We’ll admit it. We love watching TV on a cruise.
Lots of people think it’s crazy to go on vacation and watch television. For us, it’s a guilty pleasure. There’s nothing better than spending all day in port, only to come back in the afternoon and have some chill out time while watching the tube before dinner.
Truth it, however, that your TV choices on a cruise are pretty limited. Most cruise lines only have a handful of stations to choose from.
That’s why we usually suggest downloading your favorite shows from Netflix or other services before you sail if you really want to make the most of your downtime.
Still, every cabin on the ship will have a TV and while channels are limited, there are still things to watch.
To give you an idea of what you can expect, we recently sailed on an MSC cruise and jotted down the channel offerings. One thing to keep in mind is that cruise lines change their listings regularly. Your specific sailing may have a slightly different channel lineup.
MSC TV Channel Lineup
- Channel 1: Safety Channel (English)
- Channel 2: Safety Channel (Italian)
- Channel 3: Safety Channel (French)
- Channel 4: Safety Channel (Spanish)
- Channel 5: Safety Channel (German)
- Channel 6: Safety Channel (Portuguese)
- Channel 7: MSC Foundation
- Channel 8: Onboard Activities (English)
- Channel 9: Onboard Activities (Italian)
- Channel 10: Onboard Activities (French)
- Channel 11: Onboard Activities (Spanish)
- Channel 12: Onboard Activities (German)
- Channel 13: Onboard Activities (Portuguese)
- Channel 14: Cruise Information (Map)
- Channel 15: MSC Food & Beverage
- Channel 16: MSC Spa
- Channel 17: MSC Excursions
- Channel 18: Future Cruise
- Channel 19: MSC Shops
- Channel 20: MSC Photo
- Channel 21: Port Shopping
- Channel 22: Effy
- Channel 23: MSC Casino
- Channel 24: Bridge Camera
- Channel 25: Sky News
- Channel 26: Sky Sports News
- Channel 27: CBS News
- Channel 28: Food Network
- Channel 29: HGTV
- Channel 30: Travel Channel
- Channel 31: National Geographic
- Channel 32: Nickelodeon
- Channel 33: ESPN Caribbean
- Channel 34: ESPN 2 Caribbean
- Channel 35: ESPNU
- Channel 36: SEC Network
- Channel 37: ESPN Syndication
- Channel 38: RAI Italia
- Channel 39: TVE
- Channel 40: RTL
- Channel 41: Movies
You can see the channels offered by other cruise lines here:
