Television on a cruise ship

[Z'Loth]

Does anyone know when they started putting televisions on cruise ships? I would not be surprised if the televisions were first introduced in the common areas such as bars before being put in passenger rooms.

 

[Mangrove Snapper]

There was a television in our stateroom on my first cruise back in 1992.  I have no idea what entertainment it offered as we never turned it on.  It had a tiny screen and was in a cabinet in the dresser between the beds. 

[leaveitallbehind]

Agree with @Mangrove Snapper and their timing as we also first cruised in 1992 and there was a tv in our stateroom at the time as well.  It was limited in channels but had at least one ship information channel. I don't recall tv's in the bars or other venues, however.

[Mike981]

It took awhile because it was hard to find a cord long enough for cable TV. 🙃

 

 

[Hlitner]

I recall cabin TV s in  some of our cabins back in the 70s

[Heidi13]

6 hours ago, Z'Loth said:

Does anyone know when they started putting televisions on cruise ships? I would not be surprised if the televisions were first introduced in the common areas such as bars before being put in passenger rooms.

 

 

A couple of ships reportedly had them in cabins as early as the 1960's, with the numbers starting to increase in the late 1980's/early 90's.

[BruceMuzz]

Installing televisions on cruise ships has never been the problem.

Most cruise ships, most cruise lines, and most countries do not legally allow television broadcasts to be picked up out of the air and showed to paying passengers without paying advertising and royalty fees.

The only viable and legal way to do that - in most cases - is purchasing very expensive satellite decoding licenses. Until recently, satellite television broadcasting was just not very good, and quite limited. 

[cruisemom42]

I don't recall having a TV in our cabin on our earliest cruises (on Sitmar, in the range of 1974-75), but at some point they appeared. Couldn't tell you exactly when as we didn't really use it.

[donnatello]

Back in the 70's there was closed circuit television in our cabin on the talian Line's " Michelangelo"

[XBGuy]

We did not see a TV in our cabin until we took our fourth cruise on Carnival in 1996.  I don’t recall if there were TVs in any of the public venues.

 

There were no TVs on our three previous cruises

 

• 1976 on NCL
• 1983 on Costa 
• 1992 on Regent

Edited December 16, 2023 by XBGuy

[MCC retired]

I began cruising in the late 70's. I don't recall the cruise line (may have been Home Lines) and recall not having a TV upon embarkation but as we sailed TV's were installed in all cabins.

They then only had a signal in and near ports.