Silversea & Super Bowl: Hooked Up, Party Time??

Today is Superbowl Monday at Sea! By 11:30 a.m. the Venetian lounge was filling up quickly with US Football sports fan who had a great way to enjoy the day at sea. Three big screens, popcorn, drinks, hamburgs, hotdogs, french fries and apple pie (talk about an American menu!) were offered up. Originally the feed was the Fox internet feed but moments into the game it was obvious that the bandwidth would not be enough. No plays were interrupted but it was switched over to the ESPN feed for a brighter picture and no delay but no Superbowl Commercials. Not a football fan (one of the Artists of Silver Sea had to tell me who to cheer for) and so now that the commercials aren't part of the package and I've had my lunch, I should head out but there's a great energy here and I've found an electrical outlet so I'll stick around.

On Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015, we will be sailing from Santarem to Boca da Valeria along Brazil's Amazon River. That's when Super Bowl XLIX will be on NBC-TV from the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Probable game time at 6:30 pm EST. This will be while we are doing our Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Amazon River-Caribbean combo back-to-back sailing over 26 days on the Silversea Silver Cloud.

BUT, what about watching the Super Bowl?? I did a search on this Silversea Board and found the above posting from CanadianKate. Am I correct that in most cases, unless some huge technical issue, that Silversea has the Super Bowl in some larger setting on a larger screen and/or that it will be available on the TV's in the individual suites? Any other insights, experiences, suggestions, etc., from those on SS ships when this big event happens?

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 160,982 views. Nice to be hitting this high of a level for viewership. Appreciate the interest and follow-up questions/comments!!

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

Hi Terry, we were onboard a Silversea Cruise when the Kentucky Derby was being run. Luckily I have slingbox on my computer. I mentioned this to the Hotel Manager and he asked if I would mind letting one of the technical staff hook up my computer to a big screen in the card room. There was a good turnout and we watched the race. Internet service was kind of poor but hopefully is better now throughout the fleet.

I mentioned to one of the crew on the same cruise that I was going to buy the pay per view of the Manny Pacheo fight and asked if any of the crew would be interested in seeing the fight. As you may know Pacheo is a national hero in the Philippines. I think nearly the entire crew came into the card room to watch the fight. I was worried no one would be sailing the ship. (Just kidding) For days afterward crew members we had never seen came up to my wife and me to thank us for getting them the fight.

The only downer was Silversea told me they would pay me for all the internet time I used but it never happened. I guess I should have complained.

In case you don't know what the Slingbox is, let me know.

We were on the Spirit Feb 2012 sailing around S America Superbowl Sunday and the ship broadcasted the game both on big screen and in the rooms.

Hi Terry, we were onboard a Silversea Cruise when the Kentucky Derby was being run. Luckily I have slingbox on my computer. I mentioned this to the Hotel Manager and he asked if I would mind letting one of the technical staff hook up my computer to a big screen in the card room. There was a good turnout and we watched the race. Internet service was kind of poor but hopefully is better now throughout the fleet. I mentioned to one of the crew on the same cruise that I was going to buy the pay per view of the Manny Pacheo fight and asked if any of the crew would be interested in seeing the fight. As you may know Pacheo is a national hero in the Philippines. I think nearly the entire crew came into the card room to watch the fight. I was worried no one would be sailing the ship. (Just kidding) For days afterward crew members we had never seen came up to my wife and me to thank us for getting them the fight. The only downer was Silversea told me they would pay me for all the internet time I used but it never happened. I guess I should have complained. In case you don't know what the Slingbox is, let me know.

FAP16: We were on the Spirit Feb 2012 sailing around S America Superbowl Sunday and the ship broadcasted the game both on big screen and in the rooms.

Appreciate these added experiences and background. Did not know specifically about Slingbox. Looked it up. Seems like interesting technology. In some places' date=' however, including for cruise ships, they seem either to prohibit or discourage such Skype-like devices as they tend to use up lots of "bandwidth". Assume this would be true, also, with Slingbox. Right or wrong? Great story on the Pacheo fight and how it connected with the ship staff from the Philippines. Must have been a really fun event!!

Keep it coming with any other experiences, ideas, suggestions, etc.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio[/font']

Back from doing a 14-day Celebrity Solstice, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure on this ship and getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for much more information and lots of wonderful pictures on these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 82,681 views for this fun posting.

Hi Terry,

We've had a Slingbox for years and love it. In fact we have two so my wife and I can each watch different channels.

Silversea internet bandwidth has always been lousy because they won't invest in additional satellite space to accommodate the ever growing demand for digital and electronic devices. A crew member told me the best time to use these devices is in the middle of the night when little traffic but obviously that isn't a very convenient time unless you are an insomniac.

An executive from a tech company was on board and said he had been on a n cruises and had no problems with the internet. He confirmed it was very easy to upgrade the capacity but expensive.

I had a conversation with a Silversea Executive (forgot his name) who boarded mid cruise and talked with him about the ever growing need for more bandwidth particularly if Silversea was trying to attract a younger demographic. He didn't disagree but also didn't indicate SS was going to do anything about it.

We recently talked to a Silversea representative about a French Polynesia cruise on the Spirit and she said the internet on that ship was upgraded and worked well.

As far as discouraging the use of the Slingbox, nothing was said about it. It did eat a lot of my internet credit. There definitely were parts of the ship, I think it was the Cloud before a dry-dock, where the Slingbox worked better than others.

I can understand that SS would try to discourage bandwidth hogs if they have limited capacity. This makes everyone only a little unhappy. I wish they would upgrade their systems, which they will have to do eventually.