What's the Best & Worst Entertainment You've Seen on a Cruise?

For us, both best and worst were on the Explorer of the Seas on a New England Cruise. Best was the Argentine Tango show - just breathtaking! Worst was the crew karoke show - so bad that people were walking out after the first few numbers. Another consistent favorite is the classical guitarists that have been featured on several cruises in some of the bars/lounges. They've all been very talented.

last March on Liberty of the Seas...a real bad production (can't remember its name---had men dressed as mermaids, etc.) we walked out...it was horrendous

We had an enrichment speaker on the Pacific Princess who read his entire talk in a monotone. No pictures or anything. stayed 5 minutes and gave up.

Funny thing is that his name was Melvin. We were on a b2b and on the second leg was an enrichment speaker named Melvyn (note spelling), He was great.

I forget which ship or even which line it was, but a 'comedian' from the UK staggered on stage drunk, and attempted to read a few 'jokes' off a piece of paper. He was called off after about 15 minutes, and I was given to understand that he was removed from the ship at the next port of call.

I have seen many good to great acts, three of which come to mind.

1. Philippa Healey, a truly great singer on Star Princess.

2. Pearl Kaufman a pianist, who is very seldom seen, but has played the piano in 200 motion picture intros and themes, and taught Jack Nicholson to act like a pianist in 'Five Easy Pieces'. We have ALL heard her!! On Mercury.

3. Don Sherman, comedian on Statendam. Lets just say that every tissue that I had was soaking wet from laughing, he spent the entire time poking fun at cruising. He found out why he could never get a 'bus New York, he explained that they were all in Cabo San. Lucas!

Why did I name these three? Well I don't spend more than I have to on cruise ships, but I have their DVD's.

john

I am glad to see this thread, entertainment is one of the least talked about subjects on this site. Although I am of the rock era(56) I now like standards, show tunes(belive me it takes a macho man to admit that)songs from the 40s and 50s from the great song writers like Irving Berlin,Rodgers and hammerstien and to the singer song writers of the 70s Carol King, John Denver etc. I have pop tastes so I am pretty easy to please I think most of the big shows on ships are good if disjointed and the singing is of high quality.The shows I do not get are "Circe de Solie''type shows where people hang from the drapes by there ankles and pose on giant hula hoops.And the ones I avoid are crew and dirty comics(just not funny). We do enjoy a three piece classical group in the lobby(with drinks) also avoid Jazz to pretentious.

We had an enrichment speaker on the Pacific Princess who read his entire talk in a monotone. No pictures or anything. stayed 5 minutes and gave up.

Hmmmm, after staying only 5 minutes, how could you know if his "entire talk" was in a monotone with no pictures or "anything"? :confused: :D

We had an enrichment speaker on the Pacific Princess who read his entire talk in a monotone. No pictures or anything. stayed 5 minutes and gave up.

Hmmmm, after staying only 5 minutes, how could you know if his "entire talk" was in a monotone? :confused:

I would have waited at least another two or three minutes! :D

I should add, that any 'Three Stage, Full Production Shows' in the Universe Lounge on Coral Princess are well worth seeing.:)

john

Best - Steve Moris, Musician/comedian/former Beach Boy. Golden Princess returning from Hawaii in October of 2010. We found him really funny, and enjoyed how he mixed his musical talent into his act. He also volunteered to do a second show the following afternoon that had entirely different material, and more music (guitar) bits, and even some sing-along. I believe he had just gotten word he had a show opening in Vegas.

Worst - Willie and Lester, ventriloquist act. I'd seen them on TV before and really expected more, but let's just say we were not entertained. The theater started emptying about 5 minutes into the act in 2s and 4s, and there was soon a steady stream out the back doors. Never seen a venue clear like that one did without someone yelling 'fire'.

Most of the Tenors on MSC are unbelievably fantastic. I really am not much of a Tenor Fan, but these guys really know how to sing opera.

Worst entertainment after Crew Shows and "Legends" have to be Hypnotists.

Best? A comedian/singer on Disney Wonder five years ago who you might call a musical impersonator. He sang several popular songs that are known for their strange lyrics - A Horse With No Name was one of them - and he would occasionally stop and try to decipher the lyrics. We laughed so hard we had tears streaming down our faces. I wish I could remember his name. I would like to see his show again!

The worst? That one is easy - Perry Grant on Celebrity Constellation. Immature, juvenile, dated humor that used mockery of anyone who tried to leave as a highlight of his "comedy" routine. Truly sad and pathetic. Flatulence sounds were another of his trademarks. He has a loyal following - which I can't for the life of me understand - and there are people who will only sail on that ship so they can go to his performances. He was a pretty good singer and pianist when he refrained from the childish humor.

1) The best -- me on amateur night singing on stage.

2) The worst -- me on amateur night singing on stage.

1) That night on stage.

2) That next morning on the boob-tube.

The best was from our first cruise on Disney Magic, all of the stage shows.

The worst was a guy (I don't recall his name) on Celebrity Infinity on our Alaska cruise playing an electric xylophone. He would have embarrassed Liberace with his clothing and the expression on his face was just hysterical, he played as if his life depended on it. The last song he was going to play...it had already been played and he stood there totally confused...he had been xylophone-synching :eek::D It was all recorded!

My friend whom I was sitting with and myself almost wet our pants we laughed so hard. The bad part was, we were in the second row and he was staring at us. A truly embarassing moment for all. I couldn't help myself, sorry.

Best: Marty Allen and his wife on the Empress of the Seas in 2004. He is proof that you don't have to use profanity to be funny. I have never laughed so hard in my life.

Worse: Too many to pick just one :D

Best: The Beatles Show on the Splendour a couple years ago.

Worse: EVERYTHING ON THE PRIDE OF AMERICA>:eek:

Best: Marty Allen and his wife on the Empress of the Seas in 2004. He is proof that you don't have to use profanity to be funny. :D

I heard a comedian being interviewed a few months ago, and he said that it was very difficult to perform on a cruise ship, due to the heavy censorship.

john

While on the Carnival Legend in 2010 there was a female Opera singer that preformed a few evenings in the Atrium area. She was stellar. While opera is not everyone's cup-of-tea, especially on a Carnival cruise, I really enjoyed her. I do wish that they could have given her a better venue so we could have sat down to watch her and also for better sound quality as the Atrium area was not the best choice for this.

The worst entertainment was probably by other passengers that participated in the ship's Kareoke night. There were a few that were really good and a few that were mediocre but there were also a few that were really bad. The polite thing to do is listen and then clap as I really do have to give one credit for getting up to preform....... and at the very least it was a form of entertainment.

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My best entertainer was Charo; she was the headliner entertainer on one of the Atlantis charter cruises. The worst, and this is only because I don't care for this type of "comedy", was Margaret Cho.