mcloaked

We are on M743B as well. Sorry I don't know who the pros are; but we will find out in a couple of weeks.

I had a reply from Cunard today - the pros will be Olga and Sergiy, a Ukranian couple, who are excellent top level dancers, and who teach the ballroom and Latin dances extremely well in their classes for beginners. I don't know if they will do any classes beyond beginner level as the cruise is three segments which can be booked independently so the classes generally then seem to start again for each segment - on a longer single cruise I believe there is an effort made to continue development of dance training beyond the basics. We had this couple a few years ago on the QM2, and were very impressed, so we are looking forward to seeing their show dances again on the QM2.

Some friends of ours are on a short cruise on Ventura in January 2018, and I wonder if anyone knows who the ballroom dance teachers are scheduled to be on that ship at that time. If anyone knows it would be very useful. Thanks.

Absolutely agree about the Riviera Deck suites - avoid at all costs. It amazes me that these are sold at premium prices when there are so many better suite options (and at lower prices too).

An additional factor is whether the occupants of a particular stateroom are hard of hearing or have sensitive ears - people vary hugely in their ability to be disturbed by noise at night. Some sleep through significant disturbance whilst whilst others are woken up by the slightest sound, or the repetitive clunk of a wall panel moving with the roll and pitch of the ship in wilder weather. If you are the kind of person not particularly disturbed by noise then the decision process is different to anyone who is noise sensitive.

Unlike the keynote speakers ( who are only onboard for a particular itinerary) dance professionals are part of the crew compliment for the period of time they are on contract to Cunard, which could be up to three months or longer.

Therefore crew members contracts and rotations are not made public. The only way to find out, is by word of mouth via other guests who may have travelled on the fleet in the last few weeks .

Yes that is true - if anyone who has been on QM2 in the past week or two and knows who the dance pros are on board currently, or who have heard who they will be for the next month or two, I would love to know.

I will also add that the Pinnacle Class Cruise Ship design is a Holland America design that their first Ship MS Koningsdam is based on. Regards,Jerry

Thanks - that is encouraging to hear - I did a little research on the facilities on the Koningsdam, and it appears that they do have what is described as the best ballroom at sea - The Queens Lounge - but very disappointing that the forum posts that I saw relating to cruises on that ship, since its launch last year, indicate that there is only an hour or two of ballroom dancing in the Queens Lounge with the majority of time when the room is in use at all being a BB King event that precluded ballroom dancing. However if the overall design of the new Cunard ship follows the pattern of the Koningsdam, then perhaps it will include a Queens Room and continue the rich tradition of the Cunard Queens having ballroom dancing as a major entertainment on its cruises when it comes into service.

Although there is a list of which keynote speakers there will be on a Cunard cruise ahead of the sailing date, the corresponding list of names of professional ballroom dancers who will offer the show dances in the Queens Room, and offer ballroom lessons, is not generally available until embarkation and you are on board and look at the daily news. It is always possible for both the keynote speakers as well as the professional dancers that the schedule can change at short notice for a variety of reasons, but it would be really nice to know ahead of boarding who the professional dancers will be.

Does anyone know which dance pros will be on board the QM2 on cruise M743B in November?

Given that Carnival are looking at 3000 passengers, the ship will also need the 'biggest ballroom at sea'.

 

The Queens Room on Big Band Ball on QE in August was completely crammed every night, the thought of adding a further 1000 passengers to a similar size floor to that of QV an QE would be put anyone off sailing on her for life.

As avid ballroom dancers it is nice to see a comment about the ballroom at last! Certainly the Cunard ballrooms are far and away the best on the current cruise ships that we have experienced, though it is also true that there are times when the Queens Room on any of the current ships is packed with so many on the floor that you can at best shuffle along and not dance that well, especially on the big ball nights. However there are certainly times on most evenings when there is room to dance well. It's more a question of how many of the passengers are dancers rather than the absolute number of passengers on board on any cruise. It would be nice to know what plans Cunard have for the ballroom on the new ship - such as the size of the floor as well as whether there is plenty of space for tables around the floor, and whether there is a seated viewing gallery on the upper level or not, and also whether there is a bar nearby or not. On some other ships on other lines there are smaller dance floors than on the Cunard ships but also sometimes you can get more dancing done if there are fewer dancers making the density of people on the floor easier to handle for floorcraft. In addition there seems to be an increasing demand for sequence dancing on cruises in general - and for those dancers who enjoy the pure ballroom and Latin dances this restricts the time when you can dance unless you join in with the increasing number of the current several thousand sequence dances that have several new ones added each month! So having a dance floor for the sequence dances separate to the floor where only ballroom and Latin is danced would be mightily appreciated by some dancers, though that is probably not likely to happen.

Either way - if anyone hears of any details of the ballroom on the new ship I would love to see them.

You won't find much "ballroom" dancing on the mainstream lines....sure, they may have some music suitable for that, but dance floors are pretty small, and you'll be sharing it with folks who do NOT do ballroom!

 

If that's what you cruise for, then you'll need to stick with what works for you!

I have heard that this is indeed the case for some of the big lines like Princess, Royal Caribbean and also MSC and Ohlsen. On Cunard ships the band does play reasonable strict tempo music for 9 of the main 10 International dances, but there are usually some (usually) American passengers who dance American smooth rather than international ballroom, which often does not mix well on the same floor particularly for a fast dance like the Viennese Waltz. However during the periods of recorded music in between band sets the floor is often not that busy and it is possible to get a good flow going across the floor and around the room especially if the other dancers on the floor are dancing well. However on formal nights particularly when the band is playing it is often packed solid and a good number of relatively inexperienced dancers in the mix can mean that experienced dancers would be better off waiting for a period with a quieter floor.

I was told that Crystal Cruises does have dancing but that it is mostly American styles rather than International?

Having done 9 cruises where our ballroom and Latin dancing (International Style) has been a key factor, all of which have been on Cunard or P&O ships we now tend to stay with the ships that we know have good ballroom/Latin dancing available every evening. The Cunard ships have the largest dance floors, and include occasional afternoon tea dances as well as the evenings. However there are some evenings when a Captain's reception takes the ballroom for a couple of hours in the first part of the evening leaving a short night's dancing. On those occasions the ballroom dancing is often relocated (for example to the Yacht Club on the Queen Elizabeth) but the alternative floor is too small to do any sensible ballroom dancing on.

On some of the P&O ships there is a modest but adequate dance floor - such as the Britannia, but I believe bigger and better floors on one or two smaller ships such as the Oriana. However being an older ship and smaller ship that has other disadvantages for the avid dancer.

There are many questions associated with the cruise ships for avid ballroom dancers - such as where can I find the list of dance pro couples who will be on a particular cruise, or how big is the dance floor on a particular ship, isn't always easy to find, and often you need to talk directly to someone else who has been on a specific ship, and who also dances.

There is a new P&O super ship being built and due to launch in the next few years but I have been totally unable to find out if the new ship will have a decent dance floor on it? Does anyone know?

Which other ships apart from those run by Cunard and P&O have a good sized dance floor which is big enough to dance ballroom in particular well, and also has a good dance band that can play good strict temp music and also has dancing every night of their cruises? It would be good to have a single thread on this topic that keen ballroom dancers can post to as well as refer to for info that other dancers might post. :)

On the January 3 turnaround in New York between the Caribbean trip and the eastbound transatlantic crossing, Cunard appeared to have been told by DHS that transiting passengers not going ashore could remain onboard. This was suddenly rescinded about 8:30 or 9:00 AM when there was a shipboard announcement that all passengers had to exit the ship to be cleared before reboarding for the TA.

 

As this seemed to be the normal process in New York it was surprising to hear the announcements that passengers wouldn't have to process through New York, and somewhat less surprising to hear that that would not be the case after all.

 

The lesson is to remain flexible, particularly in light of an impression that the process has suddenly and inexplicably become less troublesome than you were expecting.

Thank you - that is useful - we are going to be on a QM2 cruise from Southampton to Southampton via the Caribbean and stopping at New York both ways on a cruise at a later date - so knowing that we won't have to haul all of our luggage off the ship for the two ports of call is a relief to know! It does sound like the process of getting off to be "processed" in the terminal is not going to be a quick process though - and also I am presuming that having an ESTA ahead of the voyage will be necessary too in order to avoid extended delays being processed? I was also considering going into New York to meet up with relatives who live there but from the information I have seen that is not all that easy to achieve in a way that will get us back on board in a reliable way using an available shore excursion on a coach that will lead to the ship's departure waiting in the event of delay getting back to Brooklyn. (We know what it is like trying to find the Red Hook terminal from a previous eastbound crossing).

One further question - if you are on a single cruise from Southampton to the Caribbean, but with a shore stop at New York, do they still force everyone to get off the ship and check back in on arrival in New York? Presumably since you are remaining in the same cabin for the whole voyage then luggage remains on board? It would seem pointless and frustrating to make everyone get their luggage off the ship and back on again on a single voyage with a shore stop! I would appreciate knowing what happens in this case even though this thread is about B2B transatlantic which is two different voyage codes, and a different situation to the single voyage case.

Thank you Mid-Atlantic Ridge - that looks spot on. Now we should know what to do at the time the Officer's Gavotte is called.

Thank you for those replies - and the description of the Officer's Gavotte. It sounds pretty straightforward, and no doubt after a couple of faltering cycles everyone flows easily around the room air kissing and underarm turning at the appropriate moment! I certainly wasn't aware of private lessons for Cunard though the group ballroom and Latin classes were part of the inclusive entertainment on our previous Cunard cruise, and executed very well at beginner level. I imagine that private lessons are a private contract with the dance professionals, who will put the agreed charge onto your onboard account after any lessons have been given. At least that was the way it worked on other cruise lines.

Belle on Board, I expect you will have a fabulous time on board and enjoy the dance classes, and the social dances, in the ballroom, and if you are on your own there are dance hosts who will dance with you (the dance hosts are all men as far as I know). We love the dancing on board and, although it can get pretty busy at times, the dancing lasts long enough that things do usually quieten down towards the end of each evening, and often it is not that busy early on in the evenings. I guess that the arrangements on the QE are very similar to the other Cunard ships regarding ballroom and Latin dancing, and I was also told that there is a separate session for sequence dancing so that the main evening dancing is only ballroom and Latin, but not sequence dancing.

We will be on the QE towards the end of the year, and are keen ballroom dancers. We noticed that at the Black and White Ball on our cruise there will be the "Officers Gavotte", but we don't know what the steps are or how this, presumably, old time dance works. Trying to find any information from a normal web search didn't give any useful information. Can someone post what the steps are and the position of men and ladies for this dance is?

A second question is does anyone know if there is a list of who the professional dancers are on a specific cruise, and if so where to find it? In the past we have enjoyed both the show dances as well as dance classes on board, but it would be nice to be able to look up ahead of embarkation who the pro dancers will be. Although on other cruise lines it is possible to book private lessons with the professional dancers during a cruise, Cunard doesn't seem to offer that, but it would be good if Cunard changed their mind on that score! It is always nice to see different ways of approaching technique and possibly new steps wherever we are away from home.

Having experienced Ventura, Azura, Britannia and Queen Mary 2, we have some experience and views about how good or not the ballroom dancing is on those ships, but I wonder if experienced cruisers can relate their experiences of how good the dancing is on other ships, as that might guide choices for the future?

Considerations that are useful are size and shape of dance floor, how much seating around the dance floor, whether there is a band or not and how well they play suitable music to dance to (is the tempo suitable for dancing or do the band not really understand the best tempo or choice of music for the classic 10 dances?). Are there dance hosts both for generally hosting the dancing when the band has breaks in their sessions, as well as dance hosts that dance with single passengers who would like to dance. What is the ratio of standard ballroom and Latin dancing to sequence dancing that seems to be increasing relative to the normal ballroom dances? Are there dance lessons on board on sea days? How do the various ships in different cruise lines differ in respect of dancing? Are British and American ships very different when it comes to dancing?

It would be useful to have a comparison by as many CC members with experience of dancing as possible.

So glad to hear this, I'm on Britannia later in the year and I read the negative comments with a pinch of salt now. It will be my first cruise and I am SO excited, so will be making my own mind up. I don't mind having to walk for the stairs to each end of the ship because the lifts are full and there's no stairs mid ship, I'm sure I will need the exercise. Please more positive comments to get me even more excited!!!!:)

Actually there are some stairs midship - it's just that they are mainly on the levels that access the atrium area. However I understand that the level of whingeing about the midships staircase issue has led P&O to plan for adding other levels to the public midship staircases on its next refit in a few years time. Of course that will reduce the ship's company access to their own central stairs once that is done!

The ship is lovely and most people we talked to on the recent repositioning cruise back to Southampton were very happy with the ship, food and entertainment. We did sit on one table at dinner with one woman who spent the entire meal bemoaning everything about Britannia and comparing it to the other ships she had been on over the past 25 years - some people seem to spend their lives grumbling so they never seem to enjoy anything!

The Crystal Room was heavily oversubscribed for ballroom dancing both in the evenings and during dance classes in the daytime and if anything the central atrium would actually work much better as a central dance entertainment centre and with ballroom dancing in there if the central area was converted to a dance floor would bring a lot more custom to the bars and eateries around the edge of the atrium. Each evening the bar in the Crystal Room was doing a non-stop trade in drinks all evening and the dancing was pretty much continous till we left late each night!

There are many positives about the ship - you can choose between the central pool on deck if you like music and quizzes but you can also get to the quieter pools if you want peace and serenity! You can choose from the standard sit down meals with waiter service or the buffet or pay a bit more for the speciality restaurants. The theatre is very popular so don't leave it too late getting in for a seat - overall it's a lovely ship and in rougher seas it still only moves around much less than smaller ships - so not a problem unless you happen to be stepping the dance floor just as the ship changes its level a bit!

Concerning the stairs - it only takes a minute or two to walk the entire length of the ship to get to another staircase - so unless you have a major mobility problem it's easy to get to a staircase wherever you are on board!

Enjoy it

Hi have always used Evesway to travel to Southampton (it used to be P&0 chosen provider) so I stayed with them. Have two cruises booked for this year and just wondered if Cruise Connect offer anything different to Evesway. Thankyou

Both are pretty good - Eavesway do have slightly more recent coaches but both have good comfort with reclining back rests and also a toilet on board. Both have admin stops as well as as lunch stops where they can fit the best motorway stops into the journey schedule. We did use Eavesway when they were the P&O default but now Intercruises is the P&O default and we have used them last year and this year without problems (apart from some traffic delays that are not their fault - such as on Friday last when the Easter getaway did add half an hour to our journey home).... we are happy with that way of getting to and from Southampton. Hope that helps.

PJ's - thank you so much for replying ... Oh, we are getting sooooo excited.

 

Can you tell us please, what's actually on that deck - there doesn't appear that many cabins?

We have just got back from the Caribbean/transatlantic on this ship, and our stateroom was on F deck - the deck is all cabins. No problems whatsoever. Good views from balcony. It is above the main line of lifeboats on the deck below. Easy access to dining areas as someone already said, just go to forward or aft staircase whichever is nearest your cabin. Either way it is only a minute or two to get to the other end of the ship despite its size. F deck is deck 9 so if going to meals on deck 5 or 6 it is an easy walk down the three or four levels - but easier to get the lift up to deck 16 for the pools and the Horizon buffet. Lovely ship, plenty of entertainment, and of course sociable though it depends who you get to meet as to whether you enjoy chatting to others at meals or in other parts of the ship. There are some stairs available in the central stairwell but only around the atrium area levels.

Enjoy your voyage - most people are very happy with this ship!:)