Best Piano Entertainer on Carnival? (Part 2)

[DEBnGAB]

We just got off the Victory Sept 25th and I believe this is the worst Piano Player and Singer that I have ever heard. There were a couple nights the place wasnt even open. He sounded like he was hoarse so I asked him if he was feeling allright and he said he felt fine but know one would sit down and listen to him.:rolleyes:

 

I cannot believe that Jerry Seelix is still in Piano Bars.I agree that he was the absolute worse.

 

Besides being incredibly hoarse 100% of the time, he would ask for requests, the few people in there would throw out a song, he would say he didnt know that one, then offer up to play something instrumental.

:rolleyes: He was awful.

[LibratPDX]

Polloyanna will be at the piano on the legend.Has any one enjoyed her on other cruises ? what kind of music dose she play?

 

I just got off the Liberty and went to the piano bar every night. She is awesome! She has a wide variety of specific songs and provides a songlist in the bar (see the website for her list if you like).

 

 

Tell her Cala says hello for me?

 

http://pollyannajones.com/fr_pollyanna.cfm

[crusinpsychRN]

I am wondering will the old thread still be available for reference, in case we have to search for something we read on it a couple of months ago?

 

Note first post.

[crusinpsychRN]

I loved Barry Miller. He was funny and got the group engaged.

[John F]

Just wondered if anyone has heard from Brad Alexander on the Valor?? We will be joining him

on Nov.27th. He does such an outstanding job and his late night show is terrific!! John & Priscilla :) :)

[Margarita Mom]

Just got off the Freedom and really enjoyed Marty Gast. He was entertaining and played what the crowd wanted. He was what I look for in the piano bar player. I'm there to have fun and sing along and Marty delivers.

[divetrash]

Some updates courtesy of John's Blog:

 

Conquest: Larry McConaghy 9/12/2011 - 3/4/2012

Destiny: Russell Villarin 9/10/2011 - ???

Dream: Dave Filsinger 9/3/2011 - 3/3/2012

Ecstasy: Frank Glenn 9/22/2011 - 3/22/2012

Elation: Bruce McGhie 1/24/2011 - 10/22/2011

Elation: Drydock 10/22/2011 - 11/05/2011

Elation: Tom Grable 11/05/2011 - 5/5/2012

Fantasy: Hrvoje "H" Knezevic 7/16/2011 - s11/28/2011

Fascination: Milburn Dumas 10/1/2011- 3/31/2012

Freedom: Marty Gast 8/21/2011 - 1/14/2012

Glory: Tom Riccio 8/27/2011 - 2/26/2012

Imagination: Angela Johnson 7/11/2011 - 11/4/2011

Inspiration: Jafar Curry 7/10/2011 - 12/3/2011

Inspiration: Seth Gibson 12/3/2011 - 6/??/2012

Legend: Pollyanna Jones 10/9/2011 - 1/15/2012

Liberty: Drydock 10/8/2011 - 10/22/2011

Liberty: "Piano Bar Bob" Berhalter 10/22/2011 - 2/??/2012

Magic: James "Jim" Morris 7/10/2011 - 10/28/2011

Magic: Ron Pass 10/28/2011 - 12/4/2011 www.ronpass.com

Miracle: Peter Brenner 9/11/2011 - 1/13/2012

Paradise: Richard Yerkes 10/7/2011 - 10/31/2011

Pride: James Quigley 7/31/2011 - 12/4/2011

Sensation: Barry Miller 9/1/2011 - 1/26/2012

Spirit: Keith Turner 7/19/2011 - 1/6/2012

Splendor: Mike Smith current - 10/30/2011

Triumph: Ron Pass 10/6/2011 - 10/24/2011 www.ronpass.com

Valor: Brad Alexander 9/18/2011 - 12/11/2011 www.bradalexanderonline.com

Victory: Jerry Seelix 9/3/2011 - 1/22/2012

 

*** A note about this list: This list is compiled from reports and reviews of current cruisers and reports from the entertainers themselves. There is no guarantee of accuracy. An actual date usually means that the schedule has been confirmed by either the performer or someone inside Carnival. Schedules are subject to change. Also, this list is updated very regularly, so if it's not on the list, we probably don't know it.

Edited October 12, 2011 by divetrash

[margaritaman]

Just off the Pride on Oct 2. We had James at the Piano bar who was excellent. He had a show going with the barman who was named Oliver. Great time. He always included you and had the place rocking everynight....Hats off....great time..

[swimmom32]

Piano Bar Bob???? anyone know who he is and if he is any good?? he will be on the liberty when we sail :)

[CruisinPhanatic]

Marty was fabulous! I have never spent much time in the Piano bars but on my Freedom Cruise in September we closed the piano bar every night. I see that Marty's contract is up in January. I hope that Carnival resigns him to another contract. My son and I are supposed to cruise in the spring and I would pick a ship because of him. We enjoyed him so much!

[SadieN]

How are Keith Turner and Seth Gibson? TIA

[alreadypacked]

I just got off the Liberty and went to the piano bar every night. She is awesome! She has a wide variety of specific songs and provides a songlist in the bar (see the website for her list if you like).

 

 

Tell her Cala says hello for me?

 

http://pollyannajones.com/fr_pollyanna.cfm

 

I enjoyed Pollyanna on the Liberty also--I was pleasantly surprised. In 2010, I took 3 CCL cruises and all 3 piano bar players were horrific. I was shocked, because in Sept of 2009 on the Freedom, Nov 2008 on the Miracle, and Dec 2007 on the Victory, we had awesome piano bar players.

 

It seemed that things had drastically changed in 2010, but Pollyanna was a refreshing change. Not the best piano bar player, but certainly enjoyable. She could even sing songs by male artists that I wasn't expecting, such as Bon Jovi. Her Michael Jackson medley was quite popular and very good.

 

She took few breaks, was extremely personable, and played a nice variety of songs (playlists distributed on the bar).

 

The first night, I wasn't sure because she was different than what we were used to, but definitely give her a chance. She does have talent, and is very personable. She likes to sing, which was the problem with some previous players...... They had extremely limited repertoire, spent more time talking & schmoozing, and one even spent an entire hour listening to one guest's Ipod trying to learn a new song while the rest of us ordered drinks waiting for our song to be played (after I tipped him $5.00, no less...which he actually gave back to me when I asked him if he was going to get to my song--he finally admitted that he didn't do that song; it was not an obscure song).

 

I don't expect perfection, but really. If the piano players in 2010 were at least as good as Pollyanna, I would have had no complaint, but they were beyond bad....

 

Pollyanna sings, doesn't waste too much time schmoozing, has talent and obviously likes what she does, is very personable, and I recommend definitely giving her a chance--even if she's not what you're used to. We did, and really enjoyed her.

[Lil_Red08]

Ron Pass hands down , but after the wonderful reviews I'm looking forward to hearing Brad Alexander in Dec.

[CourtneyLovesCruising]

Great thread.. now I know Seth Gibson will be our Piano Man and I've already liked his page on Facebook and found out that our friends know him, live in the same town as him. It's such a small world..

[vegadog2]

I enjoyed Pollyanna on the Liberty also--I was pleasantly surprised. In 2010, I took 3 CCL cruises and all 3 piano bar players were horrific. I was shocked, because in Sept of 2009 on the Freedom, Nov 2008 on the Miracle, and Dec 2007 on the Victory, we had awesome piano bar players.

 

It seemed that things had drastically changed in 2010, but Pollyanna was a refreshing change. Not the best piano bar player, but certainly enjoyable. She could even sing songs by male artists that I wasn't expecting, such as Bone Jovi. Her Michael Jackson medley was quite popular and very good.

 

She took few breaks, was extremely personable, and played a nice variety of songs (playlists distributed on the bar).

 

The first night, I wasn't sure because she was different than what we were used to, but definitely give her a chance. She does have talent, and is very personable. She likes to sing, which was the problem with some previous players...... They had extremely limited repertoire, spent more time talking & schmoozing, and one even spent an entire hour listening to one guest's Pod trying to learn a new song while the rest of us ordered drinks waiting for our song to be played (after I tipped him $5.00, no less...which he actually gave back to me when I asked him if he was going to get to my song--he finally admitted that he didn't do that song; it was not an obscure song).

 

I don't expect perfection, but really. If the piano players in 2010 were at least as good as Pollyanna, I would have had no complaint, but they were beyond bad....

 

Pollyanna sings, doesn't waste too much time schmoozing, has talent and obviously likes what she does, is very personable, and I recommend definitely giving her a chance--even if she's not what you're used to. We did, and really enjoyed her.[/quote

 

 

Thank you for the great Info.We will be cruising on the legend for Halloween and am really looking forward to the piano bar.

[LHP]

Per Jason Davis's website he is no longer on the Splendor. I wonder if something happened?

 

I think I read that Michael Smith is on the Splendor now....

[LHP]

For those who asked...we just sailed with Bruce on the Elation (got off the ship Oct 3rd...us, not him)....he was delightful.

 

He is from Scotland and just a HOOT!!

 

Brad Alexander is also EXCELLENT ...we have cruised with him twice.

 

There are still a lot of new names on here that we have not sailed with...

 

I need to get busy!! :D

Edited October 16, 2011 by LHP

[kristy]

Just off of the Legend and sadly must say that I was greatly disappointed with Pollyanna. :( The piano bar IS our favorite nightly routine and I was so bummed that she was not as fun and interactive with the crowd(or lack thereof on this trip)

She had a decent voice but did not hype the pax. I'm use to the Brad Alexander fun type piano players. Pollyanna definitely needs some help interacting with the fans while playing.

[Kokomo_Man]

Hi all,

 

I know this is a Carnival thread, and I am indeed a fan of the Carnival piano bars. But I thought you might like to see my observations from the "Nose Art of the Seas" cruise I'm on. Here's part of what I'm posting over in the NCL area.

 

...

I’m a piano bar aficionado. I don’t mean a chamber music kind of place, but a place that has everyone around the piano singing along with the paid performer… you know… singing the popular songs you know by heart. Unfortunately, I don’t think NCL believes in those kind of piano bars. They had one area that had the potential to be a fun piano bar, but I’m sorry to tell you that it doesn’t come close. The piano player in there only did a mediocre job and both people sitting in the area were only marginally interested. This wasn’t even close to the great evenings I’ve spent with Ron Pass in the piano bars on Carnival.

 

If you want to follow my "Live From the Nose Art of the Seas" you can find my postings at this link:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1501554

 

Bob

Memories of Naked Fanny

[LibratPDX]

Just off of the Legend and sadly must say that I was greatly disappointed with Pollyanna. :( The piano bar IS our favorite nightly routine and I was so bummed that she was not as fun and interactive with the crowd(or lack thereof on this trip)

She had a decent voice but did not hype the pax. I'm use to the Brad Alexander fun type piano players. Pollyanna definitely needs some help interacting with the fans while playing.

 

I'm sorry you didn't have as enjoyable an experience as I had with her on the Liberty. I guess I don't understand part orf your statement "but did not hype the pax"? The piano player can only do so much to encourage participaton. Some nights people trickled in and out, and some nights were jumpin', no two were alike!

 

I found her *very* interactive but the much of the interaction was with specific songs, and many of the regulars were in their 20's and enjoyed the more recent songs in her repertoire. We had the most fun with songs like "Forget You", "Love Shack", "I Will Survive", "Bohemian Rhapsody", and "Sweet Caroline" among others.

 

http://s317.photobucket.com/albums/mm388/libratpdx/?action=view&current=100711PianoBarLastHurrah.jpg

[divetrash]

For those who asked...we just sailed with Bruce on the Elation (got off the ship Oct 3rd...us, not him)....he was delightful.

 

He is from Scotland and just a HOOT!!

 

Brad Alexander is also EXCELLENT ...we have cruised with him twice.

 

There are still a lot of new names on here that we have not sailed with...

 

I need to get busy!! :D

 

Bruce is quite the charmer isn't he?

[alreadypacked]

I'm sorry you didn't have as enjoyable an experience as I had with her on the Liberty. I guess I don't understand part orf your statement "but did not hype the pax"? The piano player can only do so much to encourage participaton. Some nights people trickled in and out, and some nights were jumpin', no two were alike!

 

I found her *very* interactive but the much of the interaction was with specific songs, and many of the regulars were in their 20's and enjoyed the more recent songs in her repertoire. We had the most fun with songs like "Forget You", "Love Shack", "I Will Survive", "Bohemian Rhapsody", and "Sweet Caroline" among others.

 

http://s317.photobucket.com/albums/mm388/libratpdx/?action=view&current=100711PianoBarLastHurrah.jpg

 

 

I agree. The first couple nights seemed a bit ho hum at first, but I think the crowd just wasn't into it or wasn't requesting the best songs. After requesting a few choice songs (traditional crowd pleasers such as the aforementioned titles you mentioned), let me tell you, everyone was into it. The songs made all the difference.

 

I wonder if some guests may be new to the piano bar experience and don't know what songs get it going or what brings the crowd in. To some degree the piano player is at the mercy of the crowd...but at least Pollyanna wants to play and sing. The main problem with the 3 piano singers I encountered on my 2010 cruises (3 of them) was that they would barely sing any songs (the guy on the Imagination wasn't as bad as the other two--he mostly suffered from a very limited repertoire--only did oldies). The other two did more talking than singing (and none of them had playlists).

 

Other good titles to request are: Tina Turner's Proud Mary; The song from Grease (Is it called "Summer Girls"? Not sure, but you probably know what song I mean); Her Michael Jackson Medley--a big crowd pleaser every night even if you're not a big MJ fan because it is mostly older MJ songs than everyone knows from way back; It's Raining Men; and many more.

 

To some degree the piano bar is what you make it, but in 2010 we tried, but these "singers" wouldn't even sing--they spent the majority of their time talking or taking breaks, and had no playlists so we weren't even sure what songs we could request.

 

On the Freedom in Feb 2010, DH and I sat at the piano bar well over an hour (ordering drinks) after I had requested a well known Bon Jovi song (which was a common request on previous CCL cruises) and tipped $5 no less, to no avail.

 

I finally asked if he was going to play my song, and he admitted that he didn't even know that one. I was a bit miffed--at least he might have said so earlier on. Believe it or not, he actually gave me back my $5.

 

So that is why I say, Pollyanna is a joy. She likes to sing, is very personable, and does have talent. Give her a chance.

 

I wish I could post the videos I have of her but I think the file is too big or something.

[LibratPDX]

I agree. The first couple nights seemed a bit ho hum at first, but I think the crowd just wasn't into it or wasn't requesting the best songs. After requesting a few choice songs (traditional crowd pleasers such as the aforementioned titles you mentioned), let me tell you, everyone was into it. The songs made all the difference.

 

I wonder if some guests may be new to the piano bar experience and don't know what songs get it going or what brings the crowd in. To some degree the piano player is at the mercy of the crowd...but at least Pollyanna wants to play and sing. The main problem with the 3 piano singers I encountered on my 2010 cruises (3 of them) was that they would barely sing any songs (the guy on the Imagination wasn't as bad as the other two--he mostly suffered from a very limited repertoire--only did oldies). The other two did more talking than singing (and none of them had playlists).

 

Other good titles to request are: Tina Turner's Proud Mary; The song from Grease (Is it called "Summer Girls"? Not sure, but you probably know what song I mean); Her Michael Jackson Medley--a big crowd pleaser every night even if you're not a big MJ fan because it is mostly older MJ songs than everyone knows from way back; It's Raining Men; and many more.

 

To some degree the piano bar is what you make it, but in 2010 we tried, but these "singers" wouldn't even sing--they spent the majority of their time talking or taking breaks, and had no playlists so we weren't even sure what songs we could request.

 

On the Freedom in Feb 2010, DH and I sat at the piano bar well over an hour (ordering drinks) after I had requested a well known Bon Jovi song (which was a common request on previous CCL cruises) and tipped $5 no less, to no avail.

 

I finally asked if he was going to play my song, and he admitted that he didn't even know that one. I was a bit miffed--at least he might have said so earlier on. Believe it or not, he actually gave me back my $5.

 

So that is why I say, Pollyanna is a joy. She likes to sing, is very personable, and does have talent. Give her a chance.

 

I wish I could post the videos I have of her but I think the file is too big or something.

 

Yay, another Pollyanna fan! Another thing I noticed about her is that she never took a break, she just played and sang for up to four hours straight. If tips are any indication of performance, she was very successful, I saw $20's in her jar every night, and I think I saw a $50 in there once. She was joking about getting a new car when she got home.

 

I got such a kick out of her, and even enjoyed her fallback excuse for artists/songs not on her list "I'm from Australia". :D

 

The Grease song is "Summer Nights", along with "You're The One That I Want' - definite crowd pleasers! I enjoyed her Michael Jackson Medley, and "Proud Mary" was another fun one. The ladies loved "It's Raining Men", but some of the men protested :rolleyes:

 

I have been lucky, the only other piano player I have encountered was Brad Alexander, and he was great too. I hope you get the chance to enjoy him some time ! :)

[DanusLight]

Oh... wow...

Ok, well I guess a good way to start this off is to post the list... I'm on the Fantasy at the moment, and Frank Glenn is in the PB.

 

 

Thanks for list! What was your experience with Frank Glenn?

 

Thank You!

[divetrash]

As you can see, we have a hole and a couple more ending this week. Working on them...

 

Conquest: Larry McConaghy 9/12/2011 - 3/4/2012

Destiny:

Dream: Dave Filsinger 9/3/2011 - 3/3/2012

Ecstasy: Frank Glenn 9/22/2011 - 3/22/2012

Elation: Drydock 10/22/2011 - 11/05/2011

Elation: Tom Grable 11/05/2011 - 5/5/2012

Fantasy: Hrvoje "H" Knezevic 7/16/2011 - 11/28/2011

Fascination: Milburn Dumas 10/1/2011- 3/31/2012

Freedom: Marty Gast 8/21/2011 - 1/14/2012

Glory: Tom Riccio 8/27/2011 - 2/26/2012

Imagination: Angela Johnson 7/11/2011 - 11/4/2011

Inspiration: Jafar Curry 7/10/2011 - 12/3/2011

Inspiration: Seth Gibson 12/3/2011 - 6/??/2012

Legend: Pollyanna Jones 10/9/2011 - 1/15/2012

Liberty: "Piano Bar Bob" Berhalter 10/22/2011 - 2/??/2012

Magic: James "Jim" Morris 7/10/2011 - 10/28/2011

Magic: Ron Pass 10/28/2011 - 12/4/2011 www.ronpass.com

Miracle: Peter Brenner 9/11/2011 - 1/13/2012

Paradise: Richard Yerkes 10/7/2011 - 10/31/2011

Pride: James Quigley 7/31/2011 - 12/4/2011

Sensation: Barry Miller 9/1/2011 - 1/26/2012

Spirit: Keith Turner 7/19/2011 - 1/6/2012

Splendor: Michael Smith current - 10/30/2011

Triumph: Lorraine Ingle 10/24/2011 - ??? www.lorraineingle.com

Valor: Brad Alexander 9/18/2011 - 12/11/2011 www.bradalexanderonline.com

Victory: Jerry Seelix 9/3/2011 - 1/22/2012

 

*** A note about this list: This list is compiled from reports and reviews of current cruisers and reports from the entertainers themselves. There is no guarantee of accuracy. An actual date usually means that the schedule has been confirmed by either the performer or someone inside Carnival. Schedules are subject to change. Also, this list is updated very regularly, so if it's not on the list, we probably don't know it.