GPS for elderly dad??

[stateparent]

Has anyone used the GPS wrist bracelet for kids yet?? I am wondering if it might be a good possibility for helping us keep in touch with my 91yo dad who is going with us on the Oasis June 19. As large a ship as it is, I am concerned about being able to maintain contact with him. Any suggestions or advice for traveling with an elderly person on this ship? He is fully and independently ambulatory, and has no health issues, just the fact that his endurance is what one would expect for a 91year old!!

 

Thanks!

Stateparent

[steamboats]

You know that you definitely need a Royal Connect Phone to use this feature?

 

steamboats

[ChipLondon]

The WOW phone system on board can be used to track anybody in your group, so you can find each other.

[jmlipari]

When you say they can be used to track anyone in your group- do they need to be wearing a wrist band or do they have to have a phone. And do you need to have gotten all the phones at the same time in order to track one another? We are a large group, 12 people, 5 different cabins. And where exactly do you get them- I keep hearing different spots! TIA

[drarill]

Hello everyone:

We rented the WOW phones on our Oasis Jan. 2nd cruise. We rented two phones and two tracking devices for our children. It was really easy to track my children and my husband. You will only know where the people on your cabin are. On our cruise the tracking devices had problems with the batteries.

[jmlipari]

But you can still call or text people in other cabins who have wow phones?

And where did you pick up the phones?

[MickeyB426]

But you can still call or text people in other cabins who have wow phones?

And where did you pick up the phones?

 

See the other threads regarding where to pick up the phones. Seems to be some confusion.

 

As I understand it, based on the reviews I've been reading, when you take out a WOW phone (let's assume you take, say, 3 phones out), they will configure those three phones to be able to call-text-locate each other only.

 

I do not know if you can do the same with any other WOW phone user unless you have their ID, and even then it night not be possible because it's pre-set when you rent them out.

[drarill]

But you can still call or text people in other cabins who have wow phones?

And where did you pick up the phones?

You can call other cabins and text or call other wow phones. We traveled with a large group of friends and it was a great way to stay in touch.

We picked our phone at the conference center, deck 3 forward. If you are traveling on a suite, the concierge is suppose to have some phones in the future. The CL didn't have any phones on our cruise.

[jmlipari]

Did the phones have to be picked up at the same time and regestered to the same cabin in order to contact one another. That seems to be what other people are saying but it doesn't seem to make much sense. I hear that you pick up the phones in the conference center but you first sign up for them and recurve a reciept, somewhere else. Was this how you did it drarill? Where did you sign up for it?

[drarill]

Did the phones have to be picked up at the same time and regestered to the same cabin in order to contact one another. That seems to be what other people are saying but it doesn't seem to make much sense. I hear that you pick up the phones in the conference center but you first sign up for them and recurve a reciept, somewhere else. Was this how you did it drarill? Where did you sign up for it?

We went to the conference center and filled some papers and they asked us when did we wanted to pick the phones. I think that we picked the phones and tracking devices at 6:00PM. But, one of our friends got their phones at the same time that they registered.

My phone tracked where my children (with tracking devices) and my husband (with his wow phone) were. You can only track where the people on your cabin are.

We saved all our friends phones numbers on the texting area. We called and texted our friends all the time, you can also call your cabin or your friend's cabins. Our children also knew our phones numbers and called us from the public phones.

Hope this helps

[jmlipari]

Yes! It helps alot. Thank you so much. One more question though, if you don't mind. How early did you sign up for the phones? Just wondering how quickly they run out...

[micahd]

The wow phones are really cool and will probably be useful to track individuals who need to be, kids, elderly, people with gambling problems...

 

But I do want to offer one correction, they are not using GPS (Global Positing System) for the tracking information, more than likely the system knows what wireless access point they are connected to and because it knows where that point is it can tell you where the device is.

 

Also, there is simply no way GPS can work through all the steel that makes up a ships structure, maybe on the pool decks, but not down in the casino, theatre and other places. You just can't reach a satellite through that kind of metal.

 

again, much love, but as a geek it's a pet peeve.

[drarill]

Yes! It helps alot. Thank you so much. One more question though, if you don't mind. How early did you sign up for the phones? Just wondering how quickly they run out...

We signed up after we had lunch, and had to wait for our phones. Our friends were one of the first to sign up, 11:30-12:00 and were given their phones immediately.

I don't know what they use for the tracking system, but I can say that is really accurate and safe at the same time. For example if my children were on our cabin, the tracking system said "deck 11 stateroom 1120-1150" . The only problem we had, and I think that they were working on it, was the battery life on the tracking devices. Sometimes the battery didn't last 24 hours.

[stateparent]

So, tell me if I am interpreting correctly---we can use the phones to text or call my elderly dad, but cannot track him, as he is not registered to the same cabin as we are. Is that right?? I'm also assuming the phones can be set on vibrate, as it could be disturbing to hear phones ringing all over the ship.

 

Micahd, I understand. I come from a family of geeks. Promise you won't tell them of my ignorance. ;)

[steamboats]

stateparent,

 

There are two different ways to locate someone via Wow-Phone:

 

- the person is wearing a locator bracelet (usually for kids only)

 

- the person has a Wow-Phone and your phones are connected

 

You can connect two (and more) cabins to each other when renting a Wow-Phone. But be aware that each single phone is $ 17.50 per week.

 

To locate your Dad you both need a Wow-phone and you have to have your cabin numbers connected when renting them.

 

steamboats