OnTheJourney

That was us....along with 400+ others. Glad to hear your friends did not give up on cruising. We got back out on the water the following October. Did your friends go on the Invitational cruise this past May?

Absolutely!!! Wishing both of you the best on this most unusual "anniversary" 😁

Huh...doesn't seem to matter. Our Verizon internet is often so crappy though as to frequent interruptions, stalls, etc. during vidoes or streaming, etc. so that's probably why. I'm probably not waiting long enough.

Speaking of not being a "scaredy cat"....this event was surely not for the squeamish. Glad to (still) be here typing this...

Cheers to all of our "Viking Sky Survivors" family.....🥂

Yep...I'm right there too.

Which proves that they DO read those surveys and other input. Hopefully they'll take my advice to not crowd a whole excursion group into the same cable car at Masada National Park. Anyone even mildly claustrophobic would have truly freaked.

uh-huh...and probably those were the most out of tune on the entire piano 😆 Gotta find a way to make it work as best as possible. The worst are the piano keys (and there often are a few on in-bad-shape instruments that are near totally malfunctional where the hammer barely even strikes the strings anymore often resulting in some sort of resounding THUNK! Ok...have to stay away from those!!! Or, well, could use it as a percussive technique I suppose... "la da da daaaa THUNK....la la laaaa. THUNK". Worse piano incident I've ever heard of was what happened on the Sky during the 3/23/19 incident. I didn't see it happen, but at some point during the ravages of the storm the piano in the Explorer's lounge actually detached itself from the floor and likely suffered significant damage. At least didn't wind up going crashing through the windows. NOW, I noticed, the piano legs are all encased in some sort of rigid enclosure that is likely securely attached to the floor in the event of another bomb cyclone. Imagine being ashore during that sort of event and seeing some freakin' piano come crashing through the forward windows of the ship's lounge and right in the drink!!! 😳 The lovely ship models in those glass cases in the upper level of the lounge didn't fare well either. They all crashed to the floor. Must have been literally millions of tiny glass splinters to clean up. As I've posted on CC before, the final musical selection heard that near fateful Saturday afternoon was the guitarist doing "My Heart Will Go On"! Enough said I suppose....

LOL sort of like the difference between waiting at noisy airport gates compared to business class lounges....

One of my favorite genres going back to the early Windham Hill days in the early 80s. My own compositions are recordings are very much influenced by that style and have been produced and labeled as such. Guitarist Will Ackerman, in particular, has had a profound effect on my playing and compositional style. On the piano end of things, I love the stuff by Stanton Lanier and, of course, George Winston - who relies heavily on overdubs. I was in the jazz band in college, but never really did much with jazz after that. Loved playing it at the time, but hardly listened to much after that. Some folks, however, (and rightly so depending on the specific musical pieces) feel that new age music tends to have a repetitious nature to it - often characterized by repeated chordal patterns, over and over, with varying melodic or other sorts of improvisations stacked over the top. That doesn't bother me if it's all done well, which was a hallmark of Windham Hill productions. And so, however, the use of significant improvisation within the new age realm IS why it's often classified as falling under the jazz category. Kind of like trying to pin down a blob of mercury. Can't really codify some music under one specific category.

Yeah, I think that would probably be well received. What I hear Viking playing, though, is a bit more low-key and mellow than something like Kenny G, etc., which I feel demands a bit more from the listener (sure would for me anyway rather than it simply being 'background' music). Problem for me...and likely many other musicians...is that I don't simply 'hear' music, I wind up listening to it and thus a bit of distraction (not meant in any negative or demeaning sense however) compared perhaps to others who are able to hear music playing and yet not really focus on it. Going one step further, my near-perfect-pitch (not quite as accurate as in my undergrad music major days) winds up signaling a part of my brain to analyze what chords / melodies I'm hearing. I've heard it said that high level of pitch consciousness can be both a blessing and a curse. I can vouch for both. As I said, some people can be in the presence of any sort of music - probably even at a higher volume level - and yet be able to concentrate on a conversation, etc. and not feel it intrusive, same as if there was no music playing! Absolutely! Two of the things that I truly love about Viking. Never heard any music playing in there other than during tea. the only way this is achievable is if the player quickly determines which keys are less out of tune then others, e.g. let's say many, or at least some, of the black keys are way off compared to the white, and so then one would tend to stick to songs in the key of C, F G - the latter two of which only utilize either one sharp or one flat, not accounting though for whatever chromaticisms occur in the melody or harmonies. Now, this also likely requires an ability to transpose on the fly without having it written out in the new key signature. Or, possibly higher or lower portions of the keyboard are better than others and thus could focus on whichever ones are the least "out of tune". A musician who has higher improvisational skills will be far more successful with all the aforementioned techniques rather than someone who does not possess much skill beyond playing right from the music and not being able to go much beyond that. Sometimes if the melody requires the use of a whole bunch of C#s, for instance, and yet a whole bunch of C#s are out of tune, then you gotta find a way to alter the melody a bit so as to avoid using that pitch. A unique problem the piano has compared to, say, a wind instrument or guitar, is having 3 strings (I think?) for most pitches and so if just one of them is out, it can range from barely noticeable (again, depending on one's pitch awareness) all the way to grossly offensive. Wind players, of course, can physically "tune" any note by adjusting the air flow or, in the case of an open hole flute, manually control the pitch to some extent. I would NOT want to be a piano tuner. It'd drive me crazy. I've listened to them being tuned (not by choice) during my public school music teaching and can't stand it. It's a painstaking process to say the least. I played a wedding for my nephew a good many years ago - was planning on doing it all on organ - but when the day came the church lost power due to a snow storm and thus had to do everything on piano (despite hours of practice on the church's organ...the life of a musician). As I went along, I quickly ascertained which songs to do in which manner so as to avoid as many of the out-of-tune keys (meaning not just piano but also musical keys) as possible. I was sort of cringing the entire time, but the family was happy with it so....it was what it was.

I did not post the quote that you're referring to. KB'smum posted that (#51 on the previous page). Somehow you must have quoted one of my replies that included that quote? Not sure. Weird how stuff like that happens sometimes. As you say, however, unless the piano is out of tune, suggesting that the piano playing was "flat" doesn't make much sense from a pitch perspective, but I seem to recall, from the discussion, that the reference was to the music not being very spirited.

Can't get any of the videos to play. Never have been here on CC. The little spinny icon just spins and spins...but video never starts. Guess the threads are all gone....😆

Thanks for ideas. We booked a private tour with a local, small family-run outfit that sounds really good.

Hmmmm....yes and no. Generally speaking, I think it's fair to say that many people like what they're familiar with, be it art / music pieces or events / situations / routines that fall within their comfort zone.

Never been in there other than the last cruise when there was supposed to be a non-denominational Sunday morning religious service. The schedule got messed up on that one. For that matter, have hardly spent much time in any cruise ship lounge other than during some sort of special event. Being a musician, probably seems weird to not spending some time doing that in the evenings and listening to music, but just not all that interested. I hardly ever listen to my own recordings for that matter. I've talked with or read about other musicians who feel the same way, which is probably a somewhat interesting topic in and of itself.

I consider what Viking plays in the background in the public / dining areas to be more mellow new age than pop. Very nice stuff, I think. Jazz is an acquired taste and probably more of a niche audience, if you will (albeit a large one for sure), than for pop/rock.

No offense taken whatsoever!! So very sorry if it came across that way.

LOL So you were...what...8 or 9 years old in '74 based on your mention of being 'single digits'? Some people might refer to the music of Bach or Mozart as being 'absurdly' old. All relative.

Well, that was '74. I was already in college. I'm in my upper 60s but feel like I grew up musically during the late 60s and early 70s. Probably the time that had the most impact, for me, is early teens or even before when I started guitar lessons since the music of the time so influenced what people wanted to learn to play...guitar and drums!! That went right through me since I, and so many, probably feel they're among the best, if not THE best, bands of all times as to musical creativity and being able to crank out amazing pop tunes that'll likely play 200 years from now. But..hey...each to his/her own! My daughter's age group (30ish) grew up hearing the music of their parents' generation and so often got into it equally as much. No generalizations implied though. I still think the 60s and 70s was the most amazing time period in terms of the quality and creativity of the music compared to anything that came since. So many amazing bands and solo artists.

We don't do much then. Usually after (early) dinner we head back to the room, prepare everything for whatever comes the following day (especially if a long excursion), take showers, probably catch up on missed lectures or port talks, and typically in bed by 10:30-11:00. Never been into going to any lounges in the evenings - did a few times on various cruises. We go to the shows though unless it's something we have little interest in.

As i said, can't be Sofia. She's too well polished for anyone to accuse her of being even at a mediocre level, since she's so far above that. Are you sure it wasn't some passenger who slipped in there unbidden and decided to share some degree of talent! Basically same here....

May have been the same guy we heard on the Sky in '19. Knew his way around the neck for sure and did both vocals and instrumentals.

good point!

Any idea what his name is? I love hearing good instrumental on guitar. The guy that played on two of our sailings was really good. If it's just a strum and sing approach, I tend to lose interest although admire and envy people who have the range to easily sing pop stuff. Not in my cards, having been a Bass II my whole academic and collegiate singing career!