Is there any way to connect a firestick to the tv on a Gorgeous suite on SL?

[CruisinShips]

Has anyone done this?  Thanks

[raphael360]

I’ve tried to do this but access to the TV settings were lock by the cruise line. The TVs control is via a tablet with very minimal options for the TV. Power and volume only. 

[garycarla]

It was very difficult to actually plug hdmi into back of tv as they sit very tight to the wall.  I rigged up something with tape and plastic knife to guide the HDMI cable into place.  

 

but, as said above, you can not change the source. I monkeyed around with it quite a bit.  We do not do streaming, but always bring an Ipad with lots of movies, etc.   But, no luck on Virgin.

 

[Lustate]

24 minutes ago, garycarla said:

It was very difficult to actually plug hdmi into back of tv as they sit very tight to the wall.  I rigged up something with tape and plastic knife to guide the HDMI cable into place.  

 

but, as said above, you can not change the source. I monkeyed around with it quite a bit.  We do not do streaming, but always bring an Ipad with lots of movies, etc.   But, no luck on Virgin.

 

 

That explains why my TV never works on ships but I have a plastic knife in my cabin lol

[CruisinShips]

Thanks.  I get that you can't change inputs, so that takes care of that...but doesn't that TV on the side wall in the GS swivel so you can angle it towards the bed?

[raphael360]

9 minutes ago, CruisinShips said:

TV on the side wall in the GS swivel so you can angle it towards the bed?

Mine was fixed to the wall with no option to tilt or swivel.  WITH THAT SAID I'm in an inside solo room 😞. Rockstars may have it better.

[garycarla]

My response was for a regular cabin.  (did not notice the suite notation)

 

Swing out TV's may be able to get access.  Also, depending on what hookup they use for the TV, you might be able to sway YOUR hdmi device for whatever they are using, which means you would not have to change the source/input.

[neverendingcruising]

On my last voyage the only thing I could see was a network cable going into the TV so I don't think they use any of the HDMI ports. 

[AdoraBelle]

YES, it should actually be pretty easy because (IIRC) the Gorgeous Suite has a TV that swings out from the wall. (It's also possible with the regular rooms/TVs but it's fiddly to get the HDMI plugged in. I usually bring a little HDMI extender and leave it plugged in all the time so I can plug whatever I want into it.)

This is how you access the ability to change ports once you have your HDMI device plugged in:

1. Turn on TV
2. Pull the network cable out of the TV
3. WHILE THE NETWORK ERROR IS SHOWING ON THE TV, press the source/input button on the TV remote (it will only work while that error is showing)
4. Switch to your desired HDMI input
5. Plug the network cable back in (don't leave it unplugged, it'll eventually cause an error that someone in the crew will come try to fix).

You'll probably need to repeat this every couple of hours or at every viewing session, sometimes it times out and reverts back to the VV in-room content.

I used my firestick a ton on my last Scarlet cruise in Feb. (I was in a Posh suite so all the TVs swung out, but I've done it repeatedly in regular sea terrace cabins. But I also have small fingers.)

Caveat for Valiant: I've only been on Valiant once, and they have LG TVs, not Samsung. It's possible you need a universal remote that has LG codes to get to the source input button, I don't remember for sure. (I had my universal remote on that cruise and I never checked the in-room remote.)

On Scarlet, you don't need a universal remote, the input button on the in-room remote works fine once you have that error message up by pulling out the network cable. 

For whoever is going to see this and be all "*clutch pearls* why do you want to watch TV on your cruise":

My money, my time, my vacation, my choice. 
 

Edited March 17, 2023 by AdoraBelle

[CruisinShips]

36 minutes ago, AdoraBelle said:

YES, it should actually be pretty easy because (IIRC) the Gorgeous Suite has a TV that swings out from the wall. (It's also possible with the regular rooms/TVs but it's fiddly to get the HDMI plugged in. I usually bring a little HDMI extender and leave it plugged in all the time so I can plug whatever I want into it.)

This is how you access the ability to change ports once you have your HDMI device plugged in:

1. Turn on TV
2. Pull the network cable out of the TV
3. WHILE THE NETWORK ERROR IS SHOWING ON THE TV, press the source/input button on the TV remote (it will only work while that error is showing)
4. Switch to your desired HDMI input
5. Plug the network cable back in (don't leave it unplugged, it'll eventually cause an error that someone in the crew will come try to fix).

You'll probably need to repeat this every couple of hours or at every viewing session, sometimes it times out and reverts back to the VV in-room content.

I used my firestick a ton on my last Scarlet cruise in Feb. (I was in a Posh suite so all the TVs swung out, but I've done it repeatedly in regular sea terrace cabins. But I also have small fingers.)

Caveat for Valiant: I've only been on Valiant once, and they have LG TVs, not Samsung. It's possible you need a universal remote that has LG codes to get to the source input button, I don't remember for sure. (I had my universal remote on that cruise and I never checked the in-room remote.)

On Scarlet, you don't need a universal remote, the input button on the in-room remote works fine once you have that error message up by pulling out the network cable. 

For whoever is going to see this and be all "*clutch pearls* why do you want to watch TV on your cruise":

My money, my time, my vacation, my choice. 
 

Wow...great info.  Is there a power source close enough to plug the firestick into?

 

Also, how is the TV programming on these ships?  Similar to the limited channels we see on other cruise lines (and with the endless loops of the same shows repeating)?

[AdoraBelle]

24 minutes ago, CruisinShips said:

Wow...great info.  Is there a power source close enough to plug the firestick into?

 

Also, how is the TV programming on these ships?  Similar to the limited channels we see on other cruise lines (and with the endless loops of the same shows repeating)?

 

I don't THINK I had any power probs in the suite ... actually, now that I think about it, there was a spare outlet right behind the TV (once you swing the TV out). I usually bring a USB extender (or some combo of USB extender + long HDMI cable) to make sure I can reach in the regular terrace rooms. (Needless to say, I REALLY enjoy my in-room chillout time on cruises.)

In-room content is kind of weird, seemed like there were some decent movies, but other stuff they'll have like ... one season of a show, but not the whole show (Downton Abbey comes to mind ... I think it was also just straight up missing episodes from season one.) I can't remember what, if any, live content they had. Maybe some news channels.

It's also easy enough to get your FireTV on the wifi (although it will use one of your three device slots). If you stick to the "big" services like Netflix, you typically won't have streaming problems. (Or I didn't, aside from the occasional storm/ship network outage. But I also bring downloaded shows on a microsd card.) 

[CruisinShips]

Thanks again.  My wife loves falling asleep to the TV and we are one of those dreaded types who always has the TV on as well lol.

[jon81uk]

1 hour ago, CruisinShips said:

Also, how is the TV programming on these ships?  Similar to the limited channels we see on other cruise lines (and with the endless loops of the same shows repeating)?

There is a very large library of on-demand movies, but “live” channels were limited.

[aviators99]

There are a number of threads about this on Reddit, and the consensus was to bring a universal remote, and all works fine.

[Rhea98]

On 3/16/2023 at 8:02 AM, CruisinShips said:

Has anyone done this?  Thanks

I have been wondering about this, also. I do fall asleep to "tv" (really, videos from my Plex Media server). Most recent NCL cruises we were on had Samsung which was pretty easy to attach laptop/chromebook to directly. MSC wasn't so easy so I just loaded up my sd cards and use the Chromebook as a lap tv. I also use Sony wh-1000xm4 headphones. I figure for 8 nights (not 19-25), I'll get by.