Carnival Shows

[Garycruz]

I will be sailing on my first Carnival cruise in July after having been on six Royal Caribbean cruises. I'm trying to gather as much infomation as I can about the ship I will be sailing on (Splendor) as well as any aspects of the cruising experience that are different between Carnival and Royal Caribbean.

 

I want to make sure I didn't misunderstand something I thought I read on another thread regarding the production shows on Carnival. Has Carnival jettisoned the orchestra in their production shows? I am having a hard time believing that as I have always enjoyed the shows on Royal Caribbean and can't picture how they would have a Broadway-style show without an orchestra. If that is in fact the case, I'm wondering what type of nightly entertainment I can expect in the main showroom. Do they have production shows or is the entertainment limited to small scale shows involving the passengers such as a Newlywed game? I would enjoy that type of thing once or twice during the 8 day cruise but am not sure how thrilled I'd be if that were the case every night.

 

Any insight into what type of entertainment I can expect in the main showroom would be appreciated.

[Crusin Hogs]

Had a 7 piece band for the shows in the main lounge on The Dream last January . I think the new ,larger Carnival ships , The Dream , Magic ,and Breeze all have full bands .

[Garycruz]

Had a 7 piece band for the shows in the main lounge on The Dream last January . I think the new ,larger Carnival ships , The Dream , Magic ,and Breeze all have full bands .

 

I believe I read that cutting out the orchestra was a part of Carnival's recent cutbacks. Since I've never sailed Carnival, I don't know exactly what these cutbacks are or if they would have taken place after your cruise last January.

 

Is it possible they only have orchestras on the newer ships? If there are no orchestras, do they still have big production shows but to canned music?

 

I'm just trying to figure out what type of entertainment to expect in the main showroom and if it's similar to the Royal Caribbean productions which can be very good.

[klaner64]

I was on Splendor in January and it was one of the few ships that still have a live band for the shows (or at least some of them). Some of them are Carnival singers, others are cruisers singing, but they also had shows with no band music, like a juggler and a circus type act. They also have game show and Love and Marriage type shows and comedians. There is quite a variety and if you don't like the show there is always bars with music or movies, deck parties, etc.

[JohnSpo]

The comedy shows are always entertaining.

[buddylover]

The ships that have undergone upgrades (?? if this is an upgrade?? LOL) to 2.0 have gone to digital show productions without orchestras. The ships yet to be converted at drydock to 2.0 upgrades still have the older show productions including larger singer/dancer corps and live orchestra. Yes, it was a cutback made on Carnival.

 

Have been on many of both.....the digital newer productions music does not really suffer, but the overall productions are not the same level of "show" that the older ones were with full singing and dancing staffs IMHO.

[Garycruz]

The ships that have undergone upgrades (?? if this is an upgrade?? LOL) to 2.0 have gone to digital show productions without orchestras. The ships yet to be converted at drydock to 2.0 upgrades still have the older show productions including larger singer/dancer corps and live orchestra. Yes, it was a cutback made on Carnival.

 

Have been on many of both.....the digital newer productions music does not really suffer, but the overall productions are not the same level of "show" that the older ones were with full singing and dancing staffs IMHO.

 

Thank you for clarifying. This makes sense. Based on what I've read on these boards, I was not happy that Splendor hasn't had the 2.0 upgrade yet. But now it seems there is at least one advantage to not having it so I feel better about that. I really do enjoy the big production numbers and although I'm sure they do a great job with the digital music, I don't think there is any substitution for a real live orchestra.