With barely two weeks until the European Championships kick-off, I thought I'd take a took at which cruise lines have announced they are showing the games and where the best places to watch the matches onboard will be.
As football, and this summer's main tournament Euro 2012, is popular among the rest of the world — especially us Brits — the cruise lines have bucked up their ideas and will be showing the games. This is great news for those us looking forward to Italy, Spain or Germany winning another tournament, but not so much for the England fans out there. Oh, and the non-football fans — though I'm pretty sure the spa area will be soccer free!
So, who is showing the footie?
P&O Cruises, Britain's favourite cruise line, will be showing all of the games onboard their entire fleet. I can see a few deck parties happening — obviously of the sophisticated variety — should England do well.
Cunard Line, Britain's 5* cruise line will also be showing all the games. Afternoon tea while cheering on the likes of Wayne Rooney and Andy Carroll has a certain amount of irony to it.
Royal Caribbean has announced that their 11 European based ships will be showing the games, so great if you are sailing around the Med or Baltic. Not so great if Caribbean sunshine or Alaskan fjords are currently in your plans.
Celebrity Cruises will be showing the quarterfinals, semi-finals and final onboard their five European ships. If it's anything like the World Cup, the England team might be taking a cruise holiday themselves by then!
Unconfirmed are Fred. Olsen, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Norwegian Cruise Lines and Cruise & Maritime, though I suspect their European based ships will be showing the games in the sports bars onboard — it may be worth checking with the cruise line before you leave and setting your SKY/TiVo box to record the games!
Also, with MSC and Costa Cruises both Italian cruise lines filled with European passengers, you can safely assume they will be making a fuss of the football — unfortunately they haven't revealed their plans as yet.
The most popular cruise lines cruising out of the UK or offering cruises to British passengers will be showing all of Euro 2012's games therefore, while relaxing on your cruise, you won't have to miss a minute of the action.
Note: Football matches will be subject to satellite signal.
