Yes, two-way radios DO work on cruise ships. However, because the same channels tend to be overused, passengers can expect a fair amount of talk and signal interference when using their radios.
I guess two way radios/walkie talkies would be the best option. But how important is it to be in constant communication with the rest of your family anyway? A ship, although large, is not huge. If you know the general area where people will be, you can walk around and find them. Pre-arranged meeting times and locations would also work. People could get along quite well without being able to communicate directly with each other at every moment of the day.
So aside from the option to set preset meeting times, a two-way radio isn’t a terrible idea, especially if you have kids. A lot of people reading this might just be wondering why they can’t use their mobile phones. That’s a very good question, after all…
If you’re going on a cruise this summer (or anytime, really), you should be aware that your mobile phone is going to cause you some problems.
Many cruise passengers are unaware or totally unprepared for this fact and the cruise companies themselves are at least partly to blame for the lack of information in this area.
So will your mobile phone work at sea?
The answer is always “You can subscribe to our cruise line cell phone network.” What they won’t tell you is the fees you’ll pay. You certainly won’t be able to find them online, and to get a proper answer, you’ll need to call the cruise line for a full breakdown of what they charge for access to their cellular networks. As a company that sets its own international calling rates for the Talk Abroad SIM card, we can see cruise ship networks on our list, and it doesn’t look good. If you subscribe to their network, you’ll pay between $4 and $8 per minute, depending on your location and who you call. Do not forget that you will be charged for receiving incoming calls
As we will soon see, carrying a mobile phone on a cruise ship can be a logistical nightmare. At the same time, though, do many of us feel naked without a phone?
More problems come in the form of scheduled outages (although they can also represent opportunities for a higher and cheaper level of connectivity).
If the ship is close to shore and has multiple ports of call, you’ll usually be able to get a terrestrial signal from the nearest land-based cell phone tower, up to a mile offshore. It is very unlikely that you will be connected with 3G speed signals, as evidenced in my previous blog, you will need to have a low wave 3G frequency like 800 or 900 Mhz, frequencies not normally associated with phones made for North American consumers. So what can be done? You can rent an international cell phone that works in the port and a short distance from the sea. If you really must stay connected on your ship, contact your cruise ship travel agent and inquire about onboard cell phone rates and subscription fees.
So using mobile phones on a cruise is difficult and extremely expensive, but scheduling a meeting is also likely to cause you some headaches. Two-way radios have their problems, but they may in fact be the best way to keep in touch, depending, of course, on how important this factor is to you.
