dance lessons

[cruise junky joan]

we will be on a back to back Bermuda cruise on the Horizon. Does anyone know if there are ballroom dancing classes on these cruises? Thanks Joan

[hajekfam]

Celebrity uses their dancers to teach dance lessons. From observing the lessons on our past two cruises, not many of them have a ballroom background.

[cruise junky joan]

this doesn't sound too good. We were on a ten day cruise with celebrity a few years ago were they had professional dance instructors teaching classes to the passengers twice a day. Joan

[hajekfam]

A few years ago they did have professional ballroom instructors - ballroom teachers who cruised free or at a lower price. As part of the cost cutting measures, they are going with using their production dancers.

[Ann25]

When are you going? We will be on the Horizon in July.

Ann25

[cruise junky joan]

we will be on the Horizon June 18 to July 1. Sorry we will miss you. I can't say I am happy about the crew teaching the lessons. We had part of the cast trying to teach ballroom on the QM2 in December and I don't think they did a very good job. Of course it's not a good idea to generalize and part of the problem was the shear number of passengers trying to take the class. Even on the QM2's huge dance floor it was packed so tight you could hardly move let alone figure out the steps. Joan

[Ann25]

Joan,

It must be becoming very popular. I was on the Golden Princess in May and the stage was packed. I was surprised but it was taught by the staff. Don't let that ruin your cruise. Let me know how it goes. Have a great trip.

Happy Crusin

Ann25 (Rosie)

[emptynest1]

We've had dance lessons from the dance staff and had a great time. These are basically beginner lessons and anyone with a dance background should be able to handle teaching basic ballroom steps.

[AFT_LOVER]

they had these great older gentlemen, who danced with single women. One lady with the gentleman that I was hooked on watching was a great team on the floor. Turns out her husband gambles 24/7 on a cruise, so she dances & loves the "hosts" as she called them who ask her to dance & become good friends. Then he asked me & my husband, who doesn't dance told me to go dance, so I did. The band "Black n White" has a guy my husband knew from back home, and they saw me getting ready to dance so they played a polka & away we went on the floor with the room clapping away.

 

Then the Captain danced with me at the welcome event and many ladies gave me the cold look. (he he he he)

[cruise junky joan]

Believe me a so-so dance class is better than no dance class at all. I love ballroom and fortunately my husband is very willing to go along. i have never taken advantage of the dance hosts on a cruise but the first leg of our trip my husband won't be along so I may try a class with someone besides my usual partner. Joan

[hajekfam]

We've had dance lessons from the dance staff and had a great time. These are basically beginner lessons and anyone with a dance background should be able to handle teaching basic ballroom steps.

 

The only problem that we saw on one cruise was that the dance instructor was teaching the steps to the wrong music - the count wasn't right for the dance he was teaching.

 

Since hubby and I hang around the Rendez-vous lounge which always seems to have a duo that plays ballroom type music and even usually announce the type of music they are playing, we got to meet the dance hosts on a few of our cruises. According to one that we spoke with, they can only dance with unaccompanied females and they can't dance with the same one two times in row unless there is no one else to dance with.

[smoothdancer]

I take dance lesson at a studio... A fellow student (male), signed up on a cruise line to be a dance host... He was I would say mid 50's, and by the way quite good looking! The instructor was working with him for a while to learn a large variety of steps. He signed up twice and seemed to enjoy being a host quite a bit.

[mjmagee]

Best ballroom lessons we ever had was on the venerable SS Norway before her nasty burn. They had a professional couple who gave group lessons, private lessons and had a video and cd you could purchase. Any other cruise on Princess, Celebrity or HAL we have never had anything other than the ship crew/dancers teaching the class. Still fun if you can find room on the dance floor. It is popular and with the rise of all kinds of enrichment programs, you would think that more cruise lines would offer the professional dance lessons. I know we bought a private lesson on the Norway! Hi to Hajekfam! Cruised on Horizon with you and we know you and Jim can "cut a rug"! Marilyn

[hajekfam]

Hi Marilyn -

Our dancing has been pretty limited the past two years as Jim has had both hips replaced. We are planning on making up for it on our trans this November.

Karen

[mjmagee]

So glad to hear from you. Hope Jim is doing well. If you are planning on dancing your way across the Atlantic it sounds like he is. We are taking the Zenith to Bermuda this Sept. with Linda and Paul, you remember them from the Horizon cruise. Hope you and family are well. What ship are you crossing on? Marilyn

[hajekfam]

Marilyn -

We'll be back on our third Millie trans only this time it has a very different itinerary. Extremely port intensive at the beginning and ending with 6 days crossing right into Ft. Lauderdale. From Barcelona, we'll be stopping in Marseille, Villefranche, Rome, Malaga, and the Canary Islands.

We are looking at another Tampa cruise, a 14 day Zenith in Spring next year. Right now I'm watching prices as I would like to hold off until our November cruise to be able to book on board - but if prices start to rise, we may just book it. The Zenith was our first cruise in its inaugural year and got us hooked on cruising.

Love leaving and/or arriving in Florida due to our son and family living in Ft. Myers and by this fall we'll have another grandchild there. However, we'll also have to consider cruises out of Galveston as our eldest daughter and her family have just moved to Houston.

Give our regards to Linda and Paul. We sure did enjoy that Horizon cruise. I was sorry to see them give up on the adults only cruises.

Have fun on your cruise!

Karen