simbasmom

We just came back from Alaska with our binoculars. Bushnell are good for the price. Also, check out eagle optics for good prices. Their own binoculars are excellent. And even though we use binoculars for birding every weekend, Swarovski brand are still way too expensive for us!

Once again, search option is down....

 

I've read a lot of posts saying there is no more live music on the ships but I saw a review recently which had pictures of a live band out on the Lido. Can anyone who's recently been on the Emerald let me know if there was live music or not?

 

Thanks!

Princess has a live orchestra on every ship, as well as a pianist, live bands, sometimes a small strings group, etc.

Princess pretty much did away with Princess "orchestra/show bands" a couple years ago and went to recorded background music. The shows have been mundane and lower quality since. The other fallout is that with the musicians gone a lot of the special venue music (for example, late night jazz in the addagio.... ) I miss having the music directors like Gordon Hough putting music activities around the ship.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Princess does still have an orchestra of live musicians on board. Also music directors can only supply the musicians that Princess gives them. However, the dancers don't like the recorded music either. They prefer the live music. However, the live musicians can't always be everywhere at once. Sorry, I don't mean to come off as grumpy, but our son is one of the music directors for Princess and he'd be the first one to agree-please supply more live musicians. It's not their fault!

It can be done! Our son lost 40 pounds in his first few months as a musician on Princess Cruises (planned weight loss). Although he ate every meal in the Horizon Court, he really focused on fruits and veggies. Every day he'd hit the gym (he pointed out the beautiful views from the treadmills) and almost every day he'd run around the decks on board. In case anyone wonders, no, the job of musician itself doesn't involve much of any weight-losing activity (as some crew jobs might).

Paul Burton just joined 2 days ago as the pianist in the crooners.

I've read a lot about side effects of the patches, including the previously-mentioned sea sickness when back on land and patch removed. Bonine sounds good. One question-do you recommend taking it BEFORE you get onboard, maybe a day or two beforehand, or is it OK to wait tip you get on board before you start?

Didn't the Island have an upgrade last year?

Our son is working on the Island right now, and he said he thinks she's due for dry dock in May or so, but isn't sure. Clmom, I hope you said "Hi" to him when you were there if it was January 2014.

Whoops-just saw this was an old thread-sorry!

There are no gaps in the schedule for May 2014.

Oh, well, sorry! That's the date staff on the Island told me.

I think May 2014 is when they're presently scheduling it for the Island.

whynotsooner, I just messaged our son on the Island Princess as to how to apply to dance for Princess (hopefully, you'll learn that Facebook messaging is the staff member's best friend to communicate on/among ships). I know that on his last ship, his next door neighbor was the Dance Captain (is that Elenor's job?) on the ship, so he may have access to the information. If/when he answers I'll post here.

Your son's a Captain? :eek: Sweet!! :D

Oh, I'm very sorry for the misunderstanding. He's not a Captain, "only" a music director, which I think is several stripes/stars below a Captain. Yet, it's still all true what Princess did to get him to the ship ASAP when he missed his connection for the scheduled boarding date.

What a wonderful post! Our son is a musician on Princess-works with lots of the dancers (but not on the Royal)-so I'll be sure he'll try to pass along your comments to Lauren and Elenor. You never know how you'll impact someone in the audience at a Meet and Greet. BTW, Princess has a reputation as treating their staff and crew the nicest of any major cruise line. Maybe that translates to the staff and crew being pretty enthusiastic about their jobs most of the time.

I know that on the Golden last year, he came out on a tender (I forget which Hawaiian island they were at), and was "driven" on the boat slowly around the ship, while the band played "Here comes Santa Claus". After going all around, he came aboard for a visit. It must have been so cute. When I heard about it, I wished I'd been there

You are correct. I was refused because I did not have my card. They found enough folks who did have their donor cards.

Yes, they have done this on other ships. In case anyone's wondering, they'll take passengers, but for some reason they won't take crew. Our son has his donor card and has a blood type is that's often in demand, but Princess won't take his since he's crew, they take only passengers.

So glad you're enjoying the Island Princess, and I real appreciate hearing that you've had positive experiences with the staff. If you see the Music Manager, Matt, please wish him a Merry Christmas from Mom and Dad.

Is his last name the same as yours? I still have your email from 2 years ago, so no need to post your last name. I will try again to find him if he is on in March.

Yes, it is the same and although he's not scheduled to be on in March, as he's learned over the years is that schedules change.

Simbasmom,

 

Will your son still be on in March? As I recall he is a musician. If he will be on, what is his name? I know I had it a year or two ago, but have forgotten it.

My name remembering skill is totally shot. Yes, he's Matt the musician from the Dawn/ fall 2011.

On a more general note, they typically have a designate piano player on most cruises, but in the event they are unavailable (illness, etc) they swap in other performers to cover (when we were on the Coral in 09, the main player was down for 3 days with the flu and they had rotating acts from the stage show performers and house bands all of whom explained the situation before every couple of sets).

That's the same thing I was told this morning. So there's a designated piano player in the Crooner's Bar, but when someone's sick, changes have to be made, and on Cruise ships, there's a smaller pool to call from than on land. (It's kind of impossible to call someone on another ship and say "Hey, can you possibly fill in tonight?") And since the current piano player ends his contract before 2/15, I didn't ask his name.

Simbasmom,

 

Will your son still be on in March? As I recall he is a musician. If he will be on, what is his name? I know I had it a year or two ago, but have forgotten it.

As of now, he's not scheduled to be on in March-his contract should end in February. However, he told me today that so far there's no one listed on the computer as his replacement, which means he could be asked to extend his contract although they still have plenty of time to schedule his replacement.

Just to let you know, I did message him on Facebook (the main way that cruise crew communicate), but I haven't heard back yet. I hope he responds for you!

Glad to hear good things about your cruise on the Island. I'm just jealous that it means you got to see our son before Mom did. Ironically, he also did a dive in Aruba. Is that a big dive location? LOL about the sweat pants. I wonder how many people are running around the ship in sweat pants. And if any end up wearing sweat pants on formal nights. I hope not!

We are travelling on 15 February. This will be our first time on the Island Princess. Can you tell us if they have a resident piano man in Crooners or do various musicians simply take turns over the two weeks?

 

We have previously been on the grand class ships where Crooners have been a real lively place with great atmosphere.

Coincidently, I have an "in" with the Music Manager whose on the on the Island Princess right now (and, although he's scheduled to get off about a week before you get on, has already been told to expect that his stay might be extended at least thru February 15th). I'll check with him for you.

Besides everything else mentioned here, perhaps there was a scheduled captain's change between cruises, but the "oncoming" captain missed his airplane connections so he missed being at the ship at the scheduled time (San Francisco?) Rather than wait until the next cruise and pay the oncoming captain to sit in the San Fransicisco hotel until the next cruise, Princess may have paid to get him to Honolulu. Remember, the outgoing captain was probably looking forward to leaving and anxious for his replacement to show up. I speak from experience I've seen. Our son once planned to join a ship in Vancouver, missed his connection, so Princess arranged to get him to Juneau to join mid-cruise.

Apparently there are US ports where crew (at least from some countries) are not allowed off the ship. One friend tries to get ethnic food of their choice as a gift. (in addition to cash tips' date=' not in place of cash.)[/quote']

 

Oh, yes-I forgot about that! When our son was on the Golden in LA, they weren't allowing Phillipinos off (apparently some other ships had had a high # of Phillipinos getting off, not returning, and disappearing). Then, rather than pick on one country, they weren't letting any foreign crew members off. It wasn't a very popular move.

Got an answer already! Wes is most likely on the Sea Princess right now (for how long, I don't know).