Evening 'entertainment' Azura

Although the comedian's act wasn't quite my taste, he was very professional and polished and obviously appealed to the majority of the audience as he got a standing ovation.

ICant stick the Freddie Mercury tribute act - Poor Freddie must be SPINNING in his grave - Suffered him on Azura in the Fjords in 2012 as my dinner table mates wanted to go along to see him

There are a couple of Freddie tributes doing the rounds on P&O. The one we saw on Azura in 2013 looked like him, moved like him, talked like him and most importantly, sounded like him. DH is a big Queen fan, saw them live back in the day and even he was impressed by the tribute (went resolutely expecting not to).

The tribute on Britannia at Christmas, OTOH, was barely worthy of the name. He got a massive standing ovation, DH and I remained seated because we didn't think he deserved a standing ovation. On our way out of the theatre a lady who had been seated near us made some remarks that were meant to be overheard about "snobs" and "must be deaf" and a couple of other unpleasant remarks, clearly directed at us because we hadn't responded in the same way as the majority of the audience.

At dinner the next night a couple seated across from us who had been behind us in the theatre, made some remarks about how good the Freddie tribute had been. When they asked our opinion we said, honestly, that in our opinion he wasn't as good as the one we'd seen on Azura 2 years previously. They seemed to take this as a personal affront and didn't speak to us for the rest of the cruise.

There are a couple of Freddie tributes doing the rounds on P&O. The one we saw on Azura in 2013 looked like him, moved like him, talked like him and most importantly, sounded like him. DH is a big Queen fan, saw them live back in the day and even he was impressed by the tribute (went resolutely expecting not to).

 

The tribute on Britannia at Christmas, OTOH, was barely worthy of the name. He got a massive standing ovation, DH and I remained seated because we didn't think he deserved a standing ovation. On our way out of the theatre a lady who had been seated near us made some remarks that were meant to be overheard about "snobs" and "must be deaf" and a couple of other unpleasant remarks, clearly directed at us because we hadn't responded in the same way as the majority of the audience.

 

At dinner the next night a couple seated across from us who had been behind us in the theatre, made some remarks about how good the Freddie tribute had been. When they asked our opinion we said, honestly, that in our opinion he wasn't as good as the one we'd seen on Azura 2 years previously. They seemed to take this as a personal affront and didn't speak to us for the rest of the cruise.

I make up my own mind like you and don't feel I have to stand because everyone else does. Shame that people don't seem to respect other people may have a different opinion to them. Agree these tribute acts do vary, some are very good and some mediocre.

There are a couple of Freddie tributes doing the rounds on P&O. The one we saw on Azura in 2013 looked like him, moved like him, talked like him and most importantly, sounded like him. DH is a big Queen fan, saw them live back in the day and even he was impressed by the tribute (went resolutely expecting not to).

 

The tribute on Britannia at Christmas, OTOH, was barely worthy of the name. He got a massive standing ovation, DH and I remained seated because we didn't think he deserved a standing ovation. On our way out of the theatre a lady who had been seated near us made some remarks that were meant to be overheard about "snobs" and "must be deaf" and a couple of other unpleasant remarks, clearly directed at us because we hadn't responded in the same way as the majority of the audience.

eAt dinner the next night a couple seated across from us who had been behind us in the theatre, made some remarks about how good the Freddie tribute had been. When they asked our opinion we said, honestly, that in our opinion he wasn't as good as the one we'd seen on Azura 2 years previously. They seemed to take this as a personal affront and didn't speak to us for the rest of the cruise.

I think the behaviour of the people you had the misfortune to come across is deplorable! Have you not the right to form your own opinions? It's not as though you were being vocal about your views, only mentioning it when prompted (they obviously brought it up purposely!) or were heckling in the theatre! I despair that these days it's as though with some people if you don't agree with them, you're fair game to be 'got at'. And the very same people feel it's ok to make judgements about you - based on what? You didn't like something? Shame on them - says more about them than you! (Whoops! Now I'm making judgements! :))

Annibea - it was Roy who I was referring to, lol. We are obviously on the same wavelength if not the same cruise. ;) Yes, he is about 76. No disrespect to him at all of course, but he is representative of a 'genre'.

We were on the same cruise.

Interesting point is we are "older generation" and thoroughly enjoyed Roy,

But we also like many "young" comics and as such went to see Rudi West and oh dear we sat through all the 1st show not impressed went to the 2nd show show and walked out after 10 mins and we were not the first to walk, but what is interesting the theatre was standing room only for Roy's 2nd show and Manhattan was full for Rudi's 1st show and only 2 thirds full at the start of his 2nd - shows something

Thank you anniebea and kruzseeka. I was a bit hurt at the time but quickly forgot about it. As you say, it's a shame people seem unable to accept differing opinions. I was glad the majority enjoyed the show.

I'm on the same Baltic cruise. Just goes to show you can't please everyone... I think the entertainment has been fine, especially Jet Set.

Go

I am finding on more recent cruises that there are more people who simply cannot accept a different viewpoint to theirs, even if they ask YOU what you thought. I don't know what the cause of it is. Fortunately they are still in a minority and most of the passengers are really nice people, but for the first time ever on my most recent cruise I had to complain to Customer Services about aggression and bullying behaviour from another passenger which made me afraid to meet said person around the ship. it's never happened before and I sincerely hope it was a one-off!

Why cannot some people tolerate different views any more?

I am finding on more recent cruises that there are more people who simply cannot accept a different viewpoint to theirs, even if they ask YOU what you thought. I don't know what the cause of it is. Fortunately they are still in a minority and most of the passengers are really nice people, but for the first time ever on my most recent cruise I had to complain to Customer Services about aggression and bullying behaviour from another passenger which made me afraid to meet said person around the ship. it's never happened before and I sincerely hope it was a one-off!

Why cannot some people tolerate different views any more?

That's horrid when actually what you want to do is enjoy a holiday. I have met some, fortunately not quite as intimidating and as you say they are a minority

We have recently returned from Arcadia, we thought the Headliners were so so, one show I quite enjoyed my missis thought it was poor. I feel that once you have cruised a while some of the shows become a bit samey. The guest artists were very good and even though they all had 2 slots during the cruise they got a good audience for both. As they say you can't please everyone all the time.

We did the recent Ventura Greek Cruise and thought we had some great entertainment. An extraordinarily funny young comedian/singer called Tucker, another good comedian John Martin (I think), Clem Curtis, the 4tunes and the Opera Boys, who each did 2 perfomances. There was another comedy ventriloqist, who I suspect was funny, but the show we caught was in the Tamarind, and standing at the back due to the lack of seats, we missed all the visual humour. There was one new (to us) Headliners show, Paradise City which was energetic and rock music based, which we enjoyed. Had seen all their others shows at least twice before, but heard people praising them. The normal tribute bands(Tom Jones, Dolly Parton) were OK. We missed the Lionel Ritchie one, but heard others rave about him.

Hopefully some of these have been booked for Azura as well

For us Britannia was the best because she had new shows and special effects. Other than that as others have posted the comedians aren't funny and the headliners are dated and very repetitive. With the general decline in MDR food, and shortage of seats in the decent bars, our new routine to adapt to this is to eat select and sit in bed watching movies. It's a shame, we'd much rather be out and about on the ship.

OK, so I'm back and unpacked, so I spare a little time and can give a bit of a better answer.

I don't think the evening entertainment was "dire." Was it all my cup of tea? No... but there was plenty of other stuff on, so I went to that instead. I wouldn't accuse the entertainment of being dire because I don't like bingo... I just don't go to bingo.

The comedians were a mixed bunch. Some was obviously catering to the older crowd, but then the following day would be much more up to date. Sometimes I enjoyed it, sometimes it wasn't my thing, but other people seemed to be laughing... there were never any dead rooms, which would be my gauge of "dire".

Jet Set I thought were very good, especially Sarah Rowe. The Michael Buble cover artist was quite good (Kai Courtney?). Didn't see many of the other singers or dancers so can't comment on them.

People keep talking about the decline of standards in the MDR. This was my first time on this ship, and the food was delicious, and had great service from our waiters who were very accommodating even with our young niece. One evening we were in Sindhu which was, as you'd expect, a notch above.

There were some bad things - some of the organised excursions left things to be desired. The sail away was a bit boisterous for my liking, but again, many people seemed to enjoy it so c'est la vie.

What did annoy me however was a minority of people who seemed to have forgotten how to say please, thank you, excuse me or sorry. In particular, a pair of old ladies who constantly moaned about everything from their dinner guests to the state of the nation throughout a trip to the Hermitage and seemed insistent on drowning out the tour guide with the whinings to one another whilst in the otherwise silent Gold Room. I saw people in the buffet hold trays for waiters to collect behind them, and then not even acknowledge their presence (let alone say thank you) when they were collected. It wasn't unusual for me to give way to another passenger in a corridor and for them to behave similarly to me and just walk straight past without so much as a nod... not everyone, mind you, but it did happen more than a few times.

I didn't like the embarkation or disembarkation at Southampton. That leaves a lot to be desired.

The ship could do with a retractable roof for cold days.

Thanks Hiking Pete - that's the great thing about cruising; we can all have our own definitions , and enjoy different aspects of the holiday! :)