TV in a Princess cruise ship cabin?! ⚓ What can you watch on TV in your cruise ship room? Movies + more 🏔 Alaska cruise travel blog

Hi there!

 

Yes, there is TV on Princess cruise ships!

There are movies too.

While you won’t have the variety of TV channels you might find in a standard hotel room on land, there are a surprising number of things you can watch on TV on a Princess cruise ship!

 

👆 Watching TV is one of the best things to do on a Princess cruise ship to Alaska?! You can enhance your Alaska cruise experience by learning about lots of different things about Alaska on TV!

 

👆 Get basic background info on where you’re going by watching TV during your Alaska cruise!

 

👆 There are destination-specific videos on the TV in your cabin whether you are going on a Princess cruise to Alaska, the Caribbean, Europe, Central America, South America, Mexico, California, Canada, New England, Hawaii, the South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, or Africa!

 

 

Everything that you can watch on TV is free.

There is no pay-per-view or anything like that.

I was on a cruise with 18 sea days so I became well-acquainted with the TV 🤣🤣🤣😅😅😅

 

More below on what to watch on a Princess cruise ship TV!

 

 

🏔

 

 

 

What can you watch on TV on a Princess cruise ship?

 

1. Live TV channels

The live TV channels are limited, but they are there.

The live TV channels on a Princess cruise ship include MSNBC, FOX News, BBC News, National Geographic, and a couple of sports channels.

 

👆 Note on the Princess daily activity schedule during an Alaska cruise on the glacier sea day of Hubbard Glacier about live TV and internet on the cruise ship: Due to the geographic position, satellite transmission may be impacted causing broadcast quality issues and/or internet delays.

 

 

 

2. Bridge camera

On your TV, you can find a live view from the bridge where the cruise ship’s navigational officers are located.

This is especially useful if you are in an inside cabin!

You don’t need to leave your cabin to get a general idea of what it’s like outside.

The bridge camera is particularly useful during Glacier Bay National Park day, whether you are in an inside cabin or a balcony cabin.

And especially if you’ll be staying in your cabin when the cruise ship is in Glacier Bay!

On Glacier Bay National Park day, you will be able to hear the public announcements made throughout the ship from the comfort of your balcony cabin by tuning in to the bridge cam.

 

👆 You can get a view of the bridge camera from your stateroom TV. This is also how you can hear some of the public announcements made by the Princess naturalist and national park rangers. You can see the bridge camera any time during your cruise. It is always there for you to see!

 

3. Weather

 

Now, I don’t know how accurate this is, but if you want to try to make plans based on the weather forecast, you can look for the channel with the weather!

It will show you the weather forecast for the cruise ports you will be going to, along with sea days.

 

 

4. Princess naturalist and enrichment speaker sessions

On board Alaska cruises and Hawaii cruises (and maybe other destinations I’m not sure), there is a “naturalist” onboard Princess cruise ships.

There are also other types of “enrichment” speakers onboard cruise ships.

These naturalists and enrichment speakers hold sessions throughout the cruise to teach you things about the destination that you’re going.

Naturalist sessions can include topics like whales on both an Alaska cruise and Hawaii cruise, and about glaciers on an Alaska cruise for example.

Enrichment speakers can include people like a Hoonah ambassador who has ties to high ranking members in a Native Alaskan tribe, and it can include a past winner of the classic 1,000 mile iditarod dog sledding race.

You can see the Princess naturalist and enrichment speaker sessions live.

But if you miss seeing the speakers live, or you just want to go back and hear something that was said, you can also watch the sessions from your cabin after the session is over.

 

 

You can’t watch it live from your TV, but the sessions are recorded.

So after the speaker session is complete, a recording is uploaded to your TV.

It seems to depend on the cruise ship how quickly they will get the sessions up after they happen.

It might be up just a few hours after the live session, or you might have to wait until the next day to see it.

 

👆 The naturalist and enrichment speaker sessions will be under “my cruise” and then either “enrichment and port lecture” or “entertainment and events.” (I’ve seen it on both.)

 

 

5. Short destination-specific videos to learn more about where you’re going!

There are a lot of short destination-specific videos that you can watch to get basic information about cruise ports that you’ll be going to.

These might be 2 to 5 minutes long.

 

👆 Look for destination-specific videos on your stateroom TV by going to: movies and TV > ocean originals

 

👆 You will find different types of destination-specific “ocean originals,” including Ocean Treks with Jeff Corwin and the Voyager with Josh Garcia.

 

👆 Take a look at the “destination shorts” for your cruise destination to learn more about where you’re going!

 

👆 On your Princess cruise ship TV, you can watch destination videos for Alaska, the Caribbean, Northern Europe, the Mediterranean, Central America, Mexico, California, Canada, New England, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, South America, and Asia.

 

👆 On your Princess cruise ship TV, you can get a brief introduction to Alaska destinations like Anchorage, Denali, Fairbanks, Glacier Bay, Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka, Skagway, and Talkeetna!

 

 

6. Destination-specific National Geographic episodes (40-50 minutes)

I was quite impressed by the amount of shows there were that you could learn more about Alaska!

While I saw a few of the shorter videos throughout the cruise, there were a bunch of longer episodes that I discovered on the last day of the cruise!

But just to give you an idea, here are a bunch of destination-specific TV programs you might be able to watch during your Alaska cruise on a Princess cruise ship!

There were a bunch of 2-3 minute videos that gave you an overview about different aspects of Alaska.

There were also a ton of 45 minute shows about Alaska as well.

I discovered just how many there were on the last day of the cruise, and I wish I would have taken a closer look earlier!

 

👆 Look for Alaska-specific episodes: Movies and TV > destination: US – Alaska / Canada. There are other destinations too.

 

Here were the Alaska-related full episode shows available on my TV during my May 2023 Alaska cruise:

• Aerial America: Alaska’s Call of the Wild (52 minutes)
• Aerial America: Alaska’s Fire and Ice (47 minutes)
• Alaska’s Grizzly Gauntlet: Ice Bear Siege (45 minutes)
• Alaska’s Grizzly Gauntlet: Kodiak Kings (45 minutes)
• Alaska’s Grizzly Gauntlet: Arctic Soldiers (45 minutes)
• Alaska’s Grizzly Gauntlet: Salmon Slaughterhouse (45 minutes)
• Alaska’s Grizzly Gauntlet: Moose Ambush (45 minutes)
• America’s National Parks: Gates of the Arctic (45 minutes)
• Bear Dynasty (44 minutes)
• Destination Extreme: Alaska (24 minutes)
• Drain the Oceans: Buried Secrets of the Gold Rush (50 minutes)
• Smithsonian Spotlight: Ocean Hall (27 minutes) (about the tlingit Alaskan tribe)
• The Living Edens: Land of 10,000 Grizzlies (45 minutes)
• The Living Edens: Alaska’s Glacier Bay (45 minutes)
• Wild 24: Alaska: Grizzly Paradise (51 minutes)
• Wild Alaska (46 minutes)

 

Of course, offerings can change on your stateroom TV during your Princess cruise.

 

 

 

7. Movies

 

There are a good amount of movies that you can watch from your stateroom TV on a Princess cruise.

If you’re on an Alaska cruise, then the best movie to watch is the Call of the Wild!

This was available during my cruise.

One of the common Alaska cruise ports is Skagway cruise port, and there’s mention of Skagway in the movie.

It’s also a little bit about dog sledding in Alaska, a classic Alaska excursion you can do during your Alaska cruise.

Your cruise might also offer Call of the Wild as one of the Movies Under the Stars too, which means you can watch this Alaska movie out on the open deck.

To find the Call of the Wild on your stateroom TV, you will need to look under T for THE Call of the Wild, under family movies.

 

 

 

8. The Love Boat

You can watch the classic TV show that took place on a Princess cruise ship… while on a Princess cruise ship!

I had never watched the Love Boat before getting on a Princess cruise ship, and I must say after watching the first episode I just was not into it.

But I decided to give it a second chance and watched a second episode.

And after that… well, I have watched too many Love Boat episodes in too short of a time period. 🤣

 

👆 You can binge watch the Love Boat when you’re on a Princess cruise ship! You won’t be able to watch every single episode even if you tried! (Too many episodes!)

 

 

9. TV shows

There are a good number of TV shows that you can watch from your stateroom TV on a Princess cruise.

Along with the Love Boat, there were a few older seasons of modern sitcoms that you could watch.

During one of my Alaska cruises, this included Cheer, Everybody Loves Raymond, Frasier, and Reba.

During my transpacific cruise that had 18 sea days, I watched a whole season of SEAL Team along with a whole season of the Resident. 🤣🤣🤣😅😅😅

 

 

10. The Wake Show

 

Turn on your TV first thing in the morning and wake up to the Wake Show! 😂

Every day is a different episode as the Wake Show is a show that’s hosted by the cruise director and will be specific to your cruise ship.

The cruise director will go over what’s going on around the cruise ship that day.

It seems like the wake shows in which the cruise director is “co-hosting” with an assistant cruise director are the most entertaining.

On my first and third cruises, I watched every single episode of the Wake Show because I found it to be entertaining and informative.

I didn’t know hearing about daily cruise ship activities could be so captivating for 15 to 20 minutes. 🤣

On my second cruise, I stopped watching after the first couple of days because I felt like I had to force myself to get through the episode.

The cruise director was doing the Wake Show on his own with no co-host, so maybe that’s why.

But for those cruises that I did watch the wake shows, I found it to be informative so I recommend watching the wake show during your cruise!

The episodes are actually recorded the day before, and they are uploaded to the TV the night before, so you can make it part of your nightly routine to watch the wake show before you go to bed!

 

And that’s a bit about what you can watch on a Princess cruise ship TV!

 

HAPPY WATCHING TV ON A CRUISE SHIP!