Ballroom Dancing

[beaver]

We completed an Australian/New Zealand cruise on the Feb 17 sailing of the Mercury. As myself and my DW have taken up ballroom and latin dancing we were extremely satisfied with the music during our cruise. It was amazing to see how many couples there were that were also enthusiasts of recreational dancing. As of 5 pm until the end of the night there was always an area that catered to our needs. Many couples whom had or are taking lessons were able to pick out others also taking lessons, we shared steps and styles enjoying a common interest.

 

My question, is this experience unique, or common on the Celebrity Ships due to the older aged crowd. (We are in our early fifties) We have sailed Celebrity before as well as Carnival and NCL. These other cruises had limited music with an oportunity to dance before dinner but not much afterwards other than the late night bar parties. Because of shows such as "Dancing with the Stars" the craze seems to be catching on. It is my intention to book a crusie in the spring of 2009 and invite others from dance classes to join in, (some are experienced cruisers with NCL who experienced limited dancing) but I would like to know of the other Celebrity sailings and what their experiences are. Are there any sailings identified as ballroom theme?

[hajekfam]

We have usually enjoyed dancing on our Celebrity cruises, but the last two Millennium transatlantics we have taken have had horrible dance music. In 2005, there was a duo in the Rendez-vous (the usual spot for ballroom type dancing) that were more of a lounge act. They did audience participation songs. On our last cruise, the band in the Rendez-vous on the Med leg kept playing the same numbers each night in the same order. Their tempo was not good and they didn't play a variety of dance. On the transatlantic cruise, Celebrity moved the party band into the Rendez-vous and they were good - except they played medleys- 15 minutes of cha-cha, 15 minutes of swing, 10 minutes of fox trots.

But out of all our Celebrity cruises, we were only disappointed with those two (three) cruises.

We have noticed that the dance floor is becoming more & more crowded with each cruise that we take. Years ago, we would be one of two or three couples after the late dinner dancing. Now, the floor is very crowded and there isn't room to manuever plus those that take the lessons onboard aren't taught dance etiquette and tend to dance where ever they like and move in whatever direction they want if they move at all.

The other problem that we have had is the cleanliness of the floor. Several times the floors have been sticky and it sometimes took a couple of complaints to guest relations to get the floor cleaned. I bring my dance shoes and found myself sticking in a turn - good way to twist an ankle.

One of the things that I put on my comment cards each time is that they need to build more or larger dance floors on their ships.

[emptynest1]

My husband and I love to ballroom dance. We got interested many years ago on a Celebrity cruise and took lessons after that.

 

The couple we are traveling with also dance so I hope we have plenty of good music on the next cruise.

 

Beaver, I don't know where you are from, but there is a great weekend of big band music and dancing in Ashville, NC every January.

[beaver]

Beaver, I don't know where you are from, but there is a great weekend of big band music and dancing in Ashville, NC every January.

 

We are a little ways away in Northern Ontario Canada, otherwise I would convince my wife we should attend