electronic child tracking on cruise

[styxfire]

Has anyone had a successful experience using trackers or electronic bluetooth devices to locate members of their party on a cruise ship in international waters?  What types of devices, internet, or subscriptions have you used?

 

While I appreciate tried-and-true methods of communication like sticky notes or dry-erase boards, and realize the vast array of opinions on parenting techniques and child behaviors etc., this question is specifically about TECHNOLOGICAL TRACKING.  I'm struggling to understand the differences in the products available on Amazon, such as Tile Mate & similar trackers.  I understand that real-time tracking is the preference.  Some products offer geo-fencing, and I don't understand if that's real-time or not.  I suspect that some devices require you to set the location when you leave the "item"...i.e. when you park your car in an enormous parking lot, so you can find it later.  That won't work to track a moving person. 

 

WhatsApp is an option if every person in your party has wi-fi, has a phone, has the app, and is able to write.  I'm looking for electronic alternatives for younger children.  What would be the limitations of Tile Mate or Tile Pro on a cruise?  Thanks in advance to you techies...

[gerif]

Maybe I’m wrong but I’m thinking younger children will either be in Adventure Ocean or with you. 

[styxfire]

I thought i headed off judgement comments with my initial post, but I probably wasn't clear enough.  We have multiple adults in our large party.  And there are other factors.  Please responds IF you have experience with the brands (or similar) that I mentioned above.

Edited December 8, 2019 by styxfire

[Homosassa]

3 minutes ago, styxfire said:

Yes, you're wrong, we have multiple adults in our large party.  And there are other factors.

Then they will be in Adventure Ocean or with a responsible adult in your party.

I don't know what other factors would have younger children roaming a ship without adult supervision.

[styxfire]

Correct, you don't know, and this is not a question about missing supervision.  Please keep this thread centered around the topic of tracking provisions available for purchase.  This is the modern world, many lines of Cruise ships already offer this functionality.  Royal does not, yet.  Looking for real-world experience on passenger location tools (for people in your party only, obviously).

Edited December 8, 2019 by styxfire

[tennislvr8]

Tracking devices need some kind of connectivity. I can't imagine how this would be accomplished on a ship. I have seen first hand how tile mate worked when there was no wifi avaiable, it didn't.

Perhaps if you were less snippy about your situation and more forthcoming you could get better advice. 

If the child you want to track can't read, perhaps they shouldnt be away from you. 

[styxfire]

If the responsible party has connectivity and uses TileMate w/ bluetooth activated, does that provide present-time location?  History tracking isn't needed or wanted, just present-time.  My confusion is to whether TileMate tracker works if it is moved.

 

I shouldn't have put the word "child" in the title, ... i had hoped it would demonstrate the value of the party-member, and figured a child was the most relatable and common example.  I hoped to get at least a few tech responses before the typical judgements started, to keep this thread useful for other cruisers in similar dilemmas.  Is it really that hard to envision the scenarios?  A person w/ dementia, a different-abled person, a developmentally delayed person, a person whose notoriety makes them vulnerable, a fully-capable person w/ quick-onset health circumstances, an older person who might get vertigo or has social phobia, etc.  Please keep this thread focused on POSITIONAL LOCATION VIA TECH, for the ease of future Cruise Critic members, thanks so much!

Edited December 8, 2019 by styxfire

[smplybcause]

Basically nothing. All the devices like tile rely on other people 1) having internet connection 2) leaving their bluetooth on 3) having the tile app 4) being close enough to the tile when you're specifically looking. 

 

In the real world odds of that are high. People's phones aren't in airplane mode, they usually have bluetooth on to connect to their devices, and there's a large enough number of people to have enough with the app on their phone. 

 

On a ship? It's not going to work. Too few pay for the internet, they're less likely to be using bluetooth. And if the ship's internet connection logs you off after so long that's just another mark against it. 

[tennislvr8]

1 hour ago, styxfire said:

 

 

WhatsApp is an option if every person in your party has wi-fi, has a phone, has the app, and is able to write.  I'm looking for electronic alternatives for younger children.  What would be the limitations of Tile Mate or Tile Pro on a cruise?  Thanks in advance to you techies...

 

31 minutes ago, styxfire said:

 

 

I shouldn't have put the word "child" in the title, ... i had hoped it would demonstrate the value of the party-member, and figured a child was the most relatable and common example.  I hoped to get at least a few tech responses before the typical judgements started, to keep this thread useful for other cruisers in similar dilemmas.  Is it really that hard to envision the scenarios?  A person w/ dementia, a different-abled person, a developmentally delayed person, a person whose notoriety makes them vulnerable, a fully-capable person w/ quick-onset health circumstances, an older person who might get vertigo or has social phobia, etc.  Please keep this thread focused on POSITIONAL LOCATION VIA TECH, for the ease of future Cruise Critic members, thanks so much!

Not only did you put child in the title, you clearly said you wanted tracking alternatives for younger children. 

The scnenarios you described above are all believable but not what you said. You were crystal clear in what you were looking for, don't back track now. 

 

It simply won't work on a ship. 

Edited December 8, 2019 by tennislvr8

[DirtyDawg]

25 minutes ago, styxfire said:

I shouldn't have put the word "child" in the title, .

 

Because that is a big red cape being waved at the cruise critic bulls around here. 

 

(Pssst. I think the bulls are going to win this time)

Edited December 8, 2019 by DirtyDawg

[styxfire]

This is technology currently used on Carnival cruiseline and 1 other.  Would like to have that functionality on Royal.  If you are the target audience for the question (a person who has successfully used a commercial product for position location), then you understand the need and are in position to share. 

 

If you don't have experience like this, posting will only make it harder for people who DO have a concern for their loved ones and who want to share their location w/ party members.

Edited December 8, 2019 by styxfire

[styxfire]

Re: Tile Mate (or Tile Pro), the actual piece doesn't have to have it's own wi-fi, correct?  ONE person (the tracker phone) having wi-fi/bluetooth is sufficient?

[smplybcause]

 

10 minutes ago, styxfire said:

Re: Tile Mate (or Tile Pro), the actual piece doesn't have to have it's own wi-fi, correct?  ONE person (the tracker phone) having wi-fi/bluetooth is sufficient?

 

No. Reread my post #8. It works by needing a phone near enough to the tile that 1) has the tile app 2) has bluetooth turned on and 3) is connected to the internet at the same time you are looking at the app.

 

Very slim odds of that happening on the ship. Not to mention the metal of the ship likely cuts down the distance needed too.

[styxfire]

12 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

 

 

No. Reread my post #8. It works by needing a phone near enough to the tile that 1) has the tile app 2) has bluetooth turned on and 3) is connected to the internet at the same time you are looking at the app.

 

Very slim odds of that happening on the ship. Not to mention the metal of the ship likely cuts down the distance needed too.

Thanks so much smplybcause.  I'm still a little confused. 

Person #1 is wearing Tile mate/pro, and is at a seminar/tour/meeting/shop and does not carry a phone.

Person #2 has a phone w/ bluetooth on & has purchased wifi, and knows the probable floor or ship feature Person #1 is at...

 

If Person #1 walks near where Person #2 is, can Person #1 detect Person #2 on the Tile app, without interrupting the tour/meeting/performance/whatnot?  

 

Various Tile tools have ranges of 100' to 400'.

Edited December 8, 2019 by styxfire

[NLH Arizona]

1 hour ago, styxfire said:

 This is the modern world, many lines of Cruise ships already offer this functionality.  

Which cruise ships offer this?

[Husky61]

OP, I doubt that you will find many people on this forum who are experts in what you seek, although there are many self-proclaimed experts on this forum.

[styxfire]

Also, we looked into various key-trackers, but would prefer not to have the item beep (no audible interruption), if a quiet alternative exists.  And, as i mentioned in original post, don't want to mandate that the tracking phone have to start at the same location as the tracked person; i.e. would have a moving target rather than static item.

 

[smplybcause]

25 minutes ago, styxfire said:

Thanks so much smplybcause.  I'm still a little confused. 

Person #1 is wearing Tile mate/pro, and is at a seminar/tour/meeting/shop and does not carry a phone.

Person #2 has a phone w/ bluetooth on & has purchased wifi, and knows the probable floor or ship feature Person #1 is at...

 

If Person #1 walks near where Person #2 is, can Person #1 detect Person #2 on the Tile app, without interrupting the tour/meeting/performance/whatnot?  

 

Various Tile tools have ranges of 100' to 400'.

 

I don't have the devices, but I would think so. Though like I said the mass amount of metal on the ship will interfere with the bluetooth and you won't get the full range advertised. At that point it'd be much easier to just keep your eyes off the phone and actually look for the person. 

[styxfire]

Kimfly is too foreign and has reviews that are suspect.  Relay GPS is for US nationwide, but doesn't work internationally. 

 

Does anyone have experience with the B'zT t-shirts internationally?  (Limited by size, but I could alter.)

Or the Jiobit ?

[smplybcause]

13 minutes ago, styxfire said:

Kimfly is too foreign and has reviews that are suspect.  Relay GPS is for US nationwide, but doesn't work internationally. 

 

Does anyone have experience with the B'zT t-shirts internationally?  (Limited by size, but I could alter.)

Or the Jiobit ?

 

B'zt relies on bluetooth, so similar problems as the tile except according to the app it only alerts you when they go far enough away from you not a go find them device. 

 

Jiobit will be rather useless if it even works there. And I'd say it's pretty good odds that it won't work. It'll just show a spot in the middle of the ocean. 

 

Another problem with all of these is if they DO work they only show direction. If you're on separate decks it won't be able to show you that. Though the odds of the bluetooth even being able to go through floors is pretty much impossible. 

 

 

Again, if this is something you require you need to cancel your cruise with royal and go on whatever ship you already know has this. There's just no way to actually do this that's not implemented by the cruise line.

Edited December 8, 2019 by smplybcause

[sanger727]

I will preface this by saying that I have no experience with the trackers you mentioned.

 

that being said, I have a hard time imagining technology that would allow you to track someone from a distance on a cruise ship. GPS based technologies won’t be able to distinguish between different floors and midway down the ship from the end of the ship. I do a lot with gps trackers on phones and find my iPhone and it can’t get you to the correct building. Whatever building it shows the phone in, it could easily be in any adjacent building.

 

bluetooth has a limited range also. And while a device that was in range can alert you if it leaves the range, I’m unaware of any Bluetooth technology that would give a direction to point you in to find the person.

[styxfire]

Certain apps like Spyglass can utilize 3D with high accuracy.  Too tech for my users, though, and we'd like to avoid purchasing a phone that the person will only use once.  Sounds like B'zT is out, and Jiobit (which requires monthly fees) is an unknown for 3D.  So is there consensus that Tile doesn't work in high-rise buildings to distinguish between floors?

 

A lot of people don't realize this is already being done on some cruise ships, and in progress on many others, by the companies themselves. 

https://www.digitaltrends.com/features/cruise-ships-turn-to-wearable-tech-to-create-personalized-experiences/

Royal's just not quite there yet, or is wanting to use the tech for its own marketing purposes ("suggestions") or crew-locating-passengers, rather than for passengers-locating-passengers.

[smplybcause]

The medallions on Princess uses RFID which is completely different technology than what any of the trackers you are talking about. It requires an extensive network system to be integrated into the ship. That's why it's only on their new ships. This isn't a simple retrofit, it's a multimillion investment with mostly a speculative ROI at best. That's probably a big reason why carnival hasn't rolled out to all princess ships let alone their other brands. From what I can tell there's no monetizing aspect of it yet. Not to mention if you go over to the princess boards there's a ton of people that aren't happy with the company being able to track them throughout the ship. 

 

There's no way for you to match multimillion technology and infrastructure to a device you spend $50 and your phone. It's just not possible. 

[smplybcause]

50 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

I’m unaware of any Bluetooth technology that would give a direction to point you in to find the person.

 

Closest I've seen is the ability to play hot/cold. Essentially it tells you whether the bluetooth signal is getting stronger or weaker as you move around. Possibly helpful in a confined space (I know some smart hearing aids have this feature in their app), but not really helpful in a large space. 

[sanger727]

14 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

 

Closest I've seen is the ability to play hot/cold. Essentially it tells you whether the bluetooth signal is getting stronger or weaker as you move around. Possibly helpful in a confined space (I know some smart hearing aids have this feature in their app), but not really helpful in a large space. 

I can see that. I was thinking more from the standpoint of finding someone after the connection is lost. Bluetooth range is very limited. And heavily influenced by solid materials like doors and walls. I often use Bluetooth headphones and I wear my phone in a waistband. I have lost connection before because my body was between my phone and my headphones.