Communicating with spouse onboard ship

[Olstick]

My wife and I are sailing out of NYC Feb 1st for a caribean cruise. There may be times when we would like to stay in touch while the ship is underway and we are in different locations. While we both have cell phones I understand the charges could be prohibitive. I would appreciate any suggestions you might have to solve this minor problem. Thank you

[swedish weave]

My wife and I are sailing out of NYC Feb 1st for a caribean cruise. There may be times when we would like to stay in touch while the ship is underway and we are in different locations. While we both have cell phones I understand the charges could be prohibitive. I would appreciate any suggestions you might have to solve this minor problem. Thank you

 

I have seen some people using the small frs radios. I don't know how well they work on a ship, but it is an idea.

[Got Tequila?]

My wife and I are sailing out of NYC Feb 1st for a caribean cruise. There may be times when we would like to stay in touch while the ship is underway and we are in different locations. While we both have cell phones I understand the charges could be prohibitive. I would appreciate any suggestions you might have to solve this minor problem. Thank you

 

The cabins have answering machines on the phones, so if you have to you could call the cabin and leave a message. There are "house" phones around the ship where you can call the cabin from.

 

If you happen to be in a full suite they have a portable phone for use around the ship.

[auntierobin]

On our Alaksa cruise this year I didn't think twice about using my cellphone to keep in contact with my husband to arrange meeting places, etc. and vice versa. Imagine my surprise when we got home and I had a $212 phone bill :eek:, which usually runs about $90. I have since then invested in a pair of walkie talkies and am going to try them out on our cruise in June. I have been told that if you get stronger ones with a long range there is no problem unless you are in the boiler room (LOL). We'll see how that plan works.

[las313]

We always bring our walkies. And they work most of the time. It depends on where each of you are located on the ship. Like if one is outside and the other inside.

I suggest you get one that has sub channels or you will constantly hear everyone else radio.

We also use them at home in walmart or the mall or Sam's. We only have 1 cell phone.

Louise

[NJGem]

We have an expensive set and have used them many times with success. We find them very convenient to use on the ship and on shore. We've only had one ship, the QM2, where they couldn't transmit. We try not to annoy other passengers, so we turn them off when we are together. We find that they are really useful and allow each of us do our own things and not waste a lot of time when we want to connect with each other. Last cruise I was trying to connect with my husband and someone was reading the buffet menu and describing all the ingredients. I found that really annoying.

[mjkacmom]

We have an expensive set and have used them many times with success. We find them very convenient to use on the ship and on shore. We've only had one ship, the QM2, where they couldn't transmit. We try not to annoy other passengers, so we turn them off when we are together. We find that they are really useful and allow each of us do our own things and not waste a lot of time when we want to connect with each other. Last cruise I was trying to connect with my husband and someone was reading the buffet menu and describing all the ingredients. I found that really annoying.

 

What brand and model? We have 4 motorola ones, but I don't think they have sub channels.

[NJGem]

Oops - my bad. I meant to type "inexpensive" and didn't proof read very well. That must have seemed pretentious to anyone who read it. This set was actually a freebie from the local hardware store and they have worked really well for us. I find them really helpful even in the ports. When we were in St. Thomas, I wanted to do the Skyride and my husband didn't - so I left him to do his thing in Havensight while I went on the Skyride. I just called him on the radio when I was done and we arranged a meeting place. Having the radios allowed me to stay as long as I needed without setting a time to meet in advance. On a cruise with large numbers of teens, etc. you may get a lot of chatter with the parents staying in touch. As I said before - they can be really useful and a real time saver.

[mmceachn]

We used text mesages on the cell phones...50 cents a message at sea, ad 10 cents in port,,,,free in US ports such as St, Thomas under our plan,

You should check with your cell phone provider for your plan costs

[bakerintn]

Please be aware that the common walkie talkie in the US uses frequencies that my not be legal to use that way in foreign countries. Some countries take that seriously.

 

Also, please turn the notice sound off when at meals and entertainment in courtesy to your fellow passengers.

[Lena B]

We just use post it notes on the cabin mirror. I know it's not very high-tech, but it works for us!

[silkhair1]

We put a magnetic dry erase board on our door before and left messages. Fun part is that other passengers left messages too! LOL All in good fun! We tried walkie talkies, but had a problem sometimes and found them hard to carry around on the ship. Have a great time!

[Inuvikcouple]

We tried 2 tin cans and a very long string...:(, it didn't work.

[ksg]

Does anyone know if it is possible to call the cabin to pick up messages, or do you have to go back to the cabin to get them off the phone? More specifically, we're going to be on the Dawn.

 

Years ago, we had the walkie talkies on RCL. They didn't work, and the kids threw theirs out. (or maybe they didn't work because the kids threw it out? :)

[auntierobin]

In looking at walkie-talkies, they come in different mileage ranges. Would the longer range models work better onboard, say a 27 mile range versus a 16 mile range?

[MommyMonster]

In looking at walkie-talkies, they come in different mileage ranges. Would the longer range models work better onboard, say a 27 mile range versus a 16 mile range?

 

I don't know about all of them, but we have an 18 range and a 25 range and the 25 works better. That range is rated with out obstruction. Sometimes if I were by the pool and the kiddo was in the cabin, I couldn't hear him well. But I knew where to go.

 

We love using ours, but we keep them low and use the head buds when we are in shows, games, etc.

 

We have never taken them off at port.

[auntierobin]

We don't plan on using them in port, since we are usually together. The ship is another matter. I think that I wlll go with the 27's, we could also use them in Wi. in the winter and summer, when DH goes hiking and I stay on the deck to read a book or we are on snowmobiles. Thank you for your advice.

[oyme]

We bought some Motorola ones at a sport store here in town - they were camo printed - for use on our last cruise and they worked pretty spotty... rarely worked. I wish I had the model numbers but we have already returned them. Whatever you buy maybe do a test run before the cruise to check the range? I'm not sure if that would help since you wouldn't be on a ship. We used ours at sea, not in port. I was wandering around for over an hour trying to find my husband at one point since the walky wasn't working eventually I was able to get a hold of him with it...

[big green]

The cabins have answering machines on the phones, so if you have to you could call the cabin and leave a message. There are "house" phones around the ship where you can call the cabin from.

 

If you happen to be in a full suite they have a portable phone for use around the ship.

 

not so--not all NCL ships have phones available for full suites.

 

BG

[NMLady]

My wife and I are sailing out of NYC Feb 1st for a caribean cruise. There may be times when we would like to stay in touch while the ship is underway and we are in different locations. While we both have cell phones I understand the charges could be prohibitive. I would appreciate any suggestions you might have to solve this minor problem. Thank you

 

Cell phone rates using ship's tower costs $2.49 per minute so as soon as we board we turn off our cell phones so we won't forget to before departure. The phones stay in the safe for the rest of the cruise.

 

We tried walkie-talkies on one cruise but there were too many dead areas in the ship because of all the metal so that didn't work.

 

On sea days we say good-bye to each other after breakfast and usually don't plan on meeting again until 5pm since we don't like the same kind of activities.

 

However, since each night we together go over the newsletter list of next day's activities we each have a good idea of where the other probably is if we need them. We rarely go back to the room during the day, so leaving a message on the phone or mirror or eraseboard wouldn't work for us. We never pay for balcony cabin so no reason to be in cabin during day.

 

On port days we're together, so no problem.

[camz]

We have used our walkies, however, sometimes they don't work. Same with our cell phones, sometimes they don't work that well either, depending upon where you were on the ship. :)

[Turtles06]

My partner and I have found that post-it notes in the cabin work very well. We considered walkie talkies, but one of things we absolutely love the most about cruising is that all you need for the day is your sea card, and that's it. No need to have anything else at all with you on board. The sticky notes have been fine for us.

[mellygo]

This whole thread just makes me laugh at how OLD I am!! I remember the day when you didn't even call your mother and father unless it was an EMERGENCY!! ( and having to wait an hour for them to pick you up definitely didn't qualify!!)

We plan out our day, so that we each know about how long each activity will take. We plan to meet at certain times (for meals, activities we both enjoy) and then we actually meet at those times!! We both had cell phones with us, but never had to use them. I guess society is crippled by cell phones, and no has to plan anymore?

[superflyjeff]

caveat: check with your wireless carrier.....

 

If you're using cell phones on the ship, text messaging is the cheapest. I'm with AT&T now, but when I was with verizon it was like $0.05 to send and $0.25 to receive (or something like that)

 

Regardless it's much cheaper than $2-3 per minute for phone usage.

[lukes]

I agree with mellygo. We both have cell phones, we leave them in the safe, we have tried walkie talkies, they were hit and miss. I like just walking around with only my sea card. We look at the schedule and decide what we are doing and when/where we are going to meet up. When necessary we use the ship phones to leave messages or change plans etc.