Wave phones

[FabFive2003]

I am trying to decide how to handle kids clubs and my girls. 16 yo obviously will come and go and can text me through Disney app. It's my 12 and 10 yr olds I'm debating on. I would like to allow them to sign self out of club, but they would need a way to contact me to find out where I am. Is using wave phone best option? I carry it and they call from club?

What methods do you use for your kids?

 

[Laundress]

on our last trip in March we used our own phones and used the ship app to text each other. it works even while your phone is in airplane mode with no charges. We also told the children where we expected to be at certain times and left notes in the room.

 

[SteveMP]

13 yo's last year we hung a small whiteboard from fish to write notes during day, or certain time/place to meet for meals, or be back to room by x time for show/dinner/night etc.

 

[lorimay]

I hate those wave phones, use your own phones for texting. We did this last week and it was great.
The kids clubs can't contact you via a phone call on your cellular, only text.
So we had the wave phones in case. Well one day our granddaughter had them call, we had 3 staterooms for this cruise. Our wave rang 3 different times with the messages during the week, that she wanted us. It was crazy. It would come only to our phone as a new message and then you couldn't pick up the massage the phone froze. We would then call or walk over to the clubs to see and each time they looked at us like we had 3 heads. Those phoned are 1990's technology and need to be put to a quiet death. I am surprised they haven't come up with a way to be able to ring our cell phones yet.

 

[abuck75]

Does the ship's app work off wifi? I assume an old phone would work fine for this purpose.

 

[erionm]

Does the ship's app work off wifi?

Yes.

I assume an old phone would work fine for this purpose.

As long as the phone is running a compatible version of the appropriate mobile operating system, yes.
If it's an Apple product, it would need to be running iOS 8 or higher.
If it's an Android product, it would need to be running Android 4.1 or higher.

 

[samily]

Does the ship's app work off wifi? I assume an old phone would work fine for this purpose.

Yes, an old phone with WiFi will work. This is what we would use with our youngest son when he didn’t have his own phone yet.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

As long as the phone is running a compatible version of the appropriate mobile operating system, yes.
If it's an Apple product, it would need to be running iOS 8 or higher.

My niece used an iPod Touch, which had WiFi capabilities. It worked fine.

As for whether to let them leave the club on their own, remember you can set the rules, and if they break them their ability to leave the club on their own can be turned off. You could always tell them if they leave the club they should go straight back to the room, and then you could leave a note inside the room telling them where you are, or if you can show them how to check the messages on the room phone, you could just call back to your room and leave them a message about where to find you.

 

[chik1987]

We used the wave phone for our 10 year old and the 12 yr old used the app on her phone. The app was ridiculously slow and wasn't a reliable source of messages. The wave phones worked out so much better. We could call and actually talk to the other person.

 

[Consider the coconut]

We let our 9yr do self check out at the kids club. She doesn't have a phone so the wave phone had to be with her at all times and we carried the other one so she could reach us. Also she had to call and let us know she was going to sign out. It worked out great! I love that they still have them for us to use onboard.

 

[castaway3]

We put the phones in the safe as soon as we enter the room 250.00 each to replace !! we love being "unplugged" we use a white board in the room to leave notes to each other as to where we are. I think it's a shame that people are always looking down at their phones and missing out on life around them.

 

[arielmomma]

We hung a white board on the inside of the door of our cabin and left each other notes. It worked out great!

 

[FabFive2003]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll talk it over with dh and dds so we can decide what we think will work best for us.

 

[TheMomFairy]

We let our 9yr do self check out at the kids club. She doesn't have a phone so the wave phone had to be with her at all times and we carried the other one so she could reach us. Also she had to call and let us know she was going to sign out. It worked out great! I love that they still have them for us to use onboard.

Thinking about packing for our upcoming 1st trip, did your 9yr old carry it in a purse or tote or just by itself? Someone else mentioned a hefty replacement fee so I'm feeling a little concern even though my kid should be able to handle the responsibility.

 

[Consider the coconut]

Thinking about packing for our upcoming 1st trip, did your 9yr old carry it in a purse or tote or just by itself? Someone else mentioned a hefty replacement fee so I'm feeling a little concern even though my kid should be able to handle the responsibility.

Thinking about packing for our upcoming 1st trip, did your 9yr old carry it in a purse or tote or just by itself? Someone else mentioned a hefty replacement fee so I'm feeling a little concern even though my kid should be able to handle the responsibility.

She just hand carried it. But next time I would definitely bring a cross body bag for her to put the phone into. Less stress about her losing/forgetting it.