Firestick

[DivaMI]

Question. If I purchase the surf and stream package will I be able to connect my Firestick to the TV set in order to stream movies.

[ksuds]

Some ships have a strong internet connection (Voom). Others do not. If you don't have a strong connection, the Firestick won't work.

[Clarea]

Also, it can be difficult to impossible to get the TV to switch inputs. Some have reported being able to switch inputs using a universal remote control.

[mikemike404]

Does anyone know if the firestick can be used on Allure ? Not sure but the TVs look like Samsung which should be easy to switch sources… Thanks

[FLACRUISER99]

2 minutes ago, mikemike404 said:

Does anyone know if the firestick can be used on Allure ? Not sure but the TVs look like Samsung which should be easy to switch sources… Thanks

Unless they are disabled,

[Missymo]

Just off Symphony, Got the voomI surf and stream and was able to connect to slingbox  on my laptop  while sailing.  No problems. Other passengers stated they used other media  to watch their Netflix TV and videos. 

Edited March 13, 2019 by Missymo

[Ashland]

We had problems at first with our Firestick this past September on Freedom...the inputs were disabled we think .... however our cabin steward sent an onboard electrician to our cabin and he couldn't hook it up either (said he thought it had something to do with the inter-active TV)...he then offered to swap out the TV and did this for us....he was just amazing and we certainly thanked him $$'s (and our steward). We were then able to watch Netflix & Amazon Prime during our B2B. Our son did the same on Navigator out of Southampton a year ago....but didn't have the same trouble we did. Getting ready to go on Vision (May) and hoping to be able to use our firestick again....fingers crossed.

[Ashland]

1 hour ago, mikemike404 said:

Does anyone know if the firestick can be used on Allure ? Not sure but the TVs look like Samsung which should be easy to switch sources… Thanks

All the TV's on RCI are Samsung....We watched a YouTube some one did on how easy it is to do...but it wasn't for us...we even brought a universal Samsung compatible cheap remote. 

 

See my above post for our experience.

[Edhoff]

To much to do on board, just keep it at home

[orville99]

You can unplug the HDMI cable from the back of the TV and plug your firestick into the HDMI port in its place without disrupting anything on the TV (and the cabin's remote will still work for on/off and volume control). Getting sufficient bandwidth to stream is another issue entirely.

[leisuretraveler223]

33 minutes ago, Edhoff said:

To much to do on board, just keep it at home

 

Presumptuous and ignorant.  You know nothing of the OP or what could possibly be the circumstances behind this. 

[Ashland]

43 minutes ago, orville99 said:

You can unplug the HDMI cable from the back of the TV and plug your firestick into the HDMI port in its place without disrupting anything on the TV (and the cabin's remote will still work for on/off and volume control). Getting sufficient bandwidth to stream is another issue entirely.

We of course tried that first ... it didn't work for us or the onboard electrician...sometimes there is no simple fix.

[TravisP]

I plan on bringing mine with a universal remote. GOT season 8 premiers the day our cruise leaves. 

[Ashland]

1 hour ago, Edhoff said:

To much to do on board, just keep it at home

This topic wasn't meant to be a debate! What other's prefer to do on their cruise vacation is their business.

[Tasm3n]

7 hours ago, TravisP said:

I plan on bringing mine with a universal remote. GOT season 8 premiers the day our cruise leaves. 

 

PRIORITIES if I ever heard PRIORITIES!  *Heartily approve*

[orville99]

16 hours ago, Ashland said:

We of course tried that first ... it didn't work for us or the onboard electrician...sometimes there is no simple fix.

I think the problem may be more fundamental than that. If a firestick works the same way as a Roku stick, it needs to connect to the internet via wifi, and that may not be possible without being able to log in to the Royal wifi network. Our Roku screen showed up on the tv, but when it tried to connect to the internet, it found the Royal wifi network, but never made it through the internet connection because there was no way to log in. We ended up connecting our iPad to the tv's HDMI port, and that worked flawlessly.

[Big_G]

17 hours ago, orville99 said:

You can unplug the HDMI cable from the back of the TV and plug your firestick into the HDMI port in its place without disrupting anything on the TV (and the cabin's remote will still work for on/off and volume control). Getting sufficient bandwidth to stream is another issue entirely.

 

That's an if. We were in a CLS on Harmony last year and the downstairs TV was recessed slightly into the wall which provided no access. I assume the upstairs TV which comes down from the ceiling did but I didn't check.

[Clarea]

1 hour ago, orville99 said:

 .... it found the Royal wifi network, but never made it through the internet connection because there was no way to log in.  ...

 

This is when a travel router would help.

[orville99]

10 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

This is when a travel router would help.

We use an Apple lightning-to-HDMI dongle and run everything through an internet-connected iPad. A lot less to carry and a lot easier to set up.

[orville99]

1 hour ago, Big_G said:

 

That's an if. We were in a CLS on Harmony last year and the downstairs TV was recessed slightly into the wall which provided no access. I assume the upstairs TV which comes down from the ceiling did but I didn't check.

I presume the downstairs TV in a CLS wasn't on an articulated wall mount like they are in the other cabin  categories. That would be a bummer.

[orville99]

17 hours ago, Ashland said:

We of course tried that first ... it didn't work for us or the onboard electrician...sometimes there is no simple fix.

One thing that I forgot is that there are usually more than one HDMI port on the cabin TVs. The only one that is live is the one that is connected by the cruise line. The other ones are disabled, or cannot be accessed without some type of universal remote - which we've never gotten to work.

[Big_G]

3 minutes ago, orville99 said:

I presume the downstairs TV in a CLS wasn't on an articulated wall mount like they are in the other cabin  categories. That would be a bummer.

 

Not that we watch a lot of TV but I was surprised at that. The CLS is a long cabin and it would be difficult to watch while sitting at the table.

[Big_G]

Has anyone ever tried the Samsung TV remote app on their phone?

[Ashland]

3 hours ago, orville99 said:

I think the problem may be more fundamental than that. If a firestick works the same way as a Roku stick, it needs to connect to the internet via wifi, and that may not be possible without being able to log in to the Royal wifi network. Our Roku screen showed up on the tv, but when it tried to connect to the internet, it found the Royal wifi network, but never made it through the internet connection because there was no way to log in. We ended up connecting our iPad to the tv's HDMI port, and that worked flawlessly.

We eventually were able to hook our firestick up (with a new swapped out TV) and logged on through our laptop to our Voom/Stream...we were then able to watch movies on our TV not laptop...Luckily we had help doing all this tech stuff that we thought would be easy...but point is we finally got everything to work.

[FLACRUISER99]

2 hours ago, Big_G said:

Has anyone ever tried the Samsung TV remote app on their phone?

You need a phone with an IR Blaster, only a few have this feature.