Jazz Cruises?

[cruiselife]

Hi!

I'm new to this message board. I'm hoping to meet some other people who are going on the smooth jazz cruise on the Elation, Jan. 21st. Please respond so we can chat a bit and perhaps meet in person on the ship.

 

Looking forward to it...

[hattack]

we were suppose to go but had to cancel due to health reasons, so please post when you get back so I can hear how it went...i understand it was suppose to be a full charter, but due to changing of promoters it will not be, and I went on the first one on the conquest in nov 2005 (with rick braun hosting) and a split charter presented some challenges..however next year they are planning a full charter,,the pre cruise concerts are off the hook and I may fly out at the last minute

 

have a great time and tell nick i said hi

[hattack]

I just noticed you are going on the Tom Joyner cruise,,,,a whole bunch of my buddies are going..tom just announced his line up,,,,this year much more jazz which is great

[pemo]

Hello Cruiselife, welcome to the Smooth Jazz Cruise......are you coming to the pre-cruise festival? This is my third Smooth Jazz Cruise and I am looking forward to it. I started with the first AllStar in 2005. I was sorry to hear that Brian would not be the host, but Norman is a great guy. It still should be just as exciting as the previous cruises. I am flying in to San Diego on Sat afternoon and will be attending the evening concert. Hope to see you there, if not maybe on the ship! Bon Voyage

[cruiselife]

Hello Cruiselife, welcome to the Smooth Jazz Cruise......are you coming to the pre-cruise festival? This is my third Smooth Jazz Cruise and I am looking forward to it. I started with the first AllStar in 2005. I was sorry to hear that Brian would not be the host, but Norman is a great guy. It still should be just as exciting as the previous cruises. I am flying in to San Diego on Sat afternoon and will be attending the evening concert. Hope to see you there, if not maybe on the ship! Bon Voyage

Hi Pemo,

We will be coming into San Diego on Sat. too. We'll be staying at the Town and Country Resort. Would like to meet you. Why don't you email me your contact info to: altastudio@aol.com

 

This is our first time on a theme cruise and it would be nice to talk with someone who's done this before. We got a last minute opportunity to attend and we are sooo excited!

[cruiselife]

I just noticed you are going on the Tom Joyner cruise,,,,a whole bunch of my buddies are going..tom just announced his line up,,,,this year much more jazz which is great

Several of my girlfriends are going with me on the "Fantastic Voyage". It's my first time on that one too. It costs a pretty penny, but everyone says it's worth it!

 

I'll say hi to Nick on the Jazz cruise and let you know how it went.

[Straight No Chaser]

I like smooth jazz, but my heart is old school straight ahead, modal, bop, and cool jazz.

 

Does anyone here have a good recommendation for old school jazz. Good bad experiences.

 

Appreciate it

[AZ Greg]

Welcome to the boards and yes there are several options for you other than smooth jazz cruises. In fact the company that organizes the cruise we sail also puts on 2 full charter straight ahead jazz cruises every year. If you goggle Jazz Cruises LLC you will find their site and options. They will have 1 in Nov. '08 and in Jan. '09 they will partner with Playboy for the Playboy Jazz Cruise hosted by Marcus Miller. I'm think of doing b2b cruise and catching that one.

 

If you google Jazzsea you will find a group that normally puts o 2 cruises a year. Now I think they lean towards Dixieland Jazz, but not smooth.

 

You can google the Annual Jazz Party at Sea and find a straight ahead cruise that goes on NCL every year that looks loaded with talent.

 

I also found a new one this morning called Jazz on the Seven Seas that is straight ahead and sails in May '08.

 

As you can tell this is a great time for jazz theme charters with the 6 that I know of that sail every year that are not smooth jazz, so I'm sure you will find the line up, ports, a ship or sail date that fits your needs.

 

As far as recommendations, all I can say is that on a full charter dedicated to jazz you shouldn't have a bad experience. A full jazz charter should guarantee you that all entertainment is focused on jazz and that all of your fellow passengers are avid fans and booked for the same reason that you did. For us over the last 3 years that formula has led to great cruises, great music and a ton of new friends and family that we spend a wonderful week with every year.

 

I hope this helps you find what you are looking for and maybe we'll run into each other next January.

[Straight No Chaser]

Very cool. Thanks for the great places to look for our next vacation. I didn't realize there was so much to choose from, now I'll have a hard time deciding.

[mucklucks]

My dh and I have been on The Smooth Jazz Cruise in January of 2007 with Wayman Tisdale and the Dave Koz and Friends in Nov of 2007. We booked the cruise with the understanding that it was the Warren Hill SJC but it was changed several months before as was the itinerary without written notification by Jazz Cruises LLC who most certainly bought Warren out. It was our first time on a Jazz Cruise and overall we had a good enough time to book Dave Koz for Nov 2007 but the Koz cruise was the last straw. It is not as great as they tell you. Go to a few concerts and take a cruise and save yourself alot of aggrevation and money. The Westerdam is an awful ship, the food and service are mediocre, it is a captive audience mentality, and the shows left alot to be desired. It has turned into the good old praise the lord gospel hour. Now I love gospel music but I booked passage to hear smooth jazz. Brian Simpson produces the entire show for each performer and determines how much time onstage and which venue we will see them in etc.. For example many people on the Koz cruise came to see japanese pianist Keiko Matsui but they never put her on the big stage and since we had late dinner we could never get near her venue to see her, she was one of the reasons we booked this cruise. We had to sit in the Queens Lounge for 2 hours to save 2 seats for a private David Benoit does Charlie Brown concert. A lot of time is spent waiting on lines for something. If that were not bad enough the owner of Jazz Cruises LLC Micheal something or other was so rude the last formal evening. We were at a table for 8 in the Pinnacle Bar and the bar watier was taking our order, Micheal had been introduced to a very beautiful woman and from what we could hear of the conversation he was trying to get her to his suite. During the ordering of our drinks he demanded that the waiter drop what he was doing and take his order immediately. That did it for us. He received an e mail from me informing him how disappointed we were with the entire operation and how commercial it was becoming and how disgusting his behavior was. We will never book with them again and I recommend that others think twice as well. It is alot of money and really not worth it.

Rhonda Frayne aka Mucklucks

Orlando, Florida

[mucklucks]

My dh and I just booked the All Star Smooth Cruise hosted by Norman Brown for 2009. It will be a full charter on the Celebrity Century Jan 31st to Feb 5th 2009 out of Miami. The lineup looks great and maybe we can overcome some of the disappointments of the Dave Koz cruise of 2007. I won't book with jazz cruises llc ever again. We still love smooth jazz so we will try it this way. Let you know how it compares.

 

Later,

Rhonda

[mucklucks]

I have a thread on the Century roll call on cruiseclues for 1/31/09 All Star Smooth Cruise. If you are interested check it out.

Later,

Rhonda