Walkie Talkies

[Guest rfrenchbaxter]

Just one thing. Why should someone who has paid a lot of $$ for a cruise stay in their cabin!!!!!? And walkie talkies give you brain cancer like cell phones. LOL. And, I'm not a smoker.

 

To answer your question, Why should someone stay in their cabins who has paid a lot of $$ for a cruise? Well my thought on this and please remember this, every passenger on the ship that Paid a lot of $$ is on vacation. And everyone needs to take into consideration that there will always be someone that will annoy them! If it will be walkie talkies, crying baby, or just being a crazy drunk! I can overlook most things except someone doing something that will endanger my health (LIKE Smoking). So to answer your question, if someone cannot overlook someone yelling into the walkie talkies (trying to stay in contact with loved ones) and if peace and quiet is what one is seeking, I think staying in their cabin would be a better bet! This way they would not have to tolerate listening to someone else talking, yelling, screaming and etc! And thus we would not have to listen to someone complaining about a trivial things like walkie talkies! LOL!!!:D

Rfrenchbaxter

[cruzincurt]

Some people like 'em, some don't. Radio waves don't travel through steel very well. Even being a ham radio operator, I've never used WT's on a ship and in 18 cruises never lost my DW. People generally do not consider that they are in a foreign country when they do what they do at home.

 

As for Nextel, our company is dumping them. That gimmick has run it's course. Very annoying beeps and people start talking before they even ask if you are in a meeting, etc., or what is about to be said is private. Just as easy to just call on the cell phone number.

 

Look out, cell phone service on ships is soon going to be the norm. I can't wait to be relaxing by the pool on a sea day and have to listen to someone talking on a cell phone next to me. Wonder if those phones work after being thrown in the pool?

[LARGIN]

 

Look out, cell phone service on ships is soon going to be the norm. I can't wait to be relaxing by the pool on a sea day and have to listen to someone talking on a cell phone next to me. Wonder if those phones work after being thrown in the pool?

When that happens, I'll bring my cell phone jammer. While illegal in the US, it is legal in Europe and since we will be International waters... well you get the picture.. :D:D

[cruzincurt]

I know the cell phone issue is a little off topic, but today I came out of the grocery store behind a mother and daughter pushing their cart. Both were talking on cell phones. That means two other people were thus engaged unless they were talking to each other.

 

I just can't figure out what people have to say to each other about for so much of the time. To take this technology thing one step further, the grocery stores are about to install DVD players/movies in the shopping carts to keep the kiddos occupied for those 20 minutes in the store.

 

I guess today's kiddos and young people need to be distracted and entertained with a DVD, MP3 player, ipod, gameboy, or cell phones 24/7. How sad.

[Leo Jay]

Why are some people bothered by other people using cellphones? I'm bothered when people speak loudly :mad: , but that seems to happen just as often without cellphones as with them. :o

[mbuote]

Excuse Me? Stay in my cabin for peace and quiet? I hope your joking...

 

There are many places on the ship that aren't as loud and lively as the pool area, disco, etc and I don't expect silence with 3,000 people on board.....but it does become annoying when I have to listen to people speaking loudly/shouting into those walkie-talkies as well as hearing them "bleep".

This has nothing to do with smoking either.

 

Call me an old fart (at 43, with 3 kids :) ), but those darned things can be really annoying for the people around those using them.

 

I just discovered how to turn the "bleep" off when transmitting and receiving on mine. I read this thread and checked the instructions and "voila" I am sure most brands can adjusted to remove the 'bleep'

[AWED23]

Excuse Me? Stay in my cabin for peace and quiet? I hope your joking...

 

There are many places on the ship that aren't as loud and lively as the pool area, disco, etc and I don't expect silence with 3,000 people on board.....but it does become annoying when I have to listen to people speaking loudly/shouting into those walkie-talkies as well as hearing them "bleep".

This has nothing to do with smoking either.

 

Call me an old fart (at 43, with 3 kids :) ), but those darned things can be really annoying for the people around those using them.

.....Thank you and AMEN !!!!!!

[Camsnana]

Just wondering what brand/model of walkie talkie you brought on your cruise. We also are going to purchase them, but don't have a clue what to look for. thanks.

[mom2tcdx2]

I became more interested after reading some of these posts in what type I had at home. Mine are made by Uniden and upon reading their website they clearly distinguish between GMR and GMRS - all that have the S on the end clearly state in the product specs that a license is required, however that is not notated on any that only have GMR so I guess there is some difference between these two and what most people have at home would be the GMR. I had thought to take mine mostly because my kids are 8 and 11 and I would prefer them to not run around the ship on their own but if they want to come out of the kids area, they don't have any way to contact us to let us know.

[maddysammy]

I wonder if there is a gadget out there (beside from cell phones)that can let you do text messages that would illiminate all the noise.. you would just have to be able to read :)

[Lightsluvr]

Just buy the models with vibrate alert and headphones (ours were about $50 from Costco), and speak in a normal voice -- actually, if just speak right into it, you can actually speak softer than normal. It need be no more irritating to other people than normal speech. :)

 

Cell phones work the same way. You can speak quietly, as in a private conversation between two people, and the cell phone transmits clear, undistorted audio. Really, you can.

 

LL

[lagrutke]

We found our radios to work quite well on the Ocean Princess years ago; however, they were worthless on the Sapphire Princess last year. Same radios. On the Ocean Princess, we would generally just use them in our cabins to communicate when we were ready to head out somewhere instead of having to call all the rooms in our group.

[KKB]

We brought them but couldn't use them very well onboard the ship. There wa sooo much background noise (carnival miracle) that we couldn't hear the alert that someone was trying to reach us. Probably works great onshore.

 

Found them to be no more useful on shore. Not a cheap brand, but sure behaved like one.

 

Additionally, they EAT batteries! To be useful, they must be ON,(and even then they weren't very useful) and then you are talking a set of batteries EVERY DAY.

JMO

Kris

[mjt2890]

I have 4 different make/models and they all suck onboard the cruise ship. I lent 4 radios to my GF who went on a cruise last week. She said they never were able to hear one another due to the background noise onboard the ship. That's the same problem I had when I tried to use a different set almost two years ago. So I can't imagine any set being good, since it's usually quite loud in the common areas onboard.

 

Accepting drinks from strangers is never a good idea BTW.

[MamaParrotHead]

We only used ours on the ship, it didn't occur to us to use them ashore. LOL I know there's some law/rule/guideline about using them onshore without some sort of license, though. So watch out for that.

 

Found it very helpful if we broke into groups (wives and husbands) if we wives wanted to stay up on deck and nap in the sun and the guys wandered down to the sports bar to check the scores. :)

[wraithe]

Me and my wife have nextel phones and they work great. The newer phone have a off network direct talk that are walkie talkie. They work any where in the world. They have a range of up to 8 miles. And they are good high quality. No you dont have to yell and you can hold them up to your face and ear just like a cell phone. They are great for travel. And didnt have to go out and buy anything new. Because they are our cell phones they go right on our belt or pocket real easy.

 

Just because they work anywhere in the world doesn't make them legal. You might want to check laws in the country you're visiting before you key them up. Since the frequency spectrum is used differently from one country to another, you just might be messing with someone's emergency services radio, wouldn't that be great if they were trying to help someone having a heart attack?

 

And those other walkie talkie might be illegal, nobody is going to come after them. 99% of the truckers have CB and 90% of them dont have a license. I am a trucker so I know.

 

Then it seems like you'd know that CB radios haven't needed a license to operate for quite a few years. http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/index.htm?job=service_home&id=cb is the link.

 

There are alot of things everybody that is illegal. So next time you do 36 mph in a 35 mph zone maybe we should turn ourself in. Or pass a car on the right or stay in the left lane after passing or not useing the blinker when changing lanes. You understand what I mean. I see it everyday.

 

I do understand what you are saying & want to say thanks for the standard excuse. Since someone over here is doing something wrong, you better not point out that what I'm doing is illegal. That adds so much to the conversation.

[ParadiseBound]

We have been on several cruises with at least 17 family members. The walkie talkies were invaluable! They were great when we wanted to split up in port.

 

Happy Cruizin:)

[ghsmith178613]

Just because they work anywhere in the world doesn't make them legal. You might want to check laws in the country you're visiting before you key them up. Since the frequency spectrum is used differently from one country to another, you just might be messing with someone's emergency services radio, wouldn't that be great if they were trying to help someone having a heart attack?

 

 

 

Then it seems like you'd know that CB radios haven't needed a license to operate for quite a few years. http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/index.htm?job=service_home&id=cb is the link.

 

 

 

I do understand what you are saying & want to say thanks for the standard excuse. Since someone over here is doing something wrong, you better not point out that what I'm doing is illegal. That adds so much to the conversation.

 

i should stay out of this. but as an ex-amateur radio operator, i don't think Wraithe grounded his antenna (he's not getting out).

 

i wouldn't worry about the FCC, but i would worry about homeland security. they don't care if you drive a truck, a train, or a boat, or a plane. contraband is contraband. imagine going to board your cruise and homeland security tells you to toss you cell phone, blackberry, or walkie-talkies in the barrel with the shampoo, pocket knife, and fingernail clippers.

 

why?

these regulations came a very long time before 9-11. but the princple is still here. the training for the upper amateur radio licenses included a lesson about warring factions finding uses for radio frequencie not authorized for use in their country. image your child "looses" a walkie-talkie on the beach. you "loose" one at the swim-up bar. your wife "looses" hers in a boutique. the "bad guys" "find" these...

 

some kind of personal communications system would be nice for groups. maybe someday the cruise lines will find a way to rent a system to guests.

 

why?

1. the cb radio frequencies, hence the family radio service band is legal to operate in the USA. those frequencies have been negotiated for by OUR government. that is, there are articulation agreements with our neighbors for security reasons that this equipment will not be exported or used outside OUR contry. (read the box!)

2. persons are authorized to use these frequencies within the USA. use of this equipment within the USA. persons using this equipment are subject to these regulations. operation of this equipment is defined as being within the normal distance and power limits and defined freqencies.

 

now...

1. when you step on these ships, you should know that they are probably not of USA registry. that is, might be leaving the USA when you board. you defininetly leave the USA when your boat reaches internation waters.

2. you immediately become a guest of a foreign country subject to their laws and regulations.

3. the FCC wont come after you on a cruise ship or in a foreign country. the FCC gave up on the CB radio over 40 years ago. the FCC doesn't care. they wont prosecute you or defend you.

 

... -.-