1st time on Celebrity-Expectation re. dancing to 70's -90's music?

[manmtnmike]

On cruises we love good bands and dancing. Not so much Big band ballroom.

Re. Reflection...

I heard that there is only 1 main dance venue..not counting disco lounge. Also, that this dance floor was reduced in size with more pax compared to other ships in her class.

Is it wrong to expect a basic cover band playing nostalgic tunes, instead of reprocessed ad-hanced substitutes.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks!

 

Mike

[royalcruz]

You will probably have a pop band playing most nights in the main foyer and sometimes in the Sky Lounge. There is no disco on Reflection anyway. There will also be dance music with DJ in different venues (Solarium, Martini Bar, wine bar, etc). There will be a jazz band in Ensemble Lounge and some of these bands play pop hits, but no dance floor there. I'm probably the same age as you and have been pleased.

[teecee60]

On the positive side, I have enjoyed every party band on each of my six Celebrity cruises. They have played a nice mix of everything from 60s, 70s, and 80s classic rock and mellow stuff, to salsa and more contemporary music as well :)

 

The PROBLEM is they never play LONG enough, the sets are just starting to get the crowd energized and then the band goes on break... you can literally feel the energy just evaporate. :confused:

 

The BIGGEST problem, ESPECIALLY on Reflection, is lack of dance floor space. First, the Quasar "disco" has been eliminated. The atrium has a very small dance floor that is wrapped around, and plays second fiddle to the "Titanic Stairway." Then they have some big ugly ridiculous statue taking up even more of what little dance floor there is. :mad:

 

Even WORSE is the gutted Sky Lounge. It is half the size of the other S class ships, (the space being used for high end suites) and the size of the dance floor THERE is nothing less than pathetic. M class ships have also had their "Sky Lounges" and dance floors gutted by re-allocation of space. :(

 

This theme continues to be my ONLY complaint about Celebrity. From my experiences over the last 4 years, it is painfully obvious that it is getting WORSE, and will not change for the better, so I have just learned to live with it. It's somewhere between sadly disappointing and simply infuriating to see 80+% of Celebrity's clientele literally RUN from the music that is being programmed by the supposed "experts" at X. :rolleyes:

Edited September 7, 2014 by teecee60

[Lsimon]

There had a been a big decline in the number of performances, the number of venues available and the number of lounge music groups on board on Celebrity in recent years. You'll still find the kind of music you're looking for but not the quantity or quality of venues that you might expect.

 

With that said we've had a lot of fun at some of the music/dance events they have in the atrium despite the fact that the atrium is a terrible place for this. Why is it so terrible? In my opinion: Noise distracts other activities in the area, there is extremely limited seating and viewing points, and the overall atmosphere just isn't as nice as the dedicated music lounges Celebrity's has on the older ships.

Edited September 7, 2014 by Lsimon

[Sloop-JohnB]

Agree with both TEECEE60 and LSIMON

 

Although Mr Sloop & I have been able to dance on both our Celebrity Cruises (Solstice in 2012 & Summit in 2013) and enjoy ourselves neither were ideal.

 

Had a great time in the Grand Foyer one Formal Night on the Solstice, but the space was never designed for dancing, so is too small, crowded and often ends up cramped just by the number of those wanting to see the entertainment, more so than those who want to dance.

 

The Sky Lounge has a good band up there one night (fortunately the Solstce was / is one of the S-Class Ships where the Sky Lounge has not been "sliced" in half)... But as stated the evening was very disjointed cause of the short sets.

 

On the Summit, we liked the real dance floor in the Rendezvous Vous Lounge... But again were not that crazy about the layout of the space (midship open space, so it also can be crowded as people have to use the space as well as an access point to either the fore or aft).

 

So on both cruises we did not do a lot of dancing (like a whole night's worth)... We were more apt to just come upon the scene, take whirl or two on the floor... And then leave. Happy enough... But not overly so. Which is kind of sad (Celebrity's loss) cause Zmr Sloop & I do enjoy dancing... Just felt we couldn't really get into it given the venue layouts etc

 

Honestly, the Sky Lounge on the S-Class Ships COULD BE a great venue for a nightclub / dancing ... Sad tho that Celebrity has decided to chop up this space for other uses... Wanting obviously to find ways to get more bucks out of the sq footage (Reflection Suite area - Conference Space etc).

 

IMO Quasar was a waste (so not surprised to hear it is disappearing). Sky made far more sense... Especially so being on a Public Deck, and away from cabin space... Big area, perfect for theme parties... Particularly so on cruises / nights when weather on the pool deck is not ideal. Shame no one has seen the light !!

 

As for music itself... As others have said there has been some cuts as of late in regards to live entertainment... And the Scratch DJs are more evident. Not sure what to make of them... Suppose we will find out on our upcoming cruises.

 

Got to admit we are a tad worried that enjoying dancing to Rock n Roll (50s thru 70s) could be doomed in the long term... And that would be sad, at least for us

 

Hope this helps,

 

Cheers!

[SoBe2010]

The best, times are gone. The band is still good, but performances like at pool or in the evenings are very limited.

Personally, the live bands were a selling point to me. That is not the case anymore.

[hcat]

Even the djs they used to have played some nice varied sets you could dance to.....now mostly loud ....many flee!

 

sorry to see Quasar taken off Ref...Celebrity never properly promoted it...it is a great club space with a nice bar and sep party room ( at least on Slho) we enjoyed but not many others found their way there.,,

 

hoping for varied live music on Reflection in Nov...

[Lsimon]

On my review of our first Celebrity cruise on the Summit 10 years ago I started out by listing our favorite memories of the cruise. Two of them related to excursions so they didn't directly involve the ship. Of the remaining eight, four related to the lounge music on board. I still love cruises on Celebrity but wouldn't have that sort of perspective these days and miss the great music they had on board when we first started sailing with them.

 

Unfortunately we missed our winter cruise this year for various reasons. I heard that it was quite nice and the music had improved. Hopefully it won't be too long before we can cruise again and judge for ourselves.

[BecciBoo]

My group will be looking for 60's-80's music for dancing also and it looked to me like Sky Lounge is it.

 

Hi Hertha!

 

But it seems since RCCL bought Celebrity, the line is slowly being assimilated into the RCL mindset. In their defense though, on past RCL cruises the disco's on most nights were just dead! I attributed that to the DJ...we had a run in with one on Voyager, he'd never play what we requested even though we were practically the only peeps in there. All he wanted to play was rap:rolleyes: And the younger college age types never wanted to go there. So over the last few years they have been repurposing all the discos.

 

RCL also has cut up and split up their lounges making it hard to find any place suitable for dancing. Albeit, the Voyager and Freedom class ships have the HUGE dance and gathering space when they roll out the floor over the ice in Studio B that works perfectly for their 70's and 80's dance nights.

 

We'll all be at Sky Lounge, but if the music's not right, we will not be returning.

Edited September 8, 2014 by BecciBoo

[teecee60]

Even the djs they used to have played some nice varied sets you could dance to.....now mostly loud ....many flee!

 

sorry to see Quasar taken off Ref...Celebrity never properly promoted it...it is a great club space with a nice bar and sep party room ( at least on Slho) we enjoyed but not many others found their way there.,,

 

hoping for varied live music on Reflection in Nov...

 

EXACTLY! Quasar was absolutely cool as all get out, AWESOME LIGHTING AND A NICE BIG DANCE FLOOR, but I never saw more than 25 people, and usually less than 15 in it, because they ALMOST NEVER programed the right music for the right crowd at the right time. :(

 

Many nights on Silhouette, (and Solstice as well) the crowd (mostly 60s, but some 70s and plenty of 50s) was streaming out of the theater and passing through the area in front of Quasar, and was literally scowling and SCRAMBLING to get away from the obnoxiously loud techno-rap that was being played. (to an EMPTY house) :mad:

 

I can guarantee you, had they been playing Sinatra, Como, Dean Martin, DOZENS of those people would have stopped in for a drink and some dancing before calling it a night... THEN they could have advanced the music a decade per hour. ;)

 

 

My group will be looking for 60's-80's music for dancing also and it looked to me like Sky Lounge is it.

 

Hi Hertha!

 

But it seems since RCCL bought Celebrity, the line is slowly being assimilated into the RCL mindset. In their defense though, on past RCL cruises the disco's on most nights were just dead! I attributed that to the DJ...we had a run in with one on Voyager, he'd never play what we requested even though we were practically the only peeps in there. All he wanted to play was rap:rolleyes: And the younger college age types never wanted to go there. So over the last few years they have been repurposing all the discos.

 

RCL also has cut up and split up their lounges making it hard to find any place suitable for dancing. Albeit, the Voyager and Freedom class ships have the HUGE dance and gathering space when they roll out the floor over the ice in Studio B that works perfectly for their 70's and 80's dance nights.

 

We'll all be at Sky Lounge, but if the music's not right, we will not be returning.

 

I would venture a guess that during those 70s and 80s dance nights there was a bigger crowd than at any other time??? :rolleyes:

 

Most of the DJs are too young to have a CLUE that music even exists, that the vast majority of the clientele wants to hear.

 

What's so sad is, the ships are big enough and have enough different venues, that each could play a different genre of music and EVERONE could find their "happy place." :cool:

[manmtnmike]

WOW... Lot's of concerning comments.

 

Ok...if you were to choose a favorite line, and ship class, with this criteria- what would you suggest?

 

Thanks,

 

Mike

[Lsimon]

...But it seems since RCCL bought Celebrity, the line is slowly being assimilated into the RCL mindset. In their defense though, on past RCL cruises the disco's on most nights were just dead! I attributed that to the DJ......

 

RCL acquired Celebrity in 1997 - 17 years ago! That was before the first M class ship went into service and probably before they even ordered the Millennium. It was also before my first Celebrity cruise. So Celebrity had many years under RCL to establish a different identity and in the years we started cruising the line (2004 and forward) the lounge entertainment was top notch and plentiful.

 

On our M class cruises they usually had a decent band in the sky lounge (different name on each ship) most nights. This area was shared by the DJ who took over after band sets. I was continually amazed at how many times the last band set would end around 11:30 or so with a realatively crowded lounge and dance floor and the DJ would switch to a completely different type of music that was completely out of touch with the crowd there and 98% of the people would leave within 5 minutes. I know the management on board has targets and incentives for overall beverage sales and could never believe they'd continually allow a lounge to be repeatedly cleared out like that.

 

At least you had the opportunity for that on the M class. On our last few S class sailings they didn't have that much music. I recall our last S class sailing, over a year ago, we left the late theatre show on the last formal night with the Cruise Director encouraging us to enjoy the ship's entertainment in the lounges which would continue until late into the night. Well we went directly from the theatre to the atrium to dance to the party band only to get there just in time to hear part of the last song of their last set for the night around 11PM. Oh well.

 

I complained to Celebrity on board and in letters to management and was assured the lounge entertainment would improve this year. Unfortunately we couldn't take a cruise this past winter so we haven't yet been able to see first hand if this is the case or not.

 

EXACTLY! Quasar was absolutely cool as all get out, AWESOME LIGHTING AND A NICE BIG DANCE FLOOR, but I never saw more than 25 people, and usually less than 15 in it, because they ALMOST NEVER programed the right music for the right crowd at the right time. :(...

Wow - that's a big crowd. We've popped our heads in there a few times on past cruises and never saw more than 2 or 3 couples in there and many times no one at all was dancing. I guess that's why they decided to drop it entirely from the Reflection.

Edited September 8, 2014 by Lsimon

[cruisehome]

have to agree with all of the above posters

 

there was wonderful music in the atrium but they only played for 45 minutes at a time and only a couple of times - it was either time to go into dinner or when we were coming out of dinner the band was just finishing

 

the disco had loud loud old disco music - that was not very conducive to dancing - there were really young people dancing to this music so of course like the rest we did not stay

 

it is too bad the timing of dancing has changed

 

I am going on the M class ship next month and hope this will not be the case

 

good luck