Using walk-in talkies and internet

[Firsttimer9]

Anyone try using walk-in talkies on cruise to Alaska. Opinions on internet in ship, Ruby Princess, would be helpful. Can you use personal hot spot on iPhone? Would like to stay in contact with others who are going on cruise with us. Suggestions welcome :)

[JF - retired RRT]

Anyone try using walk-in talkies on cruise to Alaska. Opinions on internet in ship, Ruby Princess, would be helpful. Can you use personal hot spot on iPhone? Would like to stay in contact with others who are going on cruise with us. Suggestions welcome :)

Walkie talkies don't work well on the ship...metal walls everywhere blocks the signal.

The ship intranet allows communication with your friends on the ship. Sign in information is in the first day Patter and at the internet center. Each person has to have the appropriate code for the friend. It's like IM only no beep or anything to let you know you have a message.

I don't know anything about hot spots.

[jrzebird]

Walkie talkies don't work well on the ship...metal walls everywhere blocks the signal.

 

The ship intranet allows communication with your friends on the ship. Sign in information is in the first day Patter and at the internet center. Each person has to have the appropriate code for the friend. It's like IM only no beep or anything to let you know you have a message.

 

I don't know anything about hot spots.

 

 

 

And there is no charge for intranet. I don’t know if Ruby has the fast new wi fi yet. My opinion of walkie talkies is, please don’t. They are loud and annoying to those around you. Princess at sea and/or medallion will work great.

[JimmyVWine]

Brought walkie-talkies with us on a cruise in 1998. Never again. They never worked as well as you might hope. You can text messages to your family group using the intranet at no cost, and it actually works.

[Colo Cruiser]

They are great in the theater and DR's. ;)

[Mike45LC]

Walkie-talkies don't work well on the ship. I did not try them in Alaska, but did many years ago in the Mexican Riviera -- nowadays, I just add Mexico coverage to my cell phone plan for a week, and my wife and I can call each other while in port.

 

On the ship, the intranet is sort of ok, but there is no alert when you get a message.

 

On the Ruby in Alaska, the internet is like molasses on a winter morning. Like a 1970s 360 baud modem. Or worse!

[floridalover5623]

Most people try the walkie Talkies once & give up on them.

It's to bad the Princess intranet system didn't have at least a vibrate indication for an alert.

Unless your a person that checks you messages every minute, the feature is useless.

[Haboob]

Anyone try using walk-in talkies on cruise to Alaska. Opinions on internet in ship, Ruby Princess, would be helpful. Can you use personal hot spot on iPhone? Would like to stay in contact with others who are going on cruise with us. Suggestions welcome :)

 

I'm not an Apple person, so I'm talking generalities.

 

Generally speaking, a "hot spot" (aka "tether") links other devices via WiFi to your cellphone so

they can use its cellphone carrier as an internet host. At sea, that's exactly what folks use

"Airplane Mode" to avoid doing since ships' cellular rates are piratical.

 

Princess@Sea uses the ship's intranet to provide passenger-to-passenger messaging, but

without any "you've got mail" notifications. It's a freebie and well worth what you pay for it. :halo:

[satxdiver]

The ship is made of metal including the floors, walls, doors, ceilings etc. Metal shields radio signals making the hand held radios (aka walkie talkies) all but useless.

 

The Princess@sea ap that you can use on your smart phone is the best solution. It is free, uses your web browser set to the ship address and includes an ability to send messages back and forth to your friends once you set it up. It also allows you to see your folio real time, order breakfast in the room, look at the daily activities and mark the ones you are interested in and more.

 

A hot spot/tether will use the ship's cell tower and you will be billed through your cell phone provider. Go to the the cell phone provider (AT&T, Verizon etc) to see the prices for using the cell tower for voice, messaging and data transfer.

 

Internet which can be expensive on an AK cruise can be very slow (think dial up days) and the signals can drop out causing you to reenter the ship internet. Remember that the ship is moving and the internet connection is via satellite with a very noticeable delay. Watch national news when they are interviewing someone located in another city say across the continent. The delay is very noticeable in the banter between the two sites.

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IMO, walkies talkies are annoying to you fellow passengers. Nothing like hear someone shout their personall business in the elevator and elsewhere.

 

 

 

They have a messaging app on the phone which is free and quiet and works.