NFL playoff games on Carnival ships

This may be a stretch, but am curious if Carnival found a way to broadcast the first round of the playoffs (the wild card games) that happened this last weekend. As has been discussed on these boards Carnival is in process of transitioning to a Turner Television-based satellite offering that eliminates the 4 broadcast networks.

Some ships have already made the transition the rest should be done by March. John Heald has assured us that the super bowl will be shown on ships but I wonder if the playoff games leading up to the Superbowl will also be shown. It may be too soon for anyone to respond. The ships with the old system should be fine, but I wonder about the others.

I'm sailing on the Valor the weekend of the championship games and ummmmm I was looking forward to watching my Panthers play in the EA Sports bar...however, I won't have to worry about finding a seat in there for it now. LOL. :( I hope that they do have it though as cruising is amazing yet who wants to miss the games??

I would like to know this as well. We are on the Miracle on Saturday and I am a huge NFL fan

I will go on a limb and say YESSSSSSSSSSSS they show games on ALL ships!!

I will go on a limb and say YESSSSSSSSSSSS they show games on ALL ships!!

Is this just a guess on your part? Or do you know what has and will happen?

Yes...They will be on. The Eagle/Falcons game is on ABC (which is part of ESPN)...so that game is a given. The other 3 will be picked up...likely the Int'l feed via ESPN if they cannot pull in a local feed

Is this just a guess on your part? Or do you know what has and will happen?

I'm not a Carnival worker but in past I've heard of games being on and you always have the sport lounge with ALL games on. I was on the Pride when reg football games was on.

Yes...They will be on. The Eagle/Falcons game is on ABC (which is part of ESPN)...so that game is a given. The other 3 will be picked up...likely the Int'l feed via ESPN if they cannot pull in a local feed

unfortunately that is not how it works, yes they owned by the same company but they are completely different channels. If the ship does not have the networks, having ESPN is useless

unfortunately that is not how it works, yes they owned by the same company but they are completely different channels. If the ship does not have the networks, having ESPN is useless

Regardless...ESPN Int'l feed will have games.... Games will be available.

We cruised Oct 15-22 on the Breeze out of Galveston. The Astros were in the playoffs vs the Yankees and we didn’t get to see the games because the ship did not have FS1. Many, many people were highly irritated.. We just checked scores frequently online.

Regardless...ESPN Int'l feed will have games.... Games will be available.

I'm sure they will have games, maybe not footfall. Unless they have special contract where they can use the networks at their discretion, then maybe so. But, ESPN will not be the feed for the networks

I know people on the Conquest now. The were not showing the games Sunday at all. Had many complaints and ended up showing in the sports bar only as far as I know. Were ensured that the Superbowl would be on with special drinks and sailgate party. Was told they were going to show the college game on the big screen last night.

This may be a stretch, but am curious if Carnival found a way to broadcast the first round of the playoffs (the wild card games) that happened this last weekend. As has been discussed on these boards Carnival is in process of transitioning to a Turner Television-based satellite offering that eliminates the 4 broadcast networks.

 

Some ships have already made the transition the rest should be done by March. John Heald has assured us that the super bowl will be shown on ships but I wonder if the playoff games leading up to the Superbowl will also be shown. It may be too soon for anyone to respond. The ships with the old system should be fine, but I wonder about the others.

I just got off of Carnival Dream this past Sunday, January 7th. The only place I found to view the playoff games was on screens at the casino bar. Unfortunately since this is such a tiny space, there wasn't even standing room to watch the games and it was thick with cigarette smoke. In advance of the games, I asked at Guest Services if they would show the games on the Lido giant screen and was told no. There were no ABC, NBC, CBS, or FOX stations in cabins or other places around the ship that I could find. I definitely will rethink cruising Carnival during football season in the future. On Carnival Dream, they have added on-demand movies on cabin TVs for $4.99 per movie purchased. I cruised on Holland America about a month ago (a Carnival Corporation brand), and they have also dropped ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX in cabins.

I just got off of Carnival Dream this past Sunday, January 7th. The only place I found to view the playoff games was on screens at the casino bar. Unfortunately since this is such a tiny space, there wasn't even standing room to watch the games and it was thick with cigarette smoke. In advance of the games, I asked at Guest Services if they would show the games on the Lido giant screen and was told no. There were no ABC, NBC, CBS, or FOX stations in cabins or other places around the ship that I could find. I definitely will rethink cruising Carnival during football season in the future. On Carnival Dream, they have added on-demand movies on cabin TVs for $4.99 per movie purchased. I cruised on Holland America about a month ago (a Carnival Corporation brand), and they have also dropped ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX in cabins.

Thanks for this first-person update as to what actually happened. And for those who spoke about ESPN international having the NFL games, they probably do. I have been on RCI ships during the NFL season and those games are available on stateroom TVs. Apparently, Carnival is choosing not to offer this. Either they don't realize or don't care that even though NFL TV ratings are down this year those televised games are always among the most-watched programs.

Thanks for this first-person update as to what actually happened. And for those who spoke about ESPN international having the NFL games, they probably do. I have been on RCI ships during the NFL season and those games are available on stateroom TVs. Apparently, Carnival is choosing not to offer this. Either they don't realize or don't care that even though NFL TV ratings are down this year those televised games are always among the most-watched programs.

You're welcome, Navarre Bob. For anyone that's interested, here is a list of the TV stations I had available to me in my cabin last week on Dream:

CNN

CNN International

CNN in Spanish

Headline News

Boomerang

Cartoon Network

Turner Network Television (TNT)

Turner Broadcasting System (TBS)

Turner Classic Movies (TCM)

True TV

One complimentary movie channel however most of the time this channel only showed an advertisement for what was available on Pay Per View for $4.99 per movie

IMO, there was little programming of value to watch in the cabin. I think I'll start taking my laptop with me to watch my own movies in my cabin (such as my own DVDs since reasonable broadband is not available). I enjoy some in-cabin downtime when I'm on vacation since I don't get much of that at home due to work and obligations. I remember a couple of times last week on Dream, 4 of those limited channels were showing animated programming at the same time. :rolleyes: Football fans will want to plan accordingly.

maybe if us football fans knew this in advance we might have booked during the playoffs, too late now. Whoever thinks NBC, CBS or FOX have anything to do with ESPN, needs to do some research. ESPN will have no ability to show the game unless it's on ABC a sister network

Great, this may mean I will never get to take a cruise between September and February again. We cruised once during October- a couple of years ago. Most of the games you had to go to one of the bars to watch. It was during the baseball playoffs/world series and football time, so there were a lot of games for DH to watch. I could miss them, even the (football)playoffs) if I could catch the score later. And my team is almost always in it. DH's team is not as good as mine so they don't always make the playoffs :evilsmile:. But like this year, he is still planning on watching every single playoff game. Because that is what he does. And my team will be playing again this weekend, while hubby team is trying to figure out how their quarterback will be. :D

I'm sailing on the Valor the weekend of the championship games and ummmmm I was looking forward to watching my Panthers play in the EA Sports bar...however, I won't have to worry about finding a seat in there for it now. LOL. :( I hope that they do have it though as cruising is amazing yet who wants to miss the games??

You can watch the Saints play there.

Great, this may mean I will never get to take a cruise between September and February again. We cruised once during October- a couple of years ago. Most of the games you had to go to one of the bars to watch. It was during the baseball playoffs/world series and football time, so there were a lot of games for DH to watch. I could miss them, even the (football)playoffs) if I could catch the score later. And my team is almost always in it. DH's team is not as good as mine so they don't always make the playoffs :evilsmile:. But like this year, he is still planning on watching every single playoff game. Because that is what he does. And my team will be playing again this weekend, while hubby team is trying to figure out how their quarterback will be. :D

If cruise during football season I'll only do a 5-day that starts on Monday...and I've been watching Monday and Thursday night football on the ship. But this last cruise they couldn't pick up thursday night football so I can't chance it anymore. I'm doing late August cruises instead of September now.

The more I read the responses on this thread and other threads about the elimination of the broadcast networks and the resulting loss of sports broadcasts, the more I get the impression that Carnival really underestimated the potential impact of this change. I may be totally wrong too, only time will tell.

I wrote guest service last week, have yet to get a response. We are done with cruising Carnival during the NFL season. Great time for an all inclusive

We are cruising this Sunday (January 14th) so on Saturday, I will be watching my Patriots from the comfort of my pre-cruise hotel. Go PATS! Then hope that the games are on in the sports bar on Sunday. We were on the Imagination during the World Series and it was shown all over the ship.

The more I read the responses on this thread and other threads about the elimination of the broadcast networks and the resulting loss of sports broadcasts, the more I get the impression that Carnival really underestimated the potential impact of this change. I may be totally wrong too, only time will tell.

I agree with you, Navarre Bob. No doubt there will be some people who don't care, but I think it will matter to a lot of people when it comes to missing sporting events while cruising. I know in the southeast football is huge all the way from Friday night lights to pro. And SEC is like religion. It will be interesting going forward to see how it plays out.

I was on the Pride in October and was able to watch all games on CBS and Fox in my cabin. And in the Sports bar, there were multiple games showing during both time slots on Sunday. They also showed multiple college football games on Saturday (7 were on during the noon time slot). I really enjoyed watching games onboard either from my balcony or bar and watch the blue waters drift on by......something one cannot do at home. I guess all inclusives will be getting a bump in consumers next fall.

Regardless...ESPN Int'l feed will have games.... Games will be available.

ESPN International feed...?

So all we'll see is soccer & "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL!!!..." ?