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Do the sports bars on Royal Caribbean ships stream live games?

patrioticgirl
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DCPIV "Live from...." Rare

DCPIV

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I also doubt it.  They do show some NFL games, and I've watched USA World Cup soccer matches on a couple of different ships.  One ship just had ESPN on all the time (but it wasn't the USA feed).  I don't think I've ever seen MLB on board, though, much less Spring training.

 

Maybe if it were playoffs or World Series, but I wouldn't bet on rogular season or Spring training.  No telling, though.  It's worth asking if there's an On Air or sports bar on board.  If not, ask in the casino,

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crewsweeper "Live from...." Rare

crewsweeper

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29 minutes ago, patrioticgirl said:

MLB spring training games start tomorrow.... Any chance I will be able to view a game or two in a lounge on board at the end of the month? ⚾

Unless a game is on ESPN or a sports channel and a game is scheduled probably available.  Playmakers on some ships do have a menu of upcoming matches and events.  And a wide range of TVs

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RobInMN Great Review Rare

RobInMN

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On Freedom in November, if it wasn't on one of the ESPN channels (which did include the ESPN SEC Network), you were SOL. I want to say, not even ABC. So, I watched the Iowa vs. Minnesota game on my phone (I may live in MN now, but born & raised Hawkeye).

2 weeks ago on Odyssey, I honestly didn't take a hard look as there was nothing I was interested in, but when we at at Playmakers, I want to say that everything I saw was an ESPN channel.

For a "Sports Bar", the number of channels is extremely limited (and disappointing).

Edited by RobInMN
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DCPIV "Live from...." Rare

DCPIV

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2 minutes ago, RobInMN said:

For a "Sports Bar", the number of channels is extremely limited (and disappointing).

 

I give them a bit of a break on that.  They have to license that, and I expect the licenses are priced according to the passenger load of the ship and not just on how many might show up in the sports bar.  In other words, it's expensive to license a multi-thousand person venue to satisfy a relative handful--even more so if they went with every outfit in the world carrying sports.

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The Grumpus

The Grumpus

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I've watch NFL Sunday games and Playoffs at Playmakers and I recall some NBA games as well, but Spring Training... that's probably a long shot. 

 

I'm getting the S&S internet package for my Wonder cruise next month and I also have a Fios TV subscription w/ESPN and other sports channels.  I've never tried but I to see if I can stream direct off of the ESPN and other sports apps on my iPhone using the S&S.

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mac_tlc "Live from...." Rare

mac_tlc

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We watched the Red Sox in Playmakers on the Oasis in September 2021. Asked them to put it on the bigger screen instead of the smaller one. No problem.

 

We have also been able to stream MLB games on our iPad using our mlb.tv subscription. Works very well on ships with the good O3B internet.

 

mac_tlc

 

 

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RobInMN Great Review Rare

RobInMN

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7 minutes ago, DCPIV said:

 

I give them a bit of a break on that.  They have to license that, and I expect the licenses are priced according to the passenger load of the ship and not just on how many might show up in the sports bar.  In other words, it's expensive to license a multi-thousand person venue to satisfy a relative handful--even more so if they went with every outfit in the world carrying sports.

Yeah, I get that. but it's not the number of things they are showing at any time, what I am disappointed in is the access. I get the whole licensing thing, but honestly, how many "real" sports are actually shown on ESPN channels these days? I'm talking big 4 (football, basketball, baseball, hockey, ok 5 - soccer). The real issue is that those games are all over the place. to be a "Sports Bar", you need access to like 50 some channels, even if you only show 3 or 4 things at any one time.

 

2 minutes ago, The Grumpus said:

I've never tried but I to see if I can stream direct off of the ESPN and other sports apps on my iPhone using the S&S.

I've got YoutubeTV and had no trouble streaming the Big Ten Network using S&S last November on Freedom (using Samsung Galaxy), other than occasional buffering, but nothing bad. As for channel specific apps, if you don't have any issue streaming using the app at home, I can't imagine you'd have any issue on board.

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cruisegirl1

cruisegirl1

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They will stream live games, but I doubt any kind of spring training will be shown.
 

We sailed during Super Bowl and of course the game was shown, but not the normal feed. We had no commercials. 
 

m

Edited by cruisegirl1
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RobInMN Great Review Rare

RobInMN

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4 minutes ago, WIBadgerFan said:

As long as we can watch March Madness!

Unless they change the feeds they have access to, I'd be surprised.

They'd need CBS, TNT, TBS, and truTV(??seriously?)

I'd plan on streaming to your own phone.

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DCPIV "Live from...." Rare

DCPIV

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48 minutes ago, RobInMN said:

to be a "Sports Bar", you need access to like 50 some channels, even if you only show 3 or 4 things at any one time.

 

If you're looking for a real "sports bar" on a cruise ship, then you'll never be anything but disappointed.  If you're looking for a bar that shows sports or, perhaps, a place with a "sports bar" feel, then you might find something you like.  That's always been the case, and the fact that sports have spread out all over the place pretty much ensure that it won't change.  That's even more certain now that everyone can bring their own access.

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LGW59

LGW59

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2 hours ago, patrioticgirl said:

MLB spring training games start tomorrow.... Any chance I will be able to view a game or two in a lounge on board at the end of the month? ⚾

why don't you let us know once you are on board.

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mil76 "Live from...." Rare

mil76

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I've been on cruises during March Madness and they do show games, and they had a bunch of Conference Tourney games last week on Navigator.  

 

That said, it can be a head-scratcher as to what games they do show, as it just depends on the channels they carry.  Also, the ESPN they carry is ESPN Caribbean, so cricket rules.  Thought I would get to watch Virginia Tech-Notre Dame in the ACC Tourney since it was on ESPN US.  But they had a Pakistan-South Africa women's cricket match on instead.  After the cricket they went back the normal US sports you would expect on ESPN.  There is another channel, 24 or something, which had a wide variety of sports (NBA, NHL, Premier League), and it looked like they had a special feed for the Big East tournament since that channel just had a splash screen of the upcoming Big East game whenever there wasn't a game going on.  

 

But the bottom line is if you absolutely have to see a specific team/game that isn't the Super Bowl, NFL Monday night football/Sunday night football, Champions League final, NBA Finals, World Series or Final Four (or some big Cricket match), take your phone or tablet and get Surf and Stream.  For the Pac 12 tourney we ended up taking an iPad to Playmakers and streaming Arizona-Stanford in all of its pixelated glory via Zoom.

 

For Spring Training baseball, maybe get them to put a wicket behind home plate and ESPN will definitely carry it live.

 

 

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PhillyFan33579

PhillyFan33579

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2 hours ago, RobInMN said:

On Freedom in November, if it wasn't on one of the ESPN channels (which did include the ESPN SEC Network), you were SOL. I want to say, not even ABC. So, I watched the Iowa vs. Minnesota game on my phone (I may live in MN now, but born & raised Hawkeye).

2 weeks ago on Odyssey, I honestly didn't take a hard look as there was nothing I was interested in, but when we at at Playmakers, I want to say that everything I saw was an ESPN channel.

For a "Sports Bar", the number of channels is extremely limited (and disappointing).


When we were on Freedom last October every NFL game was shown in Playmakers on Sunday. Of course that doesn’t really help the OP’s question.  

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twangster "Live from...." Rare

twangster

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MLB is very controlling with respect to TV rights.  Ships sail internationally even when home ported in U.S.   MLB has weird international TV rights and wants to push many international viewers to pay for their app for game coverage.  

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patrioticgirl

patrioticgirl

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Thanks for all the responses. Sounds like I will need to plan on trying to use my phone to access my MLBtv subscription. I am hoping that I will be able to watch some Cardinals games... and just saw notation on their page that every game will be streamed lived on the website, so hopefully that will be an option, too. Play ball! 😉⚾😄⚾🤩

Edited by patrioticgirl
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Lane Hog

Lane Hog

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1 hour ago, DCPIV said:

 

There was On Air, but I agree that calling it a sports bar is quite a stretch. 

 

On-Air seems to be repurposed as the place to watch movies since the pool deck screen either died or was discontinued.  
 

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DCPIV "Live from...." Rare

DCPIV

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7 hours ago, Lane Hog said:

 

On-Air seems to be repurposed as the place to watch movies since the pool deck screen either died or was discontinued.  
 

 

They show movies at scheduled times, but they also were showing some football games down there in January.  I had no desire to stay, so I don't recall what was on.  Some folks were watching, though.  

 

I don't think the screen is discontinued.  Liberty missed a drydock, so it hasn't been fixed.  To be honest, I didn't miss it one bit.

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