Does Celebrity Take Entertainment Seriously?

We agree Hairspray on Symphony the worst show we have ever sat through the food was okay though, unlike on Navigator food was awful in dining room.m

 

 

 

 

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We saw Hairspray several years ago on the Oasis. It was o.k. though wouldn't make our top ten of worst ever. We saw Chicago on the Allure and liked it. We've seen Mama Mia four times, performed by two different casts, and loved it. We have a B2B scheduled on the Allure in October and plan on seeing it two more times. It's the music of our generation.

I have cruised 6 different lines. I have 2 MSC cruises, 1 NCL and 1 Celebrity in the past 30 months. MSC was hands down and far and away the best entertainment in my opinion. Put the other two to shame. I have no dog in the fight just my opinion. NCL and Celebrity did other things better but this thread is discussing entertainment.

What was so great about the entertainment on MSC?

King

We just traveled on the Eclipse's 10 night itinerary to Ireland/Iceland. The entertainment was very mixed. The stage shows weren't very good but they did a show in the lobby one night that was a lot of fun. The singers/dancers are a mixed lot. A few are great and a few are good. Most are average. The problem is, IMO, the songs aren't selected to highlight their vocal range. Too many high notes they will never reach, etc.

Guest artists for the most part were very good. They had a UK former broadway singer who was in Les Mis who was excellent. They had a male singer who did some James Taylor in Celebrity Central who was also excellent.

The house band was horrible for the first 8 nights. Same play list over and over, uninspired and hard to dance to. The last night they did karaoke and two of the passengers were semi pro singers who knocked it out of the park. I think the band's lead singer got inspired (or embarrassed) after their performances because that night she was awesome. The music ending at 1130PM was also too early. There was literally nothing to do other then sit at the bar after that.

The DJ was terrible. He had a small playlist not geared to the crowd who was mostly 50-70 years old. I think he could have mixed in a few 70's 80 and 90's in the mix and people wouldn't have left in droves. I saw a few people ask for requests and they weren't even played.

Maybe it is because so many have drink packages and that Celebrity doesn't want to encourage people to stay late in the bars since most of the drinks are already included. We spent many nighst going from one venue to the next with poor attendance. The Sky lounge was the most attended but as I said the music didn't keep the people there for long.

We'd like to see Celebrity do a QUEST like RC. Fun for all.

We prefer the Newlywed/Anniv type shows...much more tasteful, entertaining and funny

We saw Hairspray several years ago on the Oasis. It was o.k. though wouldn't make our top ten of worst ever. We saw Chicago on the Allure and liked it. We've seen Mama Mia four times, performed by two different casts, and loved it. We have a B2B scheduled on the Allure in October and plan on seeing it two more times. It's the music of our generation.

OMG !!! A pupil of mine has just joined the new cast of Mama Mia so u will see her ! Her name is Sarah Baylis. She is stunning both in looks and in voice

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Maybe it was our fault for sailing on the Equinox two years in a row, but the shows were the same as they were one year apart.

I know that the cost of developing, choreographing, costuming, etc. a show are high, but keeping the same shows for over a years is a tad much.

We enjoy ‘some’ of the shows, but I will admit that we’ve seen a decline in quality over the years. We don’t sail for the shows, but do feel that they enhance ouronboard experience. On our last sailing, we didn’t go to a single one as they were the same as the last one.

So, IMHO, yes, they take is seriously, but milk it to the bitte end! Sad for us that frequent X.

Maybe it was our fault for sailing on the Equinox two years in a row, but the shows were the same as they were one year apart.

 

I know that the cost of developing, choreographing, costuming, etc. a show are high, but keeping the same shows for over a years is a tad much.

 

 

We enjoy ‘some’ of the shows, but I will admit that we’ve seen a decline in quality over the years. We don’t sail for the shows, but do feel that they enhance ouronboard experience. On our last sailing, we didn’t go to a single one as they were the same as the last one.

 

 

So, IMHO, yes, they take is seriously, but milk it to the bitte end! Sad for us that frequent X.

Especially since it would be so simple to rotate the various productions between ships in the fleet. Logistics of moving the stage show couldn't be more complicated than restocking a ship for 4-5,000 guests.

Especially since it would be so simple to rotate the various productions between ships in the fleet. Logistics of moving the stage show couldn't be more complicated than restocking a ship for 4-5,000 guests.

There's more to it than just having cast carry their costumes across pier from Eclipse to Equinox. Sets need to be dismantled and relocated. There's also a lot of lighting and sound tech involved nowadays that has to be synchronized.

What was so great about the entertainment on MSC?

King

Firstly the talent. Nothing but top notch voices and ability in whatever the specialty was. I may be biased also because they did my kind of shows. While the shows varied they performed high energy very main stream musical numbers or popular group material. Also the shows are shorter which makes it better if the show is not exactly your cup of tea. These shows can still be enjoyed.

There is nothing worse than sitting through a 1 hour show that you are not enjoying and you are hoping it gets better. The bad thing about the shorter shows are if you are loving it the end comes too soon.

Not a show person but I do enjoy the live music performers in the lounges. On my Summit sailing 6/27 - 7/8 they were, in order of favorite to least favorite:

• Linda Capewell - singer/guitarist - loved her
  
• Shine - band - loved them. very talented
  
• DJ Annet - Great DJ
  
• Dancing Town - band - they were good but they were too similar to Shine, while not as talented.
  
• Hanna & George - singing duo + one plays keyboard. Not bad but not memorable either.
  
• Emotions Duo - string duo - they weren't bad but I didn't like their use of a backing track. The string duo from my previous Celebrity cruise didn't use one and I enjoyed that more.
  
• Peter Rossetti - singer/pianist - Found him somewhat cheesy
  

We have been loyal to Celebrity, but recently came off a 7 day Star Wars at Sea cruise on the Disney Fantasy.

Disney prices are always higher than Celebrity, but the people onboard their Caribbean cruises are very similar to a Celebrity mix of people.

With Celebrity looking to bring in the higher end suite market, and making their ships at least "look" like a fancy hotel, I would hope that Celebrity would consider trying to improve their entertainment somewhere close to what Disney offers.

Of course, no one else is Disney. But, they have top run movies around the clock in their theater. Celebrity does not do this. I found the movie watching on DCL to be some of my favorite use of time on the ship.

They have movies playing (family friendly, of course) at their pool, day and night. This would be a big plus for Celebrity, where everything is pretty "dead" at the pool, especially at night.

The Disney production shows are typical Disney shows, and they also stretch the abilities of their singers, and the shows do get repetitive if you go on the same ship more than once. But, the quality is leaps and bounds ahead of Celebrity.

So, in conclusion, I think Celebrity needs to look at what other brands offer when people are willing to spend more money on a cruise. I think that playing top quality movies is a relatively inexpensive way for a cruise to keep many people entertained.

A bit off topic... but, first time cruiser here- leaving next week on Millennium to Alaska. When do we get the schedule of shows available? I am having a hard time planning dinners and such without knowing what entertainment is offered and when.

Thanks all!

A bit off topic... but, first time cruiser here- leaving next week on Millennium to Alaska. When do we get the schedule of shows available? I am having a hard time planning dinners and such without knowing what entertainment is offered and when.

 

Thanks all!

It'll be announced daily in the Celebrity Today. Each night at the show the CD will announce the next night's shows. Shows are at 7 and 9 to accommodate early and late diners.

I was on an Alaskan cruise on Millie last month; it was my 4th Celebrity cruise since 2015 and had fantastic entertainment; possibly the best I've seen on Celebrity. Duo Nico, an aerialist team, was the highlight with their amazing performance. We also had two nationally known comedians perform, and vocalist Ashlie Amber performing her "I Will Always Love You" show. Four fantastic shows, filled in with Celebrity's own shows. Maybe things are a'changing! High quality entertainment for sure.

I have seen Ashlie Amber in her "I will Always Love You" show and she is terrific. One of the best shows I've seen on Celebrity.

A few years ago Ashlie Amber was one of the 4 cast singers on each ship. Nice to see a real success story!

We have also had the privilege of having been entertained by Jane Curry several times, who we consider the most talented entertainer we have seen on any of our cruises. On the other hand the Celebrity produced production shows are really sad...feel sorry for the entertainers being cast into these shows.

Got off Reflection yesterday and having had a five year break from Celebrity I thought the on board entertainment was a amazing.

The Euphoria show incredible and deserving of a standing ovation.

Got off Reflection yesterday and having had a five year break from Celebrity I thought the on board entertainment was a amazing.

 

The Euphoria show incredible and deserving of a standing ovation.

You also have a vested interest, if I am not mistaken ;). Not knocking you as I would do the same if my kids were part of ‘the X team’.

You also have a vested interest, if I am not mistaken ;). Not knocking you as I would do the same if my kids were part of ‘the X team’.

True:) but DD wasn't on board this time.

I really wanted to find fault with her replacement activity manager, but Nacho was flippin' good.

The other thing I noticed was that with a wide age range on our cruise (and over 600 kids) the on board events were really well attended. The silent disco is just brilliant.

The production shows on our recent Silhouette cruise were poor and worse than the previous year on Eclipse which still wasn't very good. They were almost childish shoeing in of songs sung badly. Some of the guest artists were good but we effectively stopped going to the theatre! Unfortunately at least one of the foyay singers were so bad that the waiters in the martini bar used to hide when she was on.

There must be 100s of Broadway/West End musicals that can be adapted and shared around the ships without having to invent poorly performed drivel!

The production shows on our recent Silhouette cruise were poor and worse than the previous year on Eclipse which still wasn't very good. They were almost childish shoeing in of songs sung badly. Some of the guest artists were good but we effectively stopped going to the theatre! Unfortunately at least one of the foyay singers were so bad that the waiters in the martini bar used to hide when she was on.

 

There must be 100s of Broadway/West End musicals that can be adapted and shared around the ships without having to invent poorly performed drivel!

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Thanks Harz all about the $ of course though my increased bar bill on a package not being in the shows might counter slighter lol

Got off Reflection yesterday and having had a five year break from Celebrity I thought the on board entertainment was a amazing.

 

The Euphoria show incredible and deserving of a standing ovation.

I must say, for me, the Euphoria show was the weakest of those I attended.

And quite why people were feverishly applauding people waving an inflatable dragon-creature about is beyond me. I expect it was just filler for costume changes, yet apparently blew people's mind.

Elysium and Broken Strings we much better. Probably because of the variety of vocalists, whereas Euphoria doesn't offer that. And to be honest there is very little variety to be had with acrobatics.

The magician was decent, but the part with his wife was totally unrelated and not required for the show.

The comedian was OK, but too geared toward the American audience, but I can forgive this given the amount of Americans on board, it would just be nice if they avoided jokes only certain members of the audience can understand.

I found the Silent Disco to be a bit tiresome on it's second outing - it played many of the same songs played in the first outing. Likewise the DJ kept playing the same 5 songs all cruise.

To answer the original question - I have to say I find entertainment to be the weakest part of Celebrity's offering. Service is excellent. Food is excellent. The entertainment is weak, but I don't have much to compare it with.

Glad to realize that not all

People can agree on food or entertainment. Glad we pick cruises for ports and not entertainment or restaurants.

Just been on that very same cruise.

 

I must say, for me, the Euphoria show was the weakest of those I attended.

 

And quite why people were feverishly applauding people waving an inflatable dragon-creature about is beyond me. I expect it was just filler for costume changes, yet apparently blew people's mind.

 

Elysium and Broken Strings we much better. Probably because of the variety of vocalists, whereas Euphoria doesn't offer that. And to be honest there is very little variety to be had with acrobatics.

 

The magician was decent, but the part with his wife was totally unrelated and not required for the show.

 

The comedian was OK, but too geared toward the American audience, but I can forgive this given the amount of Americans on board, it would just be nice if they avoided jokes only certain members of the audience can understand.

 

I found the Silent Disco to be a bit tiresome on it's second outing - it played many of the same songs played in the first outing. Likewise the DJ kept playing the same 5 songs all cruise.

 

To answer the original question - I have to say I find entertainment to be the weakest part of Celebrity's offering. Service is excellent. Food is excellent. The entertainment is weak, but I don't have much to compare it with.

Euphoria was the only show we saw so can't comment on the other shows and acts in the theatre. We don't usually do theatre stuff hence our pleasant surprise.

I also agree some disco songs were repeated too many times particularly "Sweet Caroline". When you've heard it being sung in a ski resort like we did in St Anton this year every day I just wasn't ready for it again!

What got my back up were the number of people hogging headsets and staying seated. Why so many people steal them too to take home is beyond me!