Walkie-Talkies On Board

[beachgirls]

Hey - need some points of view. I'm taking my DD's 10 1/2 and 15 1/2 years old - does anyone have suggestions and/or pros and cons on having walkie talkies to keep in contact with your kids? I know the Kids Club provides pagers - but has anyone found that bringing your own walkie-talkies makes for an easier trip in meeting and/or keeping in touch while on the ship and/or shores with your family and/or friends? Do you get good receiption? What brand or type is best?

 

[ldb1030]

Hey beachgirls! It's me again! We took them last time we sailed and they worked good. I found that we mostly used them when my husband was doing something different then me. Our daughter was with one of us unless she was in the club then we used the pager system.

 

[beachgirls]

Thanks - my sis and I are trying to determine if they would be good on this trip coming up. Our two young ones will be together and then the teens will be together so I thought it might work pretty good to keep everyone tuned in on whos doing what, when and where. Thanks for the info. I think we'll probably take them - did you have any trouble hearing on them?

 

[ldb1030]

No trouble hearing w/ them! Just had to change channels a few times cuz so many people had them! But they worked for what we needed them for. Also it was nice to have them on Castaway Cay when my sister was on the adult beach and we were on our way over to meet her!

 

[bweppner]

Hi beachgirls,

We brought the motorola T6300s on our 4/6 Magic cruise. They have a special feature which "locks out" transmissions from other brands on the same channel. Also, they have a built in Clock w/ alarm. I set the alarm for our younger kids so they knew when the alarm went off it was time to get ready for dinner, meet in the lobby, etc. We used them constantly and our kids used them to talk with friends who also had FRS radios. Great thing to bring on the ship.

 

[beachgirls]

Well, then I think I've just made the decision to have them - guess I'd better start looking for some motorolas - sounds like the best thing to do. Great ideas!!!! I'm sure will help make the cruise that much more fun. Thanks so much for the info.

 

[hokie5cruiser]

if you have a costco near you-check there to buy them. The price was very good there when we bought ours. Sorry I don't remember how much though

 

[atigeg]

Even though we don't have children, hubby and I still find them very useful for cases where one of us is grabbing a snack while the other is heading to the theater, consulting on ressies, etc. We have the kind with subchannels, which eliminates a lot of the problems associated with sharing just 13 channels with a shipful of people. Some people get very possessive of "their" channel, and some kids use the radios as toys. The subchannels help, plus we got the fancy kind that also can be "locked" so we only hear transmission from each other. They garble our tansmissions for increased privacy...I think I would especially like that feature if I had children, since I wouldn't be comfortable announcing our plans to the world (e.g. "meet me in such-and-such a place at such-and-such a time").
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[beachgirls]

I don't have a Costco here in Oklahoma, but I'm sure I can find it on Ebay if no where else.

I appreciate all the feedback on this from everyone - it only increases my wanting to have these on the trip - so many times I find myself wanting to tell my kids about something and they are out doing their thing - so this way I can relay the message to them as if I were right there with them - plus I like them being able to reach me if they need to - its a crazy world these days.

 

[disney6]

FYI for Canadians. The walkie talkies you buy in Canada only work with others bought here. Different radio waves I was told. We decided to go ahead and buy them here figuring there would be fewer Canadian purchased w.t. to interfere with ours (got the Panasonic's that you can flip down and put to your ear like a cell phone and they do have 12(?) channels and 39 sub channels.

 

[npall]

of alkie talkies you have? We took some last year that we borrowed from some friends. They were Motorola's I think and had subchannels but we found that they didn't work very well on the ship. On the Wonder when I left Parrot Cay to make our Palo's ressies my dh couldn't hear me and I couldn't hear him. So needless to say we didn't use them at all! I would love some that actually worked this time around as we are going on a 7 day in Aug.

Thank you,
Naomi

 

[bweppner]

Hi again beachgirls,

I bought my Motorola T6300s on eBay. I actually found many people selling them in pairs. Good luck.

 

[beachgirls]

Thanks for the info - I looked on ebay last night and found some Motorola T5200's and T5210's are the ones you found a better grade of Motorola than these I've found?

 

[bweppner]

Give this website a try for eBay:

http://search.ebay.com/search/searc...operty=MetaEndSort&ebaytag1code=0&query=t6300

 

[npall]

Just wanted to get some suggestions on past cruisers that have used some and have worked on the ship ?

Thanks,
Naomi

 

[kritters4]

Sorry I'm in the miniority here but we took them and they worked ok but just never really needed them...ok I take that back when we needed them they were always back in the room! SO ,SO much to pack it really isn't necessary, just have good communication with your group and you'll be fine!!

 

[beachgirls]

Hey - thanks for your imput - I like knowing everyone's opinion!! And I appreciate it very, very much.

 

[plutojudy]

We have Mortorola Talkabouts. We love them. My husband and I use them on the ship, on the islands, at the parks, and many places at home. They even work well in Las Vegas, my husband can contact me from the convention hall to the room or pool. We use them every September in Daytona Beach from the room to the pool and beach. We just think they are great and they don't take up much room in a tote bag or waist pack.

 

[beachgirls]

I think they might provide me, as a mom, an extra comfort level. My sister and I have 2 children a piece and each are near the same age levels so we have 2 teens and 2 pre-teens and I know they will all be doing their own things plus my mom's going so it might turn out to be pretty neat - if we remember to take them with us - and I don't think I'll forget.