Victory to Canada- Dance genre and venues

We were looking for a summary of the dance styles / genres for the various bars / venues on the Victory sailing to Canada. Also looking for feedback on the smoke level of the various bars (less is better, none is great). We've heard that one bar was mostly hip-hop, another karaoke, but none of the recent reviews we have read have gone into this aspect of the cruise.

Any info would be appreciated!

I just got off the ship yesterday and the only dancing we witnessed was hip-hop and a 70's disco party. If you are looking for ballroom dancing I don't think you will find it on this voyage. We are not smokers and I did not find it "smokey" anywhere. Probably the most smoke was it the casino but it was not over the top with smoke.

We got SOME ballroom dancing on the Victory, but only on the main stage. The rest was hoping for a rumba or jitterbug step, or an occasional mambo--even a tango once in a while.

I have not heard any description of the Ionian bar which according to the deck plan has a dance floor and very little of the Black and Red Seas. Anybody go to either of these bars?

No Pirates - did you do ballroom during the captain's reception?

I have not heard any description of the Ionian bar which according to the deck plan has a dance floor and very little of the Black and Red Seas. Anybody go to either of these bars?

You'll be back before I sail August 11, so I can only speak to my experience last year - but the Ionian Lounge is one of my favorite lounges on Victory. Very comfortable seating, and last year there was a really good jazz trio playing at night. A word of caution, however: it's the cigar lounge, so if you're bothered by smoke you'll probably want to avoid it. Afternoon tea was held there on sea days; it's non-smoking during tea.

You'll be back before I sail August 11, so I can only speak to my experience last year - but the Ionian Lounge is one of my favorite lounges on Victory. Very comfortable seating, and last year there was a really good jazz trio playing at night. A word of caution, however: it's the cigar lounge, so if you're bothered by smoke you'll probably want to avoid it. Afternoon tea was held there on sea days; it's non-smoking during tea.

I can't remember where I saw it online (someone elses Capers on Webshots ??), but I think the Jazz Trio still uses the Ionian 2 nights out of 5.

Also, to the OP, I beleieve that the 2 Teen age groups have main Disco (Club Arctic) for parts of the early evening until they eventually move up to the Deck/Stage near Triton's pool.

Here's a great view of the Bars with Stages or Pianos:

http://travel.travelocity.com/ecruise/ShipDetailsDeck.do?shipId=81&deckId=492

But you might actually search the Web for scanned images of people's Capers. That would tell you more than the maps in my opinion.

I have not heard any description of the Ionian bar which according to the deck plan has a dance floor and very little of the Black and Red Seas. Anybody go to either of these bars?

 

No Pirates - did you do ballroom during the captain's reception?

Yes he did (with me) sort of. We hit the last minute of the last dance. The dance floor could hold two couples comfortably. It was a joke. They never used the Ionian for dancing, despite a nice, large dance floor. poor plannning by the cruise director who was too busy woohooing to figure out that dancing shouldn't be done in a hallway attached to the casino bar, just from the point of view of safety of all involved.

I have not heard any description of the Ionian bar which according to the deck plan has a dance floor and very little of the Black and Red Seas. Anybody go to either of these bars?

 

No Pirates - did you do ballroom during the captain's reception?

the best ballroom dancing, btw, was the first night of the cruise. lesson at 8;30 and show band played at 9 pm for about 40 minutes. we were up on the stage of the main theater. the next day, there was a disco dance lesson that turned out to be some sort of funky line dance. NPP hated it. I did it just to get my blood moving, but it was ridiculous. There were no other true ballroom dance activities scheduled for the rest of the 5 day cruise.

Thanks for the feedback. We leave tomorrow and will post what dancing we find. It will be a great disappointment if there is little dancing on the ship.

Thanks for the feedback. We leave tomorrow and will post what dancing we find. It will be a great disappointment if there is little dancing on the ship.

Good Luck!

Honestly, I have to say that I've never (ever) seen any Carnival literature, Web site, or promotion of any kind that actually promotes dancing. I find myself wondering why you thought there would automatically think there would be?

Maybe it's a generational thing. I'd actually be more upset if they had dancing of any kind (ballroom, jitterbug, or the ultra-lame "Shag" crap they do in Myrtle Beach) instead of "regular" cruise activities.

Anyway, all I can say is don't set your expectations too high, and go with the flow!

Well, to answer RatherBFishin question on why we thought there would be dancing, we were hoping for dancing because the ship deck plan shows two dance floors in bars (Ionian and Black and Red Seas), in addition to the disco. We'd expect that Carnival would not put in dance floors if they dd not expect to use them. Further, the Carnival On-board experience sample caper talks about music and dancing. http://www.carnival.com/cms/Images/Onboard_Experience/sample_capers07.pdf. Our past cruises with RCCL and HAL also had dancing of all sorts, not just current stuff in the disco.

On our just completed Victory cruise, we found the best dance band to be "Simply Friends". They played a wide variety of music. Unfortunately, the location was sub-optimal for dancing -- it was the intersection of two hallways by the Casino. We did get some dancing in at this location. We were considerate of those moving through the area and most people moving through the area were considerate of us and the few other couples that joined us. Thanks to all for playing nicely together!

During the first part of the cruise, the disco played music for the twenty something crowd. By Tuesday night, another couple was rounding up thirties and older couples to come to the disco to make requests of the DJ to play older music. We joined them, figuring that we would be gone by midnight or so and then the DJ could play for the younger crowd.

Black and Red Seas generally featured acoustic guitar music that would have gotten lost had it moved to the casino hallway. Ionian was out because of the combination of the smoke smell and jazz. While we like jazz, it is not the best music to dance to.

We only did ballroom style dance once - at the Captain's reception. The stage at the Adriatic was open and two to four couples could get on it. But the band played jazzy stuff that really did not invite much dancing.

There was also one ballroom class and dance on the first night of the cruise. Unfortunately, it was scheduled at the same time as the late dinner seating and ended before our dinner seating was finished. We'd suggest that Carnival consider doing what RCCL did years ago - have tea dances (in the afternoon) so that dinner did not interfere. Don't know if RCCL still does this. RCCL Song of America in the 90s did tea dances in afternoon and then the general dance band in the Oklahoma room from about 11pm to 2 am.