Two way radios

[pgsahm2]

Are kids allowed to have two-way radios while in the clubs?

Also, our radios have an 8 mile limit. If we go into Nassau while the kids are in the clubs will we be able to still use them -- how far from the ship is the market, etc. I don't know that the radios are really a must-have item for us.

Anyone have experience using them while cruising?

 

[kcashner]

We had good quality, relatively expensive radios...and found that there was a lot of static on the ship and that they were more trouble than they were worth.

The kids are "allowed" to have them in the Club or Lab, but DCL will not be responsible for them if lost or stolen. They don't need them there as you will have a beeper and a counsellor can call you if needed. You will be told that the beepers only work on the ship, but that is not consistent with our experience. We found that they could page us while we were in port within walking range of the ship.

In Nassau, the straw market is right off the dock--less than 1 mile from the ship.

 

[flexsmom]

There are no "cubbies" or anything like that for children to stash personal items while in the Clubs, so the likelihood of them being misplaced or picked up by someone else is high.

 

[Gina]

DS (now 10) and I have used the radios every cruise, and they are a must on our packing list each time. Ours were pretty inexpensive, 5-mile radios, and they usually worked pretty darn well. The only times we had issues were if we were separated by a whole bunch of decks. Otherwise, they were great.

As for DS carrying it around, I found a neoprene tight-fitting carrycase on a lanyard for a few bucks at Walmart, and that has worked out extremely well. Mine, I just keep in my ever-present beach tote and keep it turned up high.

-gina-


Edit: I forgot to specify that we've used two different models of Motorola Walkabouts. Maybe the different brands have differing levels of clarity, because we've never had a static issue with the Walkabouts.

 

[cruisecrzy]

We have small uniden radios (the kinds that take the AAA batteries) with a 10-mile radius and we found they did not work great on the ship. Especially if we were seperated a few decks and one was aft and one forward. We did gt lots of static. Now we loved them on the islands and found they worked great.