Bad Sports Coverage on NCL

[GA Dave]

I am a big time Packer fan living in southern GA.  Our "local" teams are the Jaguars, Falcons AND Panthers, so I very rarely get the Packer games on my local CBS/FOX channels.  So, for the last six years I had the DirecTV NFL package.  This year I got rid of it because the price went over $450 for the season.  The NFL is pricing themselves out of business.

[derek005]

20 hours ago, 4774Papa said:

We don't watch the NCL anymore, but sill love College Football,  however, we never book a cruise to watch TV.

Is there a reason you don't watch it anymore?

 

[4774Papa]

4 minutes ago, derek005 said:

Is there a reason you don't watch it anymore?

 

Players taking a knee during the National Anthem.

[Catchum]

7 hours ago, Love my butler said:

It boils down to NCL being cheap.  They don't want to pay for channels that passengers enjoy.  How much soccer and cricket can anyone stomach?

When I get tired of watching cricket I'll let you know - but don't hold your breath

[Firepath]

On 11/4/2019 at 10:16 AM, tallnthensome said:

Lots of gripes about that ...... Unless you want to watch soccer, tennis, or golf (which I don't) all day you’re going to miss a lot of sports on board now.

My husband is really into golf and he said the coverage for that was spotty, also couldn't find college football scores.

[timf2001]

If you want to watch sports on a cruise, I would suggest trying a Royal Caribbean ship with Playmakers because they just signed a huge new content deal for sports programming.

[derek005]

4 hours ago, 4774Papa said:

Players taking a knee during the National Anthem.

Was just wondering and will not make this political because we all have an opinion and I respect yours. I like NFL football, but college is my thing. My wife is from your local area and she is a big Georgia fan and I'm from Michigan and love the Wolverines.

[mugtech]

NBA is getting greedy also, the two NBA channels on my cable here in the Philippines are not available so far this season because they are still negotiating with Cignal about price.  Our cable has been the same price, $20/month, for the last three years.  We get to see live the Thursday night, Sunday night and Monday night NFL games here on Friday, Monday and Tuesday mornings at 9 AM local time.  Also saw the World Series live in October. We don't watch tv on cruises, just time them to not interfere with games we want to see.

[zqvol]

On 11/4/2019 at 12:07 PM, dwing18 said:

I just got off the Breakaway.  I was disappointed in the lack of sports coverage available on the ship. 

We we not able to watch the world series or even get score updates.

They showed 1 NFL game and no scrolling updates were available.

I was with some Houston Astros fans who were very upset

Apparently NCL has switched to a cheaper Cable supplier which does not include ESPN or the major networks.

Unless this gets changed I will cruise NCL in the future.

 

 

There is nothing new about this. NCL has not had ESPN or US sports programs for years. NCL doesn't use a cable supplier, they are on a satellite system.

[BirdTravels]

On 11/4/2019 at 12:07 PM, dwing18 said:

I just got off the Breakaway.  I was disappointed in the lack of sports coverage available on the ship. 

We we not able to watch the world series or even get score updates.

They showed 1 NFL game and no scrolling updates were available.

I was with some Houston Astros fans who were very upset

Apparently NCL has switched to a cheaper Cable supplier which does not include ESPN or the major networks.

Unless this gets changed I will cruise NCL in the future.

Once you board the ship, you are not in New York or the United States any longer. You are on an international cruise ship, flagged in the Bahamas, catering to a very diverse, international clientele. The US is one country in a big world. And NCL caters to the multiple nationalities on the ship, not just the US. NCL does not have ESPN, they have a European sports network. And it is lucky that the Astros fans didn't see the games... losing all of their home games to give away the series to DC (which was broadcasted on Fox network TV, not ESPN). 

Edited November 6, 2019 by BirdTravels

[mugtech]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

Once you board the ship, you are not in New York or the United States any longer. You are on an international cruise ship, flagged in the Bahamas, catering to a very diverse, international clientele. The US is one country in a big world. And NCL caters to the multiple nationalities on the ship, not just the US. NCL does not have ESPN, they have a European sports network. And it is lucky that the Astros fans didn't see the games... losing all of their home games to give away the series to DC (which was broadcasted on Fox network TV, not ESPN). 

Point is I can watch the World Series in the boondocks in the Philippines but passengers on a ship sailing round trip out of NYC cannot watch the World Series, but they could as recently as 2015.

[newmexicoNita]

20 hours ago, GA Dave said:

I am a big time Packer fan living in southern GA.  Our "local" teams are the Jaguars, Falcons AND Panthers, so I very rarely get the Packer games on my local CBS/FOX channels.  So, for the last six years I had the DirecTV NFL package.  This year I got rid of it because the price went over $450 for the season.  The NFL is pricing themselves out of business.

Holy Cow: we had it many years ago for a few years. Then it got to high plus we switched to Dish. Now back with Direct with free ticket just this year. It was a promo to get us back. You can bet, at the end of the season we will not have the ticket. We will survive even if we rarely get our favorite team. I know how hard not being able to watch sports on a cruise, but that seems to be the way it goes and most of us are not going to stop cruising for that reason The cruise lines know this. 

[beerman2]

7 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Once you board the ship, you are not in New York or the United States any longer. You are on an international cruise ship, flagged in the Bahamas, catering to a very diverse, international clientele. The US is one country in a big world. And NCL caters to the multiple nationalities on the ship, not just the US. NCL does not have ESPN, they have a European sports network. And it is lucky that the Astros fans didn't see the games... losing all of their home games to give away the series to DC (which was broadcasted on Fox network TV, not ESPN). 

True about different nationalities. But first hand experience for the 1st ever true College FB national championship.

 

NCL sent out emails about having a deck party for  $20.00 per person. Response must not have been good.

 

When time for game came they said only pool bar /no sound would have it. Ended up going to O'Sheehans.( Yes it was O'Sheehans at the time). You couldn't even move there were so many people wanting to see it.

 

After saying NCL couldn't put it on the big screen in Atrium ( just didn't want to change their schedule). NCL finally made the decision to put it on the big screen. Not only did people want to see it, the amount of pax in the Atrium area was crazy.

 

NCL personnel were scrambling to set up more chairs.

1) NCL knew they could broadcast it after being told about some legal rights.

2) When I asked the question at meet and greet about the location I was told they didn't think people were interested.

3) Just because pax weren't willing to pay another $20.00 per to watch it obviously didn't mean they didn't. No they didn't want to pay extra for something.

4) I actually felt sympathy for the staff at O'Sheehans, no one could move.

5) Sometimes it's better to be proactive rather than reactive.

6) The NCL officers (5 or 6 of them) had to go into scramble mode.

7) NCL created the situation.

 

 

In the end it worked out but much more work went into it than necessary. 

[moviegal]

Man, that's a bummer about the World Series. You'd think important games like that would've been screened onboard.

 

I'm a huge hockey fan so I understand. When we sail during hockey season, I just buy the premium internet package that allows streaming and stream the games on my phone or laptop. It's a little slow, but it works!

[megansdad1]

I agree that sports shouldn't be a make or break issue, and I am a big sports fan.  At the same time, I see the appeal of seeing important games.  Last year I was on the Dawn leaving Boston.  It was playoff hockey time.  They showed the Bruins game on the atrium big projection screen.  That was a pretty awesome time.  The atmosphere in O'Sheenans was electric. 

[newmexicoNita]

On 11/5/2019 at 9:16 AM, dbrown84 said:

I followed that long thread about a month ago, and was felt it was just on that ship, actually those ships based outside of the US.  People report that they were still getting NFL games on the US based ships (the ports they are based out of.  I know they are all flagged in the bahamas).  I'm on the Breakaway in January, on an 11 night cruise that will cover the 2nd and 3rd weeks of the NFL playoffs (when they show games on both Saturday and Sunday).  I'm happy to hear that you were just on the Breakaway and they indeed showed games I was on the Breakaway this past April, and they showed NBA playoffs every night.  They may have showed only one game a night, but it was something.  

We were on the Breakaway a couple of years ago as well: Yes, in April and yes, they did show the NBA playoff games. We have been on other NCL ships during playoff days and I think all the playoff games were shown, or certainly most of them. I think a lot are disappointed they can not see their favorite teams play on a regular basis. We have gotten used to it. In 5 weeks we will be on another line, an upscale, smaller ship. It will be interesting to see what they show.