can go to Guest Services and ask to rent Deck Phones. They are $25 each for the week and they are the same phones the crew members use to communicate around the ship. They always work because the network they work off of is very strong. You can also reach any stateroom numbers or onboard ship phones (Guest Services, Dining Res, etc).

Didn't know the DECT phones were still available after they went to the iPhones. Thanks, that might come in handy.:)

[Folk Singer]

Hit and miss on both options in my experience.

 

Would not do the rental phones on Allure again as they were "dead zoned" the two times we really needed them, walkie talkies do struggle to cover the big ships though and you frequently run into sharing channels with a bunch of other people :)

 

 

agree. We have had mixed results with both options.

[debbs0723]

How about look into your current phone carrier options? I haven't used this but plan to do some research before my Thanksgiving cruise. We are cruising with 9 people. Can't you just turn off all data and pay something along the lines of 50 cents per text you send?

 

To me, this seems like the best method. Nobody shouting into the phones, just using text on vibrate in order to keep track.

 

Here is the thing. Everyone says to pick meeting places, etc. I have no issues holding my kids to a schedule. What I do have an issue with is holding myself or any other adult to any kind of schedule on sea days. This is too much like real life for me. Those who think communication is overrated, I think schedules are overrated on a cruise ship. In the morning that napkin folding class (insert sarcasm) might seem like fun but by the afternoon sitting by the pool people watching and not doing one single activity might seem like a better option. I don't want to have to leave that fun in order to do what I thought might be more fun in the morning. Spending any vacation time frustrated by a schedule and trying to find people does not sound good to me on a ship as big as the Allure.

 

However, sending out a group text to let everyone know where you are at if they would like to join you sounds much better to me.

 

Debbie

[HiCSailor]

I concur with the previous poster, a quick call to Verizon before my recent sailing on EXPLORER let me know that my phones would work at sea and in all the ports we visited, as well as the costs for voice, data, texts in, and texts out for each scenario. Armed with information, you can make a decision that works best for you.

 

I cruised with my 13 and 11 year olds and wanted to give them (and me) freedom to roam, while being able to contact each other. I went with FRS/GMRS walkie talkies and am pleased with the coverage on and off the ship. The main problems I encountered were the kids turning them off when they wanted to be out of touch and the occasional call or static when I was in a quiet spot. There are a variety of options, if you don't wait until the last second like I did. Two worthwhile options in my opinion are vibrating alert and privacy codes. I had two water resistant models with privacy codes and vibrating alerts and two very small fairly featureless units. The kids preferred the small ones and I liked being able to keep the volume down on the vibrating one.

 

We only used the phones in the US Territory we visited mid-cruise, otherwise they stayed in airplane mode to ensure no roaming charges, but I saw lots of folks using their devices onboard.

 

In addition to the radios, the stateroom phone and voicemail, and pre-scheduled meeting times (and places) for things like shows and dinner, as others have mentioned.

[jnhsiburt]

Thank you for the great info on the walkie talkies. When we cruise in October, our 9 year old daughter is very excited about camp carnival and she will be able to sign herself out. When she does, she will be looking for us. Walkie talkies are the only way I can think of to keep in contact when she can't find us.

 

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[dizneyprincess]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. The only reason I needed them is for location of my dad and son. I agree it's vacation but with a ship as big as Allure. It's almost impossible to look for them. With myself, my son 25 and my dad 70 we don't like the same things and I was looking for the easiest and quickest way to see where they were and for meet up. I will check with Verizon in regard to text but unfortunately my dad doesn't know how to text.

[MandyMooToo]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. The only reason I needed them is for location of my dad and son. I agree it's vacation but with a ship as big as Allure. It's almost impossible to look for them. With myself, my son 25 and my dad 70 we don't like the same things and I was looking for the easiest and quickest way to see where they were and for meet up. I will check with Verizon in regard to text but unfortunately my dad doesn't know how to text.

 

Hi, we had the same concerns last year on Oasis with two 17 year old boys. We used post-it notes and meet ups. We met at the beginning of the day and gave everyone a rundown of our plans (if known) and then met before dinner. Everything in between was done by post-its on the doors! Worked well for us :)

[LA_CA_GAL]

Hi, we had the same concerns last year on Oasis with two 17 year old boys. We used post-it notes and meet ups. We met at the beginning of the day and gave everyone a rundown of our plans (if known) and then met before dinner. Everything in between was done by post-its on the doors! Worked well for us :)

 

Another thing to do is determine a beachhead, an approximate area that you hang out.

 

For example, during the day, make it the Pool Bar. At the top of the hours (1:00, 2:00, 3:00), just show up there and hang for 5 minutes.

 

In the evening, make it on the Promenade (sorrentos), same thing.

[Folk Singer]

Another thing to do is determine a beachhead, an approximate area that you hang out.

 

For example, during the day, make it the Pool Bar. At the top of the hours (1:00, 2:00, 3:00), just show up there and hang for 5 minutes.

 

In the evening, make it on the Promenade (sorrentos), same thing.

 

good idea.:):)