Walkie talkies on cruise ship

[RichYak]

20 minutes ago, sunonfire said:

We were on Carnival cruise no one bought or had wifi. I was able to send and receive messages also on my iPad in airplane mode. No one had phone service.

If you were in airplane mode than texting used wifi. Perhaps Carnival permits iMessages via their wifi without a package.

[sunonfire]

No.  Carnival does not because they charge $5 per person to message on their app.

[davekathy]

2 hours ago, mayleeman said:

We learned the hard way that adding a w-t to the stuff you are carrying around in a major pain. And no one near you will enjoy hearing all the transmissions!

You should have had a fanny pack for the walkie talkies. 😂

Edited March 12, 2023 by davekathy

[mayleeman]

53 minutes ago, davekathy said:

You should have had a fanny pack for the walkie talkies. 😂

 

We found one to wear, and it doesn't use wifi. If you're gonna go, go big!

 

 

[lobsternight]

I have used numerous brands over the years and the Motorola FRS have worked very well.  That said, on board ships, and especially something the size of a cruise ship, performance can be sketchy.  In the past when we used to bring them on cruises they were great in port.  We chose to use the vibrate option rather then a signal alert as to not disturb anyone too much.  Selecting an odd channel number and tone reduces interference from other radios. 

 

We no longer bring them with us, but can understand your want to do so.  My DW refuses to use cell phones, no idea why, but would use the radio.  Another consideration would be what ports are you visiting?  In some places you may not possess them.

 

As far as annoying others, I don't get people walking around with cells on speakerphone.  Last X cruise some dude was in the bar with an iPad, streaming an old sitcom on full volume, laughing along with all the canned laughter.  Ugh

[Iamthesea]

DH and I, though usually together, have gone the Post-It route before.  We have used it more when traveling with the children.  I don't know if house phones are still on public decks, but we used to use these to call each others staterooms to check in without having to go back to our cabins to make a call.  This was before cell phones were a big thing! DH does not take his cell phone when we travel, so it's just easier to stay together. 😉

[jwlane]

8 hours ago, RichYak said:

purchase a wifi plan.

WiFi is free. Internet access costs. 

[Jim_Iain]

17 hours ago, JAN1 said:

I actually did download the celebrity app but didn’t think you can message someone on the ship using the app.  
All I want is to be able to message my husband and tell him where I am while on the ship.  Many times we do different activities and will be in different places.  
We are going on the Celebrity Solstice March 18th and only got an inside cabin 

 

Janice

Jan1

Once on the ship you create an account using your SeaPass portfolio number and then choose the free internet option.   With this you will be able to see all the activities, reservations, room charges and message.    Many report that when you receive  a message they do not hear an alert.    I personally hear a very low pitch ping and see a message waiting when I look.

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, Iamthesea said:

DH and I, though usually together, have gone the Post-It route before.  We have used it more when traveling with the children.  I don't know if house phones are still on public decks, but we used to use these to call each others staterooms to check in without having to go back to our cabins to make a call.  This was before cell phones were a big thing! DH does not take his cell phone when we travel, so it's just easier to stay together. 😉

They still have them on each deck usually near the elevators.

[TequilaJane]

Stick with messaging. Much easier.

 

Edited March 12, 2023 by TequilaJane
mistake

[lobsternight]

34 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

They still have them on each deck usually near the elevators.

On our fall cruise my DS was prowling around late at night and saw a lady fall and break her leg.  He was running around deck to deck trying to find medical clinic and what not.  I asked him why didn't you pick up the house phone (next to elevator) and dial 0.  Concept beyond him lol.

[Iamthesea]

What a nice young man to try and find help!

[Potstech]

Also be aware use of any American Walkie Talkie in some foreign ports, even on the ship, is illegal. Could result in a fine or even jail time.

[Potstech]

5 hours ago, mayleeman said:

 

We found one to wear, and it doesn't use wifi. If you're gonna go, go big!

 

 

Nice PRC radio. Have used them several tims.

[Arizona Wildcat]

Using them will likely put you on crew frequencies that would not be good.  Leave them home.

[Moochi]

What’s walkie talkies?

 

I’m joking, but they won’t work very well. As many have said, the X app works on the free ship wifi and has a chat function. Just please keep in mind that the chat function doesn’t do push notifications. That means, you will have to open the app manually to check if you’ve gotten a message. You will not receive a notification of a new message if your app is not open. 

[TeeRick]

13 hours ago, Moochi said:

What’s walkie talkies?

 

I’m joking, but they won’t work very well. As many have said, the X app works on the free ship wifi and has a chat function. Just please keep in mind that the chat function doesn’t do push notifications. That means, you will have to open the app manually to check if you’ve gotten a message. You will not receive a notification of a new message if your app is not open. 

I have not even heard the term walkie-talkie for at least twenty years.  🙂

[terrydtx]

Once we tried walkie talkies with a group of us on a cruise, they did not work more than 100 feet away because of all the metal on the ship. They were a total waste of money.

[Jim_Iain]

18 hours ago, lobsternight said:

On our fall cruise my DS was prowling around late at night and saw a lady fall and break her leg.  He was running around deck to deck trying to find medical clinic and what not.  I asked him why didn't you pick up the house phone (next to elevator) and dial 0.  Concept beyond him lol.

 

Many of the "younger" generation grew up never seeing a wall phone.   I know my grand kids laugh when they see an old rotary dial phone.

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, TeeRick said:

I have not even heard the term walkie-talkie for at least twenty years.  🙂

Surprisingly on my last cruise I saw they had them on sale in the gift shop.

 

Going back in times there use to be numerous threads of people complaining of how disturbing they found them when many people used them on ships. 

[ktcruiser]

On 3/12/2023 at 10:40 AM, broadwaybaby123 said:

We used walkie talkies on my Royal cruise last month in case one of us got separated.  My niece was with us and is only 10 so she's not old enough for the chat feature on the app.  They worked great, however, you might have to switch channels from channel 1 or 2 to channel 20 or higher.  Many times we picked up radio frequencies from the crew channels.  

Can you clarify why the 10 year old couldn't use the chat feature? Do they restrict it so that only people over a certain age can access it? I was really hoping to use that feature with my 8 year old. 

[stellarose]

I loved the carnival chat hub. for 20 bucks we could communicate with the entire fam (19 and 17 years old at the time we did the Mardi Gras)

[terrydtx]

6 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Many of the "younger" generation grew up never seeing a wall phone.   I know my grand kids laugh when they see an old rotary dial phone.

Jim, I grew up in Southern California in the 1950's and one of my Aunts lived on a Farm in the San Fernando Valley and had a phone like this and it was a party line, try explaining that concept to kids today.

[sasset]

Grew up in San Fernando Valley. The little Mom and Pop market had a phone like this in a booth outside. We had a dial phone in the house but it was on a multiple party line, our ring was one long ring.

[bEwAbG]

I have you both beat: my grandparents not only had a phone box like that (well into the 1990s), the inside had been retrofitted to have a rotary dial.