ballroom-cruisers

It does seem that there are already some changes occurring that 'should' see the return of both the ballroom dance professionals as well as dance hosts. However, even if the new managers have 'been made more aware' of the issues with the ballroom dancing, it will inevitably take time to repair the damage that has occurred to the attempts to change the contracts for not only the professional couple, but also the dance hosts. They may be less confident that things will remain attractive for them into the future. Also people will have made alternative arrangements that they will likely now have to be satisfied elsewhere before they can return to Cunard contracts, and that will take time before ongoing stable contracts will see them back on the ships on a continuing basis. As for the quality of the musicians in the Queens Room orchestra, it will be interesting to see whether the recruiting staff at Cunard are able to attract the top musicians, as used to be the case, or not, as we go through the rest of this year and into next year. It would certainly be very useful to know whether the new managers are making the effort to do this, or not. But as you say the more feedback Cunard gets, the more likely they will be responding since they would not wish to lose loyal customers. With current economic conditions in many countries, it may get less easy to keep booking levels high for cruises, even though many passengers have dumped the idea of flying due to the horrendous service at airports and many cancelled flights, and have come across to cruises for holidays. Economics is looking more problematic into the future, and travel companies will likely need to work harder to keep customers coming back.

They are different for up and down on all the ships' lifts (elevators for US passengers).

Is anyone on board Iona at the moment? I heard that Iona won't be going to Stavanger today as expected, but instead continuing on to Olden? Could anyone confirm? How was the weather yesterday on the way to Norway?

We are hoping that Cunard gets this message loud and clear. It certainly looks like the management attempt to dilute the ballroom dancing has backfired on Cunard, and they are now trying to repair the damage. Hopefully the voyages for the last four months of the year will have proper support for ballroom and Latin dancing in terms of decent strict tempo music, both recorded as well as the live orchestra, a high quality professional ballroom couple running the dance classes and performing show dances on Gala evenings, as well as offering private lessons, and dance hosts to cater for those ladies and men who do not have a partner but who wish to dance.

Did the ship depart safely, including a retrieved gangway section?

What seems to be new in these emails is the extra paragraph, that has the following text: Important Notices In the unlikely event of an emergency, it is important we have sufficient and specific support for guests who require additional assistance, and we have advance notice of this. Please read the following declaration of assistance needs for your voyage, even if you are travelling with someone who can support you. Guests who are unable to get to their assembly stations independently (which could involve several flights of stairs as lifts will not be available) due to a disability, health, or mental capacity must be pre-registered for assistance to ensure we have sufficient support. Failure to provide this information could result in being denied boarding at your own expense. If you do require assistance, please advise us by completing the On Board Needs Questionnaire.

Deck Chair, I would be interested to hear from you directly from the ship as things change - I don't know if Cunard has relented on the new contracts for the dance professionals that led to their resignations, but perhaps they have now re-negotiated with more reasonable terms for their duties, but of course the pro dancers won't be back immediately and only after they finish any contracts elsewhere, once they left, before they return to the ships under an new acceptable set of terms. Equally the expected changes to the dance hosts returning will hopefully begin in a few more weeks once suitable numbers have been recruited, and have decided and agreed on which dates to go aboard.

It seems that the plan is there should be both dance hosts, and dance professionals on QV the rest of this year from September - so unless the plans go wrong the answer is yes.

I don't know if Cunard recently received a fair bit of direct feedback concerning this issue, but apparently the dance professional couples, as well as dance hosts, will be back on QV from September.

Thanks NE John... Don't worry... I'm sure we're Tarts on more than one occasion too. Either way there is nothing that beats really excellent live music by the best musicians as a group of harmonised players who gel beautifully together feeling the music in their soul.

Yes Colin_Cameron, it would be unkind to 'require' the professionals to dance with anyone who asked. The reason is that they can get injured if the person they are dancing with is moving the wrong way, and in general men are strong enough to override a lady who is moving incorrectly whereas in general ladies can;t override a stronger man's wrong movements. Some ballroom dances are higher risk of that than others - especially the faster dances like the Viennese Waltz. So it is considerate to allow a professional to choose who they dance with.

I realised there was a typo in my post - in the penultimate paragraph the word 'tarts' should have been 'start' - but I can no longer edit the post!

Yes indeed. A good orchestra with top level musicians will be able to play a wide range of genres but still understand tempo and phrasing to fit with all the necessary dances. On some voyages the musicians have not been up to that level, and particularly if the percussionist does not understand dance rhythms. There have certainly been times when the timing of the beats in a cha cha has been odd such that you have to mentally ignore the drummer, and focus on only the start of each bar, and do your own timing in your soul (!) so that your body can move naturally - which is not easy. Similarly some rumbas have been totally wrong clave beat timing within the bar, and some foxtrots have had the incorrect phrasing for slows and quicks, and sometimes outside of acceptable tempo ranges - and it certainly doesn't help if the vocalist is singing her heart out, but not phrased to the underlying correct rhythm, for any of the dances. We have had situations where the orchestra leader has announced that they will play a piece of music 'in the style of a samba'. They start playing and the dancers look around the room, and at each other, with a quizzical expression, each thinking, 'errm, that is no way a samba'. One couple will get on the floor and attempt a samba, and struggle like mad and be at odds with the music - another couple will get on the floor and start to do a jive, with the first couple then switching from samba to jive also, and both couples then 'get by' even though the music doesn't actually work for any dances! Others tarts to leave the room as the dancing is not fun to do and no fun to watch! However on other voyages the orchestra has had excellent knowledgable musicians and vocalists, who really do know what dance music is about, and then dancing to the live music is second to none in terms of enjoyable experience of movement. I rather like this latter kind of orchestra!

Actually some changes are very welcome - 1) Muster being scan your card at the muster station, and watch the safety video in your room. No need to waste an hour waiting for everyone to be physically gathered at the muster station to hear the required safety announcements, and nobody dangling the lifejacket belts across the floor and almost falling over trying to put them on. 2) World Club and Senior Officer parties returning to the ships gradually. 3) In general My Voyage works - and you can check your account from the comfort of your room, or anywhere you have a wifi signal so reduces pressure of queues at reception desk, as well as book specialty meals from your phone/tablet. 4) Disembarkation direct from your room at the end of the voyage with no dense packed gatherings waiting for a call off time. Much better this way, and less likely to be next to people coughing over an extended period of time.

Sure and it sounds like Cunard have been making changes after change to a number of staff in headquarters who have 'new' ideas to make Cunard more modern! I will be most interested to hear how things change this summer on each of the ships, because dancing is so important to my enjoyment of a cruise. Of course the orchestras vary, and we have seen some who are really superb but others who are in the Queens Room who are not experienced playing music suitable for dancers, and at times play music that leads to the room slowly emptying. It is pretty obvious when they play suitable music because people get on the floor and enjoy themselves, whether classic dance pieces or more modern songs that really are suitable to dance to. The one common factor seems to be when they play modern music that is almost impossible to dance to and when that happens very few passengers get in the floor at all.

There are quite a lot of people who, like you and I, love the Big Band era music, the swing era, the RatPack era music, both to listen to as well as to dance to. But in recent years we have also danced to more modern music that is not just pop music but has a tempo that matches one or other of the International Standard dances - there are pop songs that are cheeky superb cha cha, wonderful waltzes, fabulous foxtrots, romantic rumbas, and fit beautifully to those dances despite being pop songs. If the band is aware of how people dance, they can indeed play a mix of traditional classic pieces or modern songs if they understand the rhythms properly. There are also lots of classic film themes that are great ballroom or Latin dances - some of the Bond film themes are lovely foxtrots or rumbas for example. There are certainly disco music sets where dancers can also dance various ballroom or Latin dances to the music - and jives of course too. So yes I didn't understand how the article I linked had any connection to what happens on today's voyages, from several of the bits of information in that story, which is why I raised the issue as a question.

That is pretty unusual - the dance professionals have never acted as general dance hosts in the past - but only did paid-for sessions in the evenings, as a training 45 minute period if solo dancers wished to pay for that service. But I would be interested to know who that professional dance couple are on QE at the moment, and whether they are finishing their current contract and then leaving, or whether they are continuing to further contracts with Cunard as dance professionals, but with added responsibilities to be dance hosts as well as their previous duties?

I believe the big changes o the dancing arrangements have happened in the last couple of weeks, and correspond to the situation that Pushpit has described a couple of posts ago - I don't know the couple called Victor and Linda, but the description of them as dance hosts who ran the beginner dance classes, is exactly what I heard is the 'new way' that Cunard is bringing in - no dance professionals, and therefore no show dances on Gala nights in the Queenrs Room, and the dance host couple run the beginner ballroom classes on sea days as well as act as dance hosts all evening in the Queens Room, and also meet up with solo passengers at the solos meetings in the Commodore Club. Given that some weeks ago I also saw theatre dancers attend the beginner dance classes when they were being run by the dance professionals, it is possible that there may be some plan to get the theatre dancers to act as dance hosts as well, but that is why I asked the question about anyone currently on board to see whether these changes are being brought in on all three ships, or just QV at the moment. No doubt I will see changes when I am next on board later this summer.

I would also be interested to hear if there are any dance professionals on board at all - there have been very recent changes that would suggest there may be no ballroom dance professionals on board at all on any of the ships from now on, and that there may be no more than 2 dance hosts - who may be doing the ballroom classes because the dance professionals who usually do so may not be on board. So anyone on board at the moment who could say what is happening on current voyages would be very useful to hear what the situation is now.

The question was not about past sailings but current voyages.

Not the reality for us either - so wondered how they can publish this if it is not the experience on current voyages?

I came across this Cunard story on the Cunard web site: https://www.cunard.com/en-gb/cunard-stories/shall-we-dance The story is from 20th July - can anyone comment on whether this is the reality at the present time on QM2, or the other two ships right now?

I imagine that cannot be reported on this forum!

You mean the modern versions of those aren't real? May as well throw mine in the bin then!

It is actually quite easy to have modest portions of really good food on a voyage, and combined with all those stair climbs, and multiple circuits around the prom deck, lots of walking around ports, burning off the food intake is not too difficult! Add in a few hours of dancing every evening and that gives a good number of aerobic exercise minutes, and it isn't too difficult to see how you might burn more than you took in! (Not that I ever count or research the details!) Oh - yes D&N - I completely forgot about the cocktails in the Commodore Club, Chart Room, or anywhere else on the ship - but if you took the stairs to get there, you must be on to a good thing!