Walkie talkies on board to help keep track of 12 yo?

[acjjj]

We sail on the NCL Sun this summer and hope my 12 y.o. will take in some of the children's programs. Would like a way for her to contact us if she wants to find us before the program is over. Don't like the idea of her wandering ship by herself.

Has anyone used walkie talkies on board with their kids?

[lucigo]

We found the reception to be poor, too many walls maybe? On carnival you can request that your child not be allowed to leave until you are there to pick her up. It would be more expensive but you could have her send you a text message if she has a cell phone.

 

On the Conquest we had 3 cabins in a row, and we were able to use the radios to communicate between cabins, but when the kids left their cabin it wasn't long before we lost their signal.

[cb at sea]

The trick won't be keeping track of the 12 year old, it will be having the 12 year old keep track of a walkie-talkie!

Just TELL the child where they should be at a given time....leave a note in the cabin if plans change....

The ships LOOK big, but in reality, most of the ship is passenger cabin space, so that cut's the size of areas where you'll be by at least 2/3! It's not that hard to keep track of everyone!

[gtarbet]

We used the walkie talkies last year for my 9 and 11 year olds. They worked great and were very helpful. We will take them again this year. The reception was fine. There is no reason they should be lost if your child can clip them on their belt or waist. I am a fan of the Walkie.

[CanadianTwosome]

We always carry walkie talkies on NCL, and have found the reception to be 'mostly' good, but there are always a couple of spots that may be difficult. Our daughter takes one with her and keeps it with her other personal items, or gives it to a counsellor for safe keeping. On NCL, when your child is 10 or older, you can sign to give them come and go priviledges. We chose not to, but that's a personal decision, so you can evaluate it for yourself. You can change it at any time.

 

On the Pearl this past January, since we did experience a couple of issues with walkie talkie reception, we asked if we could have one of the 'diaper phones', and since there weren't a lot of toddlers there, they were happy to accommodate us. The first night our daughter aggravated a knee injury and we got a call, too, so it worked out very well. Going in the summer, it's unlikely that they will have a surplus of the phones, however, so I would recommend trying the walkie talkies.

 

Also, the ships aren't that big (haven't been on Epic yet...:eek:), so we'll often just wander by and check in after we've finished a particular activity. This rarely results in her wanting to leave, but it's just a few extra steps on a relaxing vacation, so it's a pretty easy undertaking. The Kid's Crew schedule will be handed out the first day at orientation, too, so you and your daughter will be able to go over it (take a highlighter!) and decide which activities she's interested in and you can plan around them.

 

Something we love about Freestyle is that if there is an activity at Kid's Crew - or elsewhere on the ship - that one of us really wants to attend, we can be flexible with our dining schedule. If you haven't tried it before, though, be prepared to deal with some crowds in the summer. With no set dining, you'll be sharing the available seating everywhere with a good portion of the other passengers, depending on what time you choose to eat. We generally eat early and have never waited in a line - but we also sail at off-peak times, so I think you should expect at least some waiting. Just remember that you're doing your waiting on a beautiful cruise ship and not in a crowded alcove at one of your local restaurants and you should be fine. :)

[arb711]

From those whose walkie talkies worked - any advice on what kind? Brand, strength, range?

 

Also - Is good reception vs. bad reception due to the quality of the radio, size of the ship, ???

[CanadianTwosome]

From those whose walkie talkies worked - any advice on what kind? Brand, strength, range?

 

Also - Is good reception vs. bad reception due to the quality of the radio, size of the ship, ???

 

I actually think the reception is most affected by the fact that the ship contains a lot of metal. I'll try to remember to ask my husband what brand and range ours are. I'm pretty sure they're medium-high end Motorolas. We also found them extremely helpful in January because we carpooled down from Orlando to Miami in two vans and we were able to communicate with our friends all the way. :)

[Mike981]

We used dry erase markers (one color for each person) on the mirror in the room to keep tabs on:

 

Last time in and where they are going

Reminders

Items to do

Things needed

 

And so on.

 

Of course each family will be different, but it worked very well for us.

[berlingo]

Hi. We used Walkie-Talkies on our last cruise and found them an excellent way of keeping tabs on our girls. They meant that my husband and I had a relatively stress free cruise as the children could check in with us at anytime and anywhere on ship.I think it actually gave us nearly as much freedom as the children!

 

We never had a problem with reception but we did go for a relatively long range set ( approx 15 miles) which had a more powerful signal. They are Binatone Terrain 550.We found the children loved using them- so much so that we were at times tempted to switch our handset off! There was never a problem with them being mislaid but just in case I put on sticky labels with our name and cabin number. We also put a languard type strap so the children could put them around their necks. Finally I would suggest a set with rechargeable batteries so they are ready to go each morning. The only problem I found was it could be a little embarrassing when you bag suddenly beeped but I hope it was not loud enough to be intrusive for anyone else.

 

Hope this helps. Kind regards Julia

[nothriver]

My family has used walkie talkies when they cruised with my nephew with pretty good results, although they were on a smaller ship (Celebrity Mercury). That was 10 years ago and the walkie talkies were probably primative compared to what you can buy today.

 

My son is now 15 and I don't think he'll be willing to walk around with a walkie talkie, even if technically, they wpuld work, so I think we'll leave ours at home. I found a small dry erase board that we'll use to keep tabs on each other. I'm pretty strict about him checking in regularly here at home, so it won't be any different for him on the cruise, other than he'll have to take a few minutes to find a ship phone or physically go to the cabin to check in.

 

One other issue to keep in mind with the walkie talkies is that if your child is somewhere loud, they might not hear you calling them. I don't know if any have a vibrate feature, something to consider.