sharecruises Posted December 23, 2013 #1 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Hi...as the title says - for those who love/care about Entertainment experienced cruisers who have seen good shows - on Carnival, on other lines what did YOU think about Playlist? Two people in my group had been on Breeze in Oct, hated Playlist shows then and didn't want to see them again I recall when they would move ships just so that people could experience new shows, new cruise director, new "fun". ....I found nothing fun about The Brits I thought it was an insult actually, I also found the gimmick of back screen mulitple images to make it look like more dancers a joke after the first time Frankly the image dancers looked better than the real ones on our stage I must say LOL. Seeing it each time really was a bore too I found Divas and Latin Nights mildly entertaining, hated Brits and would not be interested in seeing any of them again yawn yawn yawn what did YOU think about Playlist? if you cruise "a lot" or frequently - how did you feel the 2nd time, the 3rd time?? How many times can we see the same subpar shows is my thought? (ie, please no straw man arguements like "we never cared about the shows", "I don't like the theater", "just give me booze and no cooking and I am happy")....please...can we have people who like shows and care about them here?? also I am trying to ask this of people who cruise frequently, or fairly often, people who are least "gold" or platinum....cause yeah if this is your first or second cruise it is a "all good" I guess...or if you have not cruised in 10 years you are gonna be happy just to cruise whatever Now to be fair - I try not to chime in on threads where I have no interest...like "sports shows on big screen" (I have no interest).....or "new rules on Camp Carnival" (I have no kids and no interest) whatever so....this is for those who love the shows...what do YOU think?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Shoes2Go Posted December 23, 2013 #2 Share Posted December 23, 2013 We were only lightly entertained by the new shows. Have seen most of them now. We have no plans to return to any of them. What a change from just a couple of years ago! Loved the older shows and saw them multiple times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golfadj Posted December 23, 2013 #3 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Hi...as the title says - for those who love/care about Entertainment experienced cruisers who have seen good shows - on Carnival, on other lines what did YOU think about Playlist? Two people in my group had been on Breeze in Oct, hated Playlist shows then and didn't want to see them again I recall when they would move ships just so that people could experience new shows, new cruise director, new "fun". ....I found nothing fun about The Brits I thought it was an insult actually, I also found the gimmick of back screen mulitple images to make it look like more dancers a joke after the first time Frankly the image dancers looked better than the real ones on our stage I must say LOL. Seeing it each time really was a bore too I found Divas and Latin Nights mildly entertaining, hated Brits and would not be interested in seeing any of them again yawn yawn yawn what did YOU think about Playlist? if you cruise "a lot" or frequently - how did you feel the 2nd time, the 3rd time?? How many times can we see the same subpar shows is my thought? (ie, please no straw man arguements like "we never cared about the shows", "I don't like the theater", "just give me booze and no cooking and I am happy")....please...can we have people who like shows and care about them here?? also I am trying to ask this of people who cruise frequently, or fairly often, people who are least "gold" or platinum....cause yeah if this is your first or second cruise it is a "all good" I guess...or if you have not cruised in 10 years you are gonna be happy just to cruise whatever Now to be fair - I try not to chime in on threads where I have no interest...like "sports shows on big screen" (I have no interest).....or "new rules on Camp Carnival" (I have no kids and no interest) whatever so....this is for those who love the shows...what do YOU think?? We will see this for the first time ourselves in Feb on the Glory. A number of friends have seen this forthemselves and universaly panned it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyMaster Posted December 23, 2013 #4 Share Posted December 23, 2013 I've seen the "Playlist Productions" on both the "Breeze", and the "Ecstasy". They're O.K., (except "Divas", which I walked out on, perhaps because I'm not at all familiar with that music.). I VERY much prefer the older shows, and have sailed "Paradise" 5 times this year, because they still have the old shows, with 8 female dancers, 6 male dancers, and 2 production singers. Also, they actually have 7 musicians in the show band! Bottom line,,,playlist is O.K., but give me the old shows anytime! "SKY" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharecruises Posted December 23, 2013 Author #5 Share Posted December 23, 2013 I have not seen many (or any?) people who really loved Playlist.... I personally have seen my favorite "The Big Easy" on different ship, different casts, and enjoyed it each time I have seen the "couch" a lot on Imagination and others and found it fun each time if a bit corny But...I just can't imagine looking forward to these shows - or Hasbro - over and over. I know there will be apologists and those who say "Just give me the casino/booze/food/deck chair to relax/my balcony to puff cigarettes" or whatever...but for those of us who enjoy the shows - this frankly bites a big one IMHO I loved the shows on MSC - also on NCL...I enjoyed the ice show etc on Royal and I still want to try Allure and/or Oasis....I hear Epic has good entertainment Frankly MSC has some of the best nightly shows around - 28 people on stage for full show - European Cirque type acts. At the French show they had one of the gals and 4 guys do a French Adagio style dance that left the "duo" dance on Carnival in the dust, the Carnival dancers looked like a local theater troop to me. MSC had an Abba tribute and Michael Jackson tribute....NCL Pearl had "Oh What a Night" Frankie Valli tribute These are all casino/vegas/atlantic city acts that fly in My group felt the "showcase" (passenger talent show) was better than the so called "pro" shows. We also were lucky to have a guy who plays guitar and sings to perform free between duo breaks - I am not into "country" but this guy was a pro and he was great, sang a lot of Johnny Cash and Amazing Grace Another guy in Karoke/talent show had a beautiful voice (also you could tell he was a pro)...better than the show singers LOL A passenger sang like Adele and brought the house down Pretty sad when the best entertainment is the passengers Maybe they can just hold America's Got Talent audtions on Carnival and that would be more entertaining than the dreck they are currently offering IMHO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hetrickr Posted December 23, 2013 #6 Share Posted December 23, 2013 (edited) Our first exposure to the new show format was about a year ago when we sailed on the Carnival Breeze. Because we booked it as a last minute trip, we really only looked at the age, class and itinerary of the ship, not the type of entertainment. So, it was a really big shock when we realized that something had drastically changed regarding the evening show format. The first big disappointment was the lack of an orchestra. Then came the utter disbelief that the lead singers, decent dancers, backdrops and stage props were all gone. They were replaced by stark stage props (mostly stairs or platforms), big video screens with gaudy graphics, terrible vocals and dancing that was out of sync with the graphics and each other! It was so bad that it was really the first letter of complaint I ever took the time to write and send both via email and post cruise survey. Of course, there was no response, but I really didn't expect one. Well, we just returned from a trip on the Conquest (first on this ship) and it's sad to say that we did not attend any of the late night shows. The exception to this was the Hasbro Game Show. We had several younger first time cruisers with us on this trip and they found it entertaining and loved the interactive nature of the show. In addition, my son used the second night of the game show to surprise his girlfriend with a marriage proposal (she said yes) during the game. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Edited December 23, 2013 by hetrickr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoePost Posted December 23, 2013 #7 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Sorry if this is a dumb question..but...can someone tell me what a Playlist production is? Recently sailed the Dream and did not encounter this type of entertainment....what is it??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shonuf Posted December 23, 2013 #8 Share Posted December 23, 2013 We were on the Imagination in Oct. and they had just put 3 new Playlist shows on. We hated the two we saw and didn't attend the other. The two we saw were "Divas" and "Epic Rock". Younger people might have liked them but not our cuppa tea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shonuf Posted December 23, 2013 #9 Share Posted December 23, 2013 As I posted to another thread about Playlist productions, we were not impressed by "Divas" or "Epic Rock". Way too loud, even for the hearing challenged and really no redeeming qualities. Didn't go to the Hasbro show. Big fan of musical theater and most kinds of musical productions, 6 Carnival cruises in last 15 months, also Platinum, so been there, seen that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoePost Posted December 23, 2013 #10 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Why are they caled playlist ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hihosilvers Posted December 23, 2013 #11 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Playlist shows were a downgrade, plain and simple - and the quality reflects that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golfadj Posted December 23, 2013 #12 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Most people who have seen them have thought they were a major stepdown from what Carnival has done in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandman Posted December 23, 2013 #13 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Horrible. Enough said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golfadj Posted December 23, 2013 #14 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Hopefully plans are going on to replace it with something much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragen Posted December 23, 2013 #15 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Old Shows: Good: Live Band, More Set Changes, Longer, and Some of them we're great, "Country, and Rock through the Decades, based ones. Bad: Only two Live singers, 1 male, 1 female, the rest of the dancers just lip-sync,.....(on RCI at least most of the cast sings live instead of just two.) also Bad some of the shows such as some "Space" themed dream like mess near the end of Ecstasy cruise was just a disorganized confusing show. New Shows: Good: Music More Current, More Live Vocals, Awesome Sound and Light & Special Effects. Bad: No Live Band, No Real Set Changes, Not very repeatable after viewing it once. I can see both sides here, The Old and new both have their straighths and weakness'. What I'd like to see is, More toward the trend of either changing them up every year or two, or better yet more toward the trend of Actual Broadway musicals like the big ships, on all ships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GottaLuvCruising Posted December 23, 2013 #16 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Playlist shows were a downgrade, plain and simple - and the quality reflects that. Absolutely! We have cruised 35 times on 6 different lines. When we started cruising, entertainment was a major factor in our choices. We've learned to enjoy so many other aspects of cruising that it isn't as big a deal as initially, but still important. Our Breeze cruise in April was our first Playlist experience. What a disappointment! We sat through one production, chose seats in the back of the balcony just in case the 2nd was equally horrible. It was and we walked out. We didn't even both going to the 3rd. Why would Carnival choose to eliminate the show band (used to be a real orchestra) and use CG sets / graphics? JH claims Playlist actually costs more...go figure??? We booked the Glory in June long before we knew how pathetic the entertainment was and we didn't bother to go to the Playlist shows. We made the best of the smaller venue options, but really missed the shows. We booked Paradise in November specifically because it still has production shows and we really enjoyed them. We are booked on Liberty January 2015, but would cancel it if that was an option. No more Carnival for us until they bring the product back up to a standard we'll enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GottaLuvCruising Posted December 23, 2013 #17 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Playlist is the company that produces them. The sets and part of the performance is computer generated on a terribly bright screen in the back. These "shows" have far fewer dancers and no live music as compared to the traditional cruise line shows. Very disappointing IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2 cruzen Posted December 23, 2013 #18 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Playlist is the company that produces them. The sets and part of the performance is computer generated on a terribly bright screen in the back. These "shows" have far fewer dancers and no live music as compared to the traditional cruise line shows. Very disappointing IMHO. Agree...I do not like them and glad the Liberty still has the "old" production shows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharecruises Posted December 23, 2013 Author #19 Share Posted December 23, 2013 The best show IMHO was The Big Easy which had 4 lead singers - 2 male, 2 female each time I saw it Losing the orchestra was not good BUT the shows themselves still had costume changes, set backgrounds, different moods and feels example : the world show on Liberty had really different songs and themes for each country the shows had real highlights - like when the female singer is lifted into the air on Big Easy - or the "aerial" ballet duo on "Nightclub Express" Since I have cruised some ships multiple times (sailing from Florida) I have seen the same shows - the 80's show on Valor, Big Easy, etc multiple times but that was cool, I still enjoyed them My real question here is - who would want to sit through the Brits more than once? Once was much more than enough for me as for the idea that they all sing?? Mostly 4 of them sang, and not all that well really, the guys on Conquest were better than the girls but none of them were outstanding. The dancing was pretty bad too - they also looked quite mismatched ..not sure how the guys were able to lift the women without straining themselves LOL One girl was really a bad dancer, more at ease with hip hop and horrible at the Latin show Who would want to see these more than once? twice? If they spread to all ships then what? Imagine 3 cruises a year and seeing that prance dance they did for the Brits - what a joke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PortSideCruzan Posted December 23, 2013 #20 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Hi Roe :) For additional info and Carnival ship's that have Playlist Productions, take a peek at the below link. http://www.carnival.com/onboard/cruise-entertainment/playlist-productions.aspx :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2 cruzen Posted December 23, 2013 #21 Share Posted December 23, 2013 (edited) Attended "Divas" on the Breeze and thought it was horrible. Only watched a little of the Hasbro show..would be fun if you had a family member on stage. Our very first cruise was on Celebrity and the night shows were outstanding. Some of the older shows could get long. The Welcome show is hokey but fun. I like the comedian, juggling shows actually the best. I'm hoping the Liberty has some good entertainment. We will be having the new menus, so if those disappoint and entertainment dogsnt do the job, we may be looking at a different line next time. Options are good. Ps, I am Gold on Carnival. Edited December 23, 2013 by 2 cruzen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheTravelista Posted December 23, 2013 #22 Share Posted December 23, 2013 They are terrible. Laughably terrible. I cringed throughout Motor City, had to walk out of the Brits and literally laughed throughout Divas. I saw all three on my last cruise because I thought that they had to get better but each one was worse than the last. Carnival has some good shows. Dancing In The Streets and Ticket To Ride being amongst my favorites. Whoever came up with Playlist Productions deserves to be fired. The cheapness of the shows make them bad enough but the awful singers/dancers just make them unacceptable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharecruises Posted December 23, 2013 Author #23 Share Posted December 23, 2013 The Brits really drove me nuts <grin> As a Baby Boomer I found it actually offensive - the costume "designer" should be fired - or did they just buy these cheap looking costumes from an online discount costume store??? The clothes were so cheap - the gals were dressed like 1960's airline hostesses, very cheap go go girl costumes like this Not really "London" or "Mod" but at least from the 1960's - the guys were dressed like California Hippies from the 1970's (maybe late 60's) with horrible cheap wigs, fringed vests and flowered bell bottoms....years after the so called "British Invasion" of the 60's the songs were bubble gum and badly sung at that The lights were a psychedelic swirl, relentless and actually hurt to watch Even more grating were the comic book characters on the large screen and the ongoing "tricks" that repeat in each show (the singers step behind the screen and imitate the characters on screen, pretend to pull each other "from" the screen etc)....(the background becomes a montage of other more talented dancers to look like there are 50 people on stage yawn) the Brits was the worst show I have ever seen on any ship and that includes party cruises on old ferries to Freeport that have long gone out of business LOL (ie, Sea Escape, Discovery). For the younger set who may not understand my dismay, just imagine a show of current music that paired Rhianna current styled outfits with guys in old Kris Kross outfits LOL Girls - 1960's go go look (not really British IMHO) and guys California Hippie late 60's and early 70's - ugh ugh ugh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golfadj Posted December 23, 2013 #24 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Pretty sad. JH says they cost more than what they replaced and this is what they got???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising Rules Posted December 23, 2013 #25 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Pretty sad. JH says they cost more than what they replaced and this is what they got???? JH may have been fibbing. (trying to be nice here) I assume there were some start up costs here for projection equipment etc., but after that you have saved the cost of a 5-6 piece live band and 4-6 dancers on every sailing. You have no reason to trust me but I assure you this was all done to reduce cost. PERIOD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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