Entertainment on P&O Ships

[wowzz]

As per Sharon's instruction, I am opening a new thread devoted to entertainment. 

To get things moving, can I ask why going to the theatre is such a big part of cruising for so many on here ?  I just don't see the attraction.  Why the need to be entertained every night ? It almost appears as if the entertainment is of more importance than the cruise itself.

Nothing like a contentious post to get things started !

[Gettingwarmer]

Just now, wowzz said:

As per Sharon's instruction, I am opening a new thread devoted to entertainment. 

To get things moving, can I ask why going to the theatre is such a big part of cruising for so many on here ?  I just don't see the attraction.  Why the need to be entertained every night ? It almost appears as if the entertainment is of more importance than the cruise itself.

Nothing like a contentious post to get things started !

I’m with you on this Wowzz. We never go to the theatres and like to find musical entertainment in the bars etc. 

[AnnieC]

Same here. Last show I went to was "Hair" in (I think) 1967.

 

[Camberley]

As massive theatre fans on land - we go most weeks, plus at least a West End show monthly - we’ve learned to be very selective in what we see on a cruise. There has been a lot of naff stuff and interesting singing choices (ie: reinforcing the cruising entertainment stereotype) but there have been some gems, not least among some Headliners shows: the one we saw the other week on Iona was the first time it was pretty much West End worthy in terms of the singing at least.
 

But we go to a show on a ship IF there is something that appeals rather than as a routine thing to do.

Edited April 22, 2023 by Camberley

[Jennizor]

I tend to agree with you Wowzz. In our early cruising years we did go to some of the entertainment but we stopped as we prefer to have a leisurely meal with no pressure to be somewhere else. On our Feb/March Iona cruise we found ourselves on the same ship as the sister of our friends. She is a solo cruiser and goes to the entertainment every night, she raved about some of it but she thought some of it was poor. The only entertainment we went to was in the Limelight Club. Both weeks were great and the meals were excellent. We prefer to find a nice bar and chat to other passengers but we are also quite happy just the to of us.

 

[terrierjohn]

We used to enjoy the headliners shows but our taste in music no longer seems to be to the Fore. We also have enjoyed many tribute acts but again many are now not to our taste. As for other acts we usually rely on recomendations from dinner companions, but overall we use the theatre far less than we used to.

.

[yorkshirephil]

We can take it or leave it, when we started cruising again last year we tended to go to the theatre most nights whereas now we are getting back to cruising more we go when it suits us, it also depends on what else is happening and who we are with.

[Interestedcruisefan]

In normal life we enjoy theatre once or twice a month. Really look forward to it. Make a big night of it with meals and cocktails before

 

Otherwise we are watching tv shows at home in the evenings. 

 

On a cruise it's like having a big night out every night for us

 

So we will watch at least one show or entertainment every night

 

We find plenty of time to chat In the rest of the holiday whilst eating or drinking or walking as it is?

 

So just a great add on to the other things we enjoy for us

 

 

 

 

 

 

[zap99]

22 minutes ago, wowzz said:

As per Sharon's instruction, I am opening a new thread devoted to entertainment. 

To get things moving, can I ask why going to the theatre is such a big part of cruising for so many on here ?  I just don't see the attraction.  Why the need to be entertained every night ? It almost appears as if the entertainment is of more importance than the cruise itself.

Nothing like a contentious post to get things started !

I agree with you. Why go to the theatre to watch a show, or go to a ' nightspot 'to listen to music, or see a comedian when you can go to a bar, or sit around a cramped dining table dressed like Sir Les Paterson and be regaled by tales of folks politics, number of cruises taken, price paid, loyalty level, or P&O's IT.......and another thing, how great Oriana was in the old days.🤣

[david63]

I think that the evening entertainment was "the thing to do". The whole evening revolved around having dinner (early or late sitting) then going to the show (early or late depending on your dining sitting) then a drink in one of the bars and then off for your Horlicks before turning in for the night. It comes from the days when cruising was more regimented.

 

Since the introduction of Freedom dining the evening routine has become more fluid and with that so has the entertainment. It is a bit of "cart and horses". Because passengers are not as regimented then there are less going to the shows which results in the better artists not wishing to perform on cruise ships, so we get the B team who do not inspire many to go to the shows etc.

 

Also there is the issue of cost of artists which if they are household names will be in the tens if not hundreds of thousands a night.

 

The other problem is that there is a limited pool of acts that do the rounds of the cruise ships and anyone that has cruised more than six times has probably seen most of the acts.

 

Having said all of that there have been some excellent acts over the years - many never to be seen again! We tend these days to be highly selective as to which shows we go to (or sleep through!!) and the show has to revolve around dinner and not the other way round.

 

One last point - I wish the sound guys would learn how to balance the sound correctly - more often than not the orchestra (or canned music) drowns out the singers and if it doesn't then you leave the theatre with perforated eardrums!

[carlanthony24]

It’s great to see shows you may have never seen before. Some of the headliners shows are still great to go and see. Love seeing The Four Seasons, Jon Clegg etc

[Interestedcruisefan]

32 minutes ago, wowzz said:

As per Sharon's instruction, I am opening a new thread devoted to entertainment. 

To get things moving, can I ask why going to the theatre is such a big part of cruising for so many on here ?  I just don't see the attraction.  Why the need to be entertained every night ? It almost appears as if the entertainment is of more importance than the cruise itself.

Nothing like a contentious post to get things started !

Ps you yourself told me you enjoy entertainment every night?

 

Just not in the theatre?

 

If I was in a holiday resort and there was a bar with any half decent singer on rather than without

 

Every time im going into the bar with entertainment 

 

We probably do theatre 6 times in a 14 night cruise in amongst other entertainment

Edited April 22, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Ps you yourself enjoy entertainment every night?

Yes, but we tend to choose which bar we will visit, and if there is an entertainer on, so be it. But we choose where to go because of the venue, not because of the entertainment - big difference to your scenario of choosing a bar based on entertainment. 

[gsmt47471015]

15 minutes ago, david63 said:

I think that the evening entertainment was "the thing to do". The whole evening revolved around having dinner (early or late sitting) then going to the show (early or late depending on your dining sitting) then a drink in one of the bars and then off for your Horlicks before turning in for the night. It comes from the days when cruising was more regimented.

 

Since the introduction of Freedom dining the evening routine has become more fluid and with that so has the entertainment. It is a bit of "cart and horses". Because passengers are not as regimented then there are less going to the shows which results in the better artists not wishing to perform on cruise ships, so we get the B team who do not inspire many to go to the shows etc.

 

Also there is the issue of cost of artists which if they are household names will be in the tens if not hundreds of thousands a night.

 

The other problem is that there is a limited pool of acts that do the rounds of the cruise ships and anyone that has cruised more than six times has probably seen most of the acts.

 

Having said all of that there have been some excellent acts over the years - many never to be seen again! We tend these days to be highly selective as to which shows we go to (or sleep through!!) and the show has to revolve around dinner and not the other way round.

 

One last point - I wish the sound guys would learn how to balance the sound correctly - more often than not the orchestra (or canned music) drowns out the singers and if it doesn't then you leave the theatre with perforated eardrums!

Definitely with you on the subject of drowning out the singers , we have witnessed some impressive singers on cruises who have had a real fight to get their voice above the music, canned or  otherwise  

[Hampshire Steve]

We regard the cruise as a means to get to the destinations rather than it becoming the holiday destination, perhaps that's why we are content with the older ships, much rather spend a couple of hours over dinner and then people watch in the bar with some easy music. Rushing to a show and being crammed in is not us, perhaps if they had a venue or two like Ronnie Scotts?

[wowzz]

Hmmm - seems like there are more people like me that are not in thrall of the theatre shows than I thought !

[Snow Hill]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

As per Sharon's instruction, I am opening a new thread devoted to entertainment. 

To get things moving, can I ask why going to the theatre is such a big part of cruising for so many on here ?  I just don't see the attraction.  Why the need to be entertained every night ? It almost appears as if the entertainment is of more importance than the cruise itself.

Nothing like a contentious post to get things started !

We rarely go the theatre on a cruise, we go a lot when at home but mainly plays, although we have been to the Hippodrome in Birmingham and seen the likes of Phantom of the Opera, 
Les Miserables, Caberet etc. we have seen some dire shows over the years on boards which is why we rarely go these days. Watched a few tribute acts, some we have had to guess who the tribute is for, others were good, the best being the Queen Tribute act we saw a few years back. 

[Purdey16]

We do like to go to the theatre shows after dinner as we normally eat late so late show afterwards but we always sit at the back so if their  rubbish we can leave quietly, most nights we go if it appeals to us otherwise we’re walk around to see if something appeals to us , we are not bar people or drink a lot late in the evening so sometimes after dinner we might go up to the crows nest and listen to some piano music and have a drink but I guess I’ve been spoiled over the years of the shows and people I’ve seen and it’s sometimes hard to please us , we normally turn in early at night because we’re early risers , that’s the best part of the day .

[Britboys]

The theatre entertainment is a big part of a cruise to me because I enjoy being entertained. I don't automatically go every night - it has to be something that appeals. I've found that many of the Headliners shows over the years have been good enough. I do see shows in the West End regularly but don't expect that standard on board a P&O ship. I expect professional standards but not West End.

I have seen some excellent musicians and singers over the years, as well as some very forgettable ones too. I tend to avoid comedians as most of them don't manage to raise a chuckle from me.

It is very much part of the cruise experience for me and if it wasn't on offer, I'd probably not cruise...

[majortom10]

2 hours ago, wowzz said:

As per Sharon's instruction, I am opening a new thread devoted to entertainment. 

To get things moving, can I ask why going to the theatre is such a big part of cruising for so many on here ?  I just don't see the attraction.  Why the need to be entertained every night ? It almost appears as if the entertainment is of more importance than the cruise itself.

Nothing like a contentious post to get things started !

I don't see the attraction in sitting in a bar all night drinking alcohol but some do. We are all different and have different things that we enjoy thankfully. Just because you don't like theatres equally doesn't mean everyone else should feel the same.

[majortom10]

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

I agree with you. Why go to the theatre to watch a show, or go to a ' nightspot 'to listen to music, or see a comedian when you can go to a bar, or sit around a cramped dining table dressed like Sir Les Paterson and be regaled by tales of folks politics, number of cruises taken, price paid, loyalty level, or P&O's IT.......and another thing, how great Oriana was in the old days.🤣

Well said I agree 100%

[Selbourne]

Like many, in the past we used to go to the theatre shows religiously. As we started cruising more regularly we found that we’d seen all the shows multiple times. This meant that we were more focussed on whether the Headliners troupe on that cruise were good or not! And boy, do they vary. We have seen some lead singers that are frankly wasted on cruise ships and should be on West End stages. Conversely, we’ve seen a few that make us wonder how on earth they got through the audition! It sounds as though there are some new shows that we haven’t seen, so we will give them a go. 
 

A major negative for us now is that as my wife is in a wheelchair we often struggle to get seated together. As terrierjohn accurately described earlier on another thread, it is really infuriating when scooter users, or even just elderly folk who use a walking stick, plonk themselves in the end seats that are really intended for the companions of wheelchair users, when they could easily go a seat or two further along. As a result, I find it a bit stressful which takes a lot of the pleasure out of it. 
 

In all honesty though, the biggest issue for me is that after a big meal and a few drinks, I am unable to get through an entire show in a dark theatre without nodding off, so I end up missing bits 🤣 

Edited April 22, 2023 by Selbourne

[wowzz]

21 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Just because you don't like theatres equally doesn't mean everyone else should feel the same.

Actually, I never said that. If you read my previous posts on the matter, I said that I felt that my views were very much not in line with the majority.

[happy v]

We go to everything!! Don't necessarily stay until the end of it all. On Iona we had to eat at 5.30pm some evenings to fit it all in. We did find though the new shows on Iona are not really our taste. Excellent special effects, but the content just didn't do it for us.

[zap99]

5 minutes ago, happy v said:

We go to everything!! Don't necessarily stay until the end of it all. On Iona we had to eat at 5.30pm some evenings to fit it all in. We did find though the new shows on Iona are not really our taste. Excellent special effects, but the content just didn't do it for us.

We go to all the shows and try to see all the entertainers. On occasions we have been known to sneak out. We then pop along to be entertained by some other act. Sometimes, but not very often we go for a second time. Rarely do we decide to pop along to a bar to listen to some bloke banging on about the old days, or how he prefers Fred ,or Saga....I sometimes have this unkindly thought. If this cruise is rubbish, just like last time, what you doing here and why spend thousands to confirm it?.....just a thought.🤔