Best Piano Player in Crooners on Princess?

[buggystuff]

Eric Stone was our favorite. He was on our Sun Princess cruise several years ago. Some people love Bert Stratton and Mauricio, but neither of them floated our boat.

 

Bert has sailed with Carnival, and lots of folks like him over there

 

If anyone has recently sailed and knows the piano player and/or schedule, please repost , starting a list

 

Crown Princess - Eric Stone Present til ?

Emerald Princess - Barrington (Barty) Brown - Present til ?

Ruby Princess - Bert Stratton - Present til ?

Star Princess - Sammy Goldstein http://www.sammygoldstein.com/- September 23, 2010 - January 9, 2011

[unboringuy]

Martin Kaye!!:D

 

I agree.

[spingal]

Eric Stone!!! Love him! :D

[OCNJ Cruiser]

Roger Carr!!!! I never saw him personally, but my parents did and bought his CD, which is how I learned to love him! A few years ago I was in Laguna Beach for a wedding and it just so happened that he was performing at the very same hotel where the reception was. Of course the reception was a Friday night, I took an early Sat morning flight and he was performing Saturday night! It just seems like I will never see him in person! Wonder if he'll ever come back to Princess?!

[Jimjam]

MAURIZIO (I think that's how it's spelled).. Most are good but MAURIZIO really gets everyone in the groove.. Every night everbody is yelling "MAURIZIO I LOVE YOU." Enjoyed him on several different cruises/ships. He has been with Princess a long time..

[reggielew]

Hi!

 

I've really enjoyed Eric Stone, Sammy Goldstein, and Martin Kaye, but my all time favorite is Bert Stratton. He is on the Ruby Princess now until December 19th, and then will be doing a special "Bert Cruise" aboard the Ruby Princess on January 30th. However, on that cruise he will not be playing in Crooner's, but will instead be giving 3 private shows for those passengers who specifically booked through his travel agent as a private group.

 

By the way, Bert has never entertained on Carnival, so the previous poster may have been referring to someone else. He used to be on Dolphin Cruise Lines, but he has been on Princess for the past several years. Now, he is only on the ships sporatically as he has moved to Nashville and is hoping to "make it" as a songwriter. If Princess needs him as a fill-in from time to time, he will be on a ship for a few weeks here and there, but unfortunately, there is very little advanced notice. In fact, that is the reason that he has scheduled the private group aboard the Ruby on January 30th.

 

Reggie

[pablo222]

Emerald Princess - Barrington (Barty) Brown - Present til ?

 

Barty signed off on 11/28

 

He's doing the ruby transatlantic in the spring.

 

And, 40 days in the winter -- but I can't remember if it's

on Emerald or Ruby

 

He's a nice guy. We first saw him on the old Crown Princess in 1992

[HelloHelloHola]

Brett Cave was fantastic - we had him on a mediterranean cruise a few years back. Crooners was overflowing most nights. Great variety, some classics, some new (even some Coldplay). Very talented guy.

 

I did hear Bert Stratton on the Ruby last week. Caught "Sweet Caroline" 3x just walking through the piazza, and the one night we decided to stay a few minutes he played a montage of John Denver songs. Ugh... we're not all 60+. He's much more of a showman than a vocal talent.

 

Hi feffbrig, Martin Kaye from the Caribbean Princess also played a couple of Coldplay songs. He even played the theme song from Titanic. He said maybe this is a mistake, but everybody was cool about it. You should hear the entire audience joined him on Brown Eyes Girl.

 

It was standing room only every night when he was performing.

Edited December 2, 2010 by HelloHelloHola

[Tanga]

We had Chris Turner on our South America/Antarctica cruise in 2009 on Star. We loved him so much, we still keep in touch! He's now on Caribbean Princess.

[lynwar]

Pablo222,

Thanks for the info on Barty Brown. I tried to find his schedule but had no success. I know that his wife was going to join him on the Emerald on November 8. The transatlantic sailing might be his way to get back to England for awhile, so he might return to the States on the Ruby in late winter, do you think? Or fly back and be on the Emerald again if she leaves out of Ft. Lauderdale, his American home. It's interesting that we both saw him in the 90's.

Lynne

[Posaune]

I really enjoyed hearing Daniel Oliver.

[buggystuff]

Hi!

 

I've really enjoyed Eric Stone, Sammy Goldstein, and Martin Kaye, but my all time favorite is Bert Stratton. He is on the Ruby Princess now until December 19th, and then will be doing a special "Bert Cruise" aboard the Ruby Princess on January 30th. However, on that cruise he will not be playing in Crooner's, but will instead be giving 3 private shows for those passengers who specifically booked through his travel agent as a private group.

 

By the way, Bert has never entertained on Carnival, so the previous poster may have been referring to someone else. He used to be on Dolphin Cruise Lines, but he has been on Princess for the past several years. Now, he is only on the ships sporatically as he has moved to Nashville and is hoping to "make it" as a songwriter. If Princess needs him as a fill-in from time to time, he will be on a ship for a few weeks here and there, but unfortunately, there is very little advanced notice. In fact, that is the reason that he has scheduled the private group aboard the Ruby on January 30th.

 

Reggie

 

I stand corrected, I misread the Carnival piano players thread at the very beginning (it's the longest running thread on Cruise critic)

 

Maybe folks could add to the list if they know for sure whom is playing on which ship?

[donnajl]

During our 18 cruises, the piano player we have seen most often is Barty Brown. The first time we saw him (our first cruise) there was an unusual amount of elderly British passengers who participated in many WWII songs -- we were way too young and felt left out. We must have matured since then (2002) because we recognize more of the tunes Barty plays. We also have sailed with entertainer Vincent Laurentis, another Brit, who totally enjoys playing -- whether he had an audience or not. His "Bumble Boogie" was requested nightly and each time he played, it was fresh and original. The CD on the cruise was Billy London. Billy would join Vincent at Crooners each evening and take requests, much to the delight of everyone. Probably the most unusual was Jere Ring, whom we have seen only once. Jere had a huge notebook filled with 8 x 10 autographed photos of many, many celebrities. He claimed to be a protege of Liberace. Part of his "schtick" was to wear a dog's nose and floppy ears or flip a silly sign at an unsuspecting cruiser walking by (and not listening to his tunes). People would slink away, embarrassed with everyone else laughing like heck. We've asked around if Jere's been on any Princess ships and were told he's off on another line. He was an unusual performer, to say the least.

[shopperwhite]

does anyone know who will be on the ruby jan 16th cruise in crooners? thanks.

[Ninja50]

We met Brett Cave on the Coral a couple of years ago. Absolutely love him!! We never missed seeing at least some of his show every night and he always packed 'em in. I would love to run into him again on a future cruise. Anybody know if he still performs on any Princess ships?

[mikjr]

Ray Coussins gets my vote. He was Frank Sinatra's piano player back in the day..

 

DITTO!! Ray plays a version of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" that is beyond great!

[Sactosinger]

We were just on the Crown Princess and Eric Stone was performing in Crooners. He's pretty good. There were at least two other pianists on the ship - one in Adagio every evening. One of them should provide the entertainment you want.

[travelholic13]

Everyone has their own "favorite" but mine is Martin Kaye. We met him a couple of years ago on Vision of the Seas. We were there every night and became good friends with him. We booked another cruise about a year later on the Sapphire Princess, just because he was there. And we just got back from the Caribbean Princess on 11/7/10 and chose it just because Martin was there. He has become an incredible friend to my husband and I, and if he ever gets back on another ship, we will be there to see him. So my FAVORITE piano man is Martin Kaye.

 

I am Martin's personal stalker! :)

Edited December 7, 2010 by travelholic13

[minikiss]

Another vote for Martin Kaye.

We saw him on the CB just before he left to pursue his career further.

The week before at the end of his set in the theater he thanked the band for their part in the show and asked if we minded if he sang a song he had written for his girlfriend. At the end he got down on one knee and propossed to her. Glad to say she said yes! We enjoyed him so much we ended up planning our dinner times around his shows in Crooners.

We had a bad start to our cruise and when we got back my dad asked if anything had been a highlight of it. After giving it a little thought i said listening to the piano man in the crooners bar while drinking a Dunes martini.

Bought one of his CD so now all i need is the receipe for that cocktail!

Hope they found an equal replacement but for us we doubt it.

Wish him every luck in the future and hope he makes it big so we get to hear more of him.

Julia

[buggystuff]

Would like to hear from recent cruisers to add to this list:

 

Crown Princess - Eric Stone Present til ?

Emerald Princess - Barrington (Barty) Brown - Present til ?

Ruby Princess - Bert Stratton - Present til ?

Star Princess - Sammy Goldstein http://www.sammygoldstein.com/- September 23, 2010 - January 9, 2011

Caribbean Princess - Martin Kaye ??

[Margarita Jane]

Larry Dunsmore gets my vote. I became a martini drinker because of him!

[buggystuff]

Anyone report on a piano player and the ship?

[Lolar]

We had Chris May onboard a Caribbean Cruise on the Grand - he was a New Orleans jazz pianist. Excellent! I understand he is going to be on the Diamond Princess later this month

[jkocpa]

Anyone report on a piano player and the ship?

 

My personal favorite, Arny Galoyo, is currently on the Emerald and will be there until March 7, 2011. Then he comes back on the Emerald from April 17 - July 17 and then goes on the Grand from August 20 - end of the year.

 

Arny sings in 6 or 7 languages, engages the audience through "name that tune" and sing-a-longs,, does all requests (so every night is different depending on what people request) and is one of the nicest, most fun, personable people I know. My husband and I have cruised 6 times with Arny over the past two years and have 4 cruises set in 2011 to cruise with him. He is not only a great entertainer and a wonderful person, but has become a very good friend of ours. We only cruise if we know that Arny is on-board in Crooners.

[zacc]

Hands down the best I have heard in Crooners was Heather Sullivan. Excellent musician and vocalist.

 

It's hard to talk about the best without making reference to the worst....Bert Stratton.