How do you reach your kids while sailing

Was wondering how you reach your kids while on board the ship? Last sailing on the breakaway they had a great app that let us text each other without any charges. I know that there are walkie talkies out there but are they good enough to cover the ship. Also knowing my 12 year old boy he'd probably set it down to play basketball and forget it. :)

Anyway any suggestions would be great.

Leave messages on the stateroom phone.

We use a white board in the stateroom that we bring. Everyone write their plans - and are expected to be found where they say they are!

Was wondering how you reach your kids while on board the ship? Last sailing on the breakaway they had a great app that let us text each other without any charges. I know that there are walkie talkies out there but are they good enough to cover the ship. Also knowing my 12 year old boy he'd probably set it down to play basketball and forget it. :)

Anyway any suggestions would be great.

If you are afraid your son will put down a walkie talkie and forget it, what is going to keep him from doing the same thing with a cell phone?

When our son was younger and sailed with us, we discussed plans either the night before or the morning. We knew he would be in the teen center, cafe promenade or on the sport court. If his plans changed, he would leave a message on the cabin voice mail or he would leave us a sticky note on the mirror in the cabin. He also knew what our plans were and if we changed plans, we would leave him a voice mail or a sticky note on the mirror.

We also would check on him to see if he was where he was supposed to be and he always was except for once. He had taken a friend to medical because the kid needed stitches. He got a pass on that one.

The walkie Talkie was kind of a joke.. but all good ideas, especially the stickie notes. thanks

We simply set check-in times and locations.

We put sticky notes on the mirror. We made sure she let us know what her plans were for the day, where we would be. Always met for dinner. I texted her once or twice through the cruise when I needed to get a hold of her right away, was cheaper than using the cell phone.

My kids are all grown (but hubby is still sometimes in need of adult supervision :rolleyes:), and I sometimes have to ask myself, "What would you have done before you had a cell phone?" I raised my kids in the pre-cell days (and even before baby monitors were so en vogue :o) and somehow managed.

There are plenty of ways to keep tabs, as have been mentioned previously.

Post-its, magnetic white boards, sharing plans upon starting the day, etc.

From what my son tells me, they usually either hang out at the Café Promenade, the Windjammer, or the Sports Court. Typically they would just kinda walk around. Honestly, I ran into my son all the time. But when looking for him, I started with whatever one of those I was closest to. maybe I was lucky but I always seemed to run into him on the way to or just coming from one of those places.

Notes in the Stateroom for me also

She was in the children's program or with us - a practice I wish more parents would follow.

Isn't there a feature on the phones that RCI rents you that includes a GPS that is accurate up to 15 feet?

Isn't there a feature on the phones that RCI rents you that includes a GPS that is accurate up to 15 feet?

A locating feature was supposed to be on the Royal Connect phones on Oasis and Allure. From what I've read, it did not work reliably, and I don't even think those phones are available to rent anymore.

I would simply have my kids come to find ME after each activity....tell them where you'll be...physical "check ins" are more reliable than texting or walkie-talkies.

It's really not as hard as you think to keep track of each other. Although the ship seems huge, the public areas are limited....most of the ship is taken up with cabins...you have no need to worry about any cabin space but your own hallway!

In an emergency, they'll tannoy him. ("Where are we meeting for dinner" does NOT class as an emergency! :))

I use sticky notes on the door...I've also noted small wipe boards on doors.

We left messages on the door or on the desk (I packed a small pad of paper) to let each other know where we were. The last thing our girl (15 on our last cruise) would want to do is carry around an electronic device, especially a walkie talkie. Plus, we're not about to annoy others with that squawking thing.