Does Celebrity Take Entertainment Seriously?

So far on all our cruises with Celebrity there has not been many stand out acts in the theatre. When we have came off a 10/12 or 14 night cruise [we don't cruise any less than 10] we usually think there has been one or two decent acts and always have a complaint about too many production shows.

Thinking about this is Celebrity taking shortcuts and just putting on a show for the sake of it or Really thinking abut what the paying customer wants to see?

I think they take it seriously but in many cases they just fail. The last few years have seen cost cutting in the lounges in favor of DJs. They are changing their target demographic.

I think the Celebrity entertainment is generally fine, and is pretty much as it - and the industry - has always been.

I think the real issue is other cruise lines such as RCI and NCL have taken their theater entertainment to a new level with Broadway shows and some higher end Vegas type acts, which has left other cruise lines lacking by comparison - Celebrity being one - as a result.

We have been on the Summit twice in the last 2 years, and will be again in August. We have also been on the NCL Breakaway 3 times. While i agree the production shows on Breakaway are better, they also did not change over that time(some are changing now). I do however prefer the variety of the shows on Summit. We have seen some very good comedians(a far cry better than the second city improv that used to be on Breakaway), a great Billy Joel tribute, and the normal shows which have been good if not great.

I think overall the guest entertainers on Celebrity have been better than average. The shows - not so much. The real deterioration IMHO is in the live music in the bars. There is a lot less of it overall, the amount of time spent playing live music has been cut back, and the quality can be anywhere from so-so to good (rarely, but on occasion, very good).

Besides cost cutting (which I do believe is a big part of it), I think one problem may be simply supply and demand. There are more and more ships, and bigger and bigger ships with more venues. The lines are competing against other employers as well - Vegas keeps growing like gangbusters for example. At some point the well will run dry.

Our last six cruises we have found the guest entertainers to be good. The production shows are not our thing and once we have seen them do not go for a second time.

Whether entertainment meets our interest is very subjective. The production shows, which I like but some are a bit not my taste with the ‘broadway musical’ reviews. But when you talk with the dancers and singers, there is a lot of competition for the limited positions, and they work very hard on them.

So do they take their entertainment seriously? I’d say yes very much so.

Den

We were in Vegas last year, Spent close to $200 pp to see Le Reve. It was just as lame and not any better than the production shows with the acrobats on X. We had a hard time staying awake.

I told a BT friend that we went to the show. He said that he fell asleep during it and we told him that we also had a hard time staying awake. He said too bad we didn’t talk before as we could have saved the money.

I think it basically comes down to repeatively seeing the same type of performances that we becomes bored and not impressed.

The same with the steel drums, 40 years ago I seen them for the first time and was really fascinated by them. Now I can’t stand them.

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

We were in Vegas last year, Spent close to $200 pp to see Le Reve. It was just as lame and not any better than the production shows with the acrobats on X. We had a hard time staying awake.

 

I told a BT friend that we went to the show. He said that he fell asleep during it and we told him that we also had a hard time staying awake. He said too bad we didn’t talk before as we could have saved the money.

 

I think it basically comes down to repeatively seeing the same type of performances that we becomes bored and not impressed.

 

The same with the steel drums, 40 years ago I seen them for the first time and was really fascinated by them. Now I can’t stand them.

 

Happy cruising

Think those acrobatic shows go back to when they had their partnership with Circque D/Soleil years ago which did not work out well. I also twice fell asleep during those shows. The music was weird...

Who makes the bookings for entertainers? The individual CDs or Miami head office?

Veering somewhat off topic but since it was mentioned, I suggest next time you go to Vegas spend your money on LOVE at the Mirage (unless you hate Beatles music). Head and shoulders above the usual Cirque shows and awesome music, especially for us of Boomer age. I agree the acrobats onboard are getting old (and if I see another "scarf dangler" I think I may take that scarf away and strangle myself;p). I wish they would find some other types of entertainment to fill in the blanks on their production shows.

Who makes the bookings for entertainers? The individual CDs or Miami head office?

I believe it is a combination of both. Miami gives the CD choices.

I think the Celebrity entertainment is generally fine, and is pretty much as it - and the industry - has always been.

 

I think the real issue is other cruise lines such as RCI and NCL have taken their theater entertainment to a new level with Broadway shows and some higher end Vegas type acts, which has left other cruise lines lacking by comparison - Celebrity being one - as a result.

I agree with your thoughts here.

Once we've seen a Broadway show on Royal (or anywhere), there's no reason to see it again, even though it is a good quality production. They are more entertaining that first time if you've never seen the show than the X production shows (many of which have no discernible plot). The guest entertainers on X are on a par with most cruise line entertainment. There's some good ones, some fair and some yawners, but all in all it's a fairly pleasant way to spend part of your evening.

I have been pleasant surprised at the quality of guest entertainers on our X cruises. There are certainly duds occasionally; but for the most part they are quite good. I will say that after seeing so many magicians, I do get tired of some of the similar tricks they do. Just like with the aerialists, the first few times they are amazing; then it doesn't keep my interest as much seeing similar performances 10-29 times. It is quite a challenge for any cruise line to keep frequent cruisers entertained on every cruise; but I do think that X does a good job of it.

We enjoyed the comedians on the Solstice last week, but the production shows were really uneven. The acrobats and fliers were impressive, but the production numbers were not good. At all. The Amade show really made no sense and the musical numbers went on waaaaay too long.

I too am not a fan of the production shows because the plots don't make sense and they tend to all be very similar. I generally do enjoy the guest entertainers, particularly the comedians, tribute bands and acrobatic acts. Also, they need to revamp their audience participation "game shows".

As some CC regulars may know my DD is one of the on board Entertainment Managers. She has just returned from the Miami head office following an intensive week of programme scheduling for future cruises.

Obviously I can't be more specific but certainly believe Celebrity does take entertainment seriously.

Just go off Summit and was pleasantly surprised with the production shows and the entertainment.

I think there were 3 production shows (Chandelier, Soundtrack, and one other?) and I thought all were excellent. There were 5 main singers. One guy was just awful (the one who sung Crazy in love during Soundtrack). Either the key was off or he was just that bad. One singer was excellent, one was pretty good, and the rest were in the middle. There was one highly expressive singer who I remember from Reflection. She is far too screechy and I can't believe they don't try and reign her in.

The dancers were great and the acrobats were PHENOMENAL!

There was a ventriloquist who was pretty good. The comedian I thought, was just okay, though my hubby and kids loved him. I reluctantly went to his second performance-different show (which I thought was better). I'm not a big Whitney Houston fan, so i skipped the Whitney tribute, but my husband and daughter went and he thought she was outstanding. The singer from Vegas who paid tribute to the music divas was really good. The Irish flutist was really good too.

Overall, I'd say that X is historically weak in the entertainment department, but I definitely found entertainment on this sailing to be far improved.

So far on all our cruises with Celebrity there has not been many stand out acts in the theatre. When we have came off a 10/12 or 14 night cruise [we don't cruise any less than 10] we usually think there has been one or two decent acts and always have a complaint about too many production shows.

 

Thinking about this is Celebrity taking shortcuts and just putting on a show for the sake of it or Really thinking abut what the paying customer wants to see?

No. They don’t take it seriously.

Try another cruise line if you want quality entertainment.

King

Our impression in recent years is that the quality of production shows (plot, choreography, music selection) really took a tumble after X brought production in-house. Quality of the cast however has improved quite a bit. For many years complained about off-key females and males who couldn't hit a low note. Quite a bit better now.

Have no problem with guest entertainers. Some are excellent, most very good and the few bad ones just send us to the bar early (that's why we always sit in the back).

We unusually skip the shows anyways. You've seen them once you've seen them a thousand times. How is the comedy?

Veering somewhat off topic but since it was mentioned, I suggest next time you go to Vegas spend your money on LOVE at the Mirage (unless you hate Beatles music). Head and shoulders above the usual Cirque shows and awesome music, especially for us of Boomer age. I agree the acrobats onboard are getting old (and if I see another "scarf dangler" I think I may take that scarf away and strangle myself;p). I wish they would find some other types of entertainment to fill in the blanks on their production shows.

Agree. Was in Vegas 2 weeks ago and saw the show. Well worth going.

We’ll be taking an 11 night cruise on X next April. With a longer than 7 night cruise, does X provide more shows, or do they just repeat the same shows multiple times per cruise? (We realize the entertainers may be the same people.)

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We’ll be taking an 11 night cruise on X next April. With a longer than 7 night cruise, does X provide more shows, or do they just repeat the same shows multiple times per cruise? (We realize the entertainers may be the same people.)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

There are generally 3 production shows with the ship entertainment staff. The rest are guest entertainers that aren't repeated. Some may do 2 shows occassionally but the show will be different.