Walkie Talkie????

Hey all! Question. Next August will be our first time cruising with kids and we are looking for a way for them to get in touch with us while they are not with us. I am wondering if anyone has ever brought Walkie Talkies with them on the cruise ships and if so did they work???? Thank you in advance!!!!!!!

they are nothing but a PITA to everyone. you, and you fellow passengers. no they do not work well at all between decks.

use a dry erase board inside the cabin. use sticky notes. make them come find you at certain points during the day( making sure YOU are where you told them to meet you! use the courtesy phones locate around the ship to call the cabin.

Walkie Talkies are a big cruise faux pas - don't do it! They are noise pollution to others. As spookwife says - take a small white board (found at any office supply store) either stick it up inside the cabin or even on your cabin door (making sure you don't damage the finish and clean up any residue). Leave notes and updates for the kids and vis versa. Have those meet up times pre-arranged and DO keep up on where and what your kids are doing - no one likes children running the hallways or playing on the elevators. Have a great cruise.

This (locked) thread has some responses from a very knowledgable source, chengkp75, as to why walkie-talkies aren't a good idea. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2023463

Some cruise lines are providing free texting between passengers using the cell phone app.

There will be a wide range of responses from those who support their use on board to those who don't and with varying degrees of experience for how well they do or do not work. In general IMO the majority of responses would be against them and their overall poor function on board - of which I agree.

Aside from the chirping noises from the units and loud public conversations - and not just by the kids - I don't really think there is a need for them. The ships aren't that large to allow for locating each other, especially with a little daily discussion about when and where to meet for planned events, etc. Most cruise lines have well established kids programs that would occupy periods of time with them at a specific location also. You will quickly get into a routine with them - and you - and likely not have any issues with keeping in touch.

We have cruised with our kids since they were very young and only once early on thought having them would be a good idea. That was a huge mistake as they did not work well and were not needed most of the time as keeping in touch was not an issue. I'm also certain they were annoying to others.

As indicated, I just don't think they are necessary and will align with those - in large part from my one personal experience - who find them more of an annoyance to everyone else around those using them then the benefit gained by those using them.

Hey all! Question. Next August will be our first time cruising with kids and we are looking for a way for them to get in touch with us while they are not with us. I am wondering if anyone has ever brought Walkie Talkies with them on the cruise ships and if so did they work???? Thank you in advance!!!!!!!

Do a CC search - there are MANY MANY previous threads on this.

Do a CC search - there are MANY MANY previous threads on this.

All of which are DO NOT BRING THEM.

DON

Have you ever been in a public place and had someone yelling into their cell phone? Did you find it annoying? Point made.

Ships are made of mostly metal - metal floors, walls, ceilings, doors, piping, etc. Radio waves - which walkie talkies use - do not penetrate steel very well at all. They work on "line-of-sight". Some people claim theirs worked well, but they never mention where the people were actually located - on opposite ends of the top decks, or ten floors apart. They may work adequately on open upper decks, but will not work at all with steel walls and floors separating them. Which means that in almost all situations, they will not work as you had hoped.

Plus, in many countries they are illegal to use, so taking them ashore is NOT recommended. Some countries use the same channel frequencies for their emergency communications, and do not take lightly anyone interfering with those channels.

Don't waste your money and time on them. The other passengers on the ship, who aren't at all interested in your conversations, will be thankful.

Have you ever been in a public place and had someone yelling into their cell phone? Did you find it annoying? Point made.

I have been known to join these conversations, just to cause trouble.

And you can't just take them off the ship in ports because many places have laws that restrict the use of walkie talkies. The frequency used by them are the same as for fire, police and armed forces on many of the islands.

they are nothing but a PITA to everyone. you, and you fellow passengers. no they do not work well at all between decks.

 

use a dry erase board inside the cabin. use sticky notes. make them come find you at certain points during the day( making sure YOU are where you told them to meet you! use the courtesy phones locate around the ship to call the cabin.

Exactly. We did this successfully on our last cruise with hubby, our 15-year-old and I doing our own thing. You should be getting a newsletter of activities every night for the next day. If you have teens, then just find out possible places they might go to (if they're not going to the teen area) such as the pool or sun deck. We would often return to the cabin and update where we were headed. If my daughter wanted to eat with us she knew our seating time and table or else she would come before then when we would be dressing for dinner

I couldn't imagine saddling our girl with an electronic device that she would have to carry all the time and keep out of the water, etc. I certainly wouldn't want to carry one, either -- even my cell phone would be turned off and in the cabin on sea days.

Please, don't.