Communication onboard

Hello,

First time cruise to Alaska on Holland American. I understand that basically our cell phones are useless unless you pay the internet wifi fee. Can you use walkie talkies onboard?

Thank you.

We have used them in the past-- they are annoying as all HECK.

then we got the type that ring but you need to leave them on and the batteries run down.

Ships are not that large where you get lost.

You get activity pages in your cabin that list the activities.

I bring highliters and mark the page up-- yellow and blue-- when its green we are doing tht activity together.

Cabins are equipped with voice mail-- leave a message from any public phone through out the ship (mostly every elevator bank has a public phone.

leave a message on a post it note hanging from the mirror

Hello,

First time cruise to Alaska on Holland American. I understand that basically our cell phones are useless unless you pay the internet wifi fee. Can you use walkie talkies onboard?

 

Thank you.

Your basic Walmart or Best Buy radios will work fine if you happen to both be on the same deck, or close to each other, which means you could probably shout at each other. Ships are steel, and steel blocks radio waves.

Semaphore flags are a better choice than the radios.

... which means you could probably shout at each other.

Apparently, even if you're using these radios, you have to shout. At least that's what the users seem to think.

Best bet is just to plan ahead. Agree on meeting times and places.

It's really not as hard as you think to find each other...especially on the smaller ships that do the Alaska route.

You'll make tentative plans, so everyone knows where everyone else is likely to be! And, considering that about 80% of the ship is cabin space, you won't be looking in those areas for your party! And, you'll find everyone gravitates to the same places over and over and over...it's not hard to find the others!

Thank you everyone for the feedback.

We have used them in the past-- they are annoying as all HECK.

 

then we got the type that ring but you need to leave them on and the batteries run down.

 

Ships are not that large where you get lost.

 

You get activity pages in your cabin that list the activities.

 

I bring highliters and mark the page up-- yellow and blue-- when its green we are doing tht activity together.

 

Cabins are equipped with voice mail-- leave a message from any public phone through out the ship (mostly every elevator bank has a public phone.

 

leave a message on a post it note hanging from the mirror

On a huge 3,000+ passenger ship, however, this can be a problem. We've used a sticky post-it note with a unique design that can be posted at two or three pre-determined locations such as the pursers office, a midships elevator/, etc. When a huge ship is as long as 3 football fields, going back to the room can be a less than desirable option.

Here we go again. If I had 1 cent for every walkie talkie, smoking, tipping thread on CC, my next cruise on Crystal would be free.

DON

Trade the talkies for tuxes or smuggling, and your free cruise will happen sooner.

Hello,

First time cruise to Alaska on Holland American. I understand that basically our cell phones are useless unless you pay the internet wifi fee. Can you use walkie talkies onboard?

 

Thank you.

Welcome to HAL. Make sure you join your CC roll call.

Just for clarification, your cell phones will definitely work while on board but the calls will be routed through the ship's cell tower. That translates to charges that have been reported to be in excess of $8/minute with a minimum of one minute connection billable for each cell phone. In addition, as soon as you turn on your phone to make the call, each phone's satellite locator will incur a one-minute minimum charge. My math indicates charges of $32 for less than a two-minute call.

Your cell phones will work just fine and free when you are docked in any Alaskan port if you have a US carrier with free roaming. Both parties can be on board or one off the ship to use the cell phones for free. That leaves the one or two days that you will not be in an Alaskan port that you will have to use other means to contact those in your party.

Walkie talkies will work fine on board as long as there are not metal structures in the line of sight. Even on the Vista Class HAL ships, there are not that many places to go that you cannot be found. OK, maybe not the dark movie theater or show room.

There phones all over the ship that you can use to leave a message on your stateroom phone so that others can find you.

There phones all over the ship that you can use to leave a message on your stateroom phone so that others can find you.

You mean you can change your stateroom phone's outgoing greeting from a ship's public phone? And can you retrieve your stateroom's incoming messages from a public phone?

You mean you can change your stateroom phone's outgoing greeting from a ship's public phone? And can you retrieve your stateroom's incoming messages from a public phone?

You can set up the voicemail but you can not retrieve from the public phone

As others have said, there are non-annoying ways for others to find you. On our last cruise, the three of us would leave notes for each other. And at times, even when not trying to find our teen, we would run into her. I often knew where my hubby would be (the gym, Skywalkers) and hopefully he knew I would be at trivia or hula class.

As for walkie talkies, do you really want to lug those about?

Talk over plans at breakfast and then just don't worry. You don't have to be glue to each others' hips all day long.

When we walked around the cruise ship to get our bearings, we all found "spots" on deck where we might not know what table or chairs, but we would know what area we could be found. We would leave a post it note on the mirror telling the other(s) where we were heading (Promenade Cafe, pool deck, gym or Deck 4). We would also put the time we headed out and sometimes an estimated time we would return. We tried walkie-talkies once and were tempted to toss them overboard. What a pain. They became a source of frustration.

Semaphore flags are a better choice than the radios.

Even more basic - tin cans and strings.

DON

Even more basic - tin cans and strings.

 

DON

Well, the radios are pretty much line-of-sight, that's why I recommend the flags. The string/can phone ain't gonna go through the decks any better than the radios but would have the added problem of being a tripping hazard along with the same annoying hollering into a radio in the vain hope that talking louder will make it work.

Communication aboard? Well call us old fashioned because having spent about 4 years on cruise ships DW and I find that face to face talking is the way we prefer to communicate. We do not need cell phones, walkee talkees, etc. We simply do it the old fashioned way and its called having a conversation :). Yes, we know that some ships are very large (we personally prefer small ships). But even when our DD was cruising with us we would simply arrange to meet at certain spots or make sure that we knew each other's schedule.

These days we have watched families and friends sitting at the same dinner table (in restaurants) with each person texting away and nobody talking to each other. Kind of sad. We salute one restaurant in Iowa who gives customers a 10% discount if they turn-in their cell phones when they enter the restaurant.

http://www.eater.com/2014/11/3/7149811/restaurant-offers-no-phone-discount-wants-customers-to-actually-talk

Hank

Well, the radios are pretty much line-of-sight, that's why I recommend the flags. The string/can phone ain't gonna go through the decks any better than the radios but would have the added problem of being a tripping hazard along with the same annoying hollering into a radio in the vain hope that talking louder will make it work.

Agreed - but you should also pbe prepared for flashing light communication when on open decks at night.

Communication aboard? Well call us old fashioned because having spent about 4 years on cruise ships DW and I find that face to face talking is the way we prefer to communicate. We do not need cell phones, walkee talkees, etc. We simply do it the old fashioned way and its called having a conversation :). Yes, we know that some ships are very large (we personally prefer small ships). But even when our DD was cruising with us we would simply arrange to meet at certain spots or make sure that we knew each other's schedule.

 

These days we have watched families and friends sitting at the same dinner table (in restaurants) with each person texting away and nobody talking to each other. Kind of sad. We salute one restaurant in Iowa who gives customers a 10% discount if they turn-in their cell phones when they enter the restaurant.

http://www.eater.com/2014/11/3/7149811/restaurant-offers-no-phone-discount-wants-customers-to-actually-talk

 

 

 

Hank

And I bet the those diners appreciated not having to hear people gabbing away on their phones while they're at the next table trying to have a nice conversation.:)

I want to see someone using semaphore flags!

Agreed - but you should also pbe prepared for flashing light communication when on open decks at night.

I am always on the lookout for flashing.

I want to see someone using semaphore flags!

I want to see someone using an "Aldis lamp" app on their mePhone.

Or smoke signals!

That might not go over well with the crew...