Celebrity Eclipse -New Production Shows, oh dear.

We are just off the Eclipse, the first time on her since the production shows have changed. We saw the previous ones 4 times.

The new shows are called Topper, Rock, and Chandelier. We saw all three. Each was equally awful. Topper and Chandelier attempted a storyline linking the unconnected songs. The stories were terrible. Such that a child would be bored given their banality. Rock was a straightforward sequence of songs without any connection. All three shows suffered from terrible sound. Like it was muted and subdued such that you would struggle to believe it was live. The male lead in Topper and Chandelier had a screechy voice that had a limited range.

Having recently experienced Royal's entertainment on Anthem, Celebrity have taken a retrograde step with its production shows. Apparently the shows are rehearsed for 3 months in Miami but rehearsal is irrelevant when the storyline and production values are so weak.

The previous shows were way better. Celebrity please treat us like adults and give us something of quality and substance.

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We've avoided production shows for years but decided to go to Topper on Eclipse in March. If we had not been in the middle of a row we would have walked out. When they did the number towards the end with the f-bomb repeated multiple times a lot of people did walk out.

We are just off the Eclipse, the first time on her since the production shows have changed. We saw the previous ones 4 times.

 

The new shows are called Topper, Rock, and Chandelier. We saw all three. Each was equally awful. Topper and Chandelier attempted a storyline linking the unconnected songs. The stories were terrible. Such that a child would be bored given their banality. Rock was a straightforward sequence of songs without any connection. All three shows suffered from terrible sound. Like it was muted and subdued such that you would struggle to believe it was live. The male lead in Topper and Chandelier had a screechy voice that had a limited range.

 

Having recently experienced Royal's entertainment on Anthem, Celebrity have taken a retrograde step with its production shows. Apparently the shows are rehearsed for 3 months in Miami but rehearsal is irrelevant when the storyline and production values are so weak.

 

The previous shows were way better. Celebrity please treat us like adults and give us something of quality and substance.

 

 

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What a pity all shows did not meet expectations.....I think when you board a ship there is usually one show you don't think will be for you, one you quite fancy and one you go into with an open mind....

I am almost glad that the last couple of cruises we have been on our evening entertainment has been more about the dining....With two Eclipse cruises coming up I will look out for further reviews....

Thanks for posting. I hope, despite the shows, you had a great cruise.

Our Jan 2016 review

Shows - TOPPER - Eclectic group of performers enslaved in a giant hat. "Is it wrong for me to keep people locked up in a hat for my amusement" Yes it is. 3 Stars- mainly because of familiar songs.

CHANDELIER - Ugh Eclectic group of people visit hotel, Chandelier decides who lives or dies??? no good illusion, bad story line, not Audrey II (or not Audrey Jr, if you prefer) not saved even with familiar songs and it is not even as fun as Chandelier the drinking game - 1 Star.

ROCK - Stadium Anthem Rock all Broadway'd up. - Angus Young is rolling over in his grave- and he isn't even dead. 2 Stars - six singers can really hack up great songs.

Concur with the reviews of these three sows. Don't waste your time.

Just read comments on a different thread too. Looks like Celebrity needs to look into this.

As I said in my previous post we often don't do the shows or will be selective in the ones we choose to go to but we do expect a reasonable standard both of performance and sound quality....looks like both may be lacking...

We were on the Silhouette last month and the three new production shows were equally bad. So bad, I don't recall the names. We were on a B2B and didn't even bother going to the shows on the second leg. Sitting out on our balcony, in the dark, watching the water pass by was better.

 

 

[emoji23]

Completely agree -- they were all dreadful. I heard one passenger say on leaving "moronic" and I thought that was the perfect word.

The only reason to go to the theater on those nights was to see the amazing "drawing" in the hallway on the starboard side -- different each night -- made on the wall by a very talented crew member. Admire it and then do an about face and leave before the show starts, is my advice.

Is there an alternative to these shows? Some guy strumming his guitar, a singing duo or a piano man? Or quizzes, magic or dance. Seems to me that from reading these comments the shows are a no-go.

PLEASE don't tell me that I'll have to endure disco or a karaoke! I hope Celebrity are a little more sophisticated than that.

We cruised on the Eclipse in March and agree with the OP. We very much enjoyed the previous shows, and it seems from a number of comments that Celebrity may have made a mistake bringing the show planning in-house if this is the production standard. Others may love the new shows, but we will find something else to do on those nights.

So disappointed to hear this. We are on the 31st July sailing.

We cruised on the Eclipse in March and agree with the OP. We very much enjoyed the previous shows, and it seems from a number of comments that Celebrity may have made a mistake bringing the show planning in-house if this is the production standard. Others may love the new shows, but we will find something else to do on those nights.

We were on Eclipse in March as well and while we loved everything else, we saw a few minutes of the show about the hat and left. (I use a w/c on board so it's easy to slip out unnoticed.:D)

After that we spent every evening on our aft balcony watching the wake and the stars and when it got dark we went inside and read our books. Life was good!!!

We are just off the Eclipse, the first time on her since the production shows have changed. We saw the previous ones 4 times.

 

The new shows are called Topper, Rock, and Chandelier. We saw all three. Each was equally awful. Topper and Chandelier attempted a storyline linking the unconnected songs. The stories were terrible. Such that a child would be bored given their banality. Rock was a straightforward sequence of songs without any connection. All three shows suffered from terrible sound. Like it was muted and subdued such that you would struggle to believe it was live. The male lead in Topper and Chandelier had a screechy voice that had a limited range.

 

Having recently experienced Royal's entertainment on Anthem, Celebrity have taken a retrograde step with its production shows. Apparently the shows are rehearsed for 3 months in Miami but rehearsal is irrelevant when the storyline and production values are so weak.

 

The previous shows were way better. Celebrity please treat us like adults and give us something of quality and substance.

 

 

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Oh dear indeed!

We sail on the Eclipse this month on the 19th.

Suggestions please as to what to do instead...I do like the idea of sitting on the balcony...but not every night!

Yikes

Oh dear indeed!

We sail on the Eclipse this month on the 19th.

Suggestions please as to what to do instead...I do like the idea of sitting on the balcony...but not every night!

Yikes

Well, there's at least a dozen different bars...there's the lawn on the top deck where you can lie on the real grass and actually see the stars...(I live in NY, that's rarely an option for me)..sometimes there's a pianist and singer (or singalong)...there's a port talk in the small theater that's not more than 30 minutes but very informative, there's the casino, there's a 3 story library and the shops, or you can just walk around and watch the people, get a coffee and gelato, pick a table next to someone and strike up a conversation. Oh and there's the night club in the Sky Lounge but that's really late.

So sorry to hear. My DH was a musician and director. It was hard enough to get him to go to the canned music. Do they still have some guest musical artists with the house band?

New shows on Equinox in Jan were also bad...good voices and dancers...cast worked hard but the material was really poor...also bad were the "happenings" in the atrium...pre recorded sound tracks...dancing and prancing. Nothing very original. Disappointing!

Yes, these shows are awful, beyond awful. Well, maybe I shouldn't say that about Topper because we and the couple next to us walked out after 10 mins. Maybe it got better?

We're booked for the first time on Celebrity next year. I hope they change the shows before then. I love Royal's shows, and just got off the Divina, who's shows are amazing.

We were on Solstice with the new shows. Moronic, what a perfect word. We were seated in the middle about 12 rows up from the front. About halfway thru (sorry, forget the name). DH said I can't take it any longer. We stood to leave & the entire row went with us. About 1/4 of the audience left right about the same time. I felt bad for the performers but the shows they were given to perform were absolutely horrific

So, RCI made a big investment in producing their own shows at their own production facility in Florida. Rather then paying big bucks to independent production companies to produce and staff shows, RCI now does it in house. This does give them more control...and now....they have nobody to blame but themselves for bad productions. We were on the Eclipse last December around the time they introduced some of these in-house produced shows....and were not impressed. On the other hand, we cruise on many cruise lines..and production shows usually leave us shaking our heads.

For those reading this post that think they can do a better job, RCI does have open audtions :). Here is the link to info:

http://www.royalcaribbeanproductions.com/

Hank

Yes, these shows are awful, beyond awful. Well, maybe I shouldn't say that about Topper because we and the couple next to us walked out after 10 mins. Maybe it got better?

Trust Me. It didn't get better.

On the other hand, we cruise on many cruise lines..and production shows usually leave us shaking our heads.

 

 

Hank

That's why we avoided production shows for many years and now know our decision was the right one.

We did enjoy the other entertainment on our March Eclipse cruise.

The production shows in the past were not Broadway/West End quality by any means but they were more than acceptable.

Honestly, I am afraid that this is just one more example of cost cutting: Bringing the entertainment in-house rather than having professional (and long-term) production companies (like POET) handle it spelled a problem when they announced it a couple of years ago.

Looks like that it exactly what happened.

We've avoided production shows for years but decided to go to Topper on Eclipse in March. If we had not been in the middle of a row we would have walked out. When they did the number towards the end with the f-bomb repeated multiple times a lot of people did walk out.

That is a surprise (swearing) we have found the shows in the past to be very clean in that respect. It can be very easy to offend people with swearing, it surprises me they included it. Any chance the song featured a soundalike? Extreme had a song in the early nineties with a play on words that might have sounded like they were swearing but weren't.