Walkie talkies on cruises

[bocaraton]

Someone told me that you can turn your cellular smart phone into a walkie talkie by you and your friends downloading a certain app that by passes the ships internet. you cannot make calls just talk to eacj other on the ship so set up where to meet etc. Does anybody know how this works or what the app is?

if not, what is the most reliabel 4 phone walkie talkie i can buy..please forgive spelling errors . cannot type on this keyboard. thanks.

[LetsGetWet!]

Yes, there are a number of apps for that purpose, for any of the current smartphone platforms.

 

Yes, they can work with or without the ship's internet. But they do need a connection of some kind to work. It can be WiFi or cellular, but it has to be one or the other. So you can pay minutes for the ship's Wi-Fi or you can pay minutes for international roaming on your cell plan. Either will likely cost about the same.

 

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[NorbertsNiece]

According to the RCCL UK site walkie talkies are on the prohibited items list. FYI.

[P&C4/16/67]

Another option depending on your carrier's plan is texting. Verizon's cruise ship plan charges $.50 to send and $.05 to receive a text (no monthly fee). That would make each of your communications just $.55 if your carrier is Verizon or your carrier offers a similar plan.

[highsierracpl]

Someone told me that you can turn your cellular smart phone into a walkie talkie by you and your friends downloading a certain app that by passes the ships internet. you cannot make calls just talk to eacj other on the ship so set up where to meet etc. Does anybody know how this works or what the app is?

if not, what is the most reliabel 4 phone walkie talkie i can buy..please forgive spelling errors . cannot type on this keyboard. thanks.

 

I'm not sure about a phone app that turns your phone into a walkie talkie.....But we have used walkie talkie's that we purchased that were designed for hunting. You can get them from Amazon, Ebay or any sporting goods store.

 

When our kids were young, we had limited success using these. If the kids were in a noisy area, such as the arcade, they did not hear them. However, if they were just walking around the ship we were able to check on them.

 

Hope this helps,

[Iaminspired]

We bought walkie talkies at a local electronics store ($35 on sale) and used them on Explorer. We were able to walk all the way into Phillipsburg and still have easy walkie talkie access to the ship when we stood on the beach and had a clear sight line. On board we had no trouble using them at all. The biggest problem was the amount of interference from the ship walkie talkie system, we were always being startled by someone else's conversation. On a positive note, it was interesting eavesdropping on ship-board communication!;)

[ehfl]

You would need to either set up your own hotspot, or use phones that can do peer to peer networking (not all phones support this). Note that in either situation, the range is going to be very limited, and is not likely to cover the entire ship. Once you have your own network setup, then there should be some VOIP apps that can take advantage of the connection. You could also similarly configure your computer as a router, but would have the same range issues.

 

It's probably just easier to arrange meeting times/places for your party.

[Mom.to.2]

We bought walkie talkies at a local electronics store ($35 on sale) and used them on Explorer. We were able to walk all the way into Phillipsburg and still have easy walkie talkie access to the ship when we stood on the beach and had a clear sight line. On board we had no trouble using them at all. The biggest problem was the amount of interference from the ship walkie talkie system, we were always being startled by someone else's conversation. On a positive note, it was interesting eavesdropping on ship-board communication!;)

 

What brand & model do you have? Which 'channel' were you using?

 

 

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[Iaminspired]

What brand & model do you have? Which 'channel' were you using?

 

 

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It is a Cobra set, MicroTalk, rechargeable intergrated battery. It was their mid-priced model, regular $50 (in Canada). If I recall correctly, it had a range of 23 miles (which I have trouble believing) on flat land, 16 miles in hilly country or 1 - 2 miles in the city. They worked really well throughout the ship, up and down decks, from one end to the other.

 

We changed the channels several times but found once the interference got really bad we couldn't communicate enough to let the other person know we were changing channels.

[LetsGetWet!]

You would need to either set up your own hotspot, or use phones that can do peer to peer networking (not all phones support this). Note that in either situation, the range is going to be very limited, and is not likely to cover the entire ship. Once you have your own network setup, then there should be some VOIP apps that can take advantage of the connection. You could also similarly configure your computer as a router, but would have the same range issues.

 

It's probably just easier to arrange meeting times/places for your party.

 

Yes, those are the exceptions to what I mentioned about "you need a connection of some kind" earlier.

 

I didn't mention those because:

 

* not all phones support peer to peer, as you mentioned

 

* for those that do, the setup is non-trivial to get multiple phones talking peer-to-peer. If you're "techie" enough to do that, I figure you probably won't be asking the question of whether it's possible on CC.

 

* Most importantly, with all the metal on the ship your range will be so limited as to make it totally worthless - whether you're talking peer-to-peer, personal hotspot or laptop-as-router.

 

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[NorbertsNiece]

These were sold on board Adventure :

 

[bocaraton]

Yes, there are a number of apps for that purpose, for any of the current smartphone platforms.

 

Yes, they can work with or without the ship's internet. But they do need a connection of some kind to work. It can be WiFi or cellular, but it has to be one or the other. So you can pay minutes for the ship's Wi-Fi or you can pay minutes for international roaming on your cell plan. Either will likely cost about the same.

 

Sent from my Galaxy S4 via Tapatalk

 

I heard that AT&T...my carrier...will give you a foreign call rate for 1 month I will try to get there tomorrow and find out about this. I still cannot understand how this works..But, supposedly, the rate is very low.

Thanks for the info.

[bocaraton]

yes, but they are very low quality and few channels so you are always pushing on someone elses line or conversation. its best to pay more and get several hundred channels or to use the cell phone solution if I can figure it out.

[bocaraton]

It is a Cobra set, MicroTalk, rechargeable intergrated battery. It was their mid-priced model, regular $50 (in Canada). If I recall correctly, it had a range of 23 miles (which I have trouble believing) on flat land, 16 miles in hilly country or 1 - 2 miles in the city. They worked really well throughout the ship, up and down decks, from one end to the other.

 

We changed the channels several times but found once the interference got really bad we couldn't communicate enouT

gh to let the other person know we were changing channels.

THAT IS MY ISSUE. my grandchildren are diabetic...they want their freedom, but we want to know they can call without a problem if they need to question how much insulin or carbs to take...we also are 7 people. the parents, the grandparents (us) and the three children. The oldest 13 will be with the phone the other two will probably hang out near us anyhow..all suggestions appreciated.

[willing292]

We have ten year old motorolas that work great! We never cruise without them. If you take them ashore in Mexico, be advised that they might be seized by he Mexican authorities. Not sure why.

 

 

Shirley, Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[CruiseEatRelax]

So there is no way to communicate onboard with your room mates around the ship? RCCL does not provide phones in your staterooms to use? Guess I better start looking for our 2-way radios.

 

 

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[A2Mich]

Yes there are phones in all if the cabins

 

 

 

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[CruiseEatRelax]

Phones that you can take with you like Disney has?

 

 

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[bocaraton]

So there is no way to communicate onboard with your room mates around the ship? RCCL does not provide phones in your staterooms to use? Guess I better start looking for our 2-way radios.

 

 

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No, no. Of course they have phones. They are Great. Love Royal Carib and Celebrity. You can call room to room very easily. But, if you are at the pool and your children or friends are elsewhere,you cannot call them to tell you to meet you at the pool, or in the dining room, or they cannot call you to tell your that they have decided not to meet you at the pool but to go to the gym or whatever. Room to room is fine. Out and about is impossible.

[CruiseEatRelax]

Thanks for your reply. I will pull out our 2-way radios and get fresh batteries and pack them in our luggage.

 

 

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[4cats,1dog]

A few years ago, RCI had a Royal connect program to keep track of your group/kids. Each get an iPhone (rent by day through RCI) all connections in rental agreement.

See if they still have that program.

I found that walkie Talkies have reception problems, I was talking to other families but couldn't get my own.

[willing292]

My radios have over 100 channels. We have never had anyone else on our channel.

 

 

Shirley, Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[bocaraton]

My radios have over 100 channels. We have never had anyone else on our channel.

 

 

Shirley, Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

 

What brand do you have..? Can i get it with three walkie talkies or four if necessary. Where do they sell it? What brand. Thanks.

[willing292]

Mine are Motorola 2 way radios. We have two. To talk to each other, we pick a channel, one of 15 I think, and one of 38 codes. This allows us as much privacy as one can expect (lol) over the radio waves.

 

 

Shirley, Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[willing292]

I think they come in sets of 2, so you would just buy 2 sets to get 4 radios, and then set them all to the same channel. Mine use 3 AA batteries each. We take the batteries out between cruises, as that's the only time we use them. I think radio shack or a store like that might be your best bet, or online.

 

 

Shirley, Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app