Celebrity & Dancers out there - Please read

[lovetocruiseinvirginia]

Please Celebrity hear our cries! I understand that not everyone ballroom dances, however, we can all dance, ballroom and any other type of dance, to certain types of music. I have been on 15 plus Celebrity cruises, and quite frankly when I look around the majority by far are in the 50 plus age. However, you can still offer a vareity of music to include popular for this age group and other varities. Just not rap, or music that is unpleasant to hear in a cocktail environment. Just give us a nice variety and most of all look at your guests and appease to them. I am going to look at Royal Carribean and HAL and of course my only concern with HAL is the smoking on the balcony policy. Thanks for listening.

[Apex Cruiser]

While we haven't been thrilled with the dancing overall on our Celebrity cruises we have always found bands and places to dance. Totally agree on the dances in the atrium just not a good location, too small a floor and people rightfully wanting to walk through the area making it an obstacle course. However we have adjusted our schedule to follow the dance bands to different venues including before dinner dancing most every night. On each cruise there have been a group of couples who dance that start going to the same places. We dance typical ballroom but also hustle, swings and some latin so we have always been able to find dancing. Actually our biggest beef is with the times there are the big production dances. Impossible to really dance when a bunch of people are just standing or jumping on the dance floor. As far as the DJs we've avoided them mostly and noticed when we did go to a club there just weren't many people in them. We make sure to comment after each cruise that we'd like to have a better venue for dancing and more times with live bands that are dance bands and not just playing music.

[lakelady02]

Dancing to live music in a dedicated dance lounge used to be synonymous

 

 

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[lakelady02]

...with cruising. Too bad it's disappearing along with guest lecturers, an activity staff and room to walk between tables.

 

 

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[snow bunny]

DH and I "ballroom" dance. Our preference is newer music that has a beat to it that you can identifiy as whatever style you what to move to!! We can Cha Cha to most any music if we can identify the beat!!! I just hope onour next cruise we can find some space to dance as we will be testing out shortly after we get home so need to keep on grooving!!

 

snow bunny

[CruiseLady88]

Our group is thinking about Reflection for this November Caribbean and next May's Mediterranean cruise. If there is no good ballroom dance music, we will forget about this ship then. Will likely stick with Princess. They have a good live band for dancing.

[PSCruiser]

Our group is thinking about Reflection for this November Caribbean and next May's Mediterranean cruise. If there is no good ballroom dance music, we will forget about this ship then. Will likely stick with Princess. They have a good live band for dancing.

 

Well, possibly a ray of hope. My understanding is that the CD in question, Alex, got married and has parted ways with Celebrity. My opinion of Alex? - finding out he is CD on a ship would result in my immediate cancellation. The reason? - read post #1; arrogance unlimited, and could care less about the guest - unless that guest fits his concept of "modern chic".

[BecciBoo]

Re: Boleros on RC. I can't dance where I can't breathe. :eek:

It may have changed -- but, the last time (2011) I was on an RC ship, Boleros was a designated smoking area. I would have loved to have a drink, listen to the music (and yes, maybe dance a little). But most evenings, the smoke was so thick, I had to hold my breathe, just to walk through that area! :(

(don't know about Oasis or Allure)

 

Wow, that must've been a really long time ago. We've been sailing RCCL since 2004 and Bolero's was never a smoking area. The Casino a little way down the ship is and maybe you had smoke smell from there, although I can tell you we never have and we are non smokers. I wouldn't be able to go to Bolero's if that was the case and it is our favorite bar (love my Mojitos!)

[Cruise_Dancer]

Our group is thinking about Reflection for this November Caribbean and next May's Mediterranean cruise. If there is no good ballroom dance music, we will forget about this ship then. Will likely stick with Princess. They have a good live band for dancing.

 

Modern ships are not built for ballroom dancers. We take up a lot of space for an activity that produces no revenue. There are a few ships built with ballroom dancers in mind (Queen Mary 2 is the most well-known) but they're rare enough that that can be a draw in and of itself. My wife and I love to dance but we regard dancing on a cruise as a bonus, not something we expect. I do recommend working on "crush style" a.k.a. "rhythm dancing" to prepare for the dance floors you're likely to experience.

Edited June 28, 2016 by Cruise_Dancer

[CruiseLady88]

I personally think that ballroom dancers draw more fellow passengers to the lounge. When we and other fellow passengers danced in the piazza, more people came sit and watch. I saw them order more drink while we danced.

[Cruise_Dancer]

I personally think that ballroom dancers draw more fellow passengers to the lounge. When we and other fellow passengers danced in the piazza, more people came sit and watch. I saw them order more drink while we danced.

 

That may be true, but considering how many passengers now have drinks packages that's not going to boost their bottom line. It certainly doesn't hurt Celebrity to offer dancing, but they're not going to design public spaces with dancing in mind unfortunately.

[Carnevale]

I'm so disappointed after reading this thread. We've cruised a lot on HAL and after an extremely disappointing experience on the new Koningsdam, we are looking for another line where we might get more opportunities for ballroom dancing. We've been on a number of different lines, but haven't tried Celebrity yet so had picked out a 2017 cruise and were just doing the last check about dancing before deciding whether to book it or not. I don't think we will after reading this - guess we probably need to go back to Cunard or Crystal since we mainly cruise to dance.

 

Several on this thread noted they enjoyed the BB Kings on HAL as well as other dancing opportunities with the Band. We've never enjoyed the BB Kings as HAL keeps them playing at an excessive volume (we used ear plugs when on the Koningsdam). We tried to do different dances to their music but it didn't work well - mainly cha chas and some west coast swing and not much else. And they often played very long pieces with each musician taking a solo role for a time. Add to that the variety of tempi within any given song, and dancing wasn't great. We had the floor to ourselves almost all the time as all the other dancers we met onboard gave up.

 

On other HAL ships they have had the Band in the Ocean Bar and while the floors there are tiny and often oddly shaped, we've had fun dancing to their music (which usually is very good with great variety of ballroom appropriate tempi and style mixes). But, on the Koningsdam they put in only a round dance floor that is 12 feet across. And rather than the Band, they only have a pianist who said that playing music we could dance to wasn't in his contract. So, even if we could have made the 12' floor work for a rumba or another non-travelling dance, the music didn't work at all. We are hoping this move away from having the Band in the Ocean Bar is just on the Koningsdam but we are worried it might be the start of a change across the fleet.

 

It is so sad to see so many cruise lines move away from dancing. I guess they don't realize how many of us have this as a cruise priority and, as someone else on this thread noted, they haven't realized how many people will stop and have a drink in an area where they can watch others dance. We've been asked if the cruise line hired us to dance as a way of attracting others! Even if they aren't making money on those with beverage packages, they are getting low cost entertainment for both guests who dance and those who like to watch and listen to the music. Too bad all of this doesn't seem to count for much on many lines.

 

Thank you to all who posted here as you've really helped fill in the info we needed about the Celebrity onboard experience.

[Tiffanymom]

We have cruised on the Pacific Princess on segments of the world cruise. They have dancing in the Pacific lounge every day. They also have dance instructors for the sea days. These are not staff but real instructors. We have seen the same couple (instructors) for the past two years. They are beautiful dancers. This is a small ship -600- there was dancing before dinner every evening with a trio play live music. Yes it is old passengers 50-70. But have enjoyed the small ship experience. You might look at this cruise.

 

Pam

[hcat]

Reflection as a party ship. Watching re-runs of the Lawrence Welk Show would be more exciting!:roll eyes:

 

We were disappointed with the music on our last cruise with Reflection. The singers and dancers were excellent but the DJ, party band, etc. were not up to previous standards. A DJ around the pool just does not make it with us.

 

Would love a reggae /island band out at the pool on Carib itins... the more live music the better. We enjoy a DJ in the club upstairs but not all.over the ship. It has improved recently

[Mikeandme]

I'm so disappointed after reading this thread. We've cruised a lot on HAL and after an extremely disappointing experience on the new Koningsdam, we are looking for another line where we might get more opportunities for ballroom dancing. We've been on a number of different lines, but haven't tried Celebrity yet so had picked out a 2017 cruise and were just doing the last check about dancing before deciding whether to book it or not. I don't think we will after reading this - guess we probably need to go back to Cunard or Crystal since we mainly cruise to dance.

 

Several on this thread noted they enjoyed the BB Kings on HAL as well as other dancing opportunities with the Band. We've never enjoyed the BB Kings as HAL keeps them playing at an excessive volume (we used ear plugs when on the Koningsdam). We tried to do different dances to their music but it didn't work well - mainly cha chas and some west coast swing and not much else. And they often played very long pieces with each musician taking a solo role for a time. Add to that the variety of tempi within any given song, and dancing wasn't great. We had the floor to ourselves almost all the time as all the other dancers we met onboard gave up.

 

On other HAL ships they have had the Band in the Ocean Bar and while the floors there are tiny and often oddly shaped, we've had fun dancing to their music (which usually is very good with great variety of ballroom appropriate tempi and style mixes). But, on the Koningsdam they put in only a round dance floor that is 12 feet across. And rather than the Band, they only have a pianist who said that playing music we could dance to wasn't in his contract. So, even if we could have made the 12' floor work for a rumba or another non-travelling dance, the music didn't work at all. We are hoping this move away from having the Band in the Ocean Bar is just on the Koningsdam but we are worried it might be the start of a change across the fleet.

 

It is so sad to see so many cruise lines move away from dancing. I guess they don't realize how many of us have this as a cruise priority and, as someone else on this thread noted, they haven't realized how many people will stop and have a drink in an area where they can watch others dance. We've been asked if the cruise line hired us to dance as a way of attracting others! Even if they aren't making money on those with beverage packages, they are getting low cost entertainment for both guests who dance and those who like to watch and listen to the music. Too bad all of this doesn't seem to count for much on many lines.

 

Thank you to all who posted here as you've really helped fill in the info we needed about the Celebrity onboard experience.

DH and I sailed to Bermuda on the Summit in May, and we had wonderful dance music! We were thrilled as were the other dancers on the ship. They had a Latin band in Rendezvous as well as a rock band in Revelations. Sometimes, the bands swapped venues. There were also 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s dance parties in Revelations. All in all, there was lots of dancing. It was much nicer than my prior year's experience on the Summit, and I was grateful for it! Hopefully, the trend will continue.

[Ocean Dancer]

How is the Infinity for oldies/motown/baby boomer music?