Communicating w/group on board

[amio111]

I was wondering how most people communicate with other members of your group on board. I have heard walkie talkies, but some say they don't work. I would hate to have to keep going back to our room for messages.

Do cell phones work?

[cruisinCLT]

cell phones work one some ships but check with your cell phone company to see if you have an international calling plan. You would hate to see that your phone works and then get hit with big roaming charges. I believe you can check your phone messages from any phone that is around the ship. Just have your kids or friends leave you messages on your room phone and check it through out the day.

[Ship Addict]

Not all ships have the ability to leave messages on the phones. Wish they did.

 

If you're traveling with a group, try to get a spreadsheet of room numbers before you leave home. If you want to leave someone a message, you can drop a note off at their cabin. Some people even go so far as to put a white board on their door for messages.

 

Another thing you might want to do is organize one time each day where people can meet up if they want to. Do you all have the same dining time? Maybe there's a happy hour you all might want to attend daily or you could designate a certain time/location around the pool where everyone can meet during the day.

 

I wish Carnival would have a paging system you could rent on board if you want to. They have a system set up for Camp Carnival where you can check out a pager and the staff can reach you if your kid needs something. I think it would be really cool if they offered this to everyone for their personal use. Then if someone in your group needs to get in touch with you, they can just find a house (ship?) phone and page you, and then you can find a house phone yourself and call that person back.

[momofzeke]

We've had good luck with the walkie talkies. Even when one person is in our cabin on Riviera and the other is up on Lido, they have worked ok for us.

 

I also take a pad of post-its and if we leave our cabin in the morning before our kids get up (which is almost always)....I leave a post-it on our door saying where we are headed.

[Wolfie48]

I was wondering how most people communicate with other members of your group on board. I have heard walkie talkies, but some say they don't work. I would hate to have to keep going back to our room for messages.

Do cell phones work?[/quot

 

Our last group was 33 people in 16 cabins, and DW and I handed out a spreadsheet with cabin numbers etc. We had pre-arrainged cocktail hour in our suite (sft with the wrap around deck) each day at 5:30. We all had late dinner at adjoining tables.

 

At the cocktail party each evening we would make plans for the following day. We never had problems catching up with anyone, unless they wanted to be alone. I go on a cruise to leave the phones behind, not sure I would enjoy hearing someones cell going off?

[klmorg]

Does anyone know if the Nextel phones with the "walkie talkie" feature work well on the ships? Or cost big bucks to use? Our group has those and would be great if they work. Thanks!

[MemorTree]

cell phones work one some ships but check with your cell phone company to see if you have an international calling plan. You would hate to see that your phone works and then get hit with big roaming charges. I believe you can check your phone messages from any phone that is around the ship. Just have your kids or friends leave you messages on your room phone and check it through out the day.

 

 

Does anyone know if Fantasy has this ability on the phone messages?

[MonaCK]

We use walkie talkies.

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

Some people say walkie talkies work great and others have problems. It probably depends on the type of system you use and maybe even the ship. I bought 4 Cobra's and they work really well at home so I'm gonna give it a try. The only caution is to get a good set so you can adjust the volume and multi-channel so you aren't stepping on someone elses conversation. Ours have 24 channels I think and adjustable volume and also we can ring our kids like a phone that vibrates so they know we are calling them. Key is to not disturb folks around that are trying to get away from all that noise.

[serene56]

Does anyone know if the Nextel phones with the "walkie talkie" feature work well on the ships? Or cost big bucks to use? Our group has those and would be great if they work. Thanks!

 

 

as soon as you leave port you will lose service and not gain it back til you come back.

 

For people with cells-- you really want to check the rates== some people are under the impression that its free but are surprised at the bill when they get home.

Some are reporting back that texts are 50 cents---to send or receive. thats each message.

 

when we sail with our group-- we meet up at dinner. tea time on sea days.-- and if we just happen to run into someone out and about even better.- You each get the daily activity sheet each night--maybe get together to see who is doing what when

[Jsme]

I had a list of everyone and their cabin numbers. I put this near the phone. I printed one out for the entire group.

 

We pretty much met on sea days at the aft pool. In the evenings in the lobby bar or the bar near the diningroom.

[GOTTA CRUISE NOW]

We use walkie-talkies. I am ALWAYS up 1st, so I take one with me & leave one in the charger turned on. It has a pager-like button also. I have never had a problem with reception. You can change the frequency if needed. One time we had someone else on our channel. Had a little fun with them pretending we knew each other...:rolleyes:

 

Have also used them on port days. If we get off the ship at different times, or someone goes back early it can come in handy in finding each other again.

 

The post-it notes are also a good idea. Use them for family and for the room steward if you need anything.