Entertainment Reports

sounds better than last cruise. it seems to be the Opera group that is the downer.

Sent from my ONE A2005 using Forums mobile app

Kym Purling, with great bass and drums from on board musicians, put on a great set in 54 tonight. Riviera Trio in Living Room knocking it out of the park as I type this. There's life on ship tonight!

 

Sent from my ONE A2005 using Forums mobile app

I agree, these two groups are “saving the cruise” for many. It needed entertainers with cruise ship experience like they have and the personality to engage with other onboard entertainers. Kym and the boys from the band - it was like he was mentoring them and letting them have some musical license and boy did it work. What a jazz set. Refreshing and different

It’s the same with Riviera Sounds, versatile and working with the orchestra at times to create different sounds.

Your assessment on the opera I totally get as well

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

They try. And are promoted on the ship TV. But their work is not landing. Personally I can't take more than one aria and have to leave. Just not a good fit for a cruise ship.

 

Sent from my ONE A2005 using Forums mobile app

I will not go to their shows. Will test some of the others,

Unfortunately the 54 below guest entertainer in Journey last night was another disaster. All credit to Eric, he did not need any guest feedback, he made up his own mind and is again rejigging the rest of the cruise shows. We feel for him, he is going to burn out with all this backfilling and rework of shows.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Oh, dear. 😟 The CDs really have their hands full if they have to do this all the time. Would like to hear some fresh reports from Quest. She is officially in the Med in a few hours. (Gibraltar now). 😎

The magician last night on Journey was acceptable - nothing earth shattering, tricks we’ve seen before with several other magicians. But compared to our exceedingly low benchmarks now re 54 below performances this was one of the better.

However the layout of the lounge for 54 below doesn’t work for magic shows. They have table and chairs on the dance floor. If you are in the “normal seats” you can’t see much if anything.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We’re joining Quest at the end of next week, it will be interesting to compare the entertainment against our recent Journey experience.

That would be my expectation Steve as they are working very hard to make adjustments. This cruise has been marginally better than last but still not the usual Azamara standard.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Possibly Quest has not gotten as far along in the change-over. We got of this past Friday and here is my summary: (keep in mind we didn't see every show, but saw many and talked with others about those we missed)

• No opera of any kind
  
• I reviewed three of the Shorts at sea earlier in this thread here.
  
• I am not clear on which entertainer with a few exceptions noted below was purely a guest entertainer or from 54 Below but I did not hear any comments about anyone being really bad and a few were complimentary.
  
• Tony, Earnest and Christine (Tony's wife?) all did shows and they were all well received.
  
• Sasha (band leader/pianist did two shows. The first one was fantastic and the second one (classical) was good.
  
• There was a magician (I forget his name) that did two shows that included a little comedy. I saw only the first one, but his tricks were visually large enough to be seen (an appreciated) from anywhere.
  
• There was a matinee with three more of the Shorts at Sea and I heard comments ranging from neutral to positive but nothing bad.
  

So in summary, I would say that, on Quest, the entertainment is still at least pretty good but could use a little more thought as to what might be appropriate for Azamara's passengers. It certainly isn't the disaster that is on Journey.

Possibly Quest has not gotten as far along in the change-over. We got of this past Friday and here is my summary: (keep in mind we didn't see every show, but saw many and talked with others about those we missed)

 

 

• No opera of any kind
  
• I reviewed three of the Shorts at sea earlier in this thread here.
  
• I am not clear on which entertainer with a few exceptions noted below was purely a guest entertainer or from 54 Below but I did not hear any comments about anyone being really bad and a few were complimentary.
  
• Tony, Earnest and Christine (Tony's wife?) all did shows and they were all well received.
  
• Sasha (band leader/pianist did two shows. The first one was fantastic and the second one (classical) was good.
  
• There was a magician (I forget his name) that did two shows that included a little comedy. I saw only the first one, but his tricks were visually large enough to be seen (an appreciated) from anywhere.
  
• There was a matinee with three more of the Shorts at Sea and I heard comments ranging from neutral to positive but nothing bad.
  

So in summary, I would say that, on Quest, the entertainment is still at least pretty good but could use a little more thought as to what might be appropriate for Azamara's passengers. It certainly isn't the disaster that is on Journey.

The Sparkling Trio on Quest has been very good. Great to have something different in Spirits during the evening. Even passengers dancing, something I've never seen before in Spirits. The pianist and guitarist from the Trio do solos in the Living Room before dinner. The singer participates fully in White Night, complementing the cruise director and assistant.

The band/orchestra are excellent. Sasha, the bandmaster, is a superb pianist from jazz to classical. He teaches at the Odessa Conservatory, and can accompany solo singers or give his own show in Cabaret. Joe, the drummer from Australia, is also excellent, and sings two or three tunes on White Night. Ian on trumpet is a holdover from the prior band and I'm happy he's staying on.

Two of the 54 Below soloists have legitimate Broadway/West End credentials. Peter Cutler was Marius in Le Miz in London and gave an excellent show tonight. Sara Jean Ford took over the role of Christine Daae in Phantom in 2010 on Broadway and both her performances on-board were excellent. A violinist gave two concerts (Jacov ???) and was given standing applause. Some stayed through both of his second night performances. We did have two who were less successful but this, I suspect, is part of the learning curve that comes with a wholesale revamping of entertainment.

https://www.theatermania.com/broadway/news/photo-flash-hugh-panaro-and-sara-jean-ford-return_30224.html

That’s good to hear. I think the skills of the bandmaster to do their own shows and interact with an audience is going to be critical to the success of the brave new world.

Those with Broadway credentials did not always translate to good cabaret Lounge entertainers on Journey but I’m sure the cruise directors will know who will very soon.

Last night during the variety show the “Broadway soloist” did a long monologue song about ......bacon!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Those with Broadway credentials did not always translate to good cabaret Lounge entertainers on Journey but I’m sure the cruise directors will know who will very soon.

I think it's worth keeping in mind that some of the "former" guest entertainers didn't always measure up to "the usual Azamara standards," and those that did on the 5th or 6th time you saw them would have benefited from a new routine. I was at the point where I could recite their between-number patter along with them.

Change was needed and the cruise directors will get things sorted out.

The Sparkling Trio on Quest has been very good. Great to have something different in Spirits during the evening. Even passengers dancing, something I've never seen before in Spirits. The pianist and guitarist from the Trio do solos in the Living Room before dinner. The singer participates fully in White Night, complementing the cruise director and assistant.

 

The band/orchestra are excellent. Sasha, the bandmaster, is a superb pianist from jazz to classical. He teaches at the Odessa Conservatory, and can accompany solo singers or give his own show in Cabaret. Joe, the drummer from Australia, is also excellent, and sings two or three tunes on White Night. Ian on trumpet is a holdover from the prior band and I'm happy he's staying on.

 

Two of the 54 Below soloists have legitimate Broadway/West End credentials. Peter Cutler was Marius in Le Miz in London and gave an excellent show tonight. Sara Jean Ford took over the role of Christine Daae in Phantom in 2010 on Broadway and both her performances on-board were excellent. A violinist gave two concerts (Jacov ???) and was given standing applause. Some stayed through both of his second night performances. We did have two who were less successful but this, I suspect, is part of the learning curve that comes with a wholesale revamping of entertainment.

 

https://www.theatermania.com/broadway/news/photo-flash-hugh-panaro-and-sara-jean-ford-return_30224.html

These things are very subjective. We also disembarked on Friday, and while I agree with you that Sasha was excellent, we didn’t feel that the singer of the Sparkling Trio was hitting all or even most of her notes. The trio’s repertoire also seemed very limited. As we walked through the Spirits lounge with increasing speed most evenings to get away from the singing, she always seemed to be assaulting one of the same three songs. One evening we heard a song with quite a long instrumental introduction and thought that the other two members of the trio played very well, but the singing resumed and inspiried us to hurry through.

I think when we are talking about entertainment we have to recognise that at best Azamara can cater for guests who travel once or twice a year. Serial cruisers will always be more familiar with all the shows. I accept as I cruise more often there will be some acts I am more familiar with than other and as long as they are of a good quality I accept that. Economical Azamara can’t ask guest entertainers to develop a new show every six months.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Economical Azamara can’t ask guest entertainers to develop a new show every six months.

I agree. But they can get different entertainers more often than every five or six years.

I stepped aside for a few days while reading comments.

From what I have been reading over all the guests on Quest seem to be happier than in JR still. I would take the plays over opera once or twice. On land I do not repeat theatre so why on a ship.

No matter what I read there really is no music between six and eight in Spirits so that leaves me either in the large LR or in Prime or on the balcony having a drink.

Eric and Russ take holidays and so far but two entertainers no one seems really happy.

So I hope by late summer there will be some firings and hirings.

Seems no one really happy

Seems no one really happy

You obviously didn't read my post above.

Very subjective thread - we too have been on Quest in the last month and felt that the entertainment was poor. To us, the trio were not great, and particularly the female singer, whose voice felt too loud for Spirits and sounded quite 'rough' to us, often missing notes. Sasha had a very good show when accompanying a violinist, as already said by someone, but his solo show wasn't as good, in our view. (The timings of the shows have changed also, we thought, and it was quite tricky for us to catch a complete show, when dining in Aqualina or Prime C.... so we sometimes caught the start of the first and then the end of the second, so apologies to them all, if we missed the best bits in the middle.) Tony and Christine did a fabulous show and although we had seen most of it several times before, this did not spoil it and this was the only evening, we felt the entertainment was enjoyable. Earnest also made a good start to his ACD duties and his show has potential. Entertainment is very subjective to the audience, as all these posts show..... We accept too, that we were missing what had been there before and perhaps this added to our lack of enjoyment?

I think when we are talking about entertainment we have to recognise that at best Azamara can cater for guests who travel once or twice a year. Serial cruisers will always be more familiar with all the shows. I accept as I cruise more often there will be some acts I am more familiar with than other and as long as they are of a good quality I accept that. Economical Azamara can’t ask guest entertainers to develop a new show every six months.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I agree and have wondered about this as I've followed this thread. My wondering: how many onboard any given cruise are AZ "serial cruisers", how many cruise AZ once or twice yearly, and how many are AZ newbies and have seen none of these shows? Sounds like AZ has been betting that the latter two categories WAY outweigh the first.

We will be first-timers on Azamara in October but, even so, if the entertainment is unappealing, we will give it a miss. We find, on other lines, that some of the entertainment is good, some is bad, and most is mildly entertaining/mediocre. We were looking forward to some live music in some venues, however. Still hoping for that....

When I have gone to the Captains party it has varies depending on cruise from 250 to closer to 400 repeat guests. Many of the shorter cruises are newbies checking out the line. I want before and after dinner music. Mostly piano. The shows in general I do about half.

We disembarked Quest yesterday, and I have to agree with the poor reviews of the Sparkling Trio. Limited repertoire and the singer was IMO mediocre. I would also rather just hear the trio than adding in all the canned music to accompany them.

We didn’t see any of the other entertainment, but after reading about the poor reception of the “Shorts on Ships” I was surprised to see them performed on at least two evenings.

For our entertainment, we’d just like some free On-Demand movies or better TV options. Pretty sure we are probably one of the few people that care about that

We disembarked Quest yesterday, and I have to agree with the poor reviews of the Sparkling Trio. Limited repertoire and the singer was IMO mediocre. I would also rather just hear the trio than adding in all the canned music to accompany them.

 

We didn’t see any of the other entertainment, but after reading about the poor reception of the “Shorts on Ships” I was surprised to see them performed on at least two evenings.

 

 

For our entertainment, we’d just like some free On-Demand movies or better TV options. Pretty sure we are probably one of the few people that care about that ��

I was wondering why no one from Quest was commenting on the entertainment during the last week, as we join it next Saturday. Just found out it is currently chartered to Desire Cruises so I guess they have been making their own entertainment!

Let’s hope it’s deep cleaned before boarding commences!

I was wondering why no one from Quest was commenting on the entertainment during the last week, as we join it next Saturday. Just found out it is currently chartered to Desire Cruises so I guess they have been making their own entertainment!

 

Let’s hope it’s deep cleaned before boarding commences!

LOL. We have been on a cruise prior to a similar charter but not after. Sure it will be fine though.

Hope you have an enjoyable time. If you have a moment please post your assessment of the entertainment currently on Quest as we board next month.

We board tomorrow and happy to feedback as we love doing the shows after dinner and enjoying music before dinner, so will happily oblige.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We board tomorrow and happy to feedback as we love doing the shows after dinner and enjoying music before dinner, so will happily oblige.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

That's very kind of you, thanks.

Hope you have a wonderful cruise