Walkie-Talkies Really Work onboard?

I have seen a few postings about using Walkie-Talkie hand-held radios onboard cruise ships to communicate between separated couples and wonder if anyone can share their actual experiences in using them.

I ask this because I worked for much of my career in the field of radio communications and, quite frankly, I don’t see how Walkie-Talkies could be very effective onboard a cruise ship given that such ships are a collection of metal boxes within one huge metal box. Radio frequencies will not penetrate a sealed metal box, in vernacular of the trade, a Faraday shield. Given that many of the boxes will have openings, doors, portholes, etc., some minor amount of RF will escape, but not much and not line-of-sight, meaning only a weak signal will bounce around to the next box, and so on (multipath in vernacular of the trade). It seems to me that it would be difficult to use the Walkie-Talkies effectively anywhere except on the open deck or within the same room.

As I said, I’d love to hear about real, actual experience with using Walkie-Talkie hand-held radios onboard cruise ships.

We have used radio onboard the ships. I dont think average walkie talkies will work either. These are the frequency radios that have subchannels. (the channels are very busy) they do work. On our first cruise we were on the main deck and I can get in touch with the kids who were up on the lido deck getting lunch etc.

Going NOWHERE

Miracle, February 13, 2005

Legend, October 22,2004

Voyager August 31,2003

Victory September 22,2002

Regal Empress,June 2001

Sensation,August 2000

Do to the inherent difficulties of radio waves penetrating metal, you get to enjoy hearing people shouting into the handset: "Do you hear me? Where are you? Over and over and over...." I must be missing something but why does everyone have to stay in constant touch. There is only so many places to go on the ship.

13 cruises so far - RCCL, Carnival, Celebrity, Princess, NCL, HAL (we were on the last cruise of the wonderful Norway, still have my room key)

Caribbean Princess 5/15/04 next

Be brave...live free!

I've never used one, but on our last cruise, it seemed like everywhere we went, people were on walkie-talkies. And there were several times I wished we had a set as well. To be fair, we were on one of the Voyager class ships, so it was easier to lose someone. And those ships have the big promenade down the center of the ship, which made it easier for LOS communications. I'd sure like to go back and test out a pair!

Cruzincurt - you asked why people need to keep in touch more. It's a matter of preference of course, but I can understand parents who want to have some way to keep in touch with their children who are old enough to be on their own.

Adventure of the Seas 9/21/03 - wish I was still there!!!

It was a blessing to have my cheap walkie talkies on our carnival cruise. Although most of the noise was kids yelling on them, my mom and I were able to communicate enough to know when to meet up. we both wanted to do different things at times and it was nice to let her know that i was late for our lunch date or to meet me at such and such instead of getting an extra workout chasing each other around the ship.

Miracle January 2005

Carnival Victory Dec 2003

Carnival Sensation Jan 2003

We just got off the Constellation and saw several people that had them. One particular couple had a very small one from motorola. They said it worked great. I will definitely be looking to get one for our next cruise which will be in July.

All the Voyager class ships rent out "walkieTalkie" type cell phones. They program a number and you call that to contact the person with the walkie talkie. Worked like a charm and cost $25 for the entire cruise. Worth it for peace of mind.

Yes, they do most of the time, but not always, so you have to use the cabin phone too.

Diamond Princess HERE WE COME! Alaska has never been so cool! 5/22/04

May 31, 2003 Carnival Triumph to Western Caribbean.

We've used FRS (VHF-FM) radios on the last two cruises we've taken, and have had very few instances where we couldn't communicate. It helps if you have units that have privacy code capability (tone-activated squelch.) They're handy when you want to do different things onboard, and would like to alert the other person to something interesting, or to arrange a rendezvous. It's also great in port, when you don't want to shop in the same stores (or when one wants to sit in a bar and people-watch while the other shops <grin>). Our radios are small enough to fit in a shirt pocket (AudioVox). The only place they don't work is the casino -- way too much background noise, and our radios don't have vibrator signalling.

John

We've used FRS (VHF-FM) radios on the last two cruises we've taken, and have had very few instances where we couldn't communicate. It helps if you have units that have privacy code capability (tone-activated squelch.) They're handy when you want to do different things onboard, and would like to alert the other person to something interesting, or to arrange a rendezvous. It's also great in port, when you don't want to shop in the same stores (or when one wants to sit in a bar and people-watch while the other shops <grin>). Our radios are small enough to fit in a shirt pocket (AudioVox). The only place they don't work is the casino -- way too much background noise, and our radios don't have vibrator signalling.

 

John

what is the model number of your audiovox and what was the price range? thanks!

Some of them seem to work aboard some ships. However I am am sure your fellow passengers would appreciate you only using them ashore. There is nothing worse then hearing people trying to communicate on those sqawky things while aboard ship..

Will they work on Mexican Riviera cruises? I hear foreign countries have different frequencies or whatever that render them unusable. Thanks.

We used a set on our last cruise. We had our son (19) and his friend (18) and it was very benefical to have a set just to check in every once in a while. There were areas where we could not hear only because the environment was loud.

We bought ours from Radio Shack and they were around 70 dollars, I am sorry I do not know the brand.

I am also looking at getting a set of walkie talkies for a cruise next year so I can keep track of my kids. Do they have walkie talkies capable of texting????

Just remember, the use of walkie talkies in most foreign countries is against local laws. Don't take them off the ship or else you could get in a lot of trouble.

Just remember, the use of walkie talkies in most foreign countries is against local laws. Don't take them off the ship or else you could get in a lot of trouble.

Maybe they will be confiscated never to be heard from and disturbing fellow passengers again!:D

WOW!

That's the first time I have heard of that. I was planning on useing the walkie talkie off ship.

It would be scary to get seperated in Carthegna or Limon.

If they do truly ban these radios then I guess it just makes kidnapping for ransom a little easier.

I will ask the cruise line when I am onboard.

Believe me, you do not want to use the w/t's in Columbia. You are close to military instillations in the port of Cartegena and using American-made w/t's are quite illegal. Your w/t's might interfere with the radio frequencies that their military uses, and you could be arrested.