College Football on Saturdays in the Fall.

[PompeySailor]

So does this mean there is no chance of me seeing a LifeTime movie on my cruise?? No even "its a wonderful life"

 

You might get to see some cricket:D

[PompeySailor]

You leave Home to get away from things at Home but we stay connected all the time. No wonder we need a Holiday when we get back home.:eek::rolleyes:

 

Agreed! Disconnect:cool:

[Kkross]

They do carry Turner Classic Movies on the stateroom TV.

 

Christmas just isn't Christmas without "it's a wonderful life" Or "a Christmas story". Good thing I have it on DVD. ;)

[PompeySailor]

Christmas just isn't Christmas without "it's a wonderful life" Or "a Christmas story". Good thing I have it on DVD. ;)

 

You must take Wizard of Oz as well.. ;)

[Kkross]

You must take Wizard of Oz as well.. ;)

 

I have way to many clothes to be bringing all that! Could always take some of my hubbys suitcase space :rolleyes:

[GTMoose]

So..... would "any other football game" really have been ok? Sounds like it was really that one particular game you wanted them to show. ;)

Somehow I'm guessing you really would not have been ok if they were showing, say, the Wyoming/FAU game. :D

 

 

After being stuck with cricket, I would have been thrilled with Wyoming/FAU. Heck, I'd be happy with Northeast Southwestern State taking on Sisters of the Poor. :D

[PompeySailor]

I have way to many clothes to be bringing all that! Could always take some of my hubbys suitcase space :rolleyes:

 

Don't forget the DVD player, could watch all the movies and stuff in your cabin all week.

One snag though the AUX connections on stateroom TV,s does not work unless you take your own universal remote:p

 

Deviating from football folks🏉

 

Anyone for 🎾

 

Happy Days!

[AirlineDad]

Cruises that originate in the US have large numbers of American passengers, and those cruises generally cater to American tastes, not in all things, but in many areas, such as food, beverage, and entertainment. Therefore, it is certainly valid to raise the question as to why the cruise industry makes so little effort to show college football, which many Americans are passionate about.

 

To start with, I should acknowledge that RCI ships do show a reasonable number of NFL games, but I think they had no choice. I know many people who would simply not cruise if it meant missing a certain NFL game. The NFL is just too big to be denied. It is an exception.

 

In general, however, cruise ships do a lousy job showing televised sports. Some of the Radiance class ships I have been on, such as the Jewel of the Seas, had a sports bar. But anyone who went into that bar would soon discover that it rarely showed any sports, and when it did, there would be only one channel available, usually the international version of ESPN. To me, a sports bar is a place with lots of screens and dozens of channels. Whether for technical reasons or because RCI just doesn’t get it, what they call a sports bar does not even come close to what a sports bar should be.

 

On the topic of ESPN, there is probably no hotel room in the United States that does not have access to the two channels ESPN and ESPN2 (and I mean the full US version of ESPN). This is a testament to how important those channels are in the US. On a college football Saturday, those two channels are filled with games all day long, usually some of the best games in the country. Alas, RCI ships carry mainly the international edition of ESPN, which is terribly lacking in college football. You may find one game on a Saturday.

 

One thing I have noticed is that most people like to combine multiple types of pleasurable activities with cruising, and people find different things pleasurable. While most of us like combining fine dining with cruising, some people like to combine shopping with cruising, or gambling, or rock-climbing, or using the FlowRider. My point is that people have different tastes. For me, I would love to be able to watch a lot more college football while I’m on a cruise. That would be fantastic. I am not optimistic about this happening any time soon, and I understand the opinions of others who prefer different types of entertainment. My point is that you should not attack a person just because they would like to see something new added to the cruising experience.

 

Also, I would not suggest showing college football on cruises that originate outside the US, although I would bet that many nations have their own sports that they would like to see more of while cruising. When I am sailing out of Florida, just give me ESPN (US edition), ESPN2, the Big Ten Network, and the SEC Network, on a set of screens within hailing distance of good bar tender. Now that would be nice.

 

Finally, for those who suggest that sports fans simply record the game and watch it later, they don’t have a clue. When it comes to televised sports, it really has to be live. Watching a game is not like watching a TV show or movie. The live aspect is an essential part of the attraction.

 

Anyway, I have done my best to explain the point of view of a college football fan. Thanks for reading.

Great points!

 

My g/f and I LOVE college football!! When I met her, she was an NFL fan, but after she watched a few games of college football, she was hooked.

 

Gig 'Em Aggies!

Texas A&M

[dadroy]

Saturday the 20th was not a good day for College football on TV. No games at all on CBS or NBC and only one game on ABC, at least in my neck of the woods. But just about all ships show these channels and if games were broadcast they would be available somewhere. As the season moves along there will probably be 5 or 6 games every Saturday on the ships.

 

So the next choice is ESPN and now the fun begins. My cable plan at home gives me 4 channels and my buddy has at least these four plus the SEC package and Pac 12 package. He gets to see more games than I do.

 

So the cruise line does not use a set package like regular consumers get. They have to a la carte the choices which gets to be expensive. You know they are not going to pay for the premium channels, especially those that very few cruisers actually "demand", thus no Pac !2 or SEC channels.

[mil76]

I just realized I'm going to miss my alma mater Temple vs. East Carolina. Better go cancel the cruise!! Oh wait, it's not on TV anyway...

[lv2bcruzin]

If you are a non-football or passive football fan then you don't really understand. Considering the amount of soccer and cricket on the ship they obviously do care about showing sports that supposedly matter to the passengers. They just haven't got it right during football season.

 

There's no need to belittle football fans like some outcasts who can't disconnect.

 

There's nothing wrong with wanting your favorite pastime televised while you are enjoying your favorite way to vacation.

Edited September 26, 2014 by lv2bcruzin

[mil76]

My previous post was more of dig at myself since Temple has always been so bad that they are never on TV so I never have given thought to catching their games on a cruise.

 

I have family in Florida who never miss a home FSU game so they won't ever go with us on our yearly fall break cruise. On the other hand I always look at the Ravens' schedule to make sure I have some way to catch the games. This year on Allure we're still in Port Canaveral for the Bengals so I can catch it on my phone and they are on SNF for the second Sunday against the Steelers, so I'll already be home.

 

Good thing this year is the World Series is always shown on-board, so if the Orioles shock the world I'll still be able to catch it.

[lv2bcruzin]

This was the first time I have ever cruised that I went during college football season. We are huge Husker fans and we make sure to plan weddings around football season, but I had to go during this time frame because of my Army National Guard schedule. On top of it we did a B2B, so it was three weekends of missing football since we were traveling to Florida the first Saturday.

[BamaGuy44]

If you are a non-football or passive football fan then you don't really understand. Considering the amount of soccer and cricket on the ship they obviously do care about showing sports that supposedly matter to the passengers. They just haven't got it right during football season.

 

There's no need to belittle football fans like some outcasts who can't disconnect.

 

There's nothing wrong with wanting your favorite pastime televised while you are enjoying your favorite way to vacation.

 

It never fails, someone asks how they can do some activity on board, and the CC busy bodies will chime in telling them why they shouldn't do it. Watching college football is one of my favorite leisure activities. Why wouldn't I want to do it on vacation if I can? Not a deal breaker by any means but nice if it's available.

 

The point about it not being shown because cricket is popular in the Caribbean and not football is dumb, sorry. Since when do cruise lines cater to the tastes of the countries they travel to? They don't, they cater to the tastes of the passengers, who are mostly American on the cruises we are talking about.

Edited September 26, 2014 by BamaGuy44

[cruiseatick]

Royal needs to get direct tv!!!!!

[mark290]

 

The point about it not being shown because cricket is popular in the Caribbean and not football is dumb, sorry. Since when do cruise lines cater to the tastes of the countries they travel to? They don't, they cater to the tastes of the passengers, who are mostly American on the cruises we are talking about.

 

Exactly.

[BamaGuy44]

There are an awful lot of people from the USA who have absolutely no interest at all in college football. DH and I for example. You can always record games that are important to you and watch when you get home.

 

Not following your logic. There are a lot of people from the USA with no interest in a lot of things they offer on the ship. Plenty of people who don't swim but they still have pools.

 

Point is they already show sports on the TVs, why not show something that is actually popular among the passengers, who are mostly American?

 

DCL go out of their way to show college football, NFL, NBA etc all over the world and advertise the showings prominently in the Navigator (Cruise Compass)

[Valre]

I read past posts from 2014 about college football but can you tell me if after 3 years that they may have college football on the tvs now.

[Clarea]

I read past posts from 2014 about college football but can you tell me if after 3 years that they may have college football on the tvs now.

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

I would not expect any regular Saturday college football game to be on TV. National championship game, probably.

[Gregoryfo]

We cruised over Christmas/New Years on the Grandeur this past year and three years ago. I am a big football fan and the change (progress) in coverage has been great. During the 2014/15 cruise the Rose bowl was on for college football and that was about it. As to the NFL they had games in each time slot on Sundays but they made no sense. The cruise left out of Baltimore and they did not even show the Ravens final game against Cleveland which the Ravens had to win to make the playoffs.

 

The 2016/17 cruise there was college football (bowl season) on almost daily on ESPN. Not sure if the regular season has shown as much improvement. ESPN would show commercials for an upcoming Caribbean cricket tournament, but I never saw any of the matches televised. If your team is not being shown the internet service has also come a long way, so the streaming apps might also be an option.

[rum & monkey]

I read past posts from 2014 about college football but can you tell me if after 3 years that they may have college football on the tvs now.

 

 

 

We are big college football fans and use to only sail in the fall A&M's off week however now we find ourselves traveling & missing games. My husband tries to find out when we get onboard which games will be shown which usually takes several trips to guest services to talk to the right person. They only give us the stations that are a possibility & not actual games. Sometimes we are lucky sometimes not. It depends who picks your game up. As it has been explained to us the ships have a Caribbean satellite service so they are limited to subscribe to the channels that the Caribbean satellite service picks up. We have been told the main reason for this, is the primary locations the ships are in during the week that the Caribbean satellite is the best option for picking up the feed (makes sense). We've had a bartender tell us they use the Caribbean Satellite so that the crew can keep up with the news at home. Not sure if that is true but seems that it makes the crew happy that they were told that. Though the whole point is they are not using an american satellite feed so the channel options just aren't there.

 

We always pray that the game we want does not get picked up by one of the major networks (ex. CBS was our problem last year) because if it does you will not see your game on the ship. We have bought the voom with stream to stream games on-board but did not work out.

You will see college games onboard just might not be your team. They also will list it in the cruise compass but might put the wrong location (last year the pool was crowded with people waiting to see the Arkansas/Alabama game and when it was suppose to start on the big screen a Disney movie came on. Everyone was scrambling to find which bar had it and it was in the on-air bar right outside the ice rink & there was not enough seating). If you have a game that is that important to you don't cruise that week but there are some games and you'll catch some highlights from the games you'll miss. Most likely you will be watching international ESPN, so you have a chance if your game was picked up by ESPN.

 

 

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[blackshirt]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

I would not expect any regular Saturday college football game to be on TV. National championship game, probably.

Every ship I've been on has 1 or 2 ESPN channels. I would expect one of them to have college football. I'll be on Liberty in October, I'll make it a point to check.

[Stallion]

Ha! I'm cruising this Sunday in late August as I always do to make sure I'm back by College football season-could care less about the NFL.