Does Celebrity Take Entertainment Seriously?

Veering somewhat off topic but since it was mentioned, I suggest next time you go to Vegas spend your money on LOVE at the Mirage (unless you hate Beatles music). Head and shoulders above the usual Cirque shows and awesome music, especially for us of Boomer age. I agree the acrobats onboard are getting old (and if I see another "scarf dangler" I think I may take that scarf away and strangle myself;p). I wish they would find some other types of entertainment to fill in the blanks on their production shows.

LOVE is wonderful!!!! We saw it 5 years ago and I would go again happily!!!

I agree. I am a vocal teacher of 30 years standing in the UK .I have pupils in major Westend Shows, as principle singers on cruise lines world wide etc and i can assure you the standard that is required for all singer/ dancers on the cruise lines is very high . Thousands audition , all of high standards, for their chance to be considered. There are many audition stages to pass before a contract is offered . The fees are about the same whoever they work for

 

 

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Where do cast, and support staff sleep on board? Do they stay in unfilled PAX cabins, or cabins in crew quarters? Do they share cabins?

King

Very much disagree. Two of our daughters attended colleges with big theater programs (not drama majors themselves). College productions much better than anything we've seen on X. Evening tv is filled with talent shows featuring wonderful singers and dancers trying to be discovered. The talent is out there. Maybe X just isn't willing to pay for it.

I am referring to those that are applying for the jobs.

I agree with you about the talent is there. On our very first cruise that was on Carnival in 2000 they put out a sheet listing all of the performers, with a picture of each and their experience. They all had post graduate degrees in dance and experience in many prestigious venues. All were highly trained and the shows reflected and utilized their talent as I acknowledge in my original post.

Besides as you point out that they aren’t willing to pay for it many aren’t willing to commit to a contract on board a ship. Not everyone is willing to do it. I am sure that working on a ship is totally different than cruising on one.

I seen in a recent advertisement for performers that the cruise lines were paying $2500 to $3000 per month. I am sure if you google it you can find the link. Not a ton of money considering you aren’t working 12 months a year.

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

I just cruised Alaska on the Millennium and I thought the entertainment was fantastic. There were 3 production shows - Boogie Nights, a Broadway tribute and a show called Ellysium (that one was a bit strange, but good due to the talent of the singers and dancers), a Whitney Houston retrospective by an incredibly talented young woman named Ashlie Amber-Harris, a bilingual comedian named Andrew Kennedy, a great show by a young man named Sean O'Shea (Canadian)...I only missed one out of the 7 nights because we were in port that evening, and he was also a comedian. I live in NY and go to Broadway shows quite often, and I thought the singers and dancers really busted it out for the production shows. They were all incredibly talented. And judging from the feedback in the theater, everyone else thought so too (Ashlie Amber Harris had a line outside the theater after the show). Even though the vast majority of the passengers were American, there were still people onboard from 42 other countries. I thought the shows covered a lot of familiar material that would appeal to the widest audience possible. And I would be remiss in not mentioning the Celebrity orchestra. They were fantastic. I really enjoyed it all. Every bit of it!

We're from a small town and don't have a lot of entertainment locally. So, we are easily entertained and enjoy good singers, dancers, musicians, and entertainers of all kinds. OK, so I don't like jugglers, but mostly we are a good audience. In our early days of cruising, we loved all of the shows, especially the production shows, and we felt that many of the cast had real talent.

In the last five years we have sailed on Celebrity, HAL, and Princess. The production shows on all of these lines were blah to dismal. Dancers out of step. Singers who couldn't hit the high notes or sang off key. I felt the choice of songs was poor, and to make it worse, what they lacked in quality, they made up in volume. Loud. Very loud. The musical skits seemed forced and frantic. We actually walked out of a couple of shows, which I have never done before. On our last cruise there were three production shows. We went to the first one and didn't bother with the other two.

That said, we have enjoyed some of the guest entertainers and some parts of the production shows. But it's definitely different.

That is interesting since we have also cruised quite a bit on RCCL. The production shows seem to be a bit more professional on RCCL. But I am of the impression from speaking to a couple of cruise directors that the guest talent comes from an agency/union and it is used for multiple cruise lines in season in places like the Caribbean and Alaska where there are a lot of ships. RCCL and Celebrity pick and choose from the same sources as do other lines. For northern Europe like your cruise maybe the local talent is not represented by the same agencies or unions.

I never said it was the "quality" of the entertainers...It was the lack of things of interest to do onboard...especially the sea days. BORING !!!! Thank goodness we brought our Scrabble game....although they did have plenty of board games onboard ...hmmmm...maybe why they did.

Where do cast, and support staff sleep on board? Do they stay in unfilled PAX cabins, or cabins in crew quarters? Do they share cabins?

King

Permanent staff i.e. singers/dancers are in the crew quarters down below. Guest entertainers e.g. those on for 3-5 nights or shorter cruises are usually in regular passenger cabins.

Agree with you X has the worst entertainment.

The comedy shows suck big time. Same old jokes....Cruiser stereotypes, insulting old cruisers, fat people eatng at the buffet. You hear them once, you don’t need to hear them again. It’s usually the same old, same old. I usually skip the comedy shows anyway. After 30 cruises on Celebrity it is my opinion Celebrity entertainment in general has gone downhill. (n)(n)

Happy cruising. :)

King

That's too bad. Carnival's comedy club (and Guy's Burgers) is about the only thing I'm going to miss moving to more upscale cruise lines. It is even not as funny as it used to be so no biggie.

That's too bad. Carnival's comedy club (and Guy's Burgers) is about the only thing I'm going to miss moving to more upscale cruise lines. It is even not as funny as it used to be so no biggie.

Can’t comment on upscale cruise lines as I haven’t cruised on any as of yet, but X’s activities and production shows went on a downward spiral after the Activity Staff were cut to the bare minimum a few years ago and then they decided to produce the production shows themselves. Nothing wrong with the performers, but the storylines are non existent - it’s a though X chose some popular songs and just tried to put them together :rolleyes:.

Can’t comment on upscale cruise lines as I haven’t cruised on any as of yet, but X’s activities and production shows went on a downward spiral after the Activity Staff were cut to the bare minimum a few years ago and then they decided to produce the production shows themselves. Nothing wrong with the performers, but the storylines are non existent - it’s a though X chose some popular songs and just tried to put them together :rolleyes:.

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Agreed, we've seen all the old production shows multiple times and would be happy to do so again, however all the new ones like Topper and so on have been seen once only and never again thanks. Not just shows that have gone down hill though, where are all the interesting guest speakers for sea days, or has the Enrichment Programme been allowed to die?

 

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On our last reflection cruise on X we saw a comedian in the theater one night who made me laugh so much tears were rolling! The CD announced that he would perform two more shows on 2 other nights in the smaller Celebrity Central. We went to the first of those shows 45 minutes before and found that uncharacteristically there were many already there. By 1/2 hour before it was completely packed to standing room! For the second of the two shows, the CD moved him back to the main theater so everyone could enjoy the show.

Where do cast, and support staff sleep on board? Do they stay in unfilled PAX cabins, or cabins in crew quarters? Do they share cabins?

 

King

Depends on cruise line

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Sorry I forgot the name in my earlier post about a hilarious comedian. His name is Rondell Sheridan. If he performs on your cruise, it's a don't miss.

Sorry I forgot the name in my earlier post about a hilarious comedian. His name is Rondell Sheridan. If he performs on your cruise, it's a don't miss.

Agree. He is funny. Especially his scuba diving routine. :D

Where do cast, and support staff sleep on board? Do they stay in unfilled PAX cabins, or cabins in crew quarters? Do they share cabins?

King

The singers and dancers share cabins in the crew area (not always with a port hole either). Guest acts moving from ship to ship over a period of weeks get a PAX cabin if one is spare.

I remember seeing Perry Grant's room in the crew area. You could tell it was his from way down the corrider!

The singers and dancers share cabins in the crew area (not always with a port hole either). Guest acts moving from ship to ship over a period of weeks get a PAX cabin if one is spare.

 

I remember seeing Perry Grant's room in the crew area. You could tell it was his from way down the corrider!

Thanks.

Is Perry Grant still performing?

Thanks.

Is Perry Grant still performing?

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Hmmm...we could have some really great entertainers in the theater for an hour and stop serving drinks during the show OR we could let passengers find their own entertainment at the bars, casino and shops and make MONEY during that same 60 minutes. What to do, what to do??

After 24 years with RCI and the last 2 with Celebrity, clearly RCI has the better overall entertainment. But to be fair, we don't cruise for the theater entertainment and in recent years have only gone to a few shows with either line.

 

But I will say that while overall RCI leads in this category, IMO Hairspray on RCI was the absolute worst show we have ever seen anywhere. The leads screamed their songs so loud it was distorted. We went the fist time and left halfway through. On a subsequent cruise we thought maybe it was a bad night the first time so we went again and didn't last that time for 10 minutes. But, very sorry, I digress......;)

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 agree Hairspray on Symphony the worst show we have ever sat through

 

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Saw it, hated it, but not as bad as Saturday Night Fever on Liberty. They cut out most of the Tony Manero dance moves, which is pretty much what it's all about, and "Tony" just didn't have the moves for disco.

Sorry I forgot the name in my earlier post about a hilarious comedian. His name is Rondell Sheridan. If he performs on your cruise, it's a don't miss.

I saw him on Carnival going down to Mexico. Really funny.

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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Navigator mdr was fine on our cruise 8 months ago worse mdr we ever had was solstice about 8 years ago , ice show on navigator and all large rccl ships are amazing .

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

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.