Island Princess cancelled Fox News & MSNBC

[travelers07]

OK- I know some will think live tv news is unimportant but to me, right now, it is necessary. I boarded Monday in Southampton and both channels are missing. I am told by passengers who have been on since Florida, doing a TA including Canada and Iceland, that the channels were there until Monday. Monday was also the day that Starlink was activated on this ship. 
 

Just got a callback from Guest Services who said that these channels have been removed from the Island for the next 5 months at least, or all of the season in Europe. He could not tell me if this is for other Princess ships also, or if the news channels will come back anytime. 
 

Please no politics! I know people may see this as unnecessary while cruising but this is something that means something to me, and on my 10 cruises in the last 2 years on Princess and HAL, both channels have been available. I have asked for a callback from someone with more info- this guy would only say this is what he was told by shoreside and there is no other info. 
 

Does anyone know if this includes other Princess ships? He said it did not have anything to do with the ship being in Norway. And he had no idea if other Princess ships are the same. 

 

Thanks for any answers- but please understand that this is something that matters to me, not politics related.  Could it be Starlink? 

[Steelers36]

That is an unfortunate development.  Hope is not some fleet-wide trend.

[Charles4515]

11 minutes ago, travelers07 said:

Just got a callback from Guest Services who said that these channels have been removed from the Island for the next 5 months at least, or all of the season in Europe. He could not tell me if this is for other Princess ships also, or if the news channels will come back anytime. 
 

Likely the satellites they use in Europe don't have broadcast rights to beam US cable news channels. It has been a few years but when I did a Princess Norway cruise the only news channel we got was CNN International. Not US CNN. It would not have anything to do with Starlink. Starlink is for interent not cable channels. Those would be recieved on different dishes. 

 

 

Edited June 14, 2023 by Charles4515

[travelers07]

1 minute ago, Charles4515 said:

 

 

 

1 minute ago, Charles4515 said:

Likely the satellites they use in Europe don't have rights to beam US news channels. It has been a few years but when I did a Princess Norway cruise the only news channel we got was CNN International. Not US CNN. It would not have anything to do with Starlink. Starlink is for interent not cable channels.

 

 

Thanks Charles but I have done European, Australian, Canadian cruises in the past year and all have had both those channels. CNN was dropped by both cruise lines a few years ago when they changed their satellite and raised the price- per tech people on Princess. 

[msmoger]

3 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

Likely the satellites they use in Europe don't have broadcast rights to beam US cable news channels. It has been a few years but when I did a Princess Norway cruise the only news channel we got was CNN International. Not US CNN. It would not have anything to do with Starlink. Starlink is for interent not cable channels. Those would be recieved on different dishes. 

 

 

It's been a long time since there was any CNN offering on any Princess cruise I have been on.  This includes Europe, TA, Caribbean, Alaska and Australia/NZ.  All of them offered Fox and MSNBC.

[PacnGoNow]

22 minutes ago, travelers07 said:

OK- I know some will think live tv news is unimportant but to me, right now, it is necessary. I boarded Monday in Southampton and both channels are missing. I am told by passengers who have been on since Florida, doing a TA including Canada and Iceland, that the channels were there until Monday. Monday was also the day that Starlink was activated on this ship. 
 

Just got a callback from Guest Services who said that these channels have been removed from the Island for the next 5 months at least, or all of the season in Europe. He could not tell me if this is for other Princess ships also, or if the news channels will come back anytime. 
 

Please no politics! I know people may see this as unnecessary while cruising but this is something that means something to me, and on my 10 cruises in the last 2 years on Princess and HAL, both channels have been available. I have asked for a callback from someone with more info- this guy would only say this is what he was told by shoreside and there is no other info. 
 

Does anyone know if this includes other Princess ships? He said it did not have anything to do with the ship being in Norway. And he had no idea if other Princess ships are the same. 

 

Thanks for any answers- but please understand that this is something that matters to me, not politics related.  Could it be Starlink? 

Would be interested in what US stations they will have.  Would you post when you board?  TIA

[travelers07]

Only US station now on Island is CNBC.

[dockman]

just off crown 21 days alaska on may 23-june 13 and they had msnbc, cnbc, fox, bbc, nat geo and few sports stations...

[PacnGoNow]

4 minutes ago, travelers07 said:

Only US station now on Island is CNBC.

Wow. Big difference.

[Charles4515]

11 minutes ago, travelers07 said:

Only US station now on Island is CNBC.

Sounds like they don't want to pay for the other news channels. Only one. 

 

You are likely not going to get an answer from Guest Service. Years ago when I had an issue something like that on Princess a tweet on Twitter worked for an answer. If you are on the other social media site you might try their page there.

 

Edited June 14, 2023 by Charles4515

[PacnGoNow]

38 minutes ago, travelers07 said:

OK- I know some will think live tv news is unimportant but to me, right now, it is necessary. I boarded Monday in Southampton and both channels are missing. I am told by passengers who have been on since Florida, doing a TA including Canada and Iceland, that the channels were there until Monday. Monday was also the day that Starlink was activated on this ship. 
 

Just got a callback from Guest Services who said that these channels have been removed from the Island for the next 5 months at least, or all of the season in Europe. He could not tell me if this is for other Princess ships also, or if the news channels will come back anytime. 
 

Please no politics! I know people may see this as unnecessary while cruising but this is something that means something to me, and on my 10 cruises in the last 2 years on Princess and HAL, both channels have been available. I have asked for a callback from someone with more info- this guy would only say this is what he was told by shoreside and there is no other info. 
 

Does anyone know if this includes other Princess ships? He said it did not have anything to do with the ship being in Norway. And he had no idea if other Princess ships are the same. 

 

Thanks for any answers- but please understand that this is something that matters to me, not politics related.  Could it be Starlink? 

What about using Starlink Internet for TV live streaming?  Would that work for you?

Have you checked with the Internet Cafe manager to see what they say?

 

Edited June 14, 2023 by PacnGoNow

[neverbeenhere]

Cruise ship staterooms have televisions?   Interesting, I thought that thing was a one-way mirror.

[Fa-Li]

Both these stations have robust apps for phone or tablet - you should be able to stay up to date on the news that is important to you, just with less of the anchor chatter

[travelers07]

Yes, that is what I am doing. But I sure would like to know what Princess has planned for the future. I have other cruises booked and StarLink may not work everywhere. 
 

Right now, it is not about getting the news as much as the noise/anxiety help. My problem- hoping it gets better. 

[JGmf]

26 minutes ago, msmoger said:

It's been a long time since there was any CNN offering on any Princess cruise I have been on.  This includes Europe, TA, Caribbean, Alaska and Australia/NZ.  All of them offered Fox and MSNBC.

 

Same on NCL: Fox and MSNC (and CNBC and BBC).

[Guest ldtr]

I noticed on the Regal that the channels changed after the TA arrived in Southampton, with more European channels added. I believe that one or more US focused channels went away, but I cannot say for sure if it included the 2 news channels or not.

[snoozecrooze]

Was on Sky in Europe from Southampton in May and Fox and MSNBC were not there either. I'm pretty sure it has a lot to do with the geographic restrictions and that's it. Same reasons why Americans can't watch Eurosport for sports coverage, for instance, or why the Brits can't watch NBC Olympics coverage.

[Charles4515]

7 minutes ago, JGmf said:

 

Same on NCL: Fox and MSNC (and CNBC and BBC).

I didn't notice they dropped CNN as I stopped watching any cable news years ago. CNN, Fox, MSNBC are all clickbait. They are entertainment not news. I skim Apple News and Google now online for news when on a ship. I also read the Wall Street Journal and New York Times on their apps.

Edited June 14, 2023 by Charles4515

[memoak]

In the evening US hours both those stations are opinion not news. I would prefer having CNN which is what I use at home. It is very curious that this happening as the federal trial opens against Trump. Maybe they are trying to keep the left and right from fighting. Won’t work since we all have internet. On the Discovery both are on here

 

 

 

 

[ldubs]

24 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

I didn't notice they dropped CNN as I stopped watching any cable news years ago. CNN, Fox, MSNBC are all clickbait. They are entertainment not news. I skim Apple News and Google now online for news when on a ship. I also read the Wall Street Journal and New York Times on their apps.

 

Yeah, sadly just talk shows aimed at specific audience demographics.  

[MissP22]

Maybe they bring back the paper newsletter. 🙄 they

Edited June 14, 2023 by MissP22

[Steelers36]

55 minutes ago, memoak said:

In the evening US hours both those stations are opinion not news. I would prefer having CNN which is what I use at home. It is very curious that this happening as the federal trial opens against Trump. Maybe they are trying to keep the left and right from fighting. Won’t work since we all have internet. On the Discovery both are on here

 

 

 

 

LOL - that one is all opinion as well.

 

ETA:  I am sure we'd all prefer to have the station we normally watch and not see it gone.

Edited June 14, 2023 by Steelers36

[Thrak]

Pretty much the only time we bothered to watch the news on a cruise was when we were going to disembark in Southampton and fly to Barcelona where we would stay a couple of days before embarking on our TA back to the US. At the time Barcelona was having lots of demonstrations and the road to the airport was closed by protests. We kept track of things in Barcelona to see what was happening with our proposed visit. We watched BBC for the info. I don't really think we've ever bothered to watch the news on any other cruise. We're on vacation.

[Charles4515]

22 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

 

 

ETA:  I am sure we'd all prefer to have the station we normally watch and not see it gone.

Sure it would be nice if you watch live TV news to be able to watch a prefered station but if it is necessary  to watch specific stations lthen OP should not cruise. 

[Aexboeingdriver]

On the Seaborn Venture- we still have Fox News, MSNBC and CNBC.