NinS

Today was TJC webinar. As usual most of it was devoted to the small details that would be mostly helpful to first time cruisers, but I did glean a few tidbits: -- The pool party show will feature an organ jazz set, which should be great. (Unlike most music cruises where the pool is a main stage all week, TJC has one or two outside shows.) -- TJC 2025's ports will be Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Lazaroff quipped that he would reveal the lineup "if I trusted all of you -- but I don't." Smart guy. --No music between 5 pm and 6 pm so people can have dinner. Lazaroff said he was stunned at how many people ate dinner in the buffet last year, so the programming will allow those who want a full MDR or specialty meal to eat one. -- Since TJC is almost entirely a general admission cruise without "early/late" headline events, it was stated that if you're in a venue and you want to stay for the next show you can do so, but you have to actual remain in the venue and can only save one seat -- no putting a towel over a whole row. I'm not sure how widespread this actually was, but it was stated that there will be more ushers this year to facilitate the flow in between sets. --The odd timing of the St. Thomas port (1 pm to 8pm) will impact the schedule a bit, with lots of programming in the morning, and things started back up later in the afternoon. I wouldn't be surprised if many of the passengers, myself included, find the programming more enticing than anything in the port, and I certainly won't be planning any excursions until I see the schedule (which as mentioned before won't be released until 7-10 days before the sailing).

I was excited to read in Jazz Notes that TJC '24 will have a clarinet set with Anat Cohen, Ken Peplowski and Paquita D'Rivera -- and the name of the set implies lots of Brazilian melodies will be played. That will be a must-attend for me. The waitlist stuff was a bit confusing, since the intro said there was no point in joining a waitlist, but later in the email it indicated you could join TJC and Botti at Sea's waitlists, which would make sense since those cruises took much longer to sell out. (And, given the average age of TJC passengers, one images the cancellation rate is a bit higher as well.) Not that any of this matters to me since I have my cabin and I don't know anyone trying to get onto any of the sailings.

Since Sophie B Hawkins is on the 90s Cruise I'll say the obvious line: Damn, I wish I were on that cruise!

The Norwegian Pearl is now out with Sixthman's Salty Dog Cruise, a long running charter helmed by the Celtic/punk band Flogging Molly. Yesterday it rained so all the pool deck shows got moved to indoor venues. Today they were in Costa Maya and cruisers got this message: "The weather is so much better but I have one very small change for you, we have some shore excursions that have been delayed getting back and it’s no salty left behind here so we’re getting Broilers started at 5:30 on the Pool Deck." The original "all aboard" was 4:30 pm -- I'm not sure what time this band was slated to originally play. It is a reminder that the ships will wait for those who take an official ship excursion, but not those who get delayed while exploring an island on their own. The Mayan ruin tours that leave from Costa Maya tend to be long treks so I imagine the risk is much higher than if you are just taking a short cab ride to a local beach as I typically do at port stops. The Malt Shop Memories Cruise used to have artist-led excursions. I have especially fond memories of going scuba diving with Little Anthony. On the 2018 excursion Felix Cavaliere of the Rascals "led" a trip on a scenic train ride in St. Kitts the afternoon before his first show, which also happened to be the debut of his new backing band, which he planned to rehearse at sound check. It wasn't much of an artist-led excursion because the train had many cars, so most of us weren't anywhere near Felix. And then the scenic train broke down! One could see Felix's manager outside the stuck train frantically making phone calls and chain smoking. Eventually they found some buses and we all got back a few hours after we were supposed to. People who had the early show probably missed the first part. They also gave us some sort of sound check party with free drinks later in the cruise. I've never heard of StarVista having an artist-led excursion ever since. Clearly there were no hard feelings with Felix as he's continued to frequently appear on StarVista events, including the 2024 Flower Power and Malt Shop cruises.

There was a lengthy Reddit thread about the Headbangers Boat incident. While it's always hard to separate Internet myth from fact, it does seem like the passenger had some mental struggles which contributed to the very sad situation. Various friends are off the Malt Shop Cruise, which seems to have been incident free aside from a few minor conflicts over people dancing and blocking the views of those seated at the pool shows. One friend is on The Big Easy Cruise and is having a blast. She says everyone seemed to get into the one show by cruise co-headliner Tedeschi Trucks inside the theater. Perhaps it helped that not only was another band counter programmed on the pool deck, but there were free drinks offered during that competing pool set! I saw some online videos of Irma Thomas, a New Orleans legend who would seemingly be a big draw, and there appeared to a number of empty seats in the theater for her set, so StarVista seems to have made the right decision in not having any kind of assigned theater shows like they do on most of their cruises. If you follow the Sixthman.net/Today update announcements for their ongoing cruises, you might have seen that the Headbanger's Boat had to switch the date it landed in Nassau, probably due to weather. Since the whole band roster was on for the whole boat they just swapped the port day schedule for the sea day schedule. The fix wouldn't be as easy on a StarVista cruise when nearly half the bands get on or off at a port. The Sixthman EDM cruise that just finished had to miss a day at one of the private cruise ship islands because of weather. The DJs (there were no live bands on this cruise) slated to play on the islands just got moved to the pool. There were also repeated requests on that cruise from the head Sixthman cruise director for passengers to stop vaping indoors.

Thanks for checking, HB. I can stop hitting refresh on TJC home page every hour, haha! Looking at my emails last year's TJC announcement came on December 7, so it looks like they're on a similar timeline now. I can spot 16 "headliners" (although the term is a bit fuzzy given the unique format of TJC) on 2024 who were not on the 2023 cruise, so it makes sense that the programming takes a bit longer than the Smooth Jazz Cruise which, if I'm not mistaken, seems to feature more of the same names from year to year with a few extra headliners (often from the world of R&B) rotating in and out.

@JazzCruiser1, you likely are getting lots and lots of emails from Jazz Cruises now. The Weekender on Saturday specifically mentioned that the schedules are not going to be released until about a week before the cruise. So, lots of waiting for those of us who like to plan our days before we get on the ship, but it'll be worth it! I'm also not planning any excursions until I know what the schedule is. Generally the official ship ones don't sell out in advance, and if they do you can almost always arrange something similar (and often better and/or cheaper) on your own. Or you can just walk around the port or find a taxi to a nearby beach etc. Labadee is a private island so you can just get off the ship and enjoy it without planning anything in advance. Typically there is very little live music while we're in port, in part because the artists are either using that time to rehearse or they want to enjoy the ports with their families and bandmates. Last year Samara Joy's band (without Samara) played a piano trio set by the pool, and there were a few mid-morning lectures and films, but nothing beyond that. One odd twist to our itinerary is that we're in St Thomas from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. It's hard to imagine there will be no music programming until 8 p.m. that night, so I would definitely wait until the schedule comes out before planning some five hour activity in that port. I'll probably just be enjoying the fact that my phone will be working for the time we're in the USVI. Since this is your first time I'd suggest joining in the webinar -- or just watching the recording of it on YouTube after it happens. The one piece of advice I wish someone had given me before my first cruise was to carry off my luggage when we disembark instead of putting it outside my cabin the night before. Unless you have mobility issues or are bringing many suitcases it's just a waste of time to wait until your "luggage group" is called and then have to go fish it out of the large stacks of luggage by the customs area.

I've been on several Sixthman music cruises on the Pearl and always dread when an act I want to see gets slated for the Atrium (rather than the theater, Lido deck, Spinnaker or Magnum's which are all used as venues). When a solo acoustic act is on you can't hear them over the chatter. When a five or six piece band is on you usually can't see half the group because the staircase turns many seats into obstructed view spots. They do put chairs around the upper ring which helps. I never realized this area was used for anything other than guest services on non-charter cruises.

Alonzo is always on The Jazz Cruise and he's hilarious. He also tailors each performance for the specific cruise that he's on. I imagine there will be some (gentle) Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald jokes -- although it'd be hard to beat this classic SCTV skit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JLbhEUE_5U Speaking of The Pearl, I noticed that an Afrobeats (contemporary Nigerian music) cruise being put on by Sixthman was quietly cancelled a few weeks back. This was NOT the cruise that ended up yielding Mcdonald/LaBelle -- I was hoping that it might go to "Cannonball" status (where Sixthman offers greatly reduced prices for cruisers already booked on another SM cruise). I actually just saw the act that would have been the headliner at a local pretty recently, and it wasn't very crowded, which might explain why the cruise isn't happening. There are currently no Cannonball offerings.

The Big Easy Cruise will sail again, but in early 2025, as part of four cruises StarVista is doing back to back (Country Music Cruise, Soul Train, and Sandy Beaches being the others) -- the dates were announced on social media a few weeks ago and pre-registration is listed on the StarVista reservation site. But the fact that it is more than a year out likely explains why there isn't yet any lineup to announce. The most interesting thing about the schedule is that there are no "early/late" shows -- even for Tedesci/Trucks, a major band that recently played Madison Square Garden and that is just coming on the ship to do one unplugged show. Unless the sales are so bad that only half the ship was reserved, one images a few people will find it challenging to get into that show.

On both Flower Power and Malt Shop Peter Asher has done matinee theater shows. That's a good slot for him, since they are very much based around his stories as much as his music, even though it isn't quite an evening "headline" show. It's an excellent presentation. WAR seems to always play the pool on other StarVista. So do the Cowsills. I agree that none of the remaining acts are likely to carry their own full-length theater show, but then you have nine mid-tier (in terms of popularity, not quality) original recording artists, many of them from the yacht rock era. That's a lot to have to plug into the lounges and pool along with all of the tribute artists. So perhaps two or three of them will do a package theater show?

You are correct -- at 45 I will be the second youngest paying passenger after you! Haha! Be prepared for a lot of old Jewish ladies kvelling that a young person is interested in jazz and on the cruise. Of course lots of the musicians, especially the side people, will be in their 20s and 30s. As far as advice goes: Two of the three main venues, the Sky Lounge and the Rendezvous, are pretty small (and not all of the seats in the Sky Lounge are that great). If you have a must see artist it's worth arriving a little early. Generally you can always get a perfectly good theater seat even once the show is in progress. The big band shows in the theater (which are fabulous -- all the headlining artists on the ship rotate sitting in with the big band) always draw a good house but it's not like you have to line up an hour in advance to get a seat or anything like that. Sometimes the place will be jammed and sometimes, if there's a big show elsewhere, it won't be (or the crowd will filter out as something else starts up so you can upgrade your seat during the show). Last year on one of the at seas days they had some great artists playing a Spinnaker show at 1, and then another great group playing at 3, and really not much else going on. When the 1pm show ended no one left, and there was a huge group of people trying to get into the show as well, so they moved it down to the theater which was a wise move. I think they're going to do more counter programming this year so that doesn't happen. On the first night you can try checking out a show at each of those venues so you can get the generally vibe and plan accordingly. The Welcome Show is great because a lot of the artists do a song or two so you can get a nice taste of who you want to prioritize. One thing about showing up early is that you can chat with the people next to you so you'll have a familiar face the next time you see them around the ship. If you go to the main dining room without an assigned table you'll get randomly placed with seven or so other people. Some may find this a great way to make new friends, and some might prefer to just hit the buffet instead. I'll try to think of some more advice.

Hey JC1, I'll also be on The Jazz Cruise! I did it for the first time last year (having done Blue Note at Sea pre-Covid) and loved it, and I think the lineup this year is even better. Last year the schedule didn't come out until December, so I suspect it'll be a while before we get the times. Last year there were minor tweaks here and there but no really major changes to the initial schedule. Still, you'll want to double check the daily printed schedule left in your cabin.

Take note that Rocky's cruises as well as Concerts At Sea are both oldies partial charters where just a slice of the passengers are participating in the oldies activities. I am pretty sure that both of them have sock hop events nightly.

HB, if you want an inside single there seem to be only five left (there are usually very few to begin with). If you want another kind of room you can probably take your sweet time. It'll be interesting to see whether other StarVista cruises migrate over from Celebrity to the Pearl.

George, As someone who has done a number of music cruises I can tell you that this is a hotly debated topic. Look at StarVista: Their 50s/early 60s Malt Shop Cruise has reserved seatings. Their mid to late 60s Flower Power Cruise, with many of the same acts, does not. Every year the Flower Power attendees get asked in the post-cruise survey if they want reserved seating and the mere possibility leads to an annual outcry on the Flower Power FB group. Their argument is that Woodstock didn't have reserved seats and neither should a floating rock music festival. Or if they want to sit with friends they can't just all show up together at the theater. Then there's Cayamo (singer/songwriter Sixthman cruise) which has an incredibly complicated program where based on your alumni status you get a certain number of reserved seats for specific shows that you request. About a third of the theater (the center aisle about half way back) is reserved for each show with the rest being GA. The nice thing about this system is that the fans of each specific act are up front when they perform, and if you don't get a reserved seat you can still show up early and get a great seat up close on the sides. As far as I know none of Sixthman's many other music charters do anything similar, perhaps in part because the main headliners are playing the pool deck, not the theater. As someone who often enjoys the small venue performances I do like the reserved seat option because I can see someone else and then waltz in 5 minutes before showtime and have a great seat. One of the negatives is that while even the high balcony seats at these ship theaters are pretty good seats, there is the odd obstructed view seat behind a pole, or on Holland America ships there's a row that is totally obstructed because you're in a pit directly behind the rows of folding chairs set up on what is usually the dance floor. Imagine getting stuck with that seat for the entire cruise! Reserved seats are usually a carrot used by the charter company, but as you pointed out priority tends to be given to those who have sailed multiple times or reserved their cabins early, not to people who splurged for the most expensive cabin. For The Jazz Cruise there are only two or at most three "early/late" shows for the entire cruise. The rest is all GA, and since there's so much small venue action the theater never exceeds capacity even when the entire ship can attend a show.

What an incredible seat HB! I'm looking forward to the reports from your 2024 sailings. StarVista also announced that the Big Easy Cruise is moving to January in 2025. It seems like they're taking over the Holland America ship for quite a few weeks as they'll also have the Country Music Cruise (dates already announced) and likely the Soul Train Cruise (which has sailed on HAL for years and sold out its 2024 edition almost instantly).

Nice to see this thread going and also nice to see HB's wonderful reports are still happening. I'll definitely be following their 2024 cruise report thread. Yesterday everyone on the Jazz Cruises list got the McDonald/LaBelle cruise update. One interesting thing about the itinerary is that the tentative schedule makes it look like Patti is going to come on the ship in Nassau, do her two shows, and get off without sailing. Anyone who has been on a StarVista cruise knows that often a headliner does this at the midway point. It does seem like Michael McDonald will be on the ship the entire time.