Why no US News on Princess

[Pam in CA]

It was explained to me that Fox News chooses not to be broadcast on all satellites; just some. It's possible they are expanding but I wasn't able to get it on my Crown T/A in September.

[geoherb]

I remember our first cruise in the late '80s. The ship did not get any news channels and we survived. They did transmit some news articles that were typed in and then displayed on the screen. The big news items were the cold front sweeping down the East Coast and the capture of Noriega. It felt good to be in 90-degree temps when it's 10 degrees back home. Although we eventually paid for it when sailing back to Florida and hit the cold front, which caused 30-foot swells and a record low for Miami.

[BruceMuzz]

Guess you can call this a rant...and it comes from Elite Princess cruisers. On a recent Grand Princess cruise (last week) several dinner mates started discussing the awful TV news coverage offered by Princess. Despite the fact that the ship carried more than 75% Americans, the only news stations offered were CNN International (most European news and sports) and the BBC. They also had Headline News, but this station has deteriorated to a network that generally talks about Hollywood Celebrities and very little news. Hence we had two good European news stations and not a single USA news station. No CNN (USA, no Foxnews, no MSNBC, etc. This has been the case on all of our Princess cruises and we wonder why? We used to think it had to do with copywrite laws, but on a recent Queen Mary 2 crossing we had all kinds of news stations (including CNN and Foxnews) and they worked the entire way across the Atlantic (Princess loses coverage during most of their crossings).

 

Since we get lots of free internet minutes on Princess (500 min on this past cruise) we can get our news from the internet...or at least when it is working. But if Princess is able to give us US sports (ESPN) and various football games why in the world can they not give us a decent US news network.

 

Hank

 

Hank,

It might surprise you to learn that those of us who do not live in the USA have very little interest in US Domestic news or sports.

Additionally, a very small percentage of Americans regularly venture outside the USA.

Worldwide,(outside the USA) the number of people who want to view US Domestic news and sports on television is a very small audience.

That explains why CNN Domestic is nearly impossible to see outside the USA.

Fox News is available via a very few satellites outside the USA, but once again, the audience is extremely small.

 

HAL will begin to offer Fox news on their ships in a few months.

They will be required to pay the satellite operators around US$1,000 per day - per ship - for a decoding license to receive Fox News - even if the ship is unable to receive the signal.

 

Considering that the cruise lines are desperately trying to get more money out of your pockets once they get you onboard, they can choose to pay an extra $1,000 per day per ship to get you occasional free bits of US Domestic news - or they can force you to pay to go online (at very low connection speeds) and save that $1,000 every day.

 

The company shareholders will probably appreciate that most cruise lines are opting to save the money and force the spending.

[hapzfl]

Having been a bona fide news junkie since high school, I, too, would appreciate having a daily printed news brief or access to a reliable 24/7 news channel in my stateroom.

 

That said, I'm sure that I'm not the only Princess passenger who uses the internet cafe to check the headlines for local, state, U.S., and/or world news. My Platinum internet minutes are free, but I would very likely purchase an onboard internet plan to keep abreast of major news developments when I'm traveling. I'm sure you get my drift here...;)

 

Bon Voyage!

Chris

 

Azamara provides that service: printed news briefs separately for the US and Europe and in various languages.

[paul929207]

Maybe they will offer these different stations on pay per view

[Astro Flyer]

Azamara provides that service: printed news briefs separately for the US and Europe and in various languages.

I've suggested this to Princess several times but obviously they don't hear it enough to restart a brief news summary which is probably the most news most would read. Although getting us to use online minutes brings in money so it's probably a financial decision.

[Loonbeam]

I always wondered if they got complaints based on the items presented as well. 'Whose choosing this stuff?', 'Who wants to read about zzz', or alternately, 'Why isn't there anything about zzz' in here. Add in cost, use of paper, health issues (if the papers are shared) and I can see lots more downside than upside.

 

That said, I can't imagine it would be that hard to mount a screen in the internet cafe area that accesses a scrolling news feed updated every 30 mins or so. That wouldn't use too much power or data.

 

I've suggested this to Princess several times but obviously they don't hear it enough to restart a brief news summary which is probably the most news most would read. Although getting us to use online minutes brings in money so it's probably a financial decision.

[RickEk]

I always wondered if they got complaints based on the items presented as well. 'Whose choosing this stuff?', 'Who wants to read about zzz', or alternately, 'Why isn't there anything about zzz' in here. Add in cost, use of paper, health issues (if the papers are shared) and I can see lots more downside than upside.

 

That said, I can't imagine it would be that hard to mount a screen in the internet cafe area that accesses a scrolling news feed updated every 30 mins or so. That wouldn't use too much power or data.

 

If I remember correctly, they have the scrolling news feed feature on the Island and Coral Princess in the dual Internet cafes...

[sherri3802]

Guess you can call this a rant...and it comes from Elite Princess cruisers. On a recent Grand Princess cruise (last week) several dinner mates started discussing the awful TV news coverage offered by Princess. Despite the fact that the ship carried more than 75% Americans, the only news stations offered were CNN International (most European news and sports) and the BBC. They also had Headline News, but this station has deteriorated to a network that generally talks about Hollywood Celebrities and very little news. Hence we had two good European news stations and not a single USA news station. No CNN (USA, no Foxnews, no MSNBC, etc. This has been the case on all of our Princess cruises and we wonder why

Hank

 

:)This is so ironic it has made my day, given me a big smile and i can't help replying, must tell you about our experience last year. I am Australian and there were 6 of us (3 couples) on a Sth pacific cruise that left and returned here, on the Sun Princess, which is based in Australia.

 

We couldn't get over the fact that the news service on our ship seemed 90% American.(So now you know where they send the US news service-to Australia obviously:p).

I understand your frustration as we were the same-we would love to have heard a little bit of news from home, but it wasn't to be.

I believe that a couple of cruises after ours, there was quite a bit of trouble on board about it because there was a big bushfire here, many homes destroyed and lives lost. People onboard were getting text messages but no news and I think in the end the ship had to arrange meetings or some such thing so people could find out what was going on. Some people had lost homes or family and had to leave the ship next port.

 

You would think a ship would cater for the majority of its passengers or at least cover the country that is the home port area. Maybe as technology gets better, ships will offer a whole range of news services from round the world so all passengers can catch up.

[cruiseryyc]

If I'm on a cruise and something major happens at home, there is nothing I can do about it so I don't care to know. Oh wait - home is in Canada so anything major happening wouldn't be shown on US channels anyways!

[caribill]

Personally we try to catch about 30 minutes of any news a day on a cruise. Just for the highlights for if something serious is going on.

 

Even less than 30 minutes is fine. Problem is, you can have the TV on for hours without every seeing a good 30 minute summary of what is happening in the world.

 

Yes, you may see constant sports, financial information, political commentary and in depth reports (nothing current) on a remote village in an Asian country, but not any real news.

[caribill]

Add in cost, use of paper.....

 

Can just print the news summary on the backside of the daily Spa ad that is delivered to every cabin. No additional paper required.

[Princess Chatterer]

I have seen FOX news on my Princess cabin TV in the recent past. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that CNN is free for Princess and FOX charging Princess so much per cabin. I don't really know if this is the case.

[Princess Chatterer]

"I saw no news at all during my 15-day Canal cruise -- totally missed the whole Christmas bomber story"

I picked up the Sirius satellite radio signal out on my open air Princess cabin deck all the way across the Caribbean and into the Panama Canal. FOX News, CNN et. al.

[Coral]

Can just print the news summary on the backside of the daily Spa ad that is delivered to every cabin. No additional paper required.

 

Yea - I find it ironic how Princess is into "saving paper" and we receive tons of junk mail (enough to fill a garbage can) in our cabin.

 

I admit it, I am a news junky. I like to know what is going on in the world. I enjoyed the small newspaper they used to have at the purser's desk. I would go down daily to get it. Gosh, I don't think I have done that in 7 or 8 years....

[paul929207]

Yea - I find it ironic how Princess is into "saving paper" and we receive tons of junk mail (enough to fill a garbage can) in our cabin.

 

I admit it, I am a news junky. I like to know what is going on in the world. I enjoyed the small newspaper they used to have at the purser's desk. I would go down daily to get it. Gosh, I don't think I have done that in 7 or 8 years....

They could print the news on the back of all the junk we get from the spa, art auction and shops.

[Road Pirate]

A little humor:

Hi, my name is Road Pirate...and I'm a newsaholic. On an average weekday I get an hour and a half in the morning, an hour a noon, and another hour before going to bed. Yes, I know it is alot of input but I need it to keep up. I listen to various radio stations, television such as fox, cnn, abc and msnbc...well no one really watches them but it rounded out the sentence well. Anyway I try to keep informed, take in a variety of views then make my own decisions. There is alot of respondibility to being an informed citizen. But then, when I'm go on vacation, ........I cut myself off.... chop the news cord almost in two. I have my phone for the big headlines or I might take a look at a paper while in port. Anything major I'll will find out about. Beyond that......I'm on vacation.

[Roses2]

We have absolutely no problem keeping up with the latest breaking news while on board.

 

Have you heard of the Internet?

 

The Internet is an amazing thing, from your cabin you can connect with virtually any newspaper, radio station, or TV station in the world. If you do not carry a laptop on your cruise, the Internet cafe will allow the same access.

 

P&J

[Hlitner]

We have absolutely no problem keeping up with the latest breaking news while on board.

 

Have you heard of the Internet?

 

The Internet is an amazing thing, from your cabin you can connect with virtually any newspaper, radio station, or TV station in the world. If you do not carry a laptop on your cruise, the Internet cafe will allow the same access.

 

P&J

 

If you looked at my OP we did mention that we used the internet (I have a laptop in my cabin) and we get lots of free minutes. However, for those who are not Platinum or Elite the cost of the internet is very expensive (50 cents + a minute) and the internet is often so slow that it is nearly useless (on our recent Grand Princess cruise it often took more then 10 minutes to log-on and it could take a full minute to load a single page.

 

We did love the comment that they could print the news on the back of all the junk paper they send to the cabin (on some days they could print an entire newspaper on all that worthless marketing stuff). We do find some irony in that of all the ships that we cruised (more than 60 ships of 12 cruise lines) the best variety of news stations was on Cunard....which is somewhat British oriented (even though its now run by Princess).

 

Hank

[Pam in CA]

...the best variety of news stations was on Cunard....which is somewhat British oriented (even though its now run by Princess).

Really? Cunard is owned by Carnival Corporation & PLC, which also owns Princess, P&O, HAL, Carnival Cruise Lines, etc. To my knowledge, each of the lines is managed separately although there are some joint booking and other procedures between Cunard and Princess. However, overall, they are managed separately. I haven't heard anything about Princess "running" Cunard. Must be something new.

[r&rlovescruising]

Definitely hooked on news :Dand miss watching Fox News on our cruises. I can check the internet but my DH doesn't use a computer! We enjoy watching together and discussing and just keeping up on what's going on... we will survive but would love to get a few more channels on our cruises!:rolleyes:

[mikjr]

last cruise we were on in March 2010, we had both, CNN and Fox News. I realize i'm on vacation, but watching the news keeps the blood pressure up and flowing strong! :D

[mytime53]

If you looked at my OP we did mention that we used the internet (I have a laptop in my cabin) and we get lots of free minutes. However, for those who are not Platinum or Elite the cost of the internet is very expensive (50 cents + a minute) and the internet is often so slow that it is nearly useless (on our recent Grand Princess cruise it often took more then 10 minutes to log-on and it could take a full minute to load a single page.

 

I appreciate the fact that someone realizes that those of us who aren't Platinum or Elite find the cost of the internet onboard to be somewhat prohibitive, especially with all the problems I've read/heard about with the connectivity and speed. Even though we'll be Platinum after our next cruise, I'm not sure we'll be bringing our laptops, and sitting in the internet cafe to use a PC when I could be sitting on my balcony....well, only if the waves are coming over my balcony.

[RickEk]

Really? Cunard is owned by Carnival Corporation & PLC, which also owns Princess, P&O, HAL, Carnival Cruise Lines, etc. To my knowledge, each of the lines is managed separately although there are some joint booking and other procedures between Cunard and Princess. However, overall, they are managed separately. I haven't heard anything about Princess "running" Cunard. Must be something new.

 

Just a point of fact.... As you say, even though they are separate entities, Cunard has offices in the Princess HQ campus in Santa Clarita and many of their CSR's and CVP's are sitting alongside Princess reps in the call centers.

[Coral]

Just a point of fact.... As you say, even though they are separate entities, Cunard has offices in the Princess HQ campus in Santa Clarita and many of their CSR's and CVP's are sitting alongside Princess reps in the call centers.

 

I thought when Cunard was having problems, Princess took Cunard under their umbrella and a lot of Princess policies were transferred to Cunard, a lot of senior management (on the ship and at corporate office) was put over at Cunard (include hotel managers, Captains, etc....) and right now, they are still very close. Yes - Cunard moved into Princess headquarters during this time also. Also, from what I understand, Princess combined their district sales reps so those reps who work with TAs represent both Cunard and Princess.