Are NFL Games available?

[greatsally59]

We are sailing on the Veendam in November. We will be at sea on Sunday. My husband is worried about missing his NFL fix. IS there a suitable spot on the ship for him to catch a game?

Thanks much,

Sally

[Grumpy1]

We are sailing on the Veendam in November. We will be at sea on Sunday. My husband is worried about missing his NFL fix. IS there a suitable spot on the ship for him to catch a game?

Thanks much,

SallyThere may be a game shown in the sports bar, but sometimes the ship is not in a position where there is satellite coverage. The NFL games are only carried on certain satellites, so the ship must be able to "see" that satellite and HAL must get permission to show it. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't.

[dakrewser]

I've never seen any American football games on HAL ships with the exception of the Super Bowl.

[Bill S]

We've cruised on HAL several times in November and once during NFL playoffs in December. HAL does carry ESPN in the Sports Bar, so if any NFL games will be on ESPN this year, he should be able to see those games. NBC, Fox and ABC games have not been available in the past, except during the playoffs. HAL arranged for all the playoff games to be viewed on-board when we were on the Amsterdam even when we were south of the equator! We appreciated that very much! :D

[gizmo]

The only time I saw ESPN was on a Mexican Riviera cruise and this did not work all the time. We had it for a couple of days then ESPN International kicked in.
All my Caribbean cruises had ESPN International which does not carry many American sports. Sometimes they have a tape of an American sport late at night. There is no TV schedule to even figure this out. You just have to hang around the Sports bar and might catch an advertisement ESPNI for an ucoming game. :)

[bdcbbq]

On our 2002-2003 New Year's cruise on the Veendam, some of the bowl games were available. I spend most of my time in the casino and am not sure what was being watched. I noticed there was quite a crowd most of the day.

[newmexicoNita]

As has been said, it depends on who they have contracted with. If it is ESPN and they have a game you will be able to see it, we are in the same boat. I will tell you one thing, we sailed the transatlantic last Sept, both are Sunday (actually Sat) as well football addicts and we did survive. NMNita

[Bramcruiser]

Most ships have a sports bar. At least the Oosterdam did. I would take it he would simply have to go there. Although....................why oh why would someone want to watch TV - even if it is sports - on vacation.:)

[LAKNARF]

Sally..............your husband should have figured it the way my wife and I did. Our team, the BUCS play on Thanksgiving Day. we knew that even before the regular schedule came out. We figured if they play on thursday they won't play on the following sunday, sooooooooooooooooo we booked the cruise to leave on saturday the 25th of November

[newmexicoNita]

Most ships have a sports bar. At least the Oosterdam did. I would take it he would simply have to go there. Although....................why oh why would someone want to watch TV - even if it is sports - on vacation.:)
Obviously you are not a football fan!!!!! lol

[newmexicoNita]

Sally..............your husband should have figured it the way my wife and I did. Our team, the BUCS play on Thanksgiving Day. we knew that even before the regular schedule came out. We figured if they play on thursday they won't play on the following sunday, sooooooooooooooooo we booked the cruise to leave on saturday the 25th of November
Wished we could have done taat but our cruise leaves on the 29th and is 10 days so we have no choice but to miss one week plus the end of the college season. Oh well, life will go on and our teams, Redskins and Broncos will never miss us as much as we will miss them lOL

[Bases5]

Who could be a Buc's fan. Oh my
We looked at the same cruise but timing did not work out. So I chose the 11/11 due to the fact they played onMonday night. I figured it would save me money rather than going to the Casino.
I had forgotten Monday is on ESPN now, so Im not sure if they have the American version of ESPN, I have only seen International espn on a ship. Oh well I have Tivo.
i had to tell the wife the other day that I would not be at home the Sunday following the Saturday cruise due to the fact I would be at the Skins,Buc's game. No rest before work gee.

[Desert Cruisers]

As others have stated, there is no guarantee that you will get to see your football game. Prepare not to see it and you won't be disappointed. If the game is available for viewing, then you will be pleasantly surprised. If your husband absolutely must watch football, then the two of you have to decide whether to cruise during the football season.:)

[greatsally59]

[.............why oh why would someone want to watch TV - even if it is sports - on vacation.:)[/QUOTE]

Well, Sunday is an at sea day, most games are in the afternoon, the Colts are great at winning regular season games (Playoffs are another matter) and watching an NFL game while at sea in a nice bar and downing a few cold ones, sound more fun than playing bingo and then paying $150 bucks to have mud slapped on your face and cucumber slices placed on your eyes (what the wife will doing Sunday afternoon). So, if by chance there were to be a sports bar with NFL games on Sunday afternoon (42" or bigger Plasma), I personally would count it as a real plus for HAL. If it's not happening, it's not happening and I'll find some other activity and enjoy that.

I wouldn't think it would be very hard to have a complete DirecTV system on any cruise ship. You can get one for a RV (GPS in motion systems) for less than $3000, and after just checking Sea Tel website you can get a system for a Cruise ship for about $10,000.00 (Sat-TV, Telephone and Internet), I don't know what it would cost for DirecTV serivce. Would I spend a lot if time on board ship watching TV? NO. Would I pay an extra $10, $15 or $20 to have a complete DirecTV channel line up in cabin, sure, that would be prety cool.

Sally's NFL fan Husband