Who was the best cruise performer you ever saw?

[loveandcruises]

Who is the best performer you ever saw on a cruise?

 

Mine was a singer named Judy Kolba. We saw her twice on the Explorer of the Seas. When she first came out wearing her signature "car wash dress," we took one look at this lady in her 60s and thought, "This is going to be awful!" But she had the audience in the palm of her hand after the first song. She ended up making us all cry, and I think she got the biggest standing ovation I've ever seen on a cruise.

[sail7seas]

Joel Grey.

Her performed a special show on Maasdam at her Inaugural Party in Boston when she was fresh from her crossing from the shipyard in Europe. His show, of course, was fabulous. :)

 

[mr green]

While not an true 'entertainer' any more, my vote has to go to Cruise Director Billy Highgate, of Princess Cruise Lines.

 

john

[whogo]

Al Martino.

[Shmoo here]

We've not really seen any "big" entertainers, but I like Jodie Benson on our Disney Transatlantic cruise.

 

And, while not an individual entertainer, the absolutely best show I've seen on a cruise was "Encore" on our Holland America Panama Canal cruise last Oct/Nov.

[marco]

Long time ago on the "Norway" Vic Dimone. And on the QE2, Carol Bayer-Sager and Bert Baccarat and on another QE2 sailing, one of the Andrew sisters. I forgot which one.

Edited May 25, 2014 by marco

[Captain Canuck]

she was probably 80 but was great

[CruiseMore1]

Petula Clark - she was 65 at the time, and her voice was amazing!!!

[Ashland]

Mo5aic...on our most recent Oasis...and the Sand Artist's during the ice show !!!

[dorisis]

Tony Bennett

[Theynine]

I was in a piano bar,

the piano player was this Irish guy who was pretty good.

He always had a big crowd of drunken folk singing along.

One night, this gal walks in,

the the piano man says, " Hey so and so, you ready to do your song?"

And shes like, " sure",

So Im assuming shes been in there a few times during the cruise,

and theyve done this before.

And he starts playing, and she starts singing some song from

' The little mermaid' or something, some Disney type tune Ive heard before. And I was thinking,

" wow, shes good, she sounds just like Ariel or whoever"

and come to find out, IT WAS the actual singer from the movie.

She was just cruising like everybody else.

That was pretty cool.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

[jmf123]

Without a doubt, the late:(, great Marvin Hamlisch on our Grandeur cruise. Incredible man and performer!

[Shmoo here]

I was in a piano bar,

the piano player was this Irish guy who was pretty good.

He always had a big crowd of drunken folk singing along.

One night, this gal walks in,

the the piano man says, " Hey so and so, you ready to do your song?"

And shes like, " sure",

So Im assuming shes been in there a few times during the cruise,

and theyve done this before.

And he starts playing, and she starts singing some song from

' The little mermaid' or something, some Disney type tune Ive heard before. And I was thinking,

" wow, shes good, she sounds just like Ariel or whoever"

and come to find out, IT WAS the actual singer from the movie.

She was just cruising like everybody else.

That was pretty cool.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Yep, that would be Jodie Benson. :D

[christinalvt]

Mo5aic...on our most recent Oasis...and the Sand Artist's during the ice show !!!

Oh yeah! The Sand Artist was amazing!!

 

:)

[mapsmith]

Probably the best was the comedian/clown that we have seen on both Princess and MSC. Since MSC doesn't really have comedians (translating jokes never works!) he was more of a clown. But I cannot remember his name. He was called "(something) the Great" Entertaining for all passengers no matter what age, or nationality.

 

Second would be the Tenor on the MSC Orchestra. He was amazing. Of course, all MSC cruises used to have an Italian Tenor on board. But Luigi was fantastic. An Italian of Israeli and Egyptian Parentage, he was accessible to the passengers on the ship. We would see him at the bars, at the pool, at the Lido. And actually talked to him about his heritage for about 15 minutes on the Lido during the Midnight Mexican Buffet.

[dobiemom]

Joel Mason and his Elton John tribute. Great show! :D

[lah66]

Carlos Oscar, a comedian on the Golden Princess on our Alaskan cruise. Good clean humor that our entire family enjoyed! He was hilarious! Have yet to see another comedian as entertaining as Carlos!

Lauri

[AmberCascades]

We haven't been on a lot of cruises but in our limited experience, James Stephens III was the funniest comedian we have ever seen anywhere. Ever! He was on the Summit earlier this year. He will be playing Bill Cosby in an upcoming movie. We didn't make it to the early show and were surprised to find the later show so crowded. It turns out that almost everyone from the first show stayed to see it again. He was a really nice guy too.

[celebrity]

Who is the best performer you ever saw on a cruise?

 

Mine was a singer named Judy Kolba. We saw her twice on the Explorer of the Seas. When she first came out wearing her signature "car wash dress," we took one look at this lady in her 60s and thought, "This is going to be awful!" But she had the audience in the palm of her hand after the first song. She ended up making us all cry, and I think she got the biggest standing ovation I've ever seen on a cruise.

 

OMG! she is so entertaining. We had the same reaction when she walked onstage. Wow..what a show. She came into the audience sat on my husband's lap and serenaded him with her boa wrapped around his neck. LOL

Also loved the comedian Sarge, we saw him on the Crown Princess. He was so popular, he performed 3x on a 7 day cruise. I never laughed so hard in my life.

[artypharty]

Jeff Dunham. Laughed so hard I cried, cheeks hurt and may have even spit a little!!!:D. He only did one show. We had no idea until we saw his name outside the theater.

[leaveitallbehind]

Many years ago on RCI - Norm Crosby. Very funny. My wife and I also played blackjack with him at an empty casino when most were on the pool deck for a midnight buffet.

 

We also had a chance encounter with Merrill Osmond (brother of Donny) and his wife on an elevator on his way to the late performance a few years ago - also on RCI.

Edited May 26, 2014 by leaveitallbehind

[pris993]

We have seen a few famous... but don't really remember their performances, so guess not that great.

 

We have enjoyed a lot of not so famous, folks - namely 3 piece combo bands who could play anything... HAL use to have these type groups who were really great.

[DonnaK]

We really enjoyed Jordan Peterson, the piano bar singer with Celebrity. Also, Bert Stratton with Princess.

 

As far as more popular cruise ship acts, we loved the Unexpected Boys (a Frankie Valli and the 4 seasons tribute group).

[blackpool belle]

The following were on the QM2 (same cruise)

 

Best: The East Coast Boys, a tribute act to The Jersey Boys.

Worst: The (current line up of) The Drifters. They were dire. Not one of them can now hold a (long) note. I'm afraid their glory days have gone and now just rely on their name.

[christinalvt]

Wow! I would love to see Jeff Dunham, he's great!

 

 

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