two way radios onboard and St. Thomas

[cruz4fun]

Hi, two questions from here: This will be our second family cruise with our kids. Last year we noticed several walkie talkie type radios onboard, and would like to use these to communicate and be able to find our older kids periodically, esp. at night around the ship. Has anyone does this, and have you brought your own, or rented them from the ship? Also, I was on a web site showing that when we are at St. Thomas, we will be in port along with 6 other large cruise ships at the same time. Obviously, the place will be crowded. We would like to get to Coki beach for some snorkeling. Any recommendations on whether we should book thru RCCL, or just taxi there ourselves? Thanks so much!

[cruz4fun]

Hi, two questions from here: This will be our second family cruise with our kids. Last year we noticed several walkie talkie type radios onboard, and would like to use these to communicate and be able to find our older kids periodically, esp. at night around the ship. Has anyone does this, and have you brought your own, or rented them from the ship? Also, I was on a web site showing that when we are at St. Thomas, we will be in port along with 6 other large cruise ships at the same time. Obviously, the place will be crowded. We would like to get to Coki beach for some snorkeling. Any recommendations on whether we should book thru RCCL, or just taxi there ourselves? Thanks so much!

[NCBILL]

Hi! We have used FRS and GMRS two-way radios at sea and on land all over the Caribbean. They are VERY nice to have, particularly in in crowded areas where you might get separated. They are also handy to stay in touch on board. (Example: One person can scout out better a better deck chair location, while the other person holds an existing set of chairs. The "scout" can radio back and give the location of the new chairs, once found.) The FRS and GMRS units are becoming so inexpensive, it would hardly be worth renting them. Check out Staples, Wal-Mart, or Amazon.com for some good prices. The FRS units do not require a license. You must purchase a license (a one-time charge of $75) to use the GMRS units. The GMRS units provide longer range (5-10 miles vs. 2-4 miles). Those ranges are for open areas and are much reduced by all the steel bulkheads on board ship.

[NCBILL]

Hi! I forgot to tell you one thing. If you decide to purchase the radios, I would strongly suggest you buy units with lithium batteries, not ones with ni-cads. Lithium batteries do not suffer from "memory effect" and can be charged at anytime. Ni-cad batteries should be completely exhausted before recharging. If they are recharged when they still have power, they will eventually not take a full charge and your battery life will be significantly reduced.