Walkie Talkies

[Tim Cruise]

I got 2 walkie talkies for Christmas. The mileage says 1-16 miles depending on terrain. Anyone try these? Did they work thru layer and layer of a  cruise ship to keep possible communication. Assuming our cell phones are useless. 

[CruiserBruce]

Well...a topic that hasn't been discussed in a while, maybe since before Covid.

 

They won't work well on a metal ship, causing lots of static, and annoyance to your fellow passengers. They are illegal in a number of countries. 

 

Cruise lines have been adding various communications methods. Check what your cruise line offers first.

 

Lastly, good old face to face communications, with some general planning, works just fine.

[capriccio]

On Princess ships their medallion app can be used to locate fellow passengers and we just text on our cell phones to send messages. 

[MBP&O2/O]

Some lines prohibit them I believe.

There was a long thread about this not too long ago .... not a popular idea!

[John Bull]

Mom ; "Whe--  are you,  -ack?" 

Jack : " - "

Mom : "Wh--- are y-- , -ill?"

Jill :     "On ---  -ool deck"

Mom : "Where?"

Jill : "On t-- pool -eck"

Mom : " I  -an hardly hear y--, tur- the volume  up"

Jill : "It's already u- to  -aximum"

Mom : "Are yo the--  too,  -ack?"

Jack: " - "

Mom : "I ca t hear ou, Ja  , turn t volume up""

Jack : " - "

Jill : " ack's wi  me, Mom"

Mom : " th  why  dosn' he answe ?"

Jill : " His radi- --  in the pool"

Mom : " Why's it in th- -ool?"

Jill: "Angry  -ass-ngers threw it in there. Mom" 

JB 🙂

[Honolulu Blue]

7 hours ago, Tim Cruise said:

I got 2 walkie talkies for Christmas. The mileage says 1-16 miles depending on terrain. Anyone try these? Did they work thru layer and layer of a  cruise ship to keep possible communication. Assuming our cell phones are useless. 

One of the first things I was taught when I started cruising a decade ago is that walkie talkies are problematic at best and worse than useless at their worst.  My understanding is that things haven't improved.  The ones that are most likely to have an acceptable range have some possibility of being illegal in the ports you visit.

 

I have found that cell phones work well on ships - both from the cell towers on land and the WiFi/Internet onboard.  Obviously, don't make any calls while at sea unless you like paying extortionate fees.

[Tim Cruise]

Ok sounds like leave these home. She got them for me for when we go camping at a music festival and there are 35000 cell phones inside a square mile and the tower is so bogged down can't even send a text or a snap chat. 

 

Also reading this our cell phones work for texting? I thought phone where just cameras on a trip. 

 

I'm a really bird seeing sunrises and taking solo walks with coffee and a ship to myself and my wife is a very late bird. I thought this would be a good way to contact me when she wakes up at 10AM. 

[Tim Cruise]

Also there should be a way to delete a message once we get an answer.

[auntmeg]

40 minutes ago, Tim Cruise said:

Also there should be a way to delete a message once we get an answer.

You can ask a moderator to lock the thread if you wish so that no one else can reply.

[Honolulu Blue]

34 minutes ago, Tim Cruise said:

Ok sounds like leave these home. She got them for me for when we go camping at a music festival and there are 35000 cell phones inside a square mile and the tower is so bogged down can't even send a text or a snap chat. 

 

Also reading this our cell phones work for texting? I thought phone where just cameras on a trip. 

 

I'm a really bird seeing sunrises and taking solo walks with coffee and a ship to myself and my wife is a very late bird. I thought this would be a good way to contact me when she wakes up at 10AM. 

 

Leaving them at home sounds like a really good idea.  I'm glad we helped you settle that.

 

As for cell phone texting at sea, I'll defer to others on this.  From what I understand, IF you have the ship's Internet plan and IF your phone is capable of WiFI calls, THEN it should work.  Some cruise lines have intranet messaging among phones that are connected that don't require the Internet, but may cost extra.

33 minutes ago, Tim Cruise said:

Also there should be a way to delete a message once we get an answer.

If you're talking about posts on this message board, there's no easy way to do that, but you can request the mods lock a thread like this one.  Just hit the three dots in the upper right of any post here, click "Report", select "Thread needs attention", and note that you want the thread locked.  YMMV on whether it actually happens, but that's the way to do it.

[lenquixote66]

We never use cell phones on a ship.A friend tree a walk-in e talkie once and that did not work.

 

[ColeThornton]

4 hours ago, Tim Cruise said:

Also there should be a way to delete a message once we get an answer.

 

 

Not really.   Threads can be helpful to others down the road who do a search on the subject.

[ldubs]

14 hours ago, Tim Cruise said:

I got 2 walkie talkies for Christmas. The mileage says 1-16 miles depending on terrain. Anyone try these? Did they work thru layer and layer of a  cruise ship to keep possible communication. Assuming our cell phones are useless. 

 

We used some years ago when the kids were young.  The technology has improved since then I'm sure, but they didn't work very well.  @John Bull 's post #5 is pretty accurate.   As others point out, there are now workable ways to stay in touch.   As far as causing riots among fellow passengers, I think that is probably one of those overblown CC things.   

[clo]

LOL. I think this is a superb argument in favor of traveling on a ship with hundreds not thousands of pax 🙂

[lenquixote66]

2 hours ago, clo said:

LOL. I think this is a superb argument in favor of traveling on a ship with hundreds not thousands of pax 🙂

My sister-in-law was recently on a river cruise with 210 passengers.

[lenquixote66]

7 hours ago, Tim Cruise said:

Also there should be a way to delete a message once we get an answer.

There are posts from 2002 where one can no longer post.

[Capt_BJ]

the small inexpensive 'walkie talkies' typically seen operate under 1990's technology and the FRS - Family Radio Service. These are very low power and operate at a frequency that's "ok" out in open areas but horrible when dealing with STEEL. The next step up from FRS is GMRS but these are typically more $$ and used in semi-professional use.  There are yet other hand held radios that DO work well on ships (we used them on ships I worked on) but they typically cost about $1000 per radio and larger ships which employ them often have 'repeaters' installed to improve range versus steel. On board 'cellular phone' systems have all but eliminated these in non-military applications.

 

I have a set of FRS radios we bought for cruise use back in the day .... they never worked well on a cruise but I kept them for use around the house - sometime helpful during repair projects <searching for the correct circuit breaker>!  They have not come out of the drawer in years since now we just call each other on our cell phones!

Edited January 7 by Capt_BJ

[MacMadame]

On 1/7/2024 at 2:45 PM, Capt_BJ said:

I have a set of FRS radios we bought for cruise use back in the day .... they never worked well on a cruise

Same with us. 

[Philob]

On 1/7/2024 at 2:45 PM, Capt_BJ said:

I have a set of FRS radios we bought for cruise use back in the day .... they never worked well on a cruise 

Ship's handheld radios are at least 5 watts and require a network of repeaters through out the ship. 

 

Even if someone were to bring a pair of 5+ watt handhelds (gmrs or hams) they still would need a repeater network to talk through all that steel. 

[Hlitner]

As a card carrying "senior" I cringe when fellow seniors talk about not using smart phones, not wanting to use smart phones, not needing smart phones, etc.  Many of these folks would probably be happy if they still had their horse/buggy, party lines, etc!  

 

Most of the cruise lines have made it much easier for folks to use phones aboard.  The key is WiFi and WiFi calling, texting, etc.  Those that want to reject the technology will just need to deal with the results, kind of like those who reject electricity and lightbulbs.  

 

Hank

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, Philob said:

Ship's handheld radios are at least 5 watts and require a network of repeaters through out the ship. 

 

Even if someone were to bring a pair of 5+ watt handhelds (gmrs or hams) they still would need a repeater network to talk through all that steel. 

 

Correct, our commercial Motorola portable UHF/VHF radios were 1W and 5 W.

 

Prior to having the repeater systems installed on the ships, they were not much more than line of sight communications. We could get through 1 steel bulkhead/deck and at times 2 bulkheads/decks. Any more than that it was garbled.

[Heidi13]

54 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

As a card carrying "senior" I cringe when fellow seniors talk about not using smart phones, not wanting to use smart phones, not needing smart phones, etc.  Many of these folks would probably be happy if they still had their horse/buggy, party lines, etc!  

 

Most of the cruise lines have made it much easier for folks to use phones aboard.  The key is WiFi and WiFi calling, texting, etc.  Those that want to reject the technology will just need to deal with the results, kind of like those who reject electricity and lightbulbs.  

 

Hank

 

Well, I fit both categories - senior and non smart phone user. In fact, I don't use any cell phone, never mind a smart phone, and haven't since I retired over 11 years ago. Went from working and living with a smart phone 24/7/365, using over 1,200 prime time minutes every month, to zero.

 

Personally I don't miss the infernal thing, so I don't have one because I reject technology. I don't have one because I got tired of living with it for too many years. I am thoroughly enjoying my cell-free retirement and have no problem embracing technology that suits me. When it come to technology, I'm usually one of the first purchasing the latest gadgets - TV's, computers, cameras, etc.

 

We all use technology and tools that meets our needs, I'm glad a smart-phone works for you. While you clearly find them useful, I find it extremely disappointing that you find it necessary to ridicule those of us that have a contrary opinion to yourself.

[MamyL00]

Sticky notes on the outside of the stateroom door work really well.

 

[ldubs]

On 1/9/2024 at 10:51 AM, Heidi13 said:

 

Well, I fit both categories - senior and non smart phone user. In fact, I don't use any cell phone, never mind a smart phone, and haven't since I retired over 11 years ago. Went from working and living with a smart phone 24/7/365, using over 1,200 prime time minutes every month, to zero.

 

 

 

"Prime time" minutes.  You are dating yourself!  Haha.   I recall the good old days when we had to lecture the kids to avoid using the cell phone during the prime times because of limits in the plan and overage charges.   

[Toofarfromthesea]

I'm old enough to remember when we did all of our long distance calling after 11 PM because the rates dropped.