Do you usually skip ship's shows & entertainers in theater?

In the past we always attended the main shows and the comedian and singer performances. After dinner and these shows, we usually had specialty coffees or made a quick stop in one of the bars and then retired for the night. Too tired to stay up late on most days after very busy days, lots of pool time, heavy dinner, etc.

We were thinking of trying something different on our next cruise, perhaps skipping the shows to visit the bars, dancing venues, hot tub, visiting solarium, sitting on balcony, etc.

Just curious...Do many cruisers frequently skip the on-board entertainment?

I never skip the shows! I love live theater and this is one of the few chances I get to see it!

Sailing mostly on Celebrity I have seen the lastest attempt by Celebrity to produce their own production shows. Once was enough. It doesn't matter what they call the show they all consist of performers that really don't need any talent as all they do is prance around some prop that's the show was named for.

Most of the Guest entertainers are on a circuit that travel from cruise ship to ship and between cruise lines. So we have also seen many of them a few times and their act doesn't change.

So the answer to your question is yes we do skip the shows unless it is something that's is "new"

Problem now is that the Lounge performers are also on the decline. I think that is why the World Class bar, and Martini Bar are so popular, those BTs provide the best entertainment on board.

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

We skip the production shows but will go to some of the other shows depending on the type of entertainment; comedian-yes, magician-no.

We don't leave the cabin in the evening until about 7:15 have a drink and head to dinner about 8:15. The shows are at 7 or 9 so we have to make a special effort to start our evening early if we want to see a show. Personally liked it better when shows were at 8 & 10:30.

We attend production shows and entertainment unless it's one we've already seen.

We avoid the shopping shows that are thinly veiled as port talks.

In the past we always attended the main shows and the comedian and singer performances. After dinner and these shows, we usually had specialty coffees or made a quick stop in one of the bars and then retired for the night. Too tired to stay up late on most days after very busy days, lots of pool time, heavy dinner, etc.

 

We were thinking of trying something different on our next cruise, perhaps skipping the shows to visit the bars, dancing venues, hot tub, visiting solarium, sitting on balcony, etc.

 

Just curious...Do many cruisers frequently skip the on-board entertainment?

We've now done a number of cruises and have only seen one show. We never bother and have realised that sometimes we just need to relax on holiday and after our meal we went back to the cabin, sat on the balcony and watched the moon over the sea. So relaxing :-) We work hard and need our holidays and were finding that sometimes we were exhausted coming home from a cruise if we weren't careful as we love to explore - so early mornings and late nights. :)

We enjoy the production shows and the guest entertainers. There is still time to do all of the things you mentioned after the late show. The live shows take up only 60-90 minutes of the evening. In retrospect, I am surprised that we didn't go to more of the late night parties and game show type of activities while on our last cruise. Not sure why we overlooked them but will not do that again.

The Martini Bar was our "go to" bar for before dinner drinks on our last cruise. On the one before that, we met up with roll call folks at the Sunset Bar for sail away drinks. The difference for us was having the premium beverage package on our most recent cruise. Without it, the Martini Bar held limited appeal. Of course, now that the rules have changed for drinks over the package limit, the Martini Bar might stay at the top of our list.

We go to a select few shows. I check the daily to see if anything interests us. Then go to place after dinner is the CASINO, my DH must hit the tables.

I normally skip most of the shows(and the port talks) in the theater when sailing; I do go to the late night parties and prefer doing the tastings offered in the evenings(there was a really nice whiskey and bacon tasting I enjoyed very much last year)and catching up with new friends in the lounges while listening to music or at the Martini Bar. I prefer the late seating in the MDR, but once a friend I made on board who was traveling solo didn't have fixed seating, she and I ended up meeting and eating dinner up at the buffet(a really nice meal too!), headed to Cafe al Bacio for dessert/coffee, and eventually at the Martini Bar.

I haven't sailed Celebrity yet (this coming Sept), but all the other lines we sail the shows are no more than 1 hour. We love them. Exception Cats on Oasis.

We eat early, watch the early show and still have plenty of time to find music and drinking time if we wish.

Many shows we enjoy enough to watch twice if it is repeated too.

We enjoy the production shows and the guest entertainers. There is still time to do all of the things you mentioned after the late show. The live shows take up only 60-90 minutes of the evening. In retrospect' date=' I am surprised that we didn't go to more of the late night parties and game show type of activities while on our last cruise. Not sure why we overlooked them but will not do that again.

 

The Martini Bar was our "go to" bar for before dinner drinks on our last cruise. On the one before that, we met up with roll call folks at the Sunset Bar for sail away drinks. The difference for us was having the premium beverage package on our most recent cruise. Without it, the Martini Bar held limited appeal. Of course, now that the rules have changed for drinks over the package limit, the Martini Bar might stay at the top of our list.[/quote']

 

 

 

See that you mention rules have changes for drinks over the package limit. What exactly has changed? We are going on celebrity in Sept and signed up for the Classic package. Thanks for any info

It depends. If there's a show we've seen and liked, we might go back. If it's a new one, we may give it a try. As for the individual performers, it all depends. We see a lot of performances at home and in other cities so the shows are not a big part of our cruising anymore.

See that you mention rules have changes for drinks over the package limit. What exactly has changed? We are going on celebrity in Sept and signed up for the Classic package. Thanks for any info

I have not experienced it myself yet but it's my understanding is that now if you have the classic package and order something over the price limit, you just pay the difference, not the cost of the entire drink.

We check out all the shows as that is one of the things we like about cruising. If we see something we don't care for, we don't go back. The only shows that have really turned us off is the new production shows on the Silhouette since Celebrity started producing their own. We've done three B2Bs on it since then. The first week of the first B2B we went to all three and none the second week. Four months later we went to the first one hoping they were improved but no such luck, we walked out after about half of it, never to go back. Bottom line, we had 18 opportunities to see the shows and saw 3 /12. There are other things, more enjoyable to do.

We usually skip the shows. We did go to one last cruise and it was good so maybe a couple more on our next cruise.

Not sailed on X yet, but I go to all shows except comedy shows....I just can't anymore...Our schedule is usually:

5-7 - dinner

7-8 or 8:30 - show

8:30 - ? snacks, dancing, w/e entertainment is available

We do not attend the production shows either. We did go to see the new ones recently but they were forgettable. We do like classical musicians and comedians but they seem to be waning in recent years.

If I dare to go into one of the shows I find a seat near the exit so I can leave when the show turns out to be a dud. I must say most cruise lines never fail to deliver those duds, X included.

Mrs. Dawg was in the entertainment business, on the production side, years ago and I got dragged to a lot of live theatre productions in Toronto. Many were very good, not others were really bad and I had to sit through all of those for her, and her company's sake. I don't have that restriction on a cruise ship so if the show is a dud I quietly leave.

We skip the production shows but will go to some of the other shows depending on the type of entertainment; comedian-yes, magician-no.

 

We don't leave the cabin in the evening until about 7:15 have a drink and head to dinner about 8:15. The shows are at 7 or 9 so we have to make a special effort to start our evening early if we want to see a show. Personally liked it better when shows were at 8 & 10:30.

That is our feeling, too. We eat on the second seating and do not like to get ready for the shows earlier. That is when we are having a before diner drink. [i know they have bar service--however, it is not the same with a show going on]

We have found the shows are only so-so. We were on the Harmony of the Seas last fall. Grease was as well done as anything we have seen on Broadway.

Used to go to more of the shows but the volume kept getting louder and louder. The cast usually works very hard to please but recent shows leave us bewildered, Loved the cirque type shows in S class, and the recent Billy Joel tribute was outstanding. We sit in the back and leave if we can't bear the volume or material...

We enjoy listening to music if bands are decent, cafe baccio, aft bar. There is a period when not much goes on if you do not go to the show....that's a temptation to call it an early night or watch a movie on TV...wish they had more going onl

In the past we always attended the main shows and the comedian and singer performances. After dinner and these shows, we usually had specialty coffees or made a quick stop in one of the bars and then retired for the night. Too tired to stay up late on most days after very busy days, lots of pool time, heavy dinner, etc.

 

We were thinking of trying something different on our next cruise, perhaps skipping the shows to visit the bars, dancing venues, hot tub, visiting solarium, sitting on balcony, etc.

 

Just curious...Do many cruisers frequently skip the on-board entertainment?

Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. We will have entire cruises where we don't even go to the MDR or any of the shows and then we will have entire cruises where we dress and go for a sit down dinner and the show afterwards on every night of the cruise. No rhyme or reason behind it either.... and no matter which pattern we choose, we nearly always have an awesome time!!

I think lately we are synced up for an early dinner and then off to the show followed by a visit to Cafe Al Bacio and then maybe the casino for a bit before retiring for the evening.

Too many shows lately have been mediocre quality and they all begin to look/sound alike. We now usually skip the production/comedian/hypnotist/magician shows - if we do go, we sit near an exit and will leave if the show loses our interest. We will attend if something sounds really different and interesting, such as local entertainers brought onboard in a foreign port, or cultural presentations that are not thinly disguised as shopping advertising. Some passenger and crew talent shows have been fun, though again we sit near an exit.

In my early cruising days we did mostly Caribbean cruises, and looked forward to the evening's entertainment. But since most of our cruises now are very port-intensive, and since I'm now a bit older, and since I'm not enamored of a lot of what passes for entertainment these days I am much less likely to partake in late night shows, games, or parties.

We tend to enjoy live music around the ship rather than theatre productions. Our favourite entertainment ever was when we had an aft room deck 6 and at about 9pm each night on the Summit a guitarist would perform at the aft bar.

We were near enough to enjoy the music but were relaxed on our own balcony, drink in hand, watching the stars and the wake....best show on earth!

Production shows? Rarely. We are regular Celebrity cruisers and are tired of seeing similar or the same shows over and over and they tend to be about 50/50 good versus not very good. Guest entertainers? Have been very impressed with these on recent cruises. Hope it keeps up.

We do spend a decent amount of time in the Martini Bar. Used to love hanging out in other venues listening to live music (like in Rendezvous) but in recent years the live entertainment options have decreased significantly in amount of play time and often (not always) in quantity. They still also adhere closely to a music schedule to match the standard MDR seating times, even though 3/4 of the ship uses other dining options that are not a specific time. Frustrating.