Disappointing ballroom dancing on QM2.

[Fox trotter]

We have enjoyed four previous Cunard cruises, two which were on QM2. Our main reason for choosing Cunard, is that we are keen ballroom dancers who enjoy, ballroom, Latin and sequence dancing and love to dance each evening in the Queens room.

 

On previous cruises we have enjoyed pre dinner dancing to recorded music, a dedicated hosted sequence session and dancing to the Queen's room dance band from 9 pm until late.

 

On our recent cruise to Norway on QM2, we were very disappointed with the dance events. Pre dinner dancing was available most nights, but the unannounced recorded music left a lot to be desired. Whoever chose the music obviously had little knowledge of ballroom and Latin music. Sometimes it was impossible to determine exactly which dance the music related to. Often we would see experienced dancers attempting to dance to a track, but finding it impossible.

 

There were no sequence dance sessions.

 

After dinner on the first night, we made our way to the Queens room hoping to dance to the dance band, but surprised to find it was 'party night' with a female singer and a guitarist. After a while we felt there wasn't going to be any ballroom dancing and retreated to the theatre.

 

During the seven night cruise I think we had three ballroom dance nights and four party nights. The ballroom dance nights would have been ok, but the female singer insisted on singing to every song and even when the band had a short break she carried on singing to her own recorded music. I'm sure she was a good singer, but perhaps not suited to ballroom music, and she was extremely loud. The male singer had a habit of strolling around the dance floor with a wireless microphone.

 

On all our previous cruises there had been an afternoon tea dance usually on the last sea day, and we looked forward to this. However when the days program arrived, there was no tea dance to be seen.

 

So overall, a very disappointing cruise for dancing. I wonder if this is now the norm for Cunard, or maybe just QM2. If this is the case, then I think we will need to think twice before booking again with Cunard. 

 

Would love to hear other dancers experiences on recent cruises on any of the ships.

 

 

Edited July 31 by Fox trotter

[ShipboardSteve]

This situation appeared to be how the management wished to run the ballroom dancing on Queen Anne, and from discussions with staff it was expected that ballroom dancing would be downplayed further on the new ship over the course of the year, but it was suggested that this would not be extended to the other three ships. It is sad to hear that this seem to have happened on QM2 also.

[WantedOnVoyage]

I wish I could sit in on a modern course in "cruise management" or 'cruise marketing" and hear some of the course topics:

 

1. The Importance to Aspire to New Customer by Alienating Present Ones.

2. "It Would be Ever So Nice if You Weren't Here":  Tips To Avoid the Annoyance of Repeat Customers

3.  "Are They All Old Fogies": How to Aspire to Attracting Hip Gen Z Cruise Passengers

4.  Identifying 12 core values of your product that you can whittle away within two or three seasons.

 

I suspect there is no room for "auditing" such classes as they must be packed for every company... including Cunard has nothing but their graduates running the company now it seems.

[Tonopah]

We had a similar situation our last time on QM2. We were assured they still valued the ballroom dancers but then many nights there were special shows or parties in the Queen’s Room and the band was terrible. Not ballroom music at all. That was November 2022.

[Victoria2]

5 minutes ago, WantedOnVoyage said:

I wish I could sit in on a modern course in "cruise management" or 'cruise marketing" and hear some of the course topics:

 

1. The Importance to Aspire to New Customer by Alienating Present Ones.

2. "It Would be Ever So Nice if You Weren't Here":  Tips To Avoid the Annoyance of Repeat Customers

3.  "Are They All Old Fogies": How to Aspire to Attracting Hip Gen Z Cruise Passengers

4.  Identifying 12 core values of your product that you can whittle away within two or three seasons.

 

I suspect there is no room for "auditing" such classes as they must be packed for every company... including Cunard has nothing but their graduates running the company now it seems.

It was interesting to see how busy the Queens Room was on QA.

 

Maybe the appeal of a busy area attractive to non ball room dancers just might be a bit of an incentive to add evenings 'for all', as well as dancers, to the nightly programme.

 

We certainly enjoyed the live music on a couple of occasions last week and the week before.

[WantedOnVoyage]

Or one can contemplate a deserted Yacht Club on QUEEN VICTORIA, once packed with live music, and devoid of life (or sound) during "Silent Disco"....

[NE John]

I welcome the mix of ballroom and “party” music. I agree that even some of the ballroom music we’ve recently heard has been odd with poor timing and clumsy incorporations of modern songs to a waltz or two step. I do agree that the atmosphere in the QR is not as special than it was from our first experience on QM2 in 2008. 
On the other hand, the QR dance floor is now very filled on party nights while sporting a less energetic atmosphere with strictly ballroom dancing offered. The trend may be towards seeing ballroom dancing only on Gala Nights? And yes, I find the Silent Disco doesn’t add to Cunard’s idea of creating a “Sense of Occasion”. Part of any dancing is to be part of the crowd and I hope this silent disco runs its course. 
Pax do want a mix and it shows; the QR was rollicking as much as I’ve ever seen when the Beatlemania band played two sets on QE last month. 

[D&N]

We plan to delay our next booking. We are booked on QM2 in June 2025 and September 2026. We had planned to make it an annual event from June 2025, but with the dry dock in June 2026 that wasn't an option. I've decided I couldn't face leaving here for that length of time again so soon after September 2026 so we'll miss June 2027 and probably book for June 2028.

The other issue is release dates. If 2027 is released next March, we'd be booking that before even making our next B2B crossings.

 

I'd rather review any onboard changes before booking another trip. We're quite flexible dancers and will dance to almost anything and in whatever space is available. Beatlemania seems fine to me, I'd be able to fit a ballroom or latin dance to most of their tracks that I can recall. But if we can't dance every night we won't be making any more bookings.

 

We don't go to watch or listen to any of the other entertainment on offer.

[NE John]

The floor was pretty packed during Beatlemania to do a ballroom stroll…You’ll probably have better luck for ballroom dancing on disco night. 
Here’s a picture from Beatlemania on QE’s QR. It was the last night of the cruise so quite a few people were dressed more casually than during the rest of the cruise. 

Edited July 31 by NE John

[Jules.]

Fox trotter, I was on the same cruise and am not a dancer, though I really wish I was. Our party of six really enjoyed watching all the dancers glide around the floor, no matter what the music. It was a pleasure watching and I’m sorry that you didn’t get the afternoon tea dance, or that the music was more suited to dancing. 

[ClaireRuss]

3 hours ago, Fox trotter said:

We have enjoyed four previous Cunard cruises, two which were on QM2. Our main reason for choosing Cunard, is that we are keen ballroom dancers who enjoy, ballroom, Latin and sequence dancing and love to dance each evening in the Queens room.

 

On previous cruises we have enjoyed pre dinner dancing to recorded music, a dedicated hosted sequence session and dancing to the Queen's room dance band from 9 pm until late.

 

On our recent cruise to Norway on QM2, we were very disappointed with the dance events. Pre dinner dancing was available most nights, but the unannounced recorded music left a lot to be desired. Whoever chose the music obviously had little knowledge of ballroom and Latin music. Sometimes it was impossible to determine exactly which dance the music related to. Often we would see experienced dancers attempting to dance to a track, but finding it impossible.

 

There were no sequence dance sessions.

 

After dinner on the first night, we made our way to the Queens room hoping to dance to the dance band, but surprised to find it was 'party night' with a female singer and a guitarist. After a while we felt there wasn't going to be any ballroom dancing and retreated to the theatre.

 

During the seven night cruise I think we had three ballroom dance nights and four party nights. The ballroom dance nights would have been ok, but the female singer insisted on singing to every song and even when the band had a short break she carried on singing to her own recorded music. I'm sure she was a good singer, but perhaps not suited to ballroom music, and she was extremely loud. The male singer had a habit of strolling around the dance floor with a wireless microphone.

 

On all our previous cruises there had been an afternoon tea dance usually on the last sea day, and we looked forward to this. However when the days program arrived, there was no tea dance to be seen.

 

So overall, a very disappointing cruise for dancing. I wonder if this is now the norm for Cunard, or maybe just QM2. If this is the case, then I think we will need to think twice before booking again with Cunard. 

 

Would love to hear other dancers experiences on recent cruises on any of the ships.

 

 

This is indeed disappointing. We are keen ballroom dancers and had a fanastic voyage last year on QV and we're booked on QV later this year too. Ballroom dancing in the Queens Room is very much my reason for booking with Cunard. If they diminish it then there's really no reason for me to book again.

[D&N]

19 hours ago, NE John said:

The floor was pretty packed during Beatlemania to do a ballroom stroll

More likely to be latin. There are steps in Cha-Cha, Rhumba, Samba & Jive that can be done virtually on the spot. We can probably take up less space than those who just throw themselves about to the music. Elementary Salsa and Mambo are other options and we don't know any other steps in those dances anyway.

 

We're on the floor quicker than most and start a Quickstep or Foxtrot if music suits that, dropping to Social Foxtrot (might be known as One-Step Foxtrot in US?) as the floor fills. We can often thread between disco dancers as it's really just a sort of walking to the music. And there's a couple of steps in Waltz and Social Foxtrot that keep you in the same place. If all else fails we're able to change dance part way through a track.

 

I see enough space for us in that photo!

[Dancer Bob]

I have a friend, gold-level dancer, who just spent two weeks on QV with non-dance friends (Croatian ancestry, in the Adriatic). I don't know how much time she spent in the QR and she was rushing to a dance lesson, we didn't talk much.

She says the music was adequate. Two dance hosts (obviously not gold-level) and a teacher (I think a couple). They changed after the first week, but she felt all were acceptable. She doesn't think there were many single women, the hosts weren't overwhelmed.

The photo above, real dancers would be wearing proper dance shoes even if casual. It looks like it would have been a very poor experience, nowhere near worth what Cunard charges.

Somewhere, somebody posted about alleged "partners" wearing earphones, not even dancing to the same music.

Sounds like "hit-or-miss experience" is a generous evaluation.

[NE John]

1 hour ago, Dancer Bob said:

Somewhere, somebody posted about alleged "partners" wearing earphones, not even dancing to the same music.

Sounds like "hit-or-miss experience" is a generous evaluation.

Yes - Silent Disco nights are now on every Cunard ship at least one night per voyage. That’s the headphone wearing dancing you’re referring to and usually held in G32 or the Yacht Club. Those two venues also host Karaoke nights (sometimes performers are impressively good/sometimes painful…always too much ABBA!) There’s a small but devoted bunch who really enjoyed Silent Disco and it looks like this trend isn’t going away. 

[NE John]

1 hour ago, Dancer Bob said:

I have a friend, gold-level dancer, who just spent two weeks on QV with non-dance friends (Croatian ancestry, in the Adriatic). I don't know how much time she spent in the QR and she was rushing to a dance lesson, we didn't talk much.

She says the music was adequate. Two dance hosts (obviously not gold-level) and a teacher (I think a couple). They changed after the first week, but she felt all were acceptable. She doesn't think there were many single women, the hosts weren't overwhelmed.

The photo above, real dancers would be wearing proper dance shoes even if casual. It looks like it would have been a very poor experience, nowhere near worth what Cunard charges.

Somewhere, somebody posted about alleged "partners" wearing earphones, not even dancing to the same music.

Sounds like "hit-or-miss experience" is a generous evaluation.

Also, the above picture wasn’t really a dance night, it was a Beatlemania band that happened to play in the QR on QE. That band also played to standing room only crowded at the Royal Court Theater. There was zero expectations to dance in the QR when they played their set that night hence the lack of proper dancing shoes. 

[NE John]

Finally, will it be a self-fulfilling prophecy when many ballroom dancers drop Cunard (for what line I’m not sure) then Cunard sees fewer ballroom dancers onboard then use that data to use the QR for other forms of entertainment?

[Dancer Bob]

The self-fulfilling prophecy has been around for quite a while. Years ago, I could count on a couple of good dancers (follow anything I could lead) and several I could work with. I won't refuse to dance with anyone who can keep time time with the music, but now anything beyond waddling is rare. My last time on QE, there was one lady who danced, the hosts were lined up to dance with her. A very mediocre experience at a high price. I now only travel on Cunard with friends. And from what I can see in recent posts, it's getting worse. Paying full price for a no-dancing evening- I'll consider myself warned.

[Victoria2]

On 8/13/2024 at 1:37 AM, NE John said:

Finally, will it be a self-fulfilling prophecy when many ballroom dancers drop Cunard (for what line I’m not sure) then Cunard sees fewer ballroom dancers onboard then use that data to use the QR for other forms of entertainment?

Or maybe, if 'serious' dancers, who seem to make heavy weather of 'lightweights' who have the guts and  daring to get up and dance amongst them, decide to waltz off to other ballrooms at sea, those who fancy a bit of a twirl round the dance floor but are put off by 'experts' can get up and enjoy themselves.

It's a cruise, not a marine branch of 'Strictly'.

[D&N]

46 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

Or maybe, if 'serious' dancers, who seem to make heavy weather of 'lightweights' who have the guts and  daring to get up and dance amongst them, decide to waltz off to other ballrooms at sea, those who fancy a bit of a twirl round the dance floor but are put off by 'experts' can get up and enjoy themselves.

It's a cruise, not a marine branch of 'Strictly'.

I don't understand where this comes from.

Perhaps you've seen some rogue couples on the floors over the years?

Most dancers are hobby dancers, they don't go in for competitions. They might take medals because their teachers tell them that it's a measure of their progress. The teachers probably don't make a big thing of them making a bit more cash out of the extra tuition the pupils get roped into and from the medal sessions themselves. We were never interested in medals.

But the most important thing that's drilled into almost all pupils is to watch out for others and not crash into them.

I keep going on about Tony & Maria's videos. Here's one; watch on the right side of the floor for the smallish lady in white/cream dress and red & black platform stilettoes. That couple are hardly moving. I don't think it's anything to do with her footwear, but she looks as if she's holding her partner up. All the other couples are managing to avoid them. They generally have different styles, I have my favourites amongst them, they're usually dancing different steps, but they all get round the floor without accidents.

If that couple can get up and move in that manner whilst the 'experts' are dancing then any novice or non dancer couple that wants to move around the floor could as well.

 

 

Edited August 16 by D&N
typos

[Victoria2]

D&N , are you saying you haven't read CC comments over the years  from the serious dancers who give of their opinions on how and where the holiday twirlers should dance?

That's where #18 comes from.

[D&N]

1 minute ago, Victoria2 said:

D&N , are you saying you haven't read CC comments over the years  from the serious dancers who give of their opinions on how and where the holiday twirlers should dance?

That's where #18 comes from.

There haven't been that many. Most like me talk about floor craft. That's something that experts should have and novices are just learning.

Did you watch the video? Did you see anyone crash into them? Did they look intimidated?

[Victoria2]

Just now, D&N said:

There haven't been that many. Most like me talk about floor craft. That's something that experts should have and novices are just learning.

Did you watch the video? Did you see anyone crash into them? Did they look intimidated?

I think you'll find quite a few comments have been made over the years. Enough to elicit responses from potential  twirlers who are intimidated by the thought of being judged,

But

like many comments on CC, reality is not necessarily the picture painted by a few CC members. So if those who are put out in print by smaller dance floors/twirlers who are novices who have no notion of floor craft, have no intention of learning but just want to give it a go without subjecting themselves to instructions and so might get in the way, waltz off to other cruise lines, that can only be a good thing for mainstream Cunard dancers.

 

[D&N]

6 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

I think you'll find quite a few comments have been made over the years. Enough to elicit responses from potential  twirlers who are intimidated by the thought of being judged,

But

like many comments on CC, reality is not necessarily the picture painted by a few CC members. So if those who are put out in print by smaller dance floors/twirlers who are novices who have no notion of floor craft, have no intention of learning but just want to give it a go without subjecting themselves to instructions and so might get in the way, waltz off to other cruise lines, that can only be a good thing for mainstream Cunard dancers.

 

You didn't answer any of the questions: Did you watch the video? Did you see anyone crash into them? Did they look intimidated?

Perhaps you've no intention of doing so?

 

But your response is confusing, perhaps just your wording, but are you suggesting it would be a good thing for novices to be scared off? I certainly don't agree with that, the more dancers of any capability that get up and have a go the better. The floors on Cunard ships are huge, there's plenty of space for everyone.

[exlondoner]

2 minutes ago, D&N said:

You didn't answer any of the questions: Did you watch the video? Did you see anyone crash into them? Did they look intimidated?

Perhaps you've no intention of doing so?

 

But your response is confusing, perhaps just your wording, but are you suggesting it would be a good thing for novices to be scared off? I certainly don't agree with that, the more dancers of any capability that get up and have a go the better. The floors on Cunard ships are huge, there's plenty of space for everyone.

When my husband was a very young man, ballroom dancing was the sort of dancing people did, and in his case how he met girls, I think. It seems to have taken place on very crowded dance floors, with people who were not expert dancers, but just sort of knew what to do. How did they manage?

 

I occasionally watch the ballroom dancing, so I have some idea how that goes. What about the other sort of dancing which takes place to pop music I dislike? Do people crash into each other doing that? Is there a code of conduct?

[Victoria2]

12 minutes ago, D&N said:

You didn't answer any of the questions: Did you watch the video? Did you see anyone crash into them? Did they look intimidated?

Perhaps you've no intention of doing so?

 

But your response is confusing, perhaps just your wording, but are you suggesting it would be a good thing for novices to be scared off? I certainly don't agree with that, the more dancers of any capability that get up and have a go the better. The floors on Cunard ships are huge, there's plenty of space for everyone.

No. Not watched the video as I don't need to. I haven't seen any crashes.

 

My point is the opposite of saying 'no novices.. Totally opposite. It's  about those who possibly inadvertently, put off novices by comments on how to dance/where to dance and all the talk of floorcraft  and serious dance stuff for those who just want to get up and give it a go so please point our where I have said it would be a good thing to scare novices off.