Texting or walkie talkies

[cmhighto]

Do cell phones work at sea for texting or should we use walkie talkies to communicate with our young teens?

[blackshirt]

Yes, cell phones will work but any texts you send won't be covered by your normal text plan and you may find the extra cost to be rather high.

[Iaminspired]

Do cell phones work at sea for texting or should we use walkie talkies to communicate with our young teens?

 

We picked up a set of Walkie Talkies for $35 on sale and they worked really well on the ship, and even kept us in touch with my DD when she was on the ship and we walked into Phillipsburg. The range on the box said up to 10 miles on flat land and up to 3 miles in an urban area. We also had quite good communication between areas of the ship, up and down floors and from one end to the other. The down side is that the ship also uses Walkie Talkies and it was hard to find a channel that wasn't being used. We'd here random conversations all the time. But that was interesting sometimes, too!

[willing292]

We picked up a set of Walkie Talkies for $35 on sale and they worked really well on the ship, and even kept us in touch with my DD when she was on the ship and we walked into Phillipsburg. The range on the box said up to 10 miles on flat land and up to 3 miles in an urban area. We also had quite good communication between areas of the ship, up and down floors and from one end to the other. The down side is that the ship also uses Walkie Talkies and it was hard to find a channel that wasn't being used. We'd here random conversations all the time. But that was interesting sometimes, too!

 

 

My radios allow me to select a channel and then a sub channel, so that the chance of someone else being on the same channel are reduced.

 

 

Shirley, Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[Paulette3028]

We picked up a set of Walkie Talkies for $35 on sale and they worked really well on the ship, and even kept us in touch with my DD when she was on the ship and we walked into Phillipsburg. The range on the box said up to 10 miles on flat land and up to 3 miles in an urban area. We also had quite good communication between areas of the ship, up and down floors and from one end to the other. The down side is that the ship also uses Walkie Talkies and it was hard to find a channel that wasn't being used. We'd here random conversations all the time. But that was interesting sometimes, too!

 

Walkie-talkies have worked wonderful for us, both on and off the ship.

[luv2cruiserccl]

I did text thru verizon was .50cents to send and 5 cents to receive text and of course data was off just cell text etc. Also just plan post bit notes work well to.

 

 

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk 2- Please excuse any errors.

[ChattaCruzer]

We used texting (through Sprint) 2 weeks ago on the Allure and it worked great. Of course, it was me and my husband and there were no teens involved in the texting, but we managed to spend less than $10 (.50 to send, .15 to receive) the entire week.

[DrD]

AT&T is also 50 cents per. Pretty reasonable if you don't use it too much.

[MrsPete]

We haven't found electronic communication necessary, even with teens. We have rules about how often they're to check in and where they can find us, and it just isn't a problem.

[DrD]

We haven't found electronic communication necessary, even with teens. We have rules about how often they're to check in and where they can find us, and it just isn't a problem.

 

Yeah, we have more trouble with the adults.

[akcruz]

We haven't found electronic communication necessary, even with teens. We have rules about how often they're to check in and where they can find us, and it just isn't a problem.

 

Agree, we tried them once and realized not worth the hassle. Also think about your teen carrying the walkie talkie around the ship with them, where to keep it, what to do with it when near the pools and other water, etc.

 

Set check in times, set rules, but check up on them every so often and you will be fine.

[satxdiver]

ATT charges $.50/message sent and no charge for messages received on the ship. Data is quite expensive as are sending photos. ATT offers cruise ship packages on RCCL ships: http://www.att.com/att/global/affordable-world-packages/?cruise

 

The "walkie talkies" use the FRS/GMRS frequencies of which there are only 22 distinct radio channels. The radios have to be approved by the Federal Communications Commission. There is no such thing as "private channels" or "sub-channels" as it is sales hype only. The FCC regulates these hand held radios to 22 channels. With 3000+ pax on a ship, the 22 distinct channels does not go far so interference may occur. Only one person at a time may use a channel otherwise interference will occur.

 

Ranges quoted by sales is only under extremely favorable conditions which do not exist in reality and especially on a ship made of metal. Your range will be limited.

 

Shouting into the radio or talking in anything other than a normal conversation voice will cause the audio on the other end to be distorted and hard to understand.

 

FRS/GMRS radios are not permitted in most foreign countries other than Canada. You could be arrested for using them in other countries.

 

The ship crew uses hand held radios that are on a totally different frequency which is not available to the general public. They will not interfere with your cheap radios.

Edited March 25, 2014 by satxdiver