Printed television guide?

[BarbaraP]

Suites get a guide. But we just put it on 21 and watch "Love Boat" over and over and over

 

If suites get a guide, why can't we purchase one.

 

The problem with the scrolling guide is it is not updated until the first movie starts in the morning so you can't plan ahead. I don't understand why they can't put a TV guide and the next days menus on there Princess at Sea app?

[jasbo49]

In our experience, you can go to the purser's desk and they will print one out for you on the spot.

 

Jim

[azbirdmom]

It depends on the ship. We had them both trips this year on the Coral. Didn't have them on the Royal or Emerald. On the Emerald I asked the Hotel Manager about it during the CC meet and greet and she made sure to send us a copy of all of the programs. And yes, one the Coral it was the full TV guide with the shows and times for day 1, 2, etc.

[ar1950]

It depends on the ship. We had them both trips this year on the Coral. Didn't have them on the Royal or Emerald. On the Emerald I asked the Hotel Manager about it during the CC meet and greet and she made sure to send us a copy of all of the programs. And yes, one the Coral it was the full TV guide with the shows and times for day 1, 2, etc.

 

That is what we found on the Coral as well. BTW, there wasn't one in the cabin so we asked "Stewart" and he brought us one later in the day, no problemo.

[arizonaperson]

On The Crown in April 2016 we did not have a printed TV guide book. We were told by cabin steward that because it was a coastal cruise and then the next week AK they weren't ready yet! Who knows really what the story was as we did not stay on in AK.

Always had a printed TV guide book and channel list card on previous Princess cruises.

Julie

[abbydancer2003]

We were in a suite on our TA last year, and they kept promising one, and it never showed up.

 

On our Alaska cruise last May, I asked for one and they gave me one. I have no idea what cruise it was for, because it didn't match what was on our TV.

 

I wouldn't mind an onscreen guide if it were user friendly - ie shown in a grid, or from current time. I have to watch about 10 minutes to find out what movies there are, etc.

 

And sometimes, I give up and watch Love Boat reruns.

[MSBerliner]

Many years ago on Holland America ships passengers would find a small printed NEWSPAPER pushed under the cabin door each morning. I don't recall if it listed anything about TV, but it was MUCH APPRECIATED each day. Really too bad Princess cannot do something like that today, it would really add value to the cruise. My opinion

[abbydancer2003]

Many years ago on Holland America ships passengers would find a small printed NEWSPAPER pushed under the cabin door each morning. I don't recall if it listed anything about TV, but it was MUCH APPRECIATED each day. Really too bad Princess cannot do something like that today, it would really add value to the cruise. My opinion

 

We had that on our first Princess cruise in 1998. On a later cruise around 2007 or so we saw some available at Passenger Services, but haven't seen them since.

 

I did see something similar at a Marriott in Paris last year.

[caribill]

Princess used to have a four page news summary from the NY Times.

 

It went from being distributed to every cabin to having it only at the Purser's desk to having only one copy in the library to not being there at all anymore.

 

It was discontinued with Princess saying that you could get all the news you need on the cabin TV. (Of course in reality you can get all the opinion you need on TV, but very little actual news.)

[arrice2]

Seems like Video On Demand takes care of the problem. Does anyone know which ships other than Regal/Royal have it?

[Queenmum]

Just off the Coral 7/10. We had a printed guide just like the old days. It was very helpful.

[caribill]

Seems like Video On Demand takes care of the problem. Does anyone know which ships other than Regal/Royal have it?

 

Only one (don't remember which) which is assigned to the Chinese market.

[GUT2407]

Only one (don't remember which) which is assigned to the Chinese market.

 

Diamond has it. So that may be the one you mean.

[westendgirl]

Diamond has it. So that may be the one you mean.

 

The Sapphire has it as well.

[ansoninc]

This list is usually in the book on the desk which also has room service menus, and other information about the ship.

 

 

 

It is not a separate card which is out near the TV.

 

 

 

I agree! The listings are in the guest services book in every cabin. I always check out the book as it usually always has the room service menu. I do have my priorities.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[BarbaraP]

Just off the Coral 7/10. We had a printed guide just like the old days. It was very helpful.

 

YAH, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they are returning.:D

[Once Upon A Time]

I really miss the printed guide..We had them on every cruise last year and then this year they were gone.. I asked and was told maybe..never got one again, even in suites.. Last one was on the Caribbean Princess from Quebec City to Houston (last October).. If we keep asking, maybe they will bring them back.. I hate the scrolling guide on the TV... I'm too old to remember anything past one channel and I can't write fast enough! :(

[Cinerama]

Diamond has it. So that may be the one you mean.

 

The Sapphire has it as well.

 

The Diamond and Sapphire have the same large flat screen TV's on a wall as the Royal and Regal? I really liked them. The others ship TV's are a joke. Small and the picture quality sucks as its not even HD. They stretch to 4/3 image to fit the 16 x 9 screen so it looks like:

 

Edited July 12, 2016 by Cinerama

[Sayra]

Seems like Video On Demand takes care of the problem.

 

Agreed. This is what I write on all my surveys - please roll out on-demand to all of the ships. I don't need a TV guide if I can start the movies when I want to. Much more convenient - and it saves paper!

[HomelessBear]

Well that's cleared something up for me. Recently been on Caribbean Princess and in the cabin blue file, it said to see the TV guide in the cabin for the TV channels. I searched and couldn't find it. Now I know why!

Then it shouldn't still refer to it in the information in the blue file and they should update it.

 

We also tried to track our cruise on the TV - where we were, distance from and to ports etc. However it had the ship's position as in Southampton for the first 3 or 4 days!! It was also saying "Distance travelled from Le Harve", when we hadn't even arrived at that port (it was the final port of call). Totally useless!

Didn't bother looking for a couple of days as no point. Glad to see it was finally put right.

 

Surely they would notice something like this?? ….or maybe not!

Edited July 14, 2016 by HomelessBear

[abbydancer2003]

 

We also tried to track our cruise on the TV - where we were, distance from and to ports etc. However it had the ship's position as in Southampton for the first 3 or 4 days!! It was also saying "Distance travelled from Le Harve", when we hadn't even arrived at that port (it was the final port of call). Totally useless!

Didn't bother looking for a couple of days as no point. Glad to see it was finally put right.

 

Surely they would notice something like this?? ….or maybe not!

 

We had one California Coastal where the tracking started us in the middle of the Sea of Cortez (separates Baja California from Mexico). I was curious as to what would happen when we got north of the Sea. We headed straight to Bakersfield (in the middle of the Central Valley for those non-Californians)

[500adverbs]

On our July 2015 10-day Alaska cruise on the Golden, we had a very well-thumbed booklet in our balcony cabin that had the listings and times for each day of the cruise. That said, the channel that shows the ship's position, speed, etc. was by far my favorite channel and was accurate at all times.

 

Contrast that to our March 2016 7-day California Coastal on the Grand, where we had no guide and the ship's position channel was sadly not kept up to date. We too watched Love Boat when we were in the cabin but somehow always only saw the same 2 or 3 episodes (and somehow they were the same ones we saw in Alaska). (I did manage to catch a LOT of cricket, though, which was fun because I don't really get to see any cricket at home. One of my friends and I got into learning about cricket a few years ago - it's a fascinating game, but I'm not enough of a fan to actually pay exorbitant fees to watch cricket matches in the middle of the night. I am from Wisconsin, not Yorkshire.)

 

Video display technology is clearly not one of Princess' strengths or top priorities, at least on these two older ships, which are the only ones I've been on. I watched all of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in the Princess Theater on the Grand in the wrong aspect ratio just because I wanted to see the movie again and didn't have anything better to do at the time. I was too relaxed to be too bothered about it (which is nice).

 

As others have suggested, if you are in your cabin watching TV you are probably not buying anything. In addition, if Princess has a better system on the newer ships, I guess they don't feel the need to keep up the TVs on the older system. I feel like it wouldn't be too hard for them to do a better job on this, but it's probably one of those "would be nice" things that never really rises to the top of the list for Princess (or passengers).

Edited July 15, 2016 by 500adverbs
added pointless story about cricket

[Cinerama]

Video display technology is clearly not one of Princess' strengths or top priorities, at least on these two older ships, which are the only ones I've been on. I watched all of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in the Princess Theater on the Grand in the wrong aspect ratio just because I wanted to see the movie again and didn't have anything better to do at the time. I was too relaxed to be too bothered about it (which is nice).

 

The last time I was on the Grand, they were showing 1.33:1 AR DVD's of movies that should be 2.4:1 like Star Wars on their screen, so you are missing half the picture.

 

Below is an example of what you would see if you were watching Ghostbusters in the Princess Theater:

 

The top image is what you should see. The bottom image is what you see in the Princess Theater.

 

 

Beside the problem of stretching 4:3 images to 16:9, example below:

 

 

they also stretch 1.77:1 images that should just fill the screen see below:

 

 

to 2.4:1 so they look like the image below.

 

 

Who works in their tech department? They don't know what they are doing. I guess they are still living in the 1990's.

Edited July 15, 2016 by Cinerama

[caribill]

The last time I was on the Grand, they were showing 1.33:1 AR DVD's of movies that should be 2.4:1 like Star Wars on their screen, so you are missing half the picture.

 

Below is an example of what you would see if you were watching Ghostbusters in the Princess Theater:

 

The top image is what you should see. The bottom image is what you see in the Princess Theater.

 

 

Beside the problem of stretching 4:3 images to 16:9, example below:

 

 

they also stretch 1.77:1 images that should just fill the screen see below:

 

 

to 2.4:1 so they look like the image below.

 

 

 

If they are showing "pan and scan", then that is the only way it is on the DVD.

[caribill]

The last time I was on the Grand, they were showing 1.33:1 AR DVD's of movies that should be 2.4:1 like Star Wars on their screen, so you are missing half the picture.

 

Below is an example of what you would see if you were watching Ghostbusters in the Princess Theater:

 

The top image is what you should see. The bottom image is what you see in the Princess Theater.

 

 

 

 

If they are showing "pan and scan", then that is probably the only way it is on the DVD, especially with a movie that old.

Edited July 16, 2016 by caribill