Walkie Talkies on Pacific Cruises

[livingstone]

First thing I will say I know a lot of people find walkie talke's anoying on a cruise. I understand that many people would like to throw the operators and the radios overboard. However I am also aware that you can actually rent them on the P&O ships for around AUD $ 5.00. Now thats out of the way, I not asking if you aprove or disaprove of using walkie talkies at sea. What I want to know is if I bring my own cheap walkie talkies on boardwill they work. I want to know how they work between decks, did any try them on the PD last cruise or any PS cruises. The one's I bought were the Aldi brand (also sold at Jcar under another name ) cost around AUD $ 70.00 for three, the range is around 3 km and they are UHF CB radios. I was thinking about using the monitor mode with an ear extention to monitor the kids in bed while we are upstairs. Might even be usefull during the shore stops if the kids get lost at the markets.

[fishtaco]

On my cruise on the P/S a few people had them to keep in contact with their kids,by 1/2 way through I didnt see any body using them any more.
I think if you are looking for your children,although the ship is quite big,they hang around in certain areas so they are never hard to find.
Only one type of walkie talkie works at sea and am thinking that it is the more expensive VHF type from memory. A couple of tin cans and a ball of string is much more fun:D

Den

[arxcards]

First thing I will say I know a lot of people find walkie talke's anoying on a cruise. I understand that many people would like to throw the operators and the radios overboard. However I am also aware that you can actually rent them on the P&O ships for around AUD $ 5.00. Now thats out of the way, I not asking if you aprove or disaprove of using walkie talkies at sea. What I want to know is if I bring my own cheap walkie talkies on boardwill they work. I want to know how they work between decks, did any try them on the PD last cruise or any PS cruises. The one's I bought were the Aldi brand (also sold at Jcar under another name ) cost around AUD $ 70.00 for three, the range is around 3 km and they are UHF CB radios. I was thinking about using the monitor mode with an ear extention to monitor the kids in bed while we are upstairs. Might even be usefull during the shore stops if the kids get lost at the markets.
Hi Livingstone,
I was considering this, and had read up a fair bit on them. Have since changed my mind about buying any, mostly as it is just more stuff. There are a couple of issues with them (apart from being thrown overboard, lol).

Cheap ones won't hack it - the ships are made of steel and you need as much signal strength as you can get
With many others doing the same, it seems there is not enough frequency to go around. A bit like talking on a party line.As you already have them, you can give them a try anyway.

Cheers
Geoff

[livingstone]

yes, that what I thought I figure if they dont work I can just hire some on the ship if I realy need to.

[aussiedisneyfan]

We have taken ours a couple of times. I have no idea about the technicalities, Keepcruising told me what to buy and I did. The often reached from the ship to the shore when tendering.

Just remember if you decide to use the ships ones, they are $5 each per day so that is effectively $10 per day.

[Whoey]

Livingstone, We use these GME TX650 units

http://www.gme.net.au/land/transceivers/tx650.php

on Pacific Sun last year, they worked on ALL decks (just) and we had no problem hearing each other. They are also light enough to use on the provided lanyards. They cost between $130 - $150 for a pair, you can buy them on ebay and also from local cb radio shops.

Some people with us had the cheap .5 watt units (like your ones from ALDI) and they barely got through two decks signal strength and could hear us but not talk back.

The radios are a great way to find people if you are in a hurry and fantastic piece of mind for parents. We used them sparingly as yes they kind of are like mobile phones and we didn't want angry glares from other people.

I recommend getting units of at least 1 watt and preferably 2 watts for Pacific Dawn if you want to reach between all decks.

Other thing we noticed is each day once we used them a bit the batteries wearing down they rapidly lost signal strength and we had to charge them each day.

hope that helps :)

[maxx]

Livingstone, We use these GME TX650 units

http://www.gme.net.au/land/transceivers/tx650.php

on Pacific Sun last year, they worked on ALL decks (just) and we had no problem hearing each other. They are also light enough to use on the provided lanyards. They cost between $130 - $150 for a pair, you can buy them on ebay and also from local cb radio shops.

Some people with us had the cheap .5 watt units (like your ones from ALDI) and they barely got through two decks signal strength and could hear us but not talk back.

The radios are a great way to find people if you are in a hurry and fantastic piece of mind for parents. We used them sparingly as yes they kind of are like mobile phones and we didn't want angry glares from other people.

I recommend getting units of at least 1 watt and preferably 2 watts for Pacific Dawn if you want to reach between all decks.

Other thing we noticed is each day once we used them a bit the batteries wearing down they rapidly lost signal strength and we had to charge them each day.

hope that helps :)
Is there a cheaper option that works? We are looking at buying several so we can all keep in touch.
Most of the info on the cheaper ones says a range of 3 kms line of sight.

[fishtaco]

Is there a cheaper option that works? We are looking at buying several so we can all keep in touch.
Most of the info on the cheaper ones says a range of 3 kms line of sight.

Several tin cans and several balls of string :D

[livingstone]

seems to be you have to pay good money to get more that .5 watt radio, the vhf are what they hire on the boat and as it has been said cost 5 dollars each a day, but from what i have heard they do work well. I have also heard it said that the 2 watt UHF radio work WELL on crusie ships but can cost over 80 dollars each.

[maxx]

Several tin cans and several balls of string :D
Now why didn't I think of that?

[livingstone]

managed to buy a hands free for my walkie talkie today, works well and no one can hear the chat from the handset. the problem is that you could be mistaken for P&O security with this FBI type hands free thingy.