What’s your favorite music act on any cruise past or present?

[rkacruiser]

20 hours ago, Love.II.Cruise said:

Thank you for sharing your photo!  Yes - when I talked of steel drum music - this is exactly what I remembered and LOVED!  It's the best.

 

I'll add this - we loved the dueling pianos on NCL - they had a female and a male pianist.  The next time we went it was 2 males.  NOT the same.  We were so disappointed.  I think they should always match a female and male as dualists.  JMHO

 

On HAL, I have experienced both a male/female duo as well as two males.  The male/female duo were much more enjoyable artists for this guest.  

[Cruzaholic41]

26 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

On HAL, I have experienced both a male/female duo as well as two males.  The male/female duo were much more enjoyable artists for this guest.  

In my opinion, Billboard on HAL is lame compared to Howl at the Moon on NCL. Unlike HAL, it’s a real dueling pianos act on NCL. 

[Shmoo here]

12 minutes ago, Cruzaholic41 said:

In my opinion, Billboard on HAL is lame compared to Howl at the Moon on NCL. Unlike HAL, it’s a real dueling pianos act on NCL. 

That's because, on HAL, they are "Dual Pianos".  Not "dueling".  Two piano players switching off playing music, sometimes playing together, complementing each other.  I much prefer that style.

 

 

[Aquahound]

18 hours ago, Cruzaholic41 said:

In my opinion, Billboard on HAL is lame compared to Howl at the Moon on NCL. Unlike HAL, it’s a real dueling pianos act on NCL. 

 

18 hours ago, Shmoo here said:

That's because, on HAL, they are "Dual Pianos".  Not "dueling".  Two piano players switching off playing music, sometimes playing together, complementing each other.  I much prefer that style.

 

 

When it comes to cruise ship piano bars, I prefer the single pianist who is talented and encourages crowd participation.  

 

I love Howl at the Moon......on land.  The one time I saw it on NCL (Escape), while they were very talented, the venue was set up with rows of hard chairs to create a performance-like setting.  Billboard on HAL has been a huge miss for me.  Both times, the entertainers were "meh" and the performances felt weak and underwhelming.  

 

Schooner Bar on RCI has been my favorite piano venue to date.  

[rkacruiser]

5 hours ago, Aquahound said:

When it comes to cruise ship piano bars, I prefer the single pianist who is talented and encourages crowd participation.  

 

 

That's what I prefer as well.  

 

For a change of music style, I did enjoy the Rolling Stone Rock Room on the Nieuw Statendam.  My complaint with that group was that their song book was so repetitive.  

 

The programming of Billboard on Board followed by the Rock Room followed by Billboard on Board, etc. in that same area of the ship was well conceived, I thought.  

[Love.II.Cruise]

On 9/1/2020 at 7:48 PM, rkacruiser said:

 

On HAL, I have experienced both a male/female duo as well as two males.  The male/female duo were much more enjoyable artists for this guest.  

I'm glad to hear someone agrees!  We have not been on HAL yet, but it is on our list.  We'd like to see a male/female duo.  

 

Someone is gonna laugh at this.  But we tipped $20 to the female pianist to play "Fancy"  by Iggy Izalea.  She WAS thrilled.  So many people got up to dance.  At the time I was 39 and had a blast! 

[Donald]

 

The Strings on the Titanic.

A very dedicated group.

[neverbeenhere]

5 hours ago, Donald said:

 

The Strings on the Titanic.

A very dedicated group.

 

Still too soon.

[lenquixote66]

On 9/2/2020 at 11:17 PM, Love.II.Cruise said:

I'm glad to hear someone agrees!  We have not been on HAL yet, but it is on our list.  We'd like to see a male/female duo.  

 

Someone is gonna laugh at this.  But we tipped $20 to the female pianist to play "Fancy"  by Iggy Izalea.  She WAS thrilled.  So many people got up to dance.  At the time I was 39 and had a blast! 

How many people on CC do you think know who Iggy Izalea is ? I do but my wife does not.😀

[Crew News]

On 8/30/2020 at 6:50 PM, rkacruiser said:

When the Nieuw Amsterdam was dedicated and in her early voyages, there was a group of 4  young tenors (I think) called Cantare that performed.  They were excellent and are memorable for their voices, the staging, etc.  (You Tube videos are available still, I think.)  

 

I rank their performances as the best that I have ever seen aboard a cruise ship.  I have spoken with Cruise Directors since that worked with them in lesser capacities and they are in agreement.  

 

I was on the first US cruise of the Nieuw Amsterdam and thought that Contare was good enough that I bought their CD.  I have that CD on my MP3 player and they get me into cruise mode whenever I fly to a cruise. 

[simplelife]

We had the most fun with Adam, the Tie-Dye Piano Guy on Conquest a few years ago.

 

[cayman09]

From the past, Sitmar's Fairwind had Mel Torme and his band (he actually played drums on a couple of numbers and was very good). He did multiple shows over 10 days.

Today, I love the B. B. King All Stars on HAL ships.

[lenquixote66]

15 hours ago, cayman09 said:

From the past, Sitmar's Fairwind had Mel Torme and his band (he actually played drums on a couple of numbers and was very good). He did multiple shows over 10 days.

Today, I love the B. B. King All Stars on HAL ships.

How many people do you think just googled Mel Torme ?

[cayman09]

Hahaha, probably quite a few. Just think The Christmas Song, Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.....he wrote it.

[ColeThornton]

6 minutes ago, cayman09 said:

Hahaha, probably quite a few. Just think The Christmas Song, Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.....he wrote it.

 

 

I didn't know that.  I remember him from my Dad playing his music a bunch.  His nickname was "The Velvet Fog" if I recall correctly.

[Caribbean Chris]

50 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

 

 

I didn't know that.  I remember him from my Dad playing his music a bunch.  His nickname was "The Velvet Fog" if I recall correctly.

That nickname flashed through my mind the instant I read his name. I’m sure you remember correctly.
 

But I wonder how many had to Google Sitmar! (Full disclosure: I worked for them briefly in the 1980s.)

[wwcruisers]

Aside from the charter jazz cruises we've taken, I think my favorite ship performer is Jordan Peterson -- a pianist/singer who does excellent Billy Joel covers (as well as Elton John and the Beatles). My DH and I saw Jordon on Celebrity Summit, as well as Celebrity Century, several years ago. I understand that he was also a very popular piano bar favorite on at least one Carnival Ship. For the past few years, I heard that he's moved his act to Walt Disney World, in Orlando -- unfortunately for those of us who enjoyed hearing him perform at sea!😎

[wwcruisers]

On 8/25/2020 at 2:04 PM, George C said:

What I find funny is how many groups are called the Platters or the Drifters. Even on my music charter while most have many original members some like the Guess who and Jefferson starship had none. 

 

George, your comment about J. Starship brought to mind their former guitarist, Craig Chaquico -- who is now a  prominent member of the jazz music scene. Sadly, I have never seen him featured on a charter jazz cruise. I would book pretty much any jazz cruise that featured him!

[George C]

17 hours ago, cayman09 said:

From the past, Sitmar's Fairwind had Mel Torme and his band (he actually played drums on a couple of numbers and was very good). He did multiple shows over 10 days.

Today, I love the B. B. King All Stars on HAL ships.

I was checking into a upscale hotel in New Orleans some 35 years ago and Mel Torme was checking in in front of me, I should have booked his show, I did see Al Hirt that weekend. 

[jocap]

On 9/2/2020 at 1:35 AM, Shmoo here said:

That's because, on HAL, they are "Dual Pianos".  Not "dueling".  Two piano players switching off playing music, sometimes playing together, complementing each other.  I much prefer that style.

 

 

I remember this name - 2 males, and the theatre's screens showed their hands as they played. This was on P&O Ventura in the Caribbean, and the duo had to leave the next morning to take complicated flights to the far east, to a Cunard ship doing a world cruise

[Hlitner]

On 9/8/2020 at 9:48 PM, cayman09 said:

From the past, Sitmar's Fairwind had Mel Torme and his band (he actually played drums on a couple of numbers and was very good). He did multiple shows over 10 days.

Today, I love the B. B. King All Stars on HAL ships.

We have a love/hate view of those BB King groups.  The problem is that it is not a normal band but rather a group of "pick-up bands" put together shortly before they work on a ship.  In many cases these musicians have not met each other until they do some land rehearsals.  They are required to have a limited repertoire of which very few numbers are BB King music (or arrangements).  We once had a fantastic BB King group.  But the last time we cruised on the Rotterdam we had a near-awful BB King group (smaller group due to the Crow's Next venue on that vessel).    

 

HAL has struggled with live music ideas in the past few years.  At one time HAL used to have some terrific Filipino bands on several vessels.  The line also had some excellent piano bar entertainers (when many of their ships actually had piano bars).  And many still remember the excellent Rosario String groups.  But in recent years the Rosario Strings (usually a very skilled quartet) morphed into hit or miss duets.  HAL went through their HAL Cat era (all pick up bands) which varied from pretty good to dreadful.  Hal also decided to jettison all of their brass players (and most woodwind musicians) which were replaced with strange small groups consisting of 2 keyboard players (one did piano and the other tried to mimic all the other instruments) a drummer and a guitar.  These groups often reminded me of that recorded garbage we used to hear at roller rinks.  On our most recent HAL cruises there were too many times in the evening when one could not find any live music!   DW and I would often head out for pre-dinner cocktails (about 6:30 pm) only to find that all the live music groups were on break until about 8pm!  

 

Hank

[lenquixote66]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

We have a love/hate view of those BB King groups.  The problem is that it is not a normal band but rather a group of "pick-up bands" put together shortly before they work on a ship.  In many cases these musicians have not met each other until they do some land rehearsals.  They are required to have a limited repertoire of which very few numbers are BB King music (or arrangements).  We once had a fantastic BB King group.  But the last time we cruised on the Rotterdam we had a near-awful BB King group (smaller group due to the Crow's Next venue on that vessel).    

 

HAL has struggled with live music ideas in the past few years.  At one time HAL used to have some terrific Filipino bands on several vessels.  The line also had some excellent piano bar entertainers (when many of their ships actually had piano bars).  And many still remember the excellent Rosario String groups.  But in recent years the Rosario Strings (usually a very skilled quartet) morphed into hit or miss duets.  HAL went through their HAL Cat era (all pick up bands) which varied from pretty good to dreadful.  Hal also decided to jettison all of their brass players (and most woodwind musicians) which were replaced with strange small groups consisting of 2 keyboard players (one did piano and the other tried to mimic all the other instruments) a drummer and a guitar.  These groups often reminded me of that recorded garbage we used to hear at roller rinks.  On our most recent HAL cruises there were too many times in the evening when one could not find any live music!   DW and I would often head out for pre-dinner cocktails (about 6:30 pm) only to find that all the live music groups were on break until about 8pm!  

 

Hank

We were on a cruise a few years ago that had a BB King singer .When he tried to be King he was not good.When he performed songs by other singers he was actually pretty good.

[ColeThornton]

9 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

........When he tried to be King he was not good.............

 

Did he try to be King or did he try to be be King?  

[lenquixote66]

7 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

 

Did he try to be King or did he try to be be King?  

He attempted to sing like B.B. and even said that he appeared at a club that B.B. owned in NYC .However,the more that he attempted to be be the worse he was.

Solely out of curiosity,if this is your real name were you named after Cole Porter ?

[ColeThornton]

5 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

He attempted to sing like B.B. and even said that he appeared at a club that B.B. owned in NYC .However,the more that he attempted to be be the worse he was.

Solely out of curiosity,if this is your real name were you named after Cole Porter ?

 

That was an attempt at humor on my part.  "be be King"   "BB King".  🙂

 

No sir, not my real name.  I'm a huge John Wayne fan.   Cole Thornton was his character in the movie El Dorado with Robert Mitchum, 1966.