Carnival's "FORCING" us out the door by getttting rid of Genuine LIVE ENTERTAINMENT!

[albether7]

This meant for cruisers who enjoy live bands:

No probs if this is something that isn't part of your cruise experience:)

 

Maybe some can help my friends and I...

 

With only a few ships remaining that does not have the dreaded "upgrade" of PLAYLIST PRODUCTIONS they have not had the former lounge bands removed.

Reports of reviews speak of Karaoke - quality performances, We are needing to Jump ship (or cruise line for another."

Any ideas which lines CURRENTLY have great dance and cover bands and not the random selection of singers and muscians from the show bands?

 

Ncl, RCCL and Princess has in the past : A true band is one that is hired as a team with a repertoire of hundreds of songs .

 

The Playlist patchwork quilt concept looks like this...

 

Soooooo...Pax yells "Hey, do you play, Hotel California from The Eagles??"

 

"Not sure" the're thinking, as quickly the confused 20 somethings begin to page violently through their "Playlist Bible" table of contents to see --wether or not they can...

Then they ask curiously, "Who are these "Eagles" you speak of???"

 

So much for band chemistry and crowd pleasing reditions of perfectly performed "FREE BIRD, THE WALL AND JOURNEY, RUSH AND other clssic rock and roll yes, Even the pop disco songs of a era.

 

Often they have no sound support for vocals and attempy harminizing for what appears to be a first time -which is every time they do a unfamiliar song. Not fair to them -not worthy of paying customers.

 

Al out

Edited November 30, 2014 by albether7

[BlueRiband]

The last time I suggested a cruise line to somebody who outlined what she wanted, she replied that it was too expensive.

 

Good is not cheap and cheap is not good. Be prepared to spend more if you want better quality entertainment or anything else.

[DonnaK]

That's sad. Quality live entertainment, especially in the smaller venues all over the ship, are one of our joys of cruising.

 

We were blown away by the quantity and quality of live music on our Celebrity Summit cruises in August 2013 and August 2014 (NJ to Bermuda route).

 

We also just returned from Rci's Quantum of the Seas, and the live music was excellent quality, however not quite as abundant as we'd like, but that might be attributed to it being a pre-inaugural sailing. We were also on Explorer of the Seas when it sailed from NJ and thought the live music was great.

Edited November 30, 2014 by DonnaK

[SuiteTraveler]

We're just off RCCL Allure of the Seas - great cover bands on that ship and plenty of other live entertainment of higher quality than seen on most ships.

[janetz]

We're just off RCCL Allure of the Seas - great cover bands on that ship and plenty of other live entertainment of higher quality than seen on most ships.

 

Oh yes, the Allure and Oasis have it all. Best entertainment at sea. ;)

[CPT Trips]

The last time I suggested a cruise line to somebody who outlined what she wanted, she replied that it was too expensive.

 

Good is not cheap and cheap is not good. Be prepared to spend more if you want better quality entertainment or anything else.

 

Suggest away, what line(s) has the best live rock entertainment?

[manmtnmike]

We've had limited opportunities on other lines but enjoyed the Princess and NCL offings...

 

Enjoyed RCCL Oasis OTS, but costly...

 

I worry that Princess and Norwegion have cut entertainment as is so obvious with Carnival.

 

When Carnival rolled out PLAYLIST PRODUCTIONS, they couched it like most PR firms would do....Trying to drum up excitement with a product that is decidedly inferior. THAT WILL ONLY WORK ON THOSE WHO DON'T CARE, or newbies to cruising.

 

I hope we can develop a net work and data base available like Cruise Critic does it on Carnival board for "FAV PIANO PLAYERS".

[Bonnie J.]

What my husband hates is the way they have passengers entertaining passengers- games on the stage.

Smaller ships have TWO guitar players and one band that has a night off. How do you do any kind of dancing to one guitar player? We can't get over how few passengers sit and just listen to a guitar player. When bands play you can't find a seat and the bar is making tons of $$ for all the drinks ordered.

[Cruzaholic41]

 

Any ideas which lines CURRENTLY have great dance and cover bands and not the random selection of singers and muscians from the show bands?

 

Ncl, RCCL and Princess has in the past : A true band is one that is hired as a team with a repertoire of hundreds of songs .

 

 

And they still do. First, I agree with your frustration of Carnival. They are currently the worst cruise line at sea with regard to live entertainment. It was one thing when bands started to disappear, but when they went and replaced the lido band with a DJ and playing videos on that dreaded large screen, it got ridiculous. About the only live music you ever see on Carnival now is a piano player and maybe if your lucky, a guitar soloist on the lido.

 

As mentioned already, RCI Oasis and Allure have the best live entertainment at sea - hands down. I've been on all the newest ships of all the major cruise lines, so I say that from experience. And behind them, believe it or not, I'd say MSC is right up there with live entertainment. I recently sailed the Divina and was blown away at the high level of entertainment.

 

But yes, Princess and NCL still have live cover bands that play both at the pool and in lounges in the evening. In fact, the Ruby Princess had an excellent Asian band a few months ago that included the female dancers. they were fantastic. Celebrity also still has live bands. Stay away from HAL because their version of a live band, the HAL Cats, is awful and they only seem to play once or twice during a cruise.

[manmtnmike]

What my husband hates is the way they have passengers entertaining passengers- games on the stage.

Smaller ships have TWO guitar players and one band that has a night off. How do you do any kind of dancing to one guitar player? We can't get over how few passengers sit and just listen to a guitar player. When bands play you can't find a seat and the bar is making tons of $$ for all the drinks ordered.

Yeah...my pet peave as well!! The cheapest line item of any entertainment budget is the use of paying passengers to entertain themselves!!!:confused:

 

And they still do. First, I agree with your frustration of Carnival. They are currently the worst cruise line at sea with regard to live entertainment. It was one thing when bands started to disappear, but when they went and replaced the lido band with a DJ and playing videos on that dreaded large screen, it got ridiculous. About the only live music you ever see on Carnival now is a piano player and maybe if your lucky, a guitar soloist on the lido. You can still find some ships not yet fully tainted from PLAYLIST PRODUCTIONS. If you are lucky, YOU MAY STILL BE ABLE TO FIND A GREAT MANILA BAND and others as well... True cover bands w/classic rock and dance. Many of the bands I've been in contact with feel THEY'RE at risk with their contract renewals.

 

For instance, BLOOD POWER- AN AMAZING BAND OF 10 + YEARS WITH Carnival, are still waiting for a new contract to be offered

 

 

As mentioned already, RCI Oasis and Allure have the best live entertainment at sea - hands down. I've been on all the newest ships of all the major cruise lines, so I say that from experience. And behind them, believe it or not, I'd say MSC is right up there with live entertainment. I recently sailed the Divina and was blown away at the high level of entertainment.Tell me about Divina , styles, etc.

 

But yes, Princess and NCL still have live cover bands that play both at the pool and in lounges in the evening. In fact, the Ruby Princess had an excellent Asian band a few months ago that included the female dancers. they were fantastic. Celebrity also still has live bands. Stay away from HAL because their version of a live band, the HAL Cats, is awful and they only seem to play once or twice during a cruise.

Thanks for the great info!!!

 

 

Mike

[Cruzaholic41]

Tell me about Divina , styles, etc

 

Hmmm. I'd say Divina is a cross between a Princess ship and a Celebrity Solstice Class ship, with just a small touch of Carnival. The styles are very contemporary. The Atrium is similar to the Princess Piazza, but the styles are very modern like what you would see on Celebrity. The small touch of Carnival is the waterslide.

 

Entertainment was fantastic! Like I said, it was right up there with Oasis. What really impressed me was the live entertainment in the Atrium. They had everything from an upbeat piano player to a 5 piece band playing every night.

[Cruisin' Chick]

We haven't been on a Carnival ship since 2002. One major beef I had was that they seemed to have four songs or so that were played constantly at different activities. I now cringed whenever I hear "Hot Hot Hot."

 

On the other hand, I like the variety of entertainment on Princess, including the live music. Always a house band (pop/rock), guitarists, pianists, usually a classical music group in the Piazza. Our last two cruises were the Hawaiian ones and we enjoyed listening to Elua playing just about every day.

[marco]

Since nearly everyone seems to want a 7 day cruise for $299...gotta cut costs somewhere!