Royal Caribbean Cruise Passengers Seem To All Have The Same Big Complaint, But Nothing Is Changing

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Cruise ship giant Royal Caribbean generally receives mixed feedback from its guests. An innovator in modern-day cruise ships, the company boasts 28 ships in its fleet, including the redefined luxury of the world's largest cruise ship — Icon of the Seas. Despite its reputation as a luxury cruise liner, leading some of the best cruises in the Caribbean, one small problem seems to be a recurring complaint among its passengers — and it isn't what you probably expect. Royal Caribbean has received backlash over its meager range of TV channels in the passenger cabins.

This isn't a deal-breaking problem for most passengers — after all, the reason you go on a cruise is to see other countries, explore the restaurants and entertainment options aboard the ship, and mingle with fellow travelers. But we can see how Royal Caribbean's televisions, which include 29 channels, just don't cut it. Live satellite channels include BBC World News, Fox News, ESPN, and MSNBC. Certain channels are only available in certain regions, like Sky News, which can only be found on Australian and European cruises.

Some of you might be thinking, "Who is worried about TV options while on a cruise?!" However, from passenger complaints surrounding this issue, it seems that people simply want to have more choice if they do choose to flick the TV on. Some folks love getting their feet up at the end of a long vacation day and scrolling through the channels of their hotel room — or in this case, their cabin — to wind down before bed.

One user, posting in the r/royalcaribbean subreddit, wanted to find out if anybody else shared this sentiment. "I completely get that streaming apps for thousands of guests is not financially feasible (if even technically possible) but something airline [style] where they have a selection of 'on demand' shows to watch or something would be awesome," they wrote. "Am I alone here?" The post has over 170 replies, so it would appear the user wasn't alone after all. One user wrote, "I agree. Even some documentary shows or something would be good." Another wrote, "My boyfriend and I felt the same exact way on our cruise back in June. We just wanted to be able to watch something decent before bed and there was absolutely nothing."

If you are planning on undertaking a Royal Caribbean cruise and think the lack of TV channels would pose an issue for you, one Reddit user has potentially cracked the code. "We bring our firestick and hook it up to the tv and login [to] the ship wifi with one of our login accounts," they wrote. While this seemed like a great solution, another user countered, saying, "That depends on the ship that you're on. Some ships support external HDMI connection, some don't." Perhaps when making your cruise ship packing list, you should consider throwing an Amazon Fire TV Stick in your case.