walkie talkies?

[luvvin_u_2]

i heard they have walkie talkiez on the cruise now.. just wondering, how much are they and all the info with that.

only because we want my brother not to be worried being in the cabin alone at night

[Kazza1]

VHF Walkie Talkies are available from the Pursers desk @ $5.00 per day, per hand unit.

 

Kazza

[Whoey]

I wonder if you could take your own - as long as they are VHF units and therefore the same as P&O issue out...

 

curious...

[aussiedisneyfan]

You can definitely take your own. I know people who have taken them. They $5.00 doesn't sound much but you need two so that makes $10 and if you had them every day thats $70-$140.

[luvvin_u_2]

thanks for ur replies.. $100 is worth it if nobody has to stay in the cabin with my brother.. at least now he wont be worried:)

[DanFromSyd]

If your going to spend $100 on hire charges, it might be worth checking out the UHF radios at dick smiths or tandy. When I bought mine (for 4wd'ing) they were about $70 each then. That was 3-4 years ago now. They must be sub $50 each now, and you'll have them for your next cruise!

 

I have a Uniden model and the range is excellent, would easily cover a cruise ship and you can select a "private" frequency so no one can clutter your channel..

 

Just a thought.

 

Cheers,

 

Dan

[Whoey]

Sounds great however I presume there are limits on what frequencies people are allowed to use, you can imagine the reaction if someone used a shipping frequency !

 

I guess calling P&O is the go here... although I wonder if the booking call centre people could help with this.. maybe an email might work better...

[Whoey]

AussieDisneyFan, you said you know some people who took their own? Any chance you could find out what sort of units they used.. i.e. standard UHF hand held radios?

 

I am trying to work out what signal strength they need to be, I imagine reasonably powerful to get the signal through the ship (between decks etc). Most of the cheaper units are 0.5watts which might not be enough!

 

I have emailed P&O for some technical info on the units they hire out... waiting for a reply

 

cheers

[aussiedisneyfan]

The details will be coming soon. :)

[Whoey]

I emailed P&O asking about what frequencies and signal strengths are allowed etc and here is the response :

 

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I forwarded your email to the relevant department and they have advised me that unfortunately we cannot allow you to bring CB radio units onboard our ships. The reason being is that our ships use both VHF and UHF frequencies. The officers onboard use UHF to contact each other.

Another reason is that if you bring your own CB units onboard, it may not work. Given the ship is a solid steel box, you may not be able to reach each other from deck to deck and there are black spots on the ship.

There is also an issue with some ports of call not allowing CB radios as it can interfere with the local frequency. If the signal strength is above a certain level and if you have your own CB units, you may be personally responsible for ensuring that it complies.

-------------------------------------------------------

 

Whaddya all reckon about that? How can they Hire units out at $5 a day and not allow people to bring the same matching capability products ???

[keepcruising]

Whoey,

 

We are the friends that AussieDisneyFan was talking about. We have taken our CB's on board and used them several times, with no problems or comments from the crew.

 

We did experience some black spots on board, between several deck, but generally they were useful in contacting each other in most places on and of the ship.

 

We just have the basic 40 channel 0.5W UHF CB's sold at Jaycar, these were good enought to talkback to the ship from most of the islands, provided we were in line of sight.

 

There were several other groups on board with their own also, as at the time P&O didn't hire them out.

 

Hope this helps.

[Whoey]

KeepCruising,

 

Thanks for the speedy reply... Did your group ask permission to take them or did you just do it ? You said there were others.. how many people do this ?? (a few or a lot???)

 

I am getting the run around at the moment and to be honest I am not impressed... I dont understand why P&O cant issue a statement such that " a standard 0.5 watt 40 channel UHF CB is allowed" as this is almost 99% going to be the ones they hire out...

 

Could you do me the small favour of asking to see the hire units on the Pacific Sun when you cruise in 7 days (like so jealous hehe) - please write down the Manufacturer and Model so I can match the specifications. That would be a great help and allieve any doubts as to what is allowed / not allowed - thanks.

 

Whoey.

[Whoey]

KeepCruising,

 

One more question - were they useless between decks.. like if someone was up top then couldnt talk to someone a few decks down (two or three) in a cabin ?

 

thanks for your help !

[Whoey]

Latest email from P&O.... I took out the peoples names etc...

 

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We cannot allow you to bring a CB radio on board.

 

Im not sure who informed you that we hire out CB/ hand held units on board for $5 as we do not do this.

------------------------------------------------------

 

*sigh*

 

Can someone confirm exactly what they hire out then? I was told ages ago they hire out pagers and then recently someone told me they hire walkie talkies... ??? is this wrong ???

[aussiedisneyfan]

Whoey, was just discussing this subject with KeepCrusing, and as she said they had no problems from staff using theirs. I think she said that they weren't that good between decks. They didn't ask for permission. I plan to take some on our next one, they certainly would be handy.

 

P&O never seem to give a straight (or even correct) answer. I have just emailed them asking about port time on the Singapore on a back to back cruise. According to their response you have 15 hours in port. Now that is the amount of time between the arrival and departure of the ship. I am sure they won't want passengers running up the gangplank when the ship is due to leave at 11pm.

[keepcruising]

Whoey,

 

We will be taking our CB's again next week, and we will let you know what happens.

The fact that they said you are not allowed I find a bit surprising, as they x-ray all the luggage and could cleasrly see that there were CB there.

 

Anyway on our cruise last two cruises there were at least 5 other groups that we came accross using the same channel that we were, so I don't know how many others there were on the remaining channels.

 

I will try to find out more info for you when we are there.

[Whoey]

I would really appreciate that as I have about 10 people looking to me for a decision here on whether to buy some units to take or not...

 

thanks !

[Whoey]

Firstly, is anyone else interested in this issue or am I annoying you all with this ? :) If I am then I will drop it here... up to all you guys ???

 

Is this ongoing debate interesting to anyone else here ???

 

Cheers

 

Whoey

 

I received an email from P&O which states :

---------------------------------------------------

" Im not sure who informed you that we hire out CB/ hand held units on board for $5 as we do not do this. "

---------------------------------------------------

 

Since then I have received a copy of pricing for these units... I just sent this email back to them:

 

---------------------------------------------------

Hi,

I have been told in an email by P&O that walkie talkie type personal handheld radio's are NOT for hire at $5 a day.

I just received a fax from a friend who recently travelled on Pacific Sun with their family. Listed on the Childrens Welcoming information packs Page 6 "Important Information" is a detailed description of equipment for Parents to hire to keep in touch with their children. I quote:

 

"Pagers: For a $50 refundable deposit, Pagers are available for Pelican Bay parents (etc etc etc) "

secondly - next paragraph:

 

"Walkie Talkies: V.H.F. Walkie Talkies are available at the Pursers Desk, Deck 5. There is a nominal charge fee of $5.00 per day, per hand unit. These Walkie Talkies provide excellent communication around the ship, especially between guardians & children"

 

I am happy to FAX a copy of this information to you to clarify this issue if need be - please supply a fax number and a name to send this to (if need be).

 

I ask again if these units ARE for hire onboard the ship as this information clearly describes, why is it I have been told they are not allowed to be brought onboard, especially as I have requested the technical details (allowed frequencies etc) of these units to match ?

 

If P&O hire out units that do XYZ why cant I bring units that also do XYZ ???

---------------------------------------------------

[DanFromSyd]

Whoey,

 

Im interested in this discussion cause I would like to bring my own for my cruise in Jan.

 

Thanks for your patience in getting to the bottom of it.

 

Could it be that P&O are trying to eliminate people from bringing their own by this policy and thus making money out of the hire charges??

I mean a 10 night cruise at $5 a day would be $50 (i assume is $5 a set not for 1) and so most people would probably buy their own for $50 or not much more.

 

Cheers,

 

Dan

[keepcruising]

Whoey,

 

Please do post any ofurther replies you get from P&O, I'm very interested in their answers.

 

As I said the ones we took in the past were UHF, in your last post they said they hire out VHF, this makes sence as they would tend to penetrate the decks / cabind better than the UHF units that we take.

 

However I believe there are several issues about licencing that effect the general public using VHF radios on land, and maybe at sea, which P&O would obviously have adhered to.

 

I look forward to hearing about further developments.

We still intend to take our UHF CB's on board with us, and I will post any information I find out onboard, as soon as I can.

[aussiedisneyfan]

The original discussion was in the Pacific Sun and Kids topic.

 

They said there that the units were $5 each that means $10 per day.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=231049

[Whoey]

Below is the latest email. I am going to leave it here, as I am getting nowhere. KeepCruising, let us know how you go ok, maybe you could talk to the cruise director and get something * official * on this topic ! :)

 

Cheers

 

--------------------------------------------------------

Those radios were used when we had night patrol for child care which we no longer have, Hence why this facilty is not available.

--------------------------------------------------------

[aussiedisneyfan]

P&O never seem to have any idea of what is going on. Still love cruising with them though.

[Whoey]

After many (over 20 !) emails to and fro P&O my persistance seems to have paid off.. here's the latest:

------------------------------------------------------------

In regards to the Walkie Talkies/ UHF/ CB Radios onboard, we are pleased to advise after much assessment that you are welcome to take these onboard, however you are required to provide the following information to the purser's desk once you go onboard;

- details of the equipment (maker, model, power, frequencies, antenna information)

- copy of the Radio HAM licence

- your cruise number, name and booking number

They will then in turn review its compatibility onboard and notify the ships captain and advise you whether you can use it onboard or not.

--------------------------------------------------------------

 

This response is very much along the lines of what I wanted, i.e. a guildeline of what to do. I understand why they would need to know who has what equipment onboard for

 

1) Safety, i.e. in an emergency I presume we would have to stay off our radio's.

 

2) Potential abusive use - offensive language or something maybe? One of the emails mentioned laws vary through each port as to radio usage.

 

3) Potential interference with their equipment - this would be number 1 concern I think

 

I applaud P&O for being considerate to my request and answering my questions as this is a complicated issue.

 

Now all I will do is *proof* specific units with them before purchasing to ensure there is no conflict of equipment issues (shouldnt really be a problem with UHF as all marine radio is VHF - i think)

[DanFromSyd]

Whooey,

 

Thanks for the follow up. I have a question

- copy of the Radio HAM licence

 

What is this and where is it obtained?

 

Do al UHF radios come with it or is it obtained from somewhere?

 

Thanks,

 

Dan