Answered: Can I Bring a Playstation, Xbox, or Nintendo on a Cruise?

Are you a gamer? Or maybe you have kids on your cruise that love playing Playstation 4, Xbox One or Nintendo Switch or Wii?

To be honest, these systems are a ton of fun and a great way to spend some time relaxing — especially if the weather isn’t great or you want a little time out of the sun. And while you could always go to the ship’s arcade to get your gaming fix, that gets expensive very quickly and likely won’t have your favorite games.

So are you allowed to bring Playstations or Nintendos on a cruise? And just as importantly, are you able to play them in the cabin?

Yes, you are allowed to bring your games systems including Playstation 4, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One on a cruise. Cruise lines have no restrictions on these electronics.

However, you will have to plan ahead if you want to bring these consoles and play them on the stateroom TV. You will want to bring your own monitor if possible.

The stateroom televisions typically have open ports for HDMI and other inputs. Take a look at the TV on a recent Carnival cruise:

Inputs for cruise television
Inputs on a cruise cabin TV.

The problem is that inputs are usually disabled on these televisions. That means you can’t switch from the cruise ship cable TV to other inputs like HDMI. Our remote control didn’t even have a “input” button on it, nor were there buttons on the TV to change inputs.

In fact, Carnival even states: “Digital Cameras/Camcorders, DVDs/VCRs, USB sticks, iPods, Nintendo/X-Box Play Units cannot be used with the TV in the guest’s stateroom or suite as the connection ports are disabled. “

There is a chance you might get lucky and find a cruise line or a cruise ship that hasn’t disabled the ports so that you can play your console games. We’ve also heard of some people bringing universal remotes with an input button that allows them to switch over to the game console.

Instead, it’s best to not rely on the TVs at all and bring your own monitor that will allow you to play without having to use the TV on the cruise ship.

There are several options available, like this carrying case that has a monitor included to allow you to play anywhere. You can also get a mini projector that allows you to project the game onto any flat surface, like the cabin wall. Projectors cost about $100, but solve the problem well. You can also use them back home to keep the kids from hogging the TV.

Mini projector
A mini projector like this one can display on the cabin wall.

One more thing to think about — plug space is at a premium in the cabin. If you do plan to bring along a gaming system, be sure to bring a power strip as well (without a surge protector) to give you more outlets.

Have you brought a gaming console on a cruise? How did you play? Let us know in the comments below.

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