Jump to content

Jazz Cruises?


WorldCruzer

Recommended Posts

Wayman Tisdale's cruise is going to be super!! If I cannot go on the North Sea Jazz Cruise in July, then I will book Tisdale's. Have you ever been to Aruba before ? Just finish loading onto my MP3 all the artist that will be on all the Smooth Jazz Cruises (North Sea, Tisdale's,Dave Koz's, Brian Culbertson's) so I'll be set when it comes to cruise time

 

One of the reason's for the slow recovery in New Orleans is due to the insurance issues and the slow pace of the Road Home Program and the lack of license contracters. If something doesn't change for the positve soon, many life long residents will move away, which will be sad, because this city is soooo special.

 

I'll know by the end of the month whether I will be able to do the North Sea in July. If not, I'll see you in January and I'll buy drinks for you and your significant others on deck as my way of saying thank you for helping with the recovery

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes we have been to the ports aruba curaco and half moon cay We normally rent a car in aruba and take off and see as many of the beaches as possible curaco not sure what we are going to do there. Half moon cay we go way down to the left and snorkle there use to be better or fair snorkeling right near where the tenders come in but I think they have screwed it up some how

 

It was a good that this year the hurricane season was light reading today where they moved yet another FEMA trailer park oh well I guess

 

Pete

Link to comment
Share on other sites

my favorite part of cruising to caruco, is when you first cruise in and see all the different color houses which reminds me of Holland

 

all over the local news today that the army corp of engineers had installed faulty pumps last year so if we had been hit with another major storm, the pumps would have failed..needless to say with the next hurricane season less than 75 days away, this was not the news we needed to hear..we were lucky last hurricane season, don't know if we will be so lucky again..then we just had the tornado hit 2 weeks ago so with the number of folks in FEMA trailers still, things are not good..jefferson parish has issued a notice to all citizens in fema trailers that they must be out of the trailers by april 1st or face major fines...i think it's more of a political ploy

 

wonder if we will be in aruba during their annual music festival. that would be very nice indeed...think i'll have to look it up as a way to divert my attention

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was reading that about the pumps and thought like you did, last year was a breeze but what if

 

Today the temp in nH was just about 72 degrees and fri and sat coming up in the thirtys with snow stuff oh well

 

I also coached softball at a tournament in abbeyville a few years ago

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

I just saw the web site. My husband is a huge jazz fan and a player. We are very interested in checking out the the European festivals in 2008 and then I saw the cruise:D ! Looks fantastic. I've been to the jazzcruise website. Looks reputable. Am usually pretty cautious with online booking.

 

It would be a huge splurge for us. From what I can see the caribbean one in Nov. is pretty full where as the N. Sea one for this July looks to have lots of availability in most categories.

 

Keep the feedback coming:)

 

Hattack, have been to NO jazz fest 3 times, last one being the year of Katrina. How's attendance been? Hope the recovery continues.

 

 

Elizabeth K.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

this year's Jazz Fest was very well attended (due in part to the number of big name acts), but not near the numbers of pre Katrina, plus the overall walk up price is getting higher ..however, Shell Corporation has agreed to be a corporate sponsor which will help alot in the near future, so I invite you to come on down for next years

 

The North Sea Jazz cruise still has cabins for sale (at a clearing price of 2K p/p for an inside) but the airfare will be higher but you might check on the website..The line up for the North Sea Jazz Festival has just been announced and it looks awesome !!!!! If you book the cruise you get VIP treatment at the Jazz Fest. I have never been to a European Jazz Festival before (one of my life's dreams) and I have never cruised to that part of the world so being able to go on the cruise appeals to me..It's still up in the air because of my job situation but I pray that God will come thru and provide a way

 

Both Dave Koz's and Wayman Tisdale's cruises are close to sell outs (and they will sell out before very long), so you may want to consider both of them. I suspect Wayman's cruise will be special because it will be his first public performance since the announcement of his cancer, so that will be special and will have lots of surprise guest performing, plus it goes to Aruba which is my favorite caribbean island and all day at HMC..I am so upset because this year it is the same week as Brian Culbertson's allstar cruise on the Elation out of San Diego. Since Brian's cruise was my first smooth jazz cruise I feel a loyalty to him...You may also want to check out the Capitol Jazz Cruise out of Baltimore in October on Royal Caribbean going to Bermuda for 5 days. Awesome line up at very affordable prices for a full charter

 

New Orleans recovery is very very very slow with lots of work still to be done but please keep us in your prayers and hope to see you on a full charter smooth jazz cruise soon. I'll let you know if I go on the North Sea one. As an added bonus the ship leaves out of Copenhagen on the first day of the Copenhagen Jazz Festival and ends on a Tuesday (17th) and is a short plane hop over to the last weekend of Montreux. WOW !!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Hattack,

 

I'll check out the Captitol Jazz Cruise to Bermuda you mentioned. We really can't book one this year tho. And DH is more a fan of the "classics" when it comes to jazz so he'd be less interested in the smooth jazz cruise. He works for the University and can most easily take vacation during their breaks.

 

I wonder when the prices dropped for the North Sea Cruise?

 

We saw a film at a film fest last March called Tim's Island that was shot during Katrina by some people who stayed together in one guys house, a converted warehouse, in NO. He was well equipped with a generator, a boat and a canoe. It was filmed over 8 days. Very incredible to see.

 

 

Thanks again:)

 

Elizabeth

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If your DH is a fan of classic jazz then you should seriously consider "thejazzcruise" you can find it on the same website that sponsors both the northsea and dave/wayman's charters which is very much oriented towards the classic traditional jazz gendre. Your DH and my GF would get along with each other very well, or as my GF is very fond of saying "smooth jazz is not real jazz" but then I always bring up Grover Washington JR, and that seems to quiet her down. She is doing her best to get me to go on that one (which is on the Westerdam and is doing a back to back with the Dave Koz smooth jazz charter). And then of course there is the" latin jazz cruise" on the Westerdam the week after Wayman's cruise (now, that would be some back to back cruising and overdosing on great music").

 

The beauty of the North Sea Jazz Cruise is that it is the perfect blending of traditional jazz (McCoy Tyner Trio, David Sanborn, Ulf Walkernius (he played guitar in the Oscar Peterson Quartet)and Roy Hargrove Quintet), some new wave jazz (Herbie Hancock, Marcus Miller, James Carter, Medeski,Scofiel, Wood), some great jazz vocalist (Dee Dee Bridgewater and Roberta Gambarni Quartet (Carter, Tyner,Gambarni and Hargrove were all at Jazz Fest this year and were absolutely awesome !!! was the perfect "teaser" for the upcoming cruise but my GF can't figure out why I would want to see them again in 3 months and pay more $$$$ for) and the smooth jazz representative non other then the great Kirk Whalum. Lionel Loueke will represent the emerging jazz sounds from South Africa (my other dream jazz experience is to attend the South African Jazz Festival in March 2008). Every artist on the cruise has either won or been nominated for a Jazz Grammy.

 

At the North sea festival in Rotterdam will be Sly and the Family Stone. I have not seen them live since Woodstock in 1969 (but that's a posting for another time).

 

Hope your husband's schedule will allow you both to do at least one jazz cruise. I did not evacuate during Katrina and the only saving grace during the actual storm was I had downloaded my MP3 player with jazz and listen to it while the wind was blowing 150 mph. Jazz kept my sanity !!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We've been on 3 jazz cruises and have to say they are far superior to the regualr cruises in that you access to the artists, you eat, and play with them for 7 days. We were blown away the first time we went in 2005, and it's only gotten better each year. they have different types of jazz cruises. there is the www.smoothjazzcruise.com which will have links to the other jazz and latin music cruises. They are nationally known recording artists. The Dave Koz cruise leaving out of Fort Lauderdale in November is the next one I believe. If you go once, you'll be hooked. It's expensive, but it is worth every penny of it. We're booked for our fourth jazz cruise in January '08.

 

VA Deb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

not sure about last year but I'm checking with them about the upcoming Dave Koz charter Nov 4th thru 11th..I do know that for the Brian Culbertson All Star Cruise the last two years on the Conquest out of Galveston there were huge pre cruise concerts..two years ago it feature Al Jarreau and Boney James, last year George Benson (awesome !!!!)

 

There is a great jazz club in Ft Lauderdal call Jazziz Bistros locted inside the Hard Rock Hotel..you might check out their website, they have not posted which jazz artist will be performing that weekend but I'm quite sure alot of us will be there on saturday night

 

hope to see you onboard

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks I will book mark that site, we are flying down on airtran and get there about 1130 on sat a direct flight from boston and then our return is a direct flight as well not bad at all and only 89 bucks each way yee ha I know that on other cruises they have a cruise critic get together and last year on the westerdam the ship provided cookies, coffee, tea water etc wonder if we should attempt that

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First off

Here are some first reviews of the North Sea Jazz cruise posted here

Sounds like a bit uneven and expensive

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=26284

 

Koz and Tisdale and the straight ahead trips look really cool

I heard the Latin trip was cancelled

 

I had my first cruise last year and the entertainment was not very good

Could some give me a overview of what to expect on these type of cruises

 

Is it less formal ie no dress up which I prefer

Old or Young? etc

 

Harve

www.chetbaker.net

www.jazztube.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

wow..thanks for sharing the website so I can follow the cruise..I really wanted to go on that one but logistics could not be worked out and after reading this review it might be a wise thing to let them work out their first year growing pains

 

the folks that do the Koz and Tisdale charters have been doing them for years and have it down to a science..it's much more relaxed and less formal but I got dressed up anyway on captain's night because I have a beautiful woman who loves to dress up and I love to keep her happy (VBG)

 

you might look at also the jazz cruise sponsored by the same folks the week of 11/11-11/18

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Somewhere back in the thread someone spoke about the best of cruising and of jazz when the ship isn't a full charter. There is something to be said for that. The week prior to the Koz cruise (October 28th) on the Westerdam there is the JazzFest at Sea. It features many professional trad and classic jazz players and music directly from New Orleans in the form of Banu Gibson. There is still availability and can been seen on the website of the same name.

 

Also, just found out that the Koz group has chartered the Westerdam for next year's cruise too on November 2nd.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have an interesting perspective on when it's a 50-50 deal..I ws on the Conquest out of Galveston in Nov 2005, when the first All Star smooth jazz cruise was launched and it was not a full charter....it presented many logistical nightmares (but not to the jazz group, because we could do both, but the non smooth jazz group could not participate)..we had the entire first seating for dinner (which upset the non jazz group)..had full use of the main show room at 8 pm every night (which forced the regular group to do their shows at 11pm, again they were upset) and we also had the largest small room for the all night jam sessions from 11pm thru 2 am (which was not large enough to hold all the jazz folks)...I would say based upon that experience, I would elect not to do the 50-50 but much prefer when the entire ship is charter just for the music..the lanyards identified the jazz folks and there was some tension between the two groups..the prime issue was the non jazz folks wanted to pay to attend the events, and of course the promoters did not allow that..I understand it went alittle better the 2nd year, but on the 3rd year (next january) the promoter did a full charter on the Elation out of San Diego, which I think will be much more condusive..in defense of Carnival, the entire ship board staff did an outstanding job to the last minute swith due to Katrina

 

Be careful, the number one issue was that the cruise line did not let the non jazz cruisers know that the large group was on it and would alter several aspects of their cruise..I heard again and again from the non cruisers that if they had known they would have switched weeks or ships..

 

Now, if this cruise on the 28th, is no difference in price, then it's an awesome deal and I might look into it, since I love new orleans jazz..I'll check out the website

Link to comment
Share on other sites

since it was just announced that Brian Culbertson will not be hosting the All Star Cruise on the Elation in January (Norman Brown will be the host), it would not surprise me to see Brian surface as the co-host for Wayman Tisdale's Smooth Jazz Cruise on the Westerdam in January. Wayman is recovering from cancer and his cruise will be his first public appearance, and Brian was an incredible host on his own cruise last year on the Conquest, and would take alot of pressure off Wayman

 

If that comes to being, that cruise will be the Smooth Jazz Cruise of the century

Link to comment
Share on other sites

interesting on the dress the folks cruising HAL normally follow the dress code better than the other lines, but then again who knows how many of the folks that cruise HAL on a regular basis will be on this trip. We will dress for the formal nights always have and always will that is what makes part of the fun of cruising. Last year on the W dam it was a great trip not the smooth jazz trip just a normal cruise

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do you have more info on the cruise? I have not been able to get much information on this cruise, as to whether it is a full ship charter. We would like to get a reservation because we really like jazz and the 10 days sounds great.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...