Walkie talkies for cruise ships: do they work, and do you need them?
They work, but much less well than the box claims. A cruise ship is a steel structure and steel blocks radio, so expect a deck or two rather than the advertised miles. Most lines allow low-powered handhelds without external antennas, though the rules differ by line. Whether you need them depends on who is in your group.
Why the range on the box is meaningless onboard
Handheld radios are sold with figures like "25 mile range". That number is measured with nothing in the way at all — two hilltops, line of sight, open air. A cruise ship is the opposite environment: steel decks, steel bulkheads, steel everywhere, with thousands of people and a lot of electrical noise between you and whoever you are calling.
What cruisers report, consistently, over many years of forum threads: fine along the same open deck, patchy one deck apart, mostly useless several decks apart or between the far ends of a big ship. One long-running forum thread on the subject puts it bluntly — cruise lines use metal for the floors, ceilings and walls, and that blocks most handheld signals.
The rules
Most major lines allow personal handheld radios, generally limited to low power — commonly described as under 5 watts — and with no external antenna fitted. Some lines discourage them, and a few restrict them outright. Every line publishes a prohibited items list and they do change it, so check yours rather than trusting a blog, including this one.
On licensing: in the United States, FRS radios are licence-free and GMRS needs a licence. In the UK and most of Europe, PMR446 is licence-free. Buy the licence-free type for where you are sailing from.
A common follow-up: can an app do the job instead? Not a push-to-talk one — Zello and Apple Watch Walkie-Talkie both need the internet, so they stop at sea.
Where walkie talkies genuinely win
This is not a page arguing you should never pack them. They are better than an app in several real situations:
- Children who do not have phones. A radio on a lanyard needs no account, no setup and no battery anxiety beyond fresh AAs.
- Instant push-to-talk. Press, speak, done. No typing, no waiting for a message to find its way.
- Grandparents who will not install anything. One button is one button.
- Shore excursions and big open spaces. Out of the steel box they perform exactly as advertised.
Where they fall down
- Between decks, which is where most families actually need them.
- Everyone nearby hears both halves of your conversation, including the other families on channel 1.
- They are more things to carry, charge and lose. Children lose them.
- They are unwelcome in theatres, restaurants and quiet areas, which is a lot of a ship.
The alternative: use the phones you are already carrying
CruiseLink passes short messages directly between the phones in your group, with no internet package. Rather than needing a clear radio path from your phone to theirs, a message is carried by whoever is in between — so your sister two decks down can be reached through the phone in someone's pocket on the deck between.
| Walkie talkies | CruiseLink | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | £25 to £80 for a set | Free |
| Works between decks | Poorly | Often, if someone is in between |
| Instant | Yes, within range | No — a message waits until phones come near |
| Extra kit | Yes, plus batteries | No |
| Private | No, anyone on the channel hears | Yes, messages are sealed |
| Works for non-phone users | Yes | No |
| Needs setting up beforehand | Minimal | Yes, before you sail |
The genuinely honest summary: if your group is all adults with smartphones, the app does the job for nothing and you will not miss the radios. If you have children without phones, or someone who will not install anything, pack the radios — or do both, which is what a lot of families end up doing.
Get CruiseLink
Free, no account, nothing to set up beyond your group. iPhone today; Android is built and in testing.
