cellphones or walkie talkies

[jeff1948]

will be on rhapsody 10-23; wife wants to take our cellphones so that we can communicate with each other while on the ship (she thinks that i will be getting lost alot); should we consider this or invest in cheap walkie talkies from wal-mart? thanks in advance for your help.

jeff and susan from levittown penna:cool:

[cruisin' scrapper]

Your cellphones won't work on the ship-not many cell towers in the middle of the ocean ;) . I saw lots of people using the walkie-talkies, so you might want to make sure you get one that has a wide choice of frequencies. Have a great time! You'll love the Rhapsody.

[dirtgirl]

I don't know if the Rhapsody has ship phones (like cell phones - but used on the ship). We got 2 on the Mariner for $25 for the week each, and they were great! We got them at Guest Relations.

[imsulin2]

The above posters are correct - your cell phone will not work on the ship. If you have cingular, it will work in U.S. ports like the USVI (St. Thomas) and Puerto Rico...because they are U.S. territories. Best to rent the ship's walkie-talkies. (Just don't talk on them during dinner, please!)

[QuitMyDayJob]

So, you can rent walkie-talkies on the ship but you can also bring regular walkie-talkies and they will work as well? Is either choice any better than the other?

 

And I completely agree with I2: no walkie-talkies at dinner.

[mikefast]

We bought our own walkie talkies and they worked pretty good. The only problem was there are a lot of other people using them too. You have to find a frequency that isn't too popular.

[Yooper38]

Does anyone know if VOS offers walkie talkies to rent? What is the cost? I was going to look for a set of 3 or 4 walkie talkies but if I can just rent them I would rather do that.

[curiousjly]

I was trying to figure out how to keep in touch with my DD, on the Enchantment, does anyone know if they have the walkie talkies, and the price for rental?

 

Also, as a side note, unless you have international, when you use your cell phone, it is an international call. I asked Cingular (two different customer service personnel), about the cost of uisng my cell phone on the ship. They both told me that unless I have international, it would lbe considered an international call, and would be charged accordingly. Somewhere around $2 a minute, I think (not sure of price).

 

I also read a post from someone that stated that they had their phone turned off, but were charged for calls that went to their voice mail, so even if your phone is turned off, you can still end up with charges. I am thinking of leaving my phone home, and getting a pre-paid calling card to use.

 

Jly

[dirtgirl]

The phones you rent on the ship are not like walkie-talkies. They look and perform like cell phones. You can dial up other ship phones or room numbers. They vibrate and play a tune when they are ringing. $25 each for a week on the Mariner. They were worth it!

[tazza]

I don't know if the Rhapsody has ship phones (like cell phones - but used on the ship). We got 2 on the Mariner for $25 for the week each, and they were great! We got them at Guest Relations.

I was wanting to know if you pay for phone calls - on the ship phones - over and above the $25 per phone and if so, how much were the calls? We were planning on taking walkie talkies but we are coming from Australia and the less I have to pack the better!

[FJTinSC]

Just FYI, having worked in customer service and billing for two major US cellular providers, I must tell you that if you are traveling out of the US and you phones are OFF, and a call goes to your voice mail, you will NOT be charged the international rate for the call. As a matter of fact, you dont even use plan minutes for calls received to voice mail. You would only be charged or use minutes if you access or check your voicemail from your cell phone.

 

Even in the US, if you call your voicemail from a land line phone to check voice mail, you dont even use your cellular plan minutes.

 

We always take our phones, for the trip to the peir, and upon return. We just dont use them in ports outside the US.

[MattInFLL]

Jly - Cingular has several plans to make international calling much cheaper. Usually for a small monthly fee, you get one of their international packages and then after a couple of months (it takes a while for all the international calls to show up) you just take the international package off your bill. In the Caribbean, most calls are under 69 cents a minute - sometimes much cheaper. Even in Europe, calls should be under $1 a minute. And if your phone is turned off, there should be no voice mail charges whatsoever. You only get charged for that kind of call if your phone is on while you are overseas, and you just choose to let it go to voicemail. Then you would be charged for the call.

 

And didn't I read somewhere that RCI was equipping some of their ships with cell phone towers? It is coming, if it hasn't already.

[spoonful]

I read in a review of a Voyager class ship in either the Washington Post or New York Times (don't remember which) that there are a limited number of walkie talkies for available so you really need to hustle and get a pair before they are gone.

[FitzLA]

I also read a post from someone that stated that they had their phone turned off, but were charged for calls that went to their voice mail, so even if your phone is turned off, you can still end up with charges. I am thinking of leaving my phone home, and getting a pre-paid calling card to use.

 

Jly

 

Whoever wrote this must have CHECKED their voicemail when roaming. You CANNOT be charged if someone leaves you a message when your phone is off, unless they have some screwy carrier. If your phone rings, and it says roaming, don't answer it. Then you will not be charged. Believe me, I have traveled to MANY different countries, and I am never charged if I don't answer my phone, on or off, even if it goes to voicemail.

[dirtgirl]

I was wanting to know if you pay for phone calls - on the ship phones - over and above the $25 per phone and if so, how much were the calls? We were planning on taking walkie talkies but we are coming from Australia and the less I have to pack the better!

 

No, no additional charge/call. A flat fee of $25 is charged to your Seapass per phone. We had to hand them in by 9:00 Saturday night. It was hard to give them up!

[flagger]

Just get a set of FRS/GMRS walkies from Wal-mart or Sam's. We bought a set of Motorola's for $43 with free shipping from Amazon. No need to worry about having to turn them in at the end of the cruise. Then you can use them again and again.

[Ericknow32]

Just FYI, having worked in customer service and billing for two major US cellular providers, I must tell you that if you are traveling out of the US and you phones are OFF, and a call goes to your voice mail, you will NOT be charged the international rate for the call. As a matter of fact, you dont even use plan minutes for calls received to voice mail. You would only be charged or use minutes if you access or check your voicemail from your cell phone.

Tell that to Cingular

[Ericknow32]

People please be courteous with your walkie-talkies/cell phones. I believe that people have a right to use them on there cruise just use them respectfully. Please don't have meaningless conversations in public places with the volume turned all the way up. It can be annoying. Please don't use them in an elevator with other people around you, that too can be annoying. Please just use common courtesy and don't yack-yack-yack all day long. Quickly find out were the other person is and talk to them face to face. Once again I have no problem with people using them as long as they are being used responsibly and with respect for other passengers around them.

[Nliedel]

Glad I read this thread. I forgot to pack the walkie talkies! Yes please remember we can hear you!

[kathy_bc]

We have the old walkie talkies (got them around 1999). I don't like them because the batteries run out quickly (easy to turn it on by mistake), and that they're loud (hearing the beeps and other conversations)...

 

What are the new two-way radios like? I see that on costco.ca website they have one, and that it states that it has "vibra-alert". Does this mean someone can call you "silently"???

 

I really like the idea of being in contact, but I just hate to bother other people (which is why I never brought my old set with me).

 

But I am considering on buying a new set if it works well.

 

Can anyone tell me how the new ones work??

 

thanks!

[madisonms]

I also read a post from someone that stated that they had their phone turned off, but were charged for calls that went to their voice mail, so even if your phone is turned off, you can still end up with charges. I am thinking of leaving my phone home, and getting a pre-paid calling card to use.

 

Jly

 

That is such a ridiculous comment (from whomever the OP was)! The phone is off. As long as it remains off, they do not know that you are on a cruise. You would have to power it on and then call into your v/m in order to get charged.

[madisonms]

People please be courteous with your walkie-talkies/cell phones. I believe that people have a right to use them on there cruise just use them respectfully. Please don't have meaningless conversations in public places with the volume turned all the way up. It can be annoying. Please don't use them in an elevator with other people around you, that too can be annoying. Please just use common courtesy and don't yack-yack-yack all day long. Quickly find out were the other person is and talk to them face to face. Once again I have no problem with people using them as long as they are being used responsibly and with respect for other passengers around them.

 

This has been a public service announcement. ;)

[curiousjly]

I have no proof of it myself, as I am waiting to go on first cruise

 

GOT DOCS TODAY IN MAIL ! ! ! ! ! !

 

Sorry, gote excited for a sec. :D

 

I had read it here when I first started to read posts, I will do a search to see if I can find the original post. I just remember the OP stating that she/he was shocked when they got home to find charges on their bill, as they had turned off their phones. Cell phone company told her/hiim that the charges were for voice mail calls.

To me it didn't make sense, the phone was off, but phone companies are a business, out to make money, so, I figured they had found another way to make some bucks.

 

Wanted to pass the word along, so someone wouldn't find a bill that wasn't expected when they got home. :eek:

 

Thanks for the input about it and the other responses,

I will search and see what I can find.

 

Anyone else know anything about this happening?

 

Jly

[curiousjly]

I had added an edit to my post, for some reason it didn't work

 

 

I searched and found several posts where cell phones were left on and charges, but so far none with it off. There were around five pages, and I don't have time to read them all, so it could be there, but then, it was so long back, I could have mixed two together.

 

I would look further, but I have a 20 page research paper due, just received approval on topic, and it is due in three wks due to the cruise, so I can't do more searching.

That plus my homework, I will never get it all done in time before cruise :eek:

 

As stated earlier, I was wanting to help out, as I once goofed and didn't check roaming area, let my mother use my phone to call home, and ended up with $300 roaming charges (from over a week of calling).

I didn't want that to happen to someone.

 

Better safe than sorry later. I guess when in doubt, check with your carrier.

 

Sorry for the confusion, it was not intentional to mis-inform. I am swamped here with school work. :(

 

Jly