Dance Floors w/ Bands?

One of the things we always liked about Princess were the various lounges with various styles of live music nightly for ballroom and other styles of dancing, ie. The Wheelhouse and Explorer's. While the Royal has a Wheelhouse it doesn't appear from the deck plans that there will be a dance floor and space for a band. Is this type of entertainment option being eliminated from Princess?

This is my question as well. We noticed the lack of a dance floor in The Wheelhouse and decided not to book the Royal until we had confirmation of the dance venues it would have.

The only reason we cruise is so we can go dancing every night.

On Royal Princess, we will continue our tradition of featuring live bands playing music for dancing in two unique venues each evening. In the Visa Lounge, our Party Band will fill the dance floor playing hits from the 60s, 70, 80s and beyond each evening. For our passengers with a bias for ballroom, the Piazza will be alive with this style of live music and dancing each evening. This is something we are featuring on select vessels in preparation for the Royal Princess launch and we are confident that our passengers will appreciate the opportunity to dance each evening in the grandest ballroom at sea, the Royal Princess Piazza!

Will the Piazza feature a wooden dance floor suitable for ballroom dance? The Piazzas on the current ships have tile floors which are inappropriate for ballroom dance.

What will be the hours of the ballroom music?

As a dancer I do hope the dance floor is wooden and suitable for dancing and not what looks like a tiny circle in the middle of the piazza. If it is not tiny then I do hope that whilst dancing we will not have people walking straight acroos the dance floor especially during our quickstep as we do tend to fly around the floor an it could become dangerous if someone not dancing walks infront of us with following the line of dance. I also hope tha whilst on board I my wife and I will be able to practice as we need to keep on top of our dance for our future competions..

From the photos of the Piazza shown thus far, it has marble floors.

I think Princess has made an large design error in assuming the Piazza would be a grand ballroom area. Marble floors, heavy dinner and transit traffic, piano/vocal music from Crooner's on deck 7 above, and photographic lights and umbrellas, does not qualify this area as the "Grandest Ballroom at Sea." I hope they correct this on future builds and turn the Princess Live and Live Cafe back into an Explorer's style lounge.

Mr. Caluori: I cannot belive you and the designers were so misinformed about dance floors.
Marble or tile just does not work. You have some of the best floors on other ships, why
the change? Don't tell me, I know, this was a way to save money on bands.
Check out the sales in the Wheelhouse or Explorers Lounge on the other ships. If the
dance band is good the sales are excellent.

We are booked on the TA of the Royal in October. I will withhould my other comments
until I experience it for myself.

Greg

Since the "shake-your-bootie" party dancers don't care what kind of floor they have--they even dance on the open decks--why not put them in the Piazza and give the ballroom dancers the wood floor that they need?

Mr. Calouri,
Ballroom dancing is always one of the highlights for our 20 Priness cruises. For existing Grand class ships the Wheelhouse Bar dance floor offers some appropriate music but insufficient floor space. Explorer's Lounge offers a slightly bigger dance floor, but suffers from inconsistencies (e.g. areas with breaks at the edge of the elevated stage floor). Only Club Fusion offers a sufficiently large wooden floor for ballroom dancing with style.

Wooden floors offer both smoothness and necessary resistance for safe dancing. Even then one has to be careful of unexpected ship motion.
When designing dance floors for passengers the question to ask is whether your stage production professional dancers would feel safe to put on their shows using this venue.

In addition to ballroom dancing, live music is really an area of interest. For the Piazza is there sufficient space for the entire show band plus ballroom dancers? We have noted with dismay the trend toward small groups (our recently completed 17 day transatlantic had "duos" for bands) that use instrument tracks. Often this means if a song selection does not appeal the band must play out the tune rather than shortening it and choosing something more appropriate to the dancers' taste. By then we can lose interest and seek another dance venue. Is it the intent to provide sufficiently sized live bands for our enjoyment?

Thanks,
Bob

Mr Caluori, My husband and I are elite members who love to dance when we cruise. We hope you don't diminish the dancing opportunities for ballroom dancers. The piazza is simply not a suitable area for dancing for all the reasons previously mentioned. We are booked for September sailing in the Mediteranean along with another couple who love ballroom dancing. I hope we are not disappointed.

We are reconsidering our booking on the Trans-atlantic maiden voyage. If there
is no ballroom dancing, what is the point of cruising? We liken dancing to persons
who like the shows. If there were no shows would you still cruise?
The Ruby looks better and better.

Greg

Wow. We're booked on the Maiden 5 day Caribbean cruise. The main reason we cruise is to dance every night. This is very disappointing, and I hope that maybe the decision not have a wood floor for dancing can be rethought.

On our last coastal on the Island this month, there were great dance options all three nights. I was hoping that was the start of a reversal of the bleeding of dance opportunities I've seen on Princess, but maybe not.

This is too bad. I won't cancel because the cruise is only 5 days, but I will be bringing my ipod and speakers. The open decks are wood, and usually the exercise studio is empty at night.

We enjoy ballroom dancing but have never been on a Princess ship. We have been loyal to both Celebrity and Cunard, as my signature attests.

However, the one commonality for the mainstream cruise lines is that they continue to build ever-larger ships that must be filled with - and cater to - increasing numbers of people - including many who have never been on a ship before.

As a percentage of the traveling public then, those that comprise the traditional cruise demographic (that means us) have shrunk to a point of insignificance to the extent that the cruise lines now feel that do they not need to consider our expectations when designing new ships. Moreover the new cruise demographic pushes them to relegate such things as ballroom dancers to the fringes of shipboard life.

Of course the vocal ones among us remind those that run the cruise lines that we still count by posting these threads on Cruise Critic.

So their hip-and-trendy marketing departments must find clever ways of appearing to appeal to us when in fact the reality is quite clearly the opposite.

As a result we get marble floors in the middle of ship foyers that masquerade as the best ballrooms at sea. (This approach has also been employed by Celebrity on their new ships, albeit without the marketing superlatives.)

Perhaps another cruise line will recognize the niche that those with larger vessels increasingly ignore by designing cruise ships more in step with our expectations. A glimmer of hope was the announcement this week of the Viking Star ship ([URL]http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5356[/URL]).

Regardless of how others may tout their ballroom dancing, IMHO it is Cunard who are the actual leaders in this contest. Their ships have large wooden dance floors accompanied by 10-piece orchestras with vocalist who perform for about 3 hours each evening. A real treat are the tea dances when you can enjoy both a wonderful afternoon tea while you practice tripping the light fantastic.

This might not be everyone's cup of tea (including those too hip and trendy to even consider it), but for us and others like us, it can't get more civilized - or appropriate to shipboard life - than that.

Costa is a better example than Cunard, Costa's musicians actually seem to take pride in playing what the passengers want to hear. At Costa's prices they can't be paying them very much, so it ought to be within Princess' budget.
I'm always astounded that marketing departments who are completely ignorant of ballroom & latin (or smooth & rhythm, for the American market) won't hire a consultant. Whether they choose USA Dance or an NDCA member like DVIDA or USISTD, I'm sure they could find somebody who'll do it very cheaply in return for bragging rights.
While there will always be somebody who complains the music "isn't right", Princess will have claimed the high moral ground "according to accepted US standards" and "we care enough about passenger satisfaction to have put some effort into it".
I'm afraid good dance floors are a lost cause, they have to be designed in at an early stage. Although they can be useful multi-purpose facilities, if the cruise/entertainment departments want to do some more than just have passengers sitting in bars drinking.

I spoke with someone at Princess Corp. today and my opinions have changed regarding
dance music on the Royal. The Atrium will not have a wood floor but there will be plenty of
dance venues on the ship. I was told not to worry about ballroom dancing on the
Royal. Granted the Wheelhouse will not have a band, but other venues will be
available.
So with that info, I am keeping my reservation on the Royal TA.

Greg

"not to worry" with no specific promises showing a knowledge of dancing? I wouldn't trust that as far as I can throw it.

[quote name='casavaha']I spoke with someone at Princess Corp. today and my opinions have changed regarding
dance music on the Royal. The Atrium will not have a wood floor but there will be plenty of
dance venues on the ship. I was told not to worry about ballroom dancing on the
Royal. Granted the Wheelhouse will not have a band, but other venues will be
available.
So with that info, I am keeping my reservation on the Royal TA.

Greg[/QUOTE]

Please take good notes and report back to all of us dancers. We will be eagerly awaiting your appraisal of the situation. Now, If I could just find a permanent dance partner to travel with.

Aloha, Renee

[quote name='casavaha']I spoke with someone at Princess Corp. today and my opinions have changed regarding
dance music on the Royal. The Atrium will not have a wood floor but there will be plenty of
dance venues on the ship. I was told not to worry about ballroom dancing on the
Royal. Granted the Wheelhouse will not have a band, but other venues will be
available.
So with that info, I am keeping my reservation on the Royal TA.

Greg[/quote]

I'm sure you will have a great time on your cruise, and go expecting a different experience than the Princess of the past. Don't expect the Explorer's Lounge, Wheelhouse Bar and Club Fusion experiences that occur on other ships. The only true dance floor on the Royal is in the Vista Lounge. This Area will have many functions, and evening activities will probably include events such as guest entertainers, game shows, theme nights, multimedia trivia games, and yes maybe an hour or so of Big Band music. There just are not enough lounges on the ship to sit around with a glass of wine, listen to nice live groups perform, and dance the evening away. Oh, and if you want late night disco head for Club 6. Warning it may be or smell smokey as it is open to the Casino. Who designs these vessels anyway?

[quote name='Dancer Bob']"not to worry" with no specific promises showing a knowledge of dancing? I wouldn't trust that as far as I can throw it.[/QUOTE]

The person I spoke with has a great deal of knowledge of dancing. He has promised
things before and has always come thru. So I am betting my $4700. booking that he
is right.

Greg

I'll admit I'm really hard to get along with on this topic. At these prices I can put together hotel/food/travel packages on land. It's what to do in the evening that makes me choose cruising, I've spent way too much time sitting in hotel bars to ever do that again by choice. When they take the evening away, I'm wasting whatever money they charge extra.
I've heard so many arguments over dance floors, I now take a tape measure with me, and I'm a USA Dance member, so it's convenient for me to evaluate music against what I hear at USA Dance events.
cr8tiv1, I now travel most;ly with dance groups, but I have no idea what's available in your part of the world.

[quote name='Dancer Bob']
cr8tiv1, I now travel mostly with dance groups, but I have no idea what's available in your part of the world.[/QUOTE]

Thank you for your suggestion. Unfortunately, I seem to be of the wrong age...there are usually too many women and not enough men on a cruise. You "guys" are so lucky. Isn't dancing a wonderful way to spend the evening?

Renee

[quote name='casavaha']The person I spoke with has a great deal of knowledge of dancing. He has promised
things before and has always come thru. So I am betting my $4700. booking that he
is right.

Greg[/QUOTE]

I'd love to be optimistic right along with you, but with only one wooden dance floor on the ship, and that in a venue that will have multiple uses, I remain somewhat skeptical and will not book until after we hear first-hand reviews from other dancers.

[quote name='casavaha']The person I spoke with has a great deal of knowledge of dancing. He has promised
things before and has always come thru. So I am betting my $4700. booking that he
is right.

Greg[/quote]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS]Hmmm...nebulous at best.[/FONT]

The responses we have had about dancing on the Royal Princess are rather nebulous and non committal so Princess can say they answered truthfully whatever the situation is on the dance floor. There will be a large number of guest on board be saying why all the fuss it is only a few who dance so why bother. It is obvious to me those who don't dance seem as though they can demand everything and get it and those who do dance are left with the scraps. On Monday I was in Blackpool at the British Open Championships and there were some complaining about the restaurant in front of the Winter Gardens being so full of dancers. These people do not know the beauty, grace and elegance of ballroom dancing or the ability to bring people together in a way health and physical fitness is improved.

I have also heard said oh I wish I could dance like that but they do not realise they can if they take time to learn and all dancers I have met are prepared to help. Those who would love to be able to dance properly are also the ones not wanting dance floors. Anyway getting off my soapbox we will find out very soon what the dancefloors are realy like and how they are used. I am on the maiden voyage and will report back on the ballroom dancing available and hopefully I will get to practice my routines for my upcoming competions.