Ships with dancefloors

My wife and I are just getting into ballroom dancing and would very much like to take a cruise and combine with dancing, can anybody recommend a ship/line which still offers nightly ballroom dancing and also classes, I may have missed them but most I've seen only have nightclubs

thanks

Stevie

The best dance floor we have seen on any cruise ship is in the Ballroom of the Queen Mary 2. Their floor can easily hold over 100 couples and they also have the big band to support dancers.

Hank

Another cruise that offers ballroom dancing is Crystal Cruises. On some voyages they have big bands but on every voyage there is a live band playing a nice variety of songs to dance to.

Keith

I've sailed on Royal Caribbean, Princess, and Carnival. And I'm a ballroom dancer as well (not currently taking lessons or competing, but did for a long time).

All of them have had some elementary ballroom classes, generally held in a "nightclub" type area during the morning or afternoon.

All of them have had music suitable for ballroom dancing somewhere at some point in the evening. Often it was in an atrium-type area; a small combo and a very small dance floor. I never saw ballroom dancing music played in the evening in one of the areas with a large dance floor.

Any of the three Cunard ships will have a dedicated ballroom and live music most or all evenings. The grandest is QM2 but Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth have nice ballrooms also.

I've sailed on Royal Caribbean, Princess, and Carnival. And I'm a ballroom dancer as well (not currently taking lessons or competing, but did for a long time).

All of them have had some elementary ballroom classes, generally held in a "nightclub" type area during the morning or afternoon.

All of them have had music suitable for ballroom dancing somewhere at some point in the evening. Often it was in an atrium-type area; a small combo and a very small dance floor. I never saw ballroom dancing music played in the evening in one of the areas with a large dance floor.

Agreed. I think in these cases (CCL, RCI. PCL and likely NCL) it is the obligatory offering of an elementary ballroom dance instruction because it is/was a popular trend but nothing is offered really toward those who enjoy BR dance and are beyond the beginer level.

http://luv2cruise.blogspot.com

P&O cruises have ballroom dancing, but you may find it's better on the 2 larger adult only ships, Arcadia and Oriana.....The vast ships, Ventura and Azura, which are family ships, don't have a good space; some people are happy with the dance floor on Aurora. There's always been some kind of dancing instruction on their ships when I've been on them.

Jo.

It doesn't get much, if any better than the Queens Room on Queen Mary 2!

True, Lou, but many of us cannot afford to sail on her.... :(

Princess ships have dance floors but they are usually smallish. The music depends on what bands they have on board but there is usually at least one band that offers good ballroom music (tango, foxtrot, waltz, cha-cha, etc.) in the evening. Any of the ships I have been on with Princess (and we have over 275 days cruising with them) have offered dance lessons - although with 40 + couples at the lessons they usually just do basic steps. The best ballroom I have experienced on Princess was on the Ocean Princess where the stage for the shows is cabaret style so there was always dancing with the ship's band before the show. The problems I have experienced is that there may be one or two couples who think they own the floor and take it over by using every inch to show off how good they think they are.

True, Lou, but many of us cannot afford to sail on her.... :(

Indeed, if you are pricing a Queens or Princess Grill cabin, but how about an outside (no balcony) or even an inside Britannia cabin? ;)

Ooops, Stevie- I forgot to mention Fred Olsen, who also provides host/esses for single dancers.

So- that's Cunard and P&O from S'ton, and Fred from Dover- and occasionally from Scotland, too. Fred also has "dancing" cruises,I'm led to believe.

Enjoy searching! :D

Jo.

I'll put in a word for RCI Jewel of the Seas, which has quite a nice dance floor in the Safari Club, and regular strict tempo music at this and other venues. QM2 is certainly the best dance floor but gets VERY crowded on the nights when they have formal balls.

I also have seen ballroom, salsa, tango, and other dance styles being taught on Royal and Carnival during the afternoon. I don't believe they actually have settings for ballroom dancing at night, per se, so the other cruiselines mentioned will probably be your best bet.