Attention dancers!

[reactor7]

We are dancers who would like to cruise in early December. Would appreciate any advice about finding the best ship for dancing. Are there any ships that offer opportunities for ballroom dancing?

[Judith02]

We love to dance also. Look into Crystal. They have several venues with live music for dancing during the evening in the various lounges and at tea time in the Palm Court. There is always music and dancing at the various Captain's parties. Also, in their theme cruises, they have at least one big band cruise and a jazz cruise. We danced across the Atlantic to the Glenn Miller band. They also have marvelous Ambassador Hosts who make sure that all the women get a chance to dance. We've even taken the free dance lessons on sea days -- we were waltzing and cha cha ing with the best of them!

[reactor7]

Thanks Judith02! I will do some checking into Crystal. I saw your note also on the Radisson page. I am pursuing this from all angles!

[salsa]

I'm going on a salsa cruise in July and they have some dates in Sept and Nov as well for people who like latin dancing -- cha cha, salsa, bachata, etc. See details at salsacruise.com.

[shookdm]

Reactor7,

A couple more ballroom dancers here. Can tell you had better luck on Carnival than NCL, however the disco on Carribbean cruises tends to be overcrowded with people who'd rather drink than dance, and don't understand dance ettiquette. I personally think that alcohol should be banned from dancefloors.

Every so often we see dance cruises offered in USBDA publications. You can also look at some links on [url="http://dcdancenet.com//dancecamps/cruises/vacations/"]http://dcdancenet.com//dancecamps/cruises/vacations/[/url]

for groups going on dancing cruises.

DMS
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=00ffff&cdt=2004;9;1;19;0;00&timezone=GMT-1000[/img]
Carnival Spirit 9/1/04

[rachel0]

SSQQ, a studio in Houston where I took dance classes (i took swing mainly but they're very varied), always has at least one cruise per year and one is upcoming. I think it leaves out of Houston, but it might be New Orleans. Check out ssqq.com. I like the studio and the people are great.

[the2ofus]

We are ballroom dancers. Have sailed on several Holland America ships and on one Princess ship. We have always found opportunities to dance. The musicians are very accommodating. However, be aware that most ship dancefloors are quite small. Usually, if there are more than 2 or 3 other couples, you are limited as to what steps or routines you can do because of lack of space. Also, as another poster mentioned, most people do not know about line of dance or dance etiquette.

However, we have found that it is possible to dance on the nearby carpet areas if the dance floor is full. We have also found that most dancers are friendly folks so it is easy to get to know people around the dance floor. Most of the lounge musicians appreciate being asked for special dance tempos and are very willing to play a merengue, rhumbo, waltz, etc.

Dancing on a ship can be challenging when the ship moves with the waves. You never quite know where the floor is going to be when you put your foot down.

[llanning]

We had a wonderful time dancing in the atrium of the Radiance on a Hawaiian cruise two years ago. The Montreal Trio played and they would take requests, not just names of songs but dances. Every evening before dinner,we had people hanging over the balcony to watch us and our travelling companions dance. The other couple is very good. We've found dance opportunities hit and miss. We did once cruise with a dance studio from St. Louis and got to dance with Bob Powers and Julia Gorchacova and Nicole Carroll. It was wonderful. Bob and Julia performed at the talent show. Obviously, not amateurs.

[smoothdancer]

What a treat to dance with Bob and Julia...Lucky you.

Years back we went on a big band cruise and it was fantastic. We spent all of our evenings either dancing or just in complete amazement just listening to the 18+ piece big bands. This was on NCL and they no longer do this theme cruise....What a shame.

Aside from this cruise we have found that the longer cruises have more opportunity for ballroom dance. I think it is because a longer cruise tends to have an older group on board, with more passengers enjoying this type of dance and music. We had plenty of opportunity to dance on Princess on our 11 day Panama Canal cruise.


Then if all else fails, you always have the opportunity to dance on the first formal night, captains party.

[TKOFD]

My wife and I have found that finding the opportunity to dance while on a cruise is hit or miss. It really depends on the bands (or trios/duos) that the ship has for any given week.

I was recently on the Holland America’s Oosterdam; the disco and its dance floor were pathetically small. In fact, the dance floor had a huge pillar in the middle of it. We also found the person who “hosted” the disco to smarmy.

The Oosterdam had a trio that played mostly Latin influenced music. They played it very well, and the lead singer had a beautiful voice, and she was very pretty, too. But you can only do so many rumbas and cha-chas. There was no salsa or samba music. Once in a while they would do some music that you could do a swing or a foxtrot. However, [i]before[/i] dinner, this “trio” was “duo” (sans pretty lead singer) – just a piano/key board player and a drummer. When these two guys played before dinner, they seemed to playing for themselves. You could not dance to almost everything they played in 45 minutes, and they [i]never[/i] talked to the audience. Yes, they could speak some English.

The other place to dance before dinner had no atmosphere (bright lights, a lot of walk-through traffic) and the dance-floor was terrible. The trio (piano player/lead singer, base guitar player, and drummer) played nicely, and their music was conducive to dancing (even if the floor wasn’t). That said, these guys had [i]zero [/i]personality and looked bored while they performed. I think only the singer could speak English.

This is not criticism of the Oosterdam, but it is criticism of the Cruise Director who hired these people to play. If you’re going to play music for people for [i]seven[/i] days in a row – you’d better know a [i]lot[/i] of different music [b]or[/b] be able to [i]entertain[/i] people in other ways besides your music -- make small talk, say hello to people you have seen the day before. Ask people how they are doing.

I’ve been on ships where you felt like you knew the people playing the dance music after the second night of the cruise. That’s when it is fun.



[email="kpk36@hotmail.com"][/email]

[A J Theodore]

A couple of thoughts.
Dancing is very hit-or-miss. Depends on the line, the ship, the band, the clientele on board, etc.
1. As several posts have suggested, you might want to check into dance societies / studios for cruises that specifically provide ballroom dance opportunities and/or dance themed cruises. If you are putting together a group of dancers to go on a cruise, then contact the cruise line to be sure that it provides an appropriate band or orchestra (perhaps try to make it a condition of booking). Even if you are not doing a group, a call to the line to ask that ballroom opportunities be provided (get the response in writing!!).
2. The more luxury lines (read Crystal), because of the customer base, are more likely to have some ballroom dancing and appropriate music. The more mass market ships are likely to have dancing that appeals to the younger clientele.
3. Call around to the cruise lines to ask if there are dance-themed cruises.
4. Call the cruise lines to ask what kinds of bands/orchestras are on board and ask about passenger feedback on them. This is not foolproof as the quality varies considerably from line to line and even from cruise to cruise on the same ship.
5. Go to websites and/or brochures to check out floor plans to look for the sizes of the dance floors. While none are ballroom size, some can be excruciatingly small (Radisson Voyager's dance floor is the size of a postage stamp and some others are not much better). Depending on the cruise and the cruise line, they can be very crowded as well.
6. Either before the cruise or on the comment card at the end of the cruise, be sure to indicate the need for ballroom dance space and orchestras.
7. When you get onboard, let the social director know about your interest in ballroom dance and ask what will be done to accommodate.
Good luck.

[nkpeeps]

Hi I agree that the dancing is mostly hit or miss on most ships. The higher end ships have more ballroom dancing . Cunard, Radission, Crystal , and Silverseas all use dance hosts . Celebrity is the only mid price one that I know of that does. The hosts are there just for that reason, so you know there will be better music and more of it

Eric and Nancy

[the2ofus]

DH and I had already booked this 10 day Eastern Carib cruise along with our DS and his DW. Just found out that the Harry James orchestra will be playing. That makes it even better as we love to dance! Hopefully there will be more opportunities and maybe even a larger dance floor set up somewhere.

By the way, on HAL cruises of 10 days or more there are always gentlemen hosts to dance with the ladies.

[JohnSC]

I am surprised that no one mentioned the QM2 which has the largest ballroom afloat and a nine piece band playing everything from waltz to samba.

[getaway101]

We are booked on the Maasdam 12/7/05. It is a "theme cruise" "BIG BAND".

We have cruised this ship before, and every night before dinner we would meet in the Ocean Bar (which had dancing) and then after dinner we were up to the Crows Nest (which had livlier dancing, oldies, disco, etc.)

If you wanted to dance on this cruise, your opportunity was there. It is also a smaller ship, so less people. Never had a problem finding room to dance.

Come join us!!

[tropicalsunset]

We have a great thread going for Ballroom dancers... feel free to join us!!

[URL=http://messages.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=133289]Ballroom dancing[/URL]

don't be afraid to request a hustle, swing or chachacha in the disco ... once they see you can dance... we found they would repeat the music when we entered the lounge ...helped to get the "party" started.

[MJC]

We were on the Radisson Diamond in the eastern Meditterranean last summer and they had dancing several times every night. There were even two gentleman hosts to dance with unescorted ladies. I'm an ex-teacher but my husband has two left feet, so it was fun for me to cha cha with an expert.

I agree with the other poster who said that the upscale cruises and longer cruises have more dancing opportunities.

Margaret

[Votech]

My DW and I were on the Horizon two weeks ago and had great dancing in the Rendevous Lounge. There is a duo there, keyboard player and singer, who do a wide range of ballroom type dancing and swing dancing. Although the dance floor is small there were very few, if any, dancers most of the time so were able to do some traveling dances(waltz, foxtrot, even a polka) in a circle. The Zodiac club has a slightly larger dance floor but they usually play bump and grind music there, not partner type of dance music. For comparison, we were on the Voyager of Seas in June and there was little music to partner dance on that ship.

[Bootscootin]

we were on the same cruise line last winter and also had a great dance experience with a 4 piece band (ironically from right around the area that we live), they took all kinds of request. We had a blast with cha, east and west coast swing, two step, and hustle. The Rendezvous Lounge was a good venue.

[shipshape sam]

We have found that there are many opportunities to dance on Royal Caribbean's ships. We were on Enchantment of the Seas in September and had numerous opportunties to dance each night. We are heading out next week and if the Mariner of the Seas is like the Adventure of the Seas we were on in November 2003, there will be lots of dancing. We do ballroom and latin and swing, so we like variety.

We were on Carnival Glory in November 2004, with a dance group, and were very disappointed in the dancing. They had a disco and only one band on board. they did have two small groups playing in a hallway next to the open casino - not very conducive to dancing. No latin group on board. They did play big band in the theatre one night, but you had to come down from theatre seating and take steps to the stage to dance. It lasted one hour.

We are going on Celebrity in December and will report back after that cruise. Looking at the deck plans with the public areas, my guess there it is not as good as Royal Caribbean where there are nice size venues for dancing. Boleros is great for Latin and they also have swing/ballroom there.

[Luv_to_Cruise]

We had a great time attending the ballroom dance classes. There were 3 one hour classes covering two dances in each class. Chris and TL from Ottawa, Canada were the teachers, and they are part of the Jean Ann Ryan group. We took two private ballroom dance lessons from Chris that really helped us improve our technique, especially in the leading and following. For the first time, my DH learned how to lead with his wrist and right forearm, greatly improving his lead. It was a breakthru for our dancing. We have taken lessons on and off for years and were never taught this method. For the two private lessons, we paid $100.00. A true bargain for learning how to improve our dancing so quickly!

There were ballroom dancing opportunities each night, sometimes two 45 minute sessions each night, regular ballroom music and latin. Yes, the dance floors are small. Some people danced in the Atruim area. We could usually find dance music somewhere on the ship. Seemed like all the dancers followed each other to the next lounge where the dance music was playing. Most of the dancers would have preferred more ballroom dancing, but we had a great time.

Has anyone been on QM2 yet and danced in the Queens Room Ballroom?

[DanceswithNancy]

Just returned from a wonderful Oceania Baltic cruise. The only downside for us was very limited ballroom dancing.

We've loved dancing with the McVicars on Princess, where they are still working, but wonder what other options are.

Thought I'd revive this thread.

Jack

[Angie02]

[quote name='reactor7']We are dancers who would like to cruise in early December. Would appreciate any advice about finding the best ship for dancing. Are there any ships that offer opportunities for ballroom dancing?[/quote]

If you haven't planned your trip yet my group is going December 14-18 on the Carnival Elation. It's a country music themed cruise but they do have the opportunity for ballroom dancing also. Great prices, group benefits, and expect to have a great time in the Bahamas.

[fancyfeet]

[SIZE=1]We just returned from a 6-day Carnival Liberty out of Ft. Lauderdale. There was a lounge called The Cabinet that had various functions. At 10PM it turned into a light jazz setting and the group played anything you desired. The dance floor was very adequate. We spent every night there doing ballroom and latin.[/SIZE]

[C 2 C]

We look forward to dancing opportunities at sea. Celebrity has a couple of bands that perform nightly on each of their ships. Last February there was a dance school with daily lessons onboard Mercury. I just wish there were more lessons available on our cruises.