Two Way Radios

My fiancée and I will be going on our first cruise (honeymoon cruise) in about a month. While we will be together most of the time, I’m sure there will be times when we won’t want to do the same thing. For instance, she may want to go to the spa, which is something that I have zero interest in. I saw in another thread that someone mentioned two way radios. Has anyone else out there used them and do they work well on a cruise ship?

We had ok luck with them on Princess, and no luck using them on our Carnival cruise. Our cabin was on a lower deck on the Carnival cruise, maybe that was the problem? We found it to be too much of a hassle and haven't brought them with us on a cruise again. You could leave post-it notes in the room for each other, or prearrange a meeting spot after her spa treatment.

Most people just plan ahead. That is you meet at the pool after she is done in the spa. Also, leave notes in the cabin.

A quick search on the board would reveal many, long heated threads on the topic. Summary: they work inconsistently, are annoying to other pax, and there are many other ways to keep in touch.

My fiancée and I will be going on our first cruise (honeymoon cruise) in about a month. While we will be together most of the time, I’m sure there will be times when we won’t want to do the same thing. For instance, she may want to go to the spa, which is something that I have zero interest in. I saw in another thread that someone mentioned two way radios. Has anyone else out there used them and do they work well on a cruise ship?

they do NOT work well at all and annoy the bejeezus out of most of your fellow passengers. leave them behind. you can leave notes in the room, or use the voice mail.

I would just set up meeting places and times.

We DID bring some along on our first cruise because someone suggested that for us. They never even left our luggage. We found that it would have been a pain to have an extra item to carry around.

Yes lots of discussions here if you do a search walkie talkie.

Some say they work fine , sometimes or not at all.

Some say leave them at home .

If you bring them , keep them close to you when on the outer decks or someone may toss them overboard.

Or voice mails back to the cabin work just fine. I saw or rather heard a very nasty exchange between two passengers on one cruise over the handheld radios because they were using the same channel. For the most part they are not welcome onboard by your fellow passengers.

I was planning on getting them also.. But may reconsider after reading this thread! Can you call the room's voicemail from anywhere on the ship or do you have to go bk to the room to check ??

You have to be in your cabin to check your voicemail....but really, if you KNOW she's going to be in the spa, or pool, or casino at a certain time, and you know when she'll be done....it's easy to meet up!

Even tho the ships seem big, most of the space is taken up by cabins. You only need to concern yourself with your cabin's hallway. The public areas are MUCH less space, and you'll find you gravitate to the same places over and over. Tentative plans are the way to go....you WILL find each other!

they do NOT work well at all and annoy the bejeezus out of most of your fellow passengers. leave them behind. you can leave notes in the room, or use the voice mail.

Agree

Oh ok thanks for your advice!

They do not work well.

They do annoy well.

The ship isn't all that big and finding people isn't so hard. Notes in the room added to voice-mail in the room will serve you well.

...we don't bring them anymore. It really isn't that difficult to find each other onboard. It is actually fairly easy to find each other....most will gravitate towards their favorite venue.

Back when we did have our radios, we discovered that it was useful for large families OFF the ship...during shore excursions. People often wander on their own and go their separate ways in town or when shopping. Having the radio made it easier to gather everyone when it was time to return to the ship.

One time, we had a passenger that failed to return back to the van on time. We decided to search for her. Four of us had radios, went in different directions, and successfully found our missing passenger. Having the radios made it easier.:)

...we don't bring them anymore. It really isn't that difficult to find each other onboard. It is actually fairly easy to find each other....most will gravitate towards their favorite venue.

 

Back when we did have our radios, we discovered that it was useful for large families OFF the ship...during shore excursions. People often wander on their own and go their separate ways in town or when shopping. Having the radio made it easier to gather everyone when it was time to return to the ship.

 

One time, we had a passenger that failed to return back to the van on time. We decided to search for her. Four of us had radios, went in different directions, and successfully found our missing passenger. Having the radios made it easier.:)

You need to be cautious about using two way radios in foreign ports. Some frequencies that are allowed in the US are illegal for public use in foreign countries.

I saw in another thread that someone mentioned two way radios. Has anyone else out there used them and do they work well on a cruise ship?

You can try but I found that they don't work very good. Radio waves don't like to travel through steel. Outside on the same deck around the pool they will work but from your state room up several decks it's a no go.

On shore they are OK for maybe a mile, depending on the type of radio. I have a 5W ham radio and it will only work from outside the ship.

I have been on a HAL and a Princess. On both you could find house phones out and about the ship to call back to your cabin and leave a message. You could pick it up and dial -- staff did not seem to care. On these and I suspect other lines, you need not return to your room to leave a message for spouse or 'reasonably facsimile thereof'. Post-it notes in the room work too. I like the bathroom mirror as everybody seems to visit there as soon as back in the cabin. (I might just be confessing my age with that.)

My 3 cents.

M

Thanks! I've since decided not to purchase the radios, and might be spending that money instead on a room upgrade :-)

Now the questions remains, what is the OP, Crewzr, going to do?

Now the questions remains, what is the OP, Crewzr, going to do?

Based on what has been posted in this thread, I don't think we will be getting the 2-way radios. It sounds like more trouble than it's worth, not to mention that we may annoy other passengers. We'll probably just stick to pre-planning and post-it notes!