Cruising With An APX

Joined
Apr 11, 2023
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Hi all,

I am going on the Carnival Celebration in September of this year, and need some advice.

I am planning on taking my APX900 radio with me, and so are a few friends of mine who are coming with on the cruise. From what I have seen on this forum in recent posts, they do not bother you much with the radios. The one problem is that Carnival uses XPR7550s, which happen to look exactly like the APX900.

I am obviously planning on walking abouts the ship with this radio. Should I expect to encounter problems?
 

GTR8000

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It only takes one or two paranoid crew members to notice the radio and think "HEY that guy has one of our radios!", so be prepared to get your balls broken about it. Best to bring some documentation aboard proving you own the radio, ham license, letter from your local rabbi, etc. Better safe than sorry.
 

KevinC

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And if you do pics not ones lifted from random websites.
 

JASII

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A group of us took the Celebration in February. I brought a couple of radios, but used them in our cabin. We used the Carnival app for texting. My wife and I were the only amateur radio operators in our group of six of us.

What band will you be using?
 

Moto_user

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There are quite a few people who have taken radios on cruise ships without issue. You'll definitely be fine if you're limiting use to your cabin but if you are going to be walking around with it, I would just give them a heads up about them when you board and explain to them what they are. The courtesy of a heads up will go a long way and you should be fine.
 

mmckenna

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Different cruise line, but probably 10 years ago we took our 2 meter hand held radios with us on a cruise to Alaska.

During baggage check/security screening, the radios were confiscated and we were told we'd get them back later.

We did get them back later on that day. They were apparently checked out by someone to make sure that they were not going to interfere with any of the ships systems.

When you pay for your cruise, you sign papers that says you will abide by all the rules of the cruise line and abide by what the ships master says. That includes very vague items like they can do pretty much whatever they want because you are on their ship and they make the rules. If you don't like the rules, they'll happily leave you on the dock and sail away without giving you a second thought.

We never really used our radios. There are much better things to be doing on the ship rather than playing with radios. Once you enter the territorial waters of other countries, you FCC license means exactly zero. You will be bound by the rules of the country you are in, and that can include unfortunate things happening to you and your radio. Remember that radio licenses and rules are different between countries and what flies here in the USA won't in another country. You might get away with it, you might not.

Unless you are under 18, there are MUCH better things to be doing than playing with radios on board the ship. I would not take a radio on a cruise. If I did, I'd make sure it would be something I'd be totally OK losing and not getting back.
 

N4DES

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Did a cruise to Alaska on NCL recently and I asked about bringing an amateur radio, as I thought it would be cool to make a contact while in Alaska, but the cruise line said no. I didn't go any further and just left it at home. The on-board app was good enough for family communications between us.
 

pandel

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But, But, But,....what about "By any means necessary"? :eek:
Just Kidding. Don't do it!
 

tweiss3

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While Carnival still lists "Ham radios/amateur radio equipment" as permitted, isn't there some sort of export ban on P25 equipment?

Anyways, it may be beneficial to pack the radio with a copy of your amateur license. I've taken radios on all the past handful of vacations, but I'm not on the upcoming cruise next year. Like others have said, leave it at home.
 

N4KVE

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Bring some Nextel phones that have the direct talk feature. They’re cheap, & look like a cellphone, & the crew will ignore you. They’re on 900 MHz, & work great on cruise ships. NOTE. They must have a SIM card to work, but most E-Bay sellers include them with the device.
 
Joined
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Messages
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A group of us took the Celebration in February. I brought a couple of radios, but used them in our cabin. We used the Carnival app for texting. My wife and I were the only amateur radio operators in our group of six of us.

What band will you be using?

Conventional 7/8 with ADP. Nobody will hear us besides the ones who need to. I'm probably going to not take them, just in case.
 

wtp

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if you take a radio, make it one that you can just toss in the water, i do not mean waterproof, i mean loose it.
a Captain might do that if he thinks you caused any interference. and that could come from someone else.
i also vote to enjoy the trip.
 
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