Carnival entertainment goes even further downhill

[golfadj]

And "once upon a time" there were fewer options of things to do.

 

To some extent you are right. Last week on one of the nights they had Hasbro as only entertainment in main lounge there were maybe 100 people in the lounge.

 

The same night piano bar guy was off and no comedy that night, rock band played in corridor along promenade so not much room for many people so really not a lot of choices.

[tropicaledrink]

My only experience with the Playlist shows is on the Freedom, but they were GREAT! I agree with the other person who posted that! I sailed too soon after drydock to see the 80s pop one (my sailing was the first performance of 88 keys), but they were great! I actually preferred these to the old shows, except maybe Dancing in the Street (never saw Ticket to Ride unfortunately).

 

Our last Freedom cruise was the best one yet in terms of entertainment. But I also really loved our CD - Skip Lyons, and he managed the ship's schedule very very well. I wish they could get the kinks worked out on all the ships, because these shows have a lot of potential.

[yogimax]

Actually, you don't.

 

There are many things that are part of a cruise fare.

 

Of course you pay for the entertainment.

 

I don't know the exact figure, but it is some percentage of the total cost.

 

Why do you deny people the right to be upset when the money they have paid is being wasted on third rate shows that people avoid or walk away from?

[jimbo5544]

Of course you pay for the entertainment.

 

 

 

I don't know the exact figure, but it is some percentage of the total cost.

 

 

 

Why do you deny people the right to be upset when the money they have paid is being wasted on third rate shows that people avoid or walk away from?

 

 

You missed my point.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app from my iPhone

[jimbo5544]

Sorry not quite that famous or infamous:)

 

 

 

In all seriousness, very bright flashing lights are a very common migraine trigger and IMHO they should remove that from the show.

 

 

I agree on all counts. Have seen it occur.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app from my iPhone

[Sparky2]

Show quality aside. Do you think that less attendance could also be effected by the amount of repeat cruisers? As I said in my previous post I don't go to shows, but I cruise frequently enough to see the same shows listed in the Fun Times when I do cruise. If you all have seen the show once do you go back to see it again?

 

Yes, I've seen many of the production shows several times and still enjoy them. Keeps me out of the casino for an hour or so. lol

 

Next January will be our first cruise with playlist. I will attend all of them once. However, since we're doing B2B, I may not repeat them the 2nd week.

 

This will be my 3rd B2b in a row and have gone to the shows both weeks. As I said, it keeps me out of the casino!

[cruizinisthebest]

We got off the Freedom on Labor Day and we both agreed that the Playlist Productions were some of the best we've ever seen! We had 80's Pop to the Max, 88 Keys, Getaway Island and Heart of Soul. We loved all of them! We've only been cruising since 2008 but these were the best we've seen with the exception of perhaps, Ticket to Ride. Hopefully they will continue to improve on the other ships as well.

We were on the Freedom last month. 88 Keys was fantastic. I thought it was excellent! Didn't get a chance to see the rest. I'm not big on the shows. I love live shows and live music but not really needed when I cruise. That's why we only went to one. Oh and we went to the Hasbro game show thing. That was o.k. Kids liked it.

[golfadj]

We were on the Freedom last month. 88 Keys was fantastic. I thought it was excellent! Didn't get a chance to see the rest. I'm not big on the shows. I love live shows and live music but not really needed when I cruise. That's why we only went to one. Oh and we went to the Hasbro game show thing. That was o.k. Kids liked it.

 

In the summer months with lots of kids makes sense to have Hasbro. But when school is on have maybe 50 kids on the ship so why would they have Hasbro 2x with nothing else in main lounge? Makes no sense to me.

[funinthesun1964]

We are on Conquest next month. I am wondering if we will have the same person you did in the piano bar. Do you have any other information? Did the previous person just quit and leave?

 

 

The shows lately have been just plain awful. I liked before when there was an illusionist, juggler, etc. We went to a show on our last cruise and walked out. Hasbro is just plain stupid.

[cruizinisthebest]

In the summer months with lots of kids makes sense to have Hasbro. But when school is on have maybe 50 kids on the ship so why would they have Hasbro 2x with nothing else in main lounge? Makes no sense to me.

 

My kids liked it, but they didn't want to go twice. :p Once was enough. I mean it was fun. Rather short. And I don't even consider that entertainment. More like an activity to me. Definitely sounds like this sailing got the short end of the stick with the shows. Nothing but Hasbro twice. That's messed up.

[kybluecruiser]

To some extent you are right. Last week on one of the nights they had Hasbro as only entertainment in main lounge there were maybe 100 people in the lounge.

 

The same night piano bar guy was off and no comedy that night, rock band played in corridor along promenade so not much room for many people so really not a lot of choices.

 

Your opninion of the shows aside. That sounds like a cruise director issue/fault for not scheduling things right. People say a cruise director dosent make any difference, but it appears on your cruise a good one would have done better.

[sjn911]

Sorry not quite that famous or infamous:)

 

In all seriousness, very bright flashing lights are a very common migraine trigger and IMHO they should remove that from the show.

 

Yes..as we age..and get less quick eye response with light and dark and the driving and light conditions are an issue..bright sun on a sea of white snow if I am in front of my window in my little office and it is just bright enough..it can get me coming though my shade..fake wood type.

 

Thanks for the report Stu...

 

One of the best say it short and sweet reporters here...

 

My last Carnival cruise on the Spirit just before going down under..had just rolled out a new old style show, can not remember name even.... and while they now have pay room service the variety is much more and better.

 

Not a strength of mine!!:o;):rolleyes:

 

I just hope my 12 year old now Princess memories don't get too dashed because I think that may be my next cruise, I loved the little music venues going on everywhere then..several lounges and a quartet in the daytime in Wheelhouse bar....Sarah

Edited September 9, 2014 by sjn911

[golfadj]

Yes..as we age..and get less quick eye response with light and dark and the driving and light conditions are an issue..bright sun on a sea of white snow if I am in front of my window in my little office and it is just bright enough..it can get me coming though my shade..fake wood type.

 

Thanks for the report Stu...

 

One of the best say it short and sweet reporters here...

 

My last Carnival cruise on the Spirit just before going down under..had just rolled out a new old style show, can not remember name even.... and while they now have pay room service the variety is much more and better.

 

Not a strength of mine!!:o;):rolleyes:

 

I just hope my 12 year old now Princess memories don't get too dashed because I think that may be my next cruise, I loved the little music venues going one everywhere then..several lounges and a quartet in the daytime in wheelhouse bar....Sarah

 

We did our first Princess earlier this year and definitely a cut above in all aspects. Doing our second one in a year and very possible will do more Princess than Carnival in a few years time.

[wiskt]

Just back from our 25th Carnival cruise first one on conquest.

 

Had an awesome roll call and made some good new friends we hope to cruise with again.

 

Got to rent our first villa at HMC (thanks Kenny and Debbi) and now understand why people want to dothis.

 

Thought food and service was good as usual but entertainment has gone even further downhill.

 

For the first time ever there were no flyons for our 7 day cruise. What we had was two evenings of Hasbro and Hasbro only in the main lounge.

 

Seriously? And one of these evenings no comedy club and no piano bar going on.

 

Didn't care for playlist the first time we saw it and think that 8 mediocre singers do not equal the quality of the old style production shows with two decent singers.

 

How can a company that put on Ticket to Ride and Dancing in the Street think they are putting out quality production when they put out this crap?

 

On a more positive note will say that Epic Rock was a good one the other three hopefully will never have to sit thru again.

 

Michael in the pb was very good (apparently he replaced a woman who suddenly left the ship). The four comedians put on some very good shows.

 

Did we get our money's worth? Yes we did. But we used to love the main lounge entertainment and now it is gone.

 

Perhaps they will tell us that attendance in the main lounge is dwindling so they will have the excuse to Sunshine it and make them half the size in the future.

 

Personally think the attendance is shrinking as guests realize what they are giving us is not worth attending.

 

 

I will be on the BREEZE in about 2 weeks. Originally, I was planning another ship, but went this route to see THE SHIP. I've seen the new PLAY LIST shows & also think they are more "smoke & mirrors" over the older productions. (pun intended). If there's nothing else happening, I'll go, but in a way it has pushed me to look into other things to do. I'll catch the Atrium band, check out the piano bar, book a spa treatment etc. I know the BREEZE also has the play list shows and I hope I like them better this trip than last.

[sjn911]

We did our first Princess earlier this year and definitely a cut above in all aspects. Doing our second one in a year and very possible will do more Princess than Carnival in a few years time.

 

 

PS I inserted my Spirit story in wrong place..was saying clear brevity tis not a strength of mine ..LOL:).

 

Glad to hear your plans..it is so worth staying around here..love the steady people and their journeys...congrats..great plans....Sarah

[golfadj]

I will be on the BREEZE in about 2 weeks. Originally, I was planning another ship, but went this route to see THE SHIP. I've seen the new PLAY LIST shows & also think they are more "smoke & mirrors" over the older productions. (pun intended). If there's nothing else happening, I'll go, but in a way it has pushed me to look into other things to do. I'll catch the Atrium band, check out the piano bar, book a spa treatment etc. I know the BREEZE also has the play list shows and I hope I like them better this trip than last.

 

I suspect they knew their budget allowed for having only mediocre performers and decided to dazzle with special effects instead.

[Pine Bluff]

I guess we are stuck with these less than stellar shows due to the investment of these screens. Too bad they didn't listen when they surveyed. Most said they hated it, yet they proceeded with it being part of the 2.0 downgrades.

 

Every survey shows dissatisfaction.

[jimbo5544]

I disagree. The shows are actually coordinated with the two dinner seatings. The premise was always go for a dinner and a show.

 

You lost me on your reply.

[manmtnmike]

We did our first Princess earlier this year and definitely a cut above in all aspects. Doing our second one in a year and very possible will do more Princess than Carnival in a few years time.

 

Yeah...I agree. We're doing a qetaway B2B on Sensation.

But I try to check ahead of time to try to ensure certain preferred bands ... Music Degree this time.

 

I'm also considering Princess again. Still have Celebrity Reflection planned with 3xs the discounts/ta deals this Jan.

 

I probably, would only choose Liberty and Dream for what we call our "

Main" cruise, if we sail Carnival, in late Jan each year.

 

Mike

Edited September 9, 2014 by manmtnmike

[Warm Breezes]

We did our first Princess earlier this year and definitely a cut above in all aspects. Doing our second one in a year and very possible will do more Princess than Carnival in a few years time.

 

We sailed Princess for the first time earlier this year too and we did not find it a cut above in all aspects. Although I agree their entertainment was better and we loved MUTS, there were many aspects, that we value on a cruise, that IMHO weren't a cut above. For example their Anytime MDR did not cater to, and actually discouraged, couples wanting a table 2. That is must for DH and I and after having hassles the first 2 times we tried we gave up going to the MDR. Never had that problem on CCL. On CCL we normally get consistently good food. On Princess it seemed to either be really great or really bad...but that is subjective. The majority of people on our ship were 65+. Either snowbird couples or retirement village groups. Nothing wrong with that, but as an upper 40 something couple, we felt out of place at the nightly venues. The most important thing to me is we paid extra for a balcony because I found on CCL and NCL that I really enjoyed relaxing on the balcony on sea days. The chairs on Princess's balcony were so uncomfortable I couldn't spend more than 5 minutes out there....a total waste of my money. I didn't like looking down on the balconies below us either. I felt like a stalker. On top of that the room was much smaller than CCL. Unless I get a really good deal on Princess or a certain ship or itinerary really appeals to us, I don't see us sailing them again for at least 20 years. But I can still see us sailing on CCL quite often in the future. For us the value is hard to beat.

Edited September 9, 2014 by Warm Breezes

[andy.capitan]

There was no live music in the main lounges on my Princess cruises last year.

[andy.capitan]

I guess we are stuck with these less than stellar shows due to the investment of these screens. Too bad they didn't listen when they surveyed. Most said they hated it, yet they proceeded with it being part of the 2.0 downgrades.

 

Every survey shows dissatisfaction.

 

I guess the survey says you're wrong.

 

Most generally say they don't care.

[jimbo5544]

I guess we are stuck with these less than stellar shows due to the investment of these screens. Too bad they didn't listen when they surveyed. Most said they hated it, yet they proceeded with it being part of the 2.0 downgrades.

 

Every survey shows dissatisfaction.

 

Do you get to see the survey results? Wow:cool:

[T. Advisor King]

When I hear the complaints about the quality/quantity of live production shows, it makes me wonder whether the cruise line has decided to cater to people like me who really don't care about entertainment on a cruise ship.

 

I get that there is some tradition of having entertainment on cruise ships. On the other hand, if I was going on a regular vacation, it is highly unlikely that I would seek out this type of entertainment, so why is it a given that they will keep them on cruise ships? I'm assuming they can't completely cut them out, because customers might revolt. But I take it that they are spending less and less on the formal entertainment, which means my cabin fare is going down (or not going up), or it is going to more important things, which is fine with me.

[lido deck larry]

I usually skip the cheese ball entertainment.. I'd be fine if they did away with it for good. Go to Broadway or Branson if you want better productions.