Norwegian entertainment

[Lionkingrichard]

So we can't reserve shows anymore online? 

 

Only once onboard or not at all?

 

Thanks.

[ready2cruzagain]

32 minutes ago, Lionkingrichard said:

So we can't reserve shows anymore online? 

 

Only once onboard or not at all?

 

Thanks.

Yes, you can still reserve main theater show. On the Epic for 7 days there was only Burn the Floor that you could reserve online since that is the only show they have

[geneticfreak]

20 hours ago, UKstages said:

not sure that there is any connection whatsoever to the casino.

 

i don't think many choose to play in the casino instead of attending shows.

 

i spend a lot of time in the casino myself, but i also go to most shows in the theatre and i think NCL's shift away from broadway shows and full scale production reviews is a dangerous trend.

 

and it's not just moving away from broadway shows, it's the dumbing down of everything else... including using recorded music tracks for singers and other entertainers. and booking solo acts like violinists. it's not cruise ship entertainment and has no wow factor.

 

as for "kinky boots" or "footloose" playing to half empty houses... you can't run the same show for five or six years and not have a drop off in attendance when you have so many repeat cruisers. it has nothing to do with the demographics of the audience. it has much more to do with the fact that people have already seen those shows. people flock to the game shows not because of demographics or because they necessarily love game shows... they go because those shows are new and different within a cruise context.

 

this too shall pass. 

I agree, solo acts should be add-ons with just a limited couple week run. We’ve been on Breakaway 3 times and saw Rock of Ages multiple times each trip, because it might be the ultimate Gen X show. Not sure if anything is going to be added to the line up when we are on in September. At least we will get to see Million Dollar Quartet next week. 

[weisla]

I love the big production shows and so does my 10yo son! My husband, not so much, he is not a fan of musical theater, but we all loved Elements on the Joy last year. This is not merely an aging demographic issue. So many more families with kids are cruising and won’t be partaking in adults only comedy shows or risqué game shows. I for one (of my demographic) was disappointed to hear that NCL is cutting even more production shows.

[UKstages]

other than the "newlywed game" ripoff that NCL does (typically in the atrium), the NCL licensed game shows (such as "price" and "press" and "wheel") are about as tame and G-rated as they possibly could be. they are often high in swarm from a stepford-husband type of host, but risqué? hardly.

 

kids are far better off at any of those game shows than "donna" or "six" or "jersey boys" or "footloose" or "burn the floor" or MDQ, all of which feature adult themes and overt sexuality. even the kid-friendly "beetlejuice" features the same adult themes. so, i'm not sure why you would beleive that the game show trend means they are somehow walking away from family-friendly entertainment.

[jcscv]

The entertainment is what brought me to NCL. The first time I sailed with NCL, they had the show Rock of Ages as the main show, and Six as the second show.  Between that and Syd Normans Pour House, I thought I had found the perfect cruise line for me.  Then I saw Kinky Boots and Jersey Boys and was even more impressed.  Without these shows and having to wait in line for an hour to get into Syd Normans', I feel like I've lost what brought me to the cruise line originally. I am not a game show person, so I have little interest in going to see that in the theater, or Atrium. I still find enough to keep me coming back to NCL, but I am starting to look at different cruise lines' itineraries and am open to booking with them more-so now.

[weisla]

17 minutes ago, UKstages said:

other than the "newlywed game" ripoff that NCL does (typically in the atrium), the NCL licensed game shows (such as "price" and "press" and "wheel") are about as tame and G-rated as they possibly could be. they are often high in swarm from a stepford-husband type of host, but risqué? hardly.

 

kids are far better off at any of those game shows than "donna" or "six" or "jersey boys" or "footloose" or "burn the floor" or MDQ, all of which feature adult themes and overt sexuality. even the kid-friendly "beetlejuice" features the same adult themes. so, i'm not sure why you would beleive that the game show trend means they are somehow walking away from family-friendly entertainment.

Fair enough, I was thinking of shows like the Newlywed game ripoff. I guess my point is that appealing to younger cruisers is not a legitimate excuse to cut higher quality production shows and substitute game shows. 

[thedoc29ca]

Put us in the group who liked and will miss the large production shows that were featured on NCL’s larger ships.   Our first family cruise was on the Carnival Liberty and we enjoyed ourselves but found the entertainment in the evening lacking.   
 

Blue Man Group and Cirque on Epic got us hooked on NCL. We do enjoy the smaller musical acts as well but have been disappointed with the cutbacks in entertainment.  

[Sailing12Away]

On 3/2/2024 at 11:22 PM, living at the beach said:

I’m just curious. First of all itinerary is important to me. Then the general vibe on the ship and I like going casual but still nice so  Norwegian has been my cruise line of choice. And so if entertainment after dinner isn’t important at all, what do you do? You say not the casino, so watching tv in your cabin- with so many fewer options than ant land based resort or even your home tv, so again how is after dinner entertainment not an issue?

Just got off Epic today, and the majority of nights after dinner we retreated to the Haven bar. If we weren't in the Haven, we would have found a different bar on the main decks that had the best offerings and made that our home away from home. 

Would stay there chatting with friends until 1am, so lots of fun to be made on your own when you're with the right company.

 

10 hours ago, FPMoosally said:

But in general, what we do after dinner is drink a lot.

 

Same

 

9 hours ago, UKstages said:

and don't get me started about how it's impossible to enjoy a meal in the local (or o'sheehan's) on most ships without the clatter and din of whatever nonsense is being done in the atrium.

I had forgotten how bad it is in there at times. The one time we at at O'Sheehans on this recent trip was during some crazy loud activity. Couldn't hear ourselves talk and was not a pleasant experience at all. Made it a one and forever done for us going forward.

[Sailing12Away]

For us coming from NY, the broadway style shows are nice, but not something we feel are a MUST do as we have access to some top notch stuff at home. 

 

We were big fans of Price is Right on Prima, that was a lot of fun, free to participate, and had lots of chances for audience members to be called up and win decent stuff.

 

Wheel of Fortune was a big bust and not worth it at all. If they start advertising the prizes ahead of time, my guess is there will be barely any seats paying for chances to play. And even for those who do, only 3 people total play the entire game. Not sure why they don't rotate the contestants out each round like they did on Price is Right.

[UKstages]

5 hours ago, weisla said:

I guess my point is that appealing to younger cruisers is not a legitimate excuse to cut higher quality production shows and substitute game shows. 

i agree, but i’m not sure where this rumor began that NCL was cutting full scale broadway entertainment to appeal to younger cruisers. (actually, now that I’ve thought about it, i do know how and by whom this rumor started, at least on cruise critic!) if they want to appeal to younger cruisers, they should be increasing their commitment to broadway-style shows. the average age of the broadway theatregoer in the 2022 - 2023 season was just 40.4 years.

 

NCL is cutting large production shows because they are ridiculously expensive to produce and maintain. end of story.

 

saying they are doing it to appeal to younger cruisers would be like saying that they cut out smoked salmon at the buffet and removed cookies and veuve and 2X daily housekeeping and a second haven lobster to appeal to younger cruisers. or older cruisers. or the LGBTQIA+ community. or kids. or nurses. or accountants. no, they didn’t. they did those things to save money. that does not preclude any of those people from liking or supporting those changes. but they didn’t do it for them.

 

same thing with broadway shows.

 

1 hour ago, Sailing12Away said:

I had forgotten how bad it is in there at times. The one time we at at O'Sheehans on this recent trip was during some crazy loud activity.

 

say what you will about the prima class ships (and i’ve said a lot), this is one huge advantage of them. the local is shielded from atrium nonsense. if you dine outside at the local, you might occasionally hear some screams from those using the slides, but other than that, it’s a quiet meal in the local on prima class ships.

[PATRLR]

2 hours ago, UKstages said:

if they want to appeal to younger cruisers, they should be increasing their commitment to broadway-style shows. the average age of the broadway theatregoer in the 2022 - 2023 season was just 40.4 years.

 

Interesting fact right there.  I wanted to know the trend so went looking and stumbled upon the part you left out:  

• The average age of the Broadway theatregoer was 40.4 years old. That was the youngest in the past twenty seasons.

https://www.usitt.org/news/broadway-demographics-report-reveals-increased-audience-diversity-overall-attendance-trending

 

A comment worth repeating:

2 hours ago, UKstages said:

NCL is cutting large production shows because they are ridiculously expensive to produce and maintain. end of story.

Edited March 4 by PATRLR

[david_sobe]

14 hours ago, UKstages said:

watching so-called atrium "entertainment" featuring married couples, tweens and teens and trivia rockstar wannabes reminds me of when i'm asked to do self checkout at target or CVS. just exactly who are the professionals here?

 

if i wanted to see my fellow passengers embarrass themselves, i'd head to a casino bar at 1 AM or - literally - any karaoke event in any club onboard or onshore.

 

and watching the solos, duos and trios in the atrium makes me sad. if i wanted to see that, i'd go to youtube and watch nick the lounge singer sing the star wars theme song. 

 

and don't get me started about how it's impossible to enjoy a meal in the local (or o'sheehan's) on most ships without the clatter and din of whatever nonsense is being done in the atrium.

I want you and Bird to do the perfect couple game together.  Popping balloons on each other's lap would be the highlight of the cruise for me.  Possibly even worth an upcharge to see.  The Perfect Couple game is one of my favorites.

[Asawi]

3 hours ago, UKstages said:

i agree, but i’m not sure where this rumor began that NCL was cutting full scale broadway entertainment to appeal to younger cruisers. (actually, now that I’ve thought about it, i do know how and by whom this rumor started, at least on cruise critic!)

 

<snip> 

 

NCL is cutting large production shows because they are ridiculously expensive to produce and maintain. end of story.

 

Yes, of course! To suggest that they replace Broadway style shows with game shows to appeal to younger cruisers of course was just silly! 

 

It's OBVIOUSLY about cost! Don't know how anyone could think differently!

[Distinctive-Destinations]

9 minutes ago, Asawi said:

Don't know how anyone could think differently!

It could be from surveys or other feedback. It could be from increasing sales trends implying a higher demand.

[Buford T Justiice]

On 3/2/2024 at 8:25 PM, BirdTravels said:

For "old" cruisers like me, I will continue to sail regardless of what is in the theater. I am a Diamond member on NCL, Royal, and MSC. It is really the younger demographic, those cruisers who will sustain the business for the decades to come, that the cruise line cater to. While a show like Kinky Boots would fill less than half the theater per showing, the game show (Wheel of Fortune) seems to have a bigger draw. The Price is Right and Press Your Luck were always full on the new ships. 

Indeed. I remarked to the spouse on our recent Getaway cruise that we are no longer the target demographic... especially after the viewing the prime-time couples show in the atrium.  The specific bit where the male used the kitchen ladle and the female used the frying pan was kind of shocking. 

[bkrickles1]

51 minutes ago, Buford T Justiice said:

The specific bit where the male used the kitchen ladle and the female used the frying pan was kind of shocking. 

I want to hear more about this! Lol!!

[cruiser2015]

On 3/3/2024 at 8:45 AM, hallux said:

I've always enjoyed the theater shows on cruises, and having 4 nights of them on a 7 night cruise (two for each show) has been nice.  However, on my 15-night cruise there were STILL only 4 nights of the main theater shows, leading to lots of 'filler' nights.  I still found plenty to do!  As disappointing as it is to have some of the shows go away, I feel like having to only fill an extra night (if I only went to one performance of each of the shows) isn't going to be a deal-breaker for me.

 

Side note - on the ships with SIX I feel like it could have actually been the superior show, yet there was ALWAYS extra seating for that show and the other show typically packed the house.  

True enough.

But when the "filler" is The Beatles Experience, it can't be (all) bad....yeah, yeah, yeah...

[CruiseMH]

On 3/3/2024 at 2:25 AM, BirdTravels said:

 The Price is Right and Press Your Luck were always full on the new ships. 

The question is for how long.

[cruiser2015]

20 hours ago, Lionkingrichard said:

So we can't reserve shows anymore online? 

 

Only once onboard or not at all?

 

Thanks.

Only main theater MAJOR shows - typically 2 shows per cruise.

So, not a lone singer, comedian or magician.

[UKstages]

1 hour ago, cruiser2015 said:

But when the "filler" is The Beatles Experience, it can't be (all) bad....yeah, yeah, yeah...

 

it can if "paul" can't sing.

 

invariably, out of the four beatles onboard certain NCl ships, there are a couple who look really good, but can't sing and a couple who look like andy williams and paul williams and can sing.

 

by the way, as far as "the beatles" are concerned... for those who really think that NCL is going after "younger cruisers," that's a hell of a way to court them... with a tribute band of a group whose last concert was nearly 60 years ago! most younger cruisers don't know who the beatles are and are unfamiliar with most of their songs. if they really wanted to shift to catering to younger cruisers, they would produce a show called "swiftmania" (not taylor swift, but an incredible simulation).

[Canbylancer]

I do pick a ship partly for the entertainment.  I sailed on the Epic shortly after it launched and saw a Cirque show, American Superstars, and Blue Man group.  I was wowed and hooked on the experience.  I compare cruising to an all inclusive land based vacation, the entertainment was always better on ships, that is not so anymore.   Last cruise they cancelled the play 1 month before I sailed and we got just Choir of Man (good show).  It was a boring week.   

[cruiseny4life]

14 minutes ago, UKstages said:

they would produce a show called "swiftmania" (not taylor swift, but an incredible simulation).

You're right! We watched the Taylor Swift concert a couple weeks ago. All three glorious hours! I'd definitely go to a Taylor show onboard...but I'm guessing NCL won't pony up the bucks to license her music for live performance. Maybe some Gaga...heck, she was most before my time, but Madonna even. Anything but the Beatles or Fleetwood Mac. Please! Heck, I'd go for some Blake Shelton. 

[bkrickles1]

3 minutes ago, UKstages said:

 

it can if "paul" can't sing.

 

invariably, out of the four beatles onboard certain NCl ships, there are a couple who look really good, but can't sing and a couple who look like andy williams and paul williams and can sing.

 

by the way, as far as "the beatles" are concerned... for those who really think that NCL is going after "younger cruisers," that's a hell of a way to court them... with a tribute band of a group whose last concert was nearly 60 years ago! most younger cruisers don't know who the beatles are and are unfamiliar with most of their songs. if they really wanted to shift to catering to younger cruisers, they would produce a show called "swiftmania" (not taylor swift, but an incredible simulation).

I've thoroughly enjoyed the Beatles tribute bands on board.

I've seen 3 of them now on 3 different sailings and, at the very least, they were all entertaining.

The first one I saw on Encore in 2020 was so much fun and the last one I saw on Joy this past July was very talented.

 

To your other point, my daughter and her bf (both 22 at the time) sailed with us in 2022 on Joy and were both standing and singing along throughout the show we attended in the Cavern Club. And my daughter may be the biggest Swiftie in the world (lol).

The Beatles and their music is timeless and will attract people of all ages!

 

[bkrickles1]

3 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

Anything but the Beatles or Fleetwood Mac. 

Blasphemy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!