Karaoke details

[toras]

I used to sing karaoke (on land) and recently sang the first time on a cruise. There were a few things that surprised me and I'd like to share them.

 

On the Adventure of the Seas, the adult karaoke was held 10 pm every night in the lounge that was a bit out of the way, so they were not well attended. Some nights there were less than 10 people total there, and the final had maybe 50 people in the audience. The 10-night cruise had 3 nights of qualifying rounds, I think at the end of those nights they announce who made it into the final.

Surprise #1
The song books were printed out on paper (sample below), and looked like they haven't been updated in years. There were no songs by Beyonce, Adele etc. BUT you can bring your own music! someone brought backing tracks on their phone and the hosts were able to hook it up to the system, I believe via a mic input, so you can have your favourite songs to sing. But see the following note.

Surprise #2
There were different hosts each night, and some of them only knew the most basic functions so they can't even do pitch changes, never mind hooking up a phone. The qualifying rounds had the more knowledgeable hosts.

Surprise #3
You don't have to sing well to place in the final. The third place singer was not very good, pitchy and all that, but she had friends as backup singers and dancers, and made a fun production.

Surprise #4
You don't even have to sing to place in the final! The runner up was a gentleman who played the harmonica masterfully and soulfully.

 

I don't know if these experiences are the same for every ship. In contrast during my earlier cruise on the Anthem, the sessions were held in the middle of the day, in the centre of the ship. So there were like a hundred people on two levels of the lounge looking at you sing. I thought about singing then but was intimated by that. And the final was held in Two70 which was packed to the rafters so you would be performing for a few hundred fellow guests! Afterwards I overheard one of the participants saying that she was just contacted to participate on that day. Also I didn't see printed song books and looked like you have to choose a song in their system directly.

 

Would love to hear about experiences on other ships!

[MLBFan24]

I only recently became interested in karaoke the past couple years, as my coworkers got me hooked. So my experience with karaoke is limited. I'm in no way "good" and definitely not worthy of judging others. However, I've always thought, you don't have to be good, you just have to be entertaining. Because if I was good, I'd have a singing career haha

 

I participated in karaoke during my Allure cruise last June. And I agree, the songbook was very limited. I'm best at 90s pop and R&B, and that selection was very limited. The Karaoke Spotlight room on Allure was quite small for its popularity. The room was packed for 5 of the 7 nights (the first and last nights were not packed). However, I am interested to see the Royal Amp refurb as that venue is going to be updated with two private karaoke rooms. I wonder if you have to pay to book those rooms. Probably.

 

 

There was no karaoke competition on my Allure cruise, but I have seen it on other cruises.

 

 

Edited December 28, 2019 by MLBFan24

[Dancingnurse79]

I did a 3 day Majesty last year and there was no competition or winners. But, as you said, you didn’t have to be good enough to be on The Voice to be entertaining. Some of the most entertaining participants were a 10 y/o kid and his grandma singing gangsta rap with curse words and a married couple who had a dance routine with their duet. Maybe I have a shot after all. 😂 

[John&LaLa]

I thought Karaoke was just for laughs 

[DaniDanielle]

Apparently it has gotten very serious.  We used to go for the fun of it, just to watch but now not so much.

[dsvd79]

I think it varies from ship to ship.  I did karaoke on Harmony and all of the videos were from youtube.  They were having internet problems, and so it would go out when people were singing.  I thought it was odd format to use.

[Dancingnurse79]

22 minutes ago, dsvd79 said:

I think it varies from ship to ship.  I did karaoke on Harmony and all of the videos were from youtube.  They were having internet problems, and so it would go out when people were singing.  I thought it was odd format to use.

Not very Harmonious of them. 

[toras]

5 hours ago, dsvd79 said:

on Harmony and all of the videos were from youtube.  I thought it was odd format to use.

That meant they did not have to pay a single cent for them and the collection is huge. Probably could not do pitch change then. (I need this feature as my range is limited)