Ballroom dancing on the Island Princess

[Carnevale]

We are considering a 28 night cruise but before we book we would like to know if there will be opportunities for ballroom dancing.  Can anyone who has sailed on the Island Princess recently please let me know if you saw any ballroom dancing?  Maybe in the Wheelhouse?  Or?

 

Many thanks!

[pwlee49]

yes, ballroom dancing every night ....on all princess cruise...

[Times Prince]

Every Princess cruise has some dancing, whether it be Wheelhouse, Explorer's Lounge, or elsewhere in ships other than Island Princess.   We have noted, however that real ballroom dancing typically is offered while the evening first seating dining is in progress.   Wheelhouse will have dancing, but may be limited in style by the size of the dance floor and the repertoire of the band.

 

When we were on Island Princess there was a lounge with a dance floor at the aft end of the Promenade deck.  This venue is no longer there.

[skynight]

There is normally live ballroom music in the Wheelhouse Bar with sets throughout the evening. There are also some sets in Explorer's Lounge with generally more pop style music. 

[Carnevale]

Many thanks for these replies....exactly what we hoped to learn!

[emma99]

As a serious Ballroom dancer, will I be disapointed with the size of floor in the Explorer lounge, Say compared with QE2 which is around 1000sq ft  

[cr8tiv1]

30 minutes ago, emma99 said:

As a serious Ballroom dancer, will I be disapointed with the size of floor in the Explorer lounge, Say compared with QE2 which is around 1000sq ft  

Yes, you will be disappointed if that is your expectations.  The Explorer Lounge floor, if they have dancing, will be more social dancing than ballroom.

 

In the past, they have had an hour or so of canned music for ballroom dancers…but since they removed the lounge in the back of the ship. Not sure where you would be able to dance.  The Wheelhouse floor is even smaller.  
 

As a “ballroom dancer”, I have seen less and less catering to dancers and venues.  

[wolfie11]

Last summer on the Crown, they had an hour of taped music in Club Fusion.  I think maybe one couple would show up. If you are an enthusiastic ballroom dancer, try Cunard.  They have tea dances in the Queen’s Ballroom at high tea as well as numerous ballroom dancing sessions

Edited April 2 by wolfie11

[Esprit]

P&0's Britannia has a dedicated dance floor for ballroom/Latin dancing too. Not as big as the one on QM2 however.

[Carnevale]

I don't think any ship has a dance floor or the kind of dance opportunities that Cunard offers so when we cruise, we go in knowing it won't be the same dance experience. Having said that, on Princess we have done okay in terms of getting at least a little dancing in most days albeit on small to tiny floors.

 

The newer ships are not as good for dancing as they don't have a Wheelhouse so you end up dancing in the Atrium on a hard stone floor. Our recent sailings on Regal and Discovery were examples of this although on Regal we did have some very good dance music.

 

On Princess our preference is for the older ships that have a Wheelhouse as that's typically where the dance music is (rather than Explorers which tends to just have a little canned music from time to time and we don't care for the setting). But we have enjoyed the Wheelhouse especially on our most recent cruise on Sapphire. There we had two excellent duos who played good dance music daily and the floor was never crowded (as in we were often the only couple or one of only 2 or 3 couples on the floor).

 

So if you are looking for a Cunard quality dance experience @emma99, you won't find it on Princess but we still sail on this line often as we do enjoy it (although later this year we will be back on Cunard).