Glovie

My husband and I prefer Caribbean or other warm-climate cruises with daily dance opportunities, but we have not found a good rock and roll cruise that offers lots of dancing rather than just shows where the audience sits in a theater with no dance floor.  Today I came across one called Rocky's Rockin' Cruises but know no one who has tried them.  We also like ballroom, Argentine tango, hustle, and Latin dancing, but high energy swing and free-form are our favorite.  Has anyone had a good experience with Rocky's or a similar 50's/60's/oldies cruise?

Last time we were here on New Year's Day it was hard to get a taxi to the beach.  Has anyone ideas for transportation to South Friar's or a similar quiet snorkeling beach other than signing up for a ship's excursion?

I have loved every Jazzdagen cruise I took. Wonderful people.

Caribbean Princess had excellent combos in more than one venue with adequate dance floors back in 2010, and I see that the ship will host a rock-and-roll group and a swing dance group in February 2019, so I assume the dance floors are still there. The last few years I have sailed with the Jazzdagen group on Holland America, but the dance floor in front of the stage in the showroom was eliminated, and I have heard this is happening on the other HAL ships, so I am no longer booking on that line. I would go on Cunard if it still had the wonderful service and food it used to, and would go on Crystal again if it had not raised fares when it went "all-inclusive" (I don't drink,) so choices are limited. The only Celebrity cruise I tried had but a postage-stamp dance floor that held two couples at most, so I would be interested in referrals to Celebrity ships that offer a more spacious floor and daily dancing.

I don't think that it is a question of difficulty, but more of demand. While I'm sure there are exceptions, I personally have never been to a American ballroom dance where the Quickstep has been performed. Our first experience with the Quickstep was on our first QM2 crossing. After that, we bought a Quickstep DVD and learned enough to get around the floor for our next Cunard voyage.

Come to the San Francisco area, California (e.g. Allegro Ballroom, Two Left Feet, Just Dance) or north of F.t Lauderdale, Florida (Gold Coast Ballroom) and you will find Quicksteps as part of the normal rotation of ballroom dances during any party or social dance. Friends and I also quickstep around the dance floor at the many trad jazz festivals, while the center of the room is occupied by swing dancers, doing East Coast, Lindy, or Balboa. Quickstep and Viennese Waltz have been my favorite dances for the past 30 years.

Thanks for alerting us to this change. I go on cruises primarily for the convenience of being able to dance every evening to live music, preferably with friends along, and for an excellent quality buffet. If I could not dance the calories off I would not enjoy the food! I really miss cruising, but now spend my vacation dollars elsewhere, as I refuse to go on any cruise that does not maintain at least one sizable dance floor with several hours of dancing before and after dinner. (Crystal was nice, before they went all-inclusive, but as a non-drinker I refuse to pay the new inflated price that is in effect subsidizing the drinkers. And I am afraid to try Cunard again after reading so many recent bad reviews about the food.)

A favorite cruise line for dancing has carpeted over the largest dance floor so we are looking for new vacation ideas that offer both buffets and plenty of dance time. We have never tried river cruises. Can anyone tell us whether dance music is played every day at a venue with a dance floor and for how long? Is there ballroom dancing, with a variety of styles of music? Are there any recommended dance theme cruises, such as swing dance?

I have sailed with Jazzdagen on several HAL ships recently and will soon be back on the Zuiderdam after a hiatus of 18 years, so will make a report. My recommendation is to be creative and have fun with fitting your ballroom dancing into a constrained and crowded space. You can't necessarily keep those elbows out, but it is a fun challenge to see how fast you can weave around the others and with what agility you can make unexpected changes of direction. You will get a lot of positive attention: I've been asked numerous times if I was a ballerina, or if my partner and I were the dance teachers on board, or if we were dance teachers in general. Just take a pair of old slick-soled dance shoes for sticky floors and newer dance shoes for the polished floors, preferably low-heeled or flat, for safety reasons when the seas are high. Each year there are more good dancers out on the ships' floors. 25 years ago we were often the only ballroom or hustle dancing couple.

I am intrigued by the previous recommendations and will look into the possibilities of new sea dance venues.

For energetic dance enthusiasts, especially aficionados of the many forms of swing (East Coast, West coast, Lindy, Balboa, etc.,) I can recommend the Jazzdagen cruises for the quality and quantity of the music, all danceable, and the friendliness of the clientele, many of whom mingle and switch partners with newcomers as well as acquaintances. There is a price premium for the extra bands, but it is worth it if one of them is your favorite and oh-so-inspiring dance band, as in my case.

There are ample opportunities with the guest bands to do quickstep if you grab the floor promptly, many foxtrots, plus a sprinkling of waltzes, all the Latin and club dances. The ship's small combos will take requests, and if they like your dancing may play your favorite songs every night without being asked.

I have been dancing (occasionally competitively but mainly socially) and performing for 26 years, typically five days a week, in all the International and American style ballroom dances, plus the various club dances and Argentine tango, and greatly prefer cruises to any other vacation because of the opportunity to do what I love daily. Crystal is no longer worth it to a non-drinker like me now that they are all-inclusive; I would be subsidizing others' drinking. But Princess, with excellent shipboard musicians, and Holland America, with the Jazzdagen group, have come through nicely for me.

Has anyone had good luck renting a car within easy walking distance of Porte Zante? I am looking to book in January 2016, but Avis is already booked and Thrifty is supposedly closed. The last time I was there I went on a wild goose chase only to find closed offices, but finally found someone willing to privately rent his car. I would like to avoid this waste of time and energy.

We just had a great time dancing on Celebrity's Millennium. Kathy and the Saints played a good mix of ballroom music both before and after dinner in the Rendezvous Lounge on Deck 4, there was a very good Latin band as well most nights, a party band that played mostly in the Disco, Cosmos, upstairs, and a big band that played once. There are only two dance floors, compared to the three on the other ships we have been on, but at least there was plenty of good music, and some very inspired, multi-talented musicians.

Princess (Caribbean and Grande) were decent as well. Jazz cruises often can be a good compromise on an otherwise mediocre ship. I am referring to traditional jazz, played for dancers. My friends and I enjoy going together and switching partners occasionally for variety, because between the ship's band offerings and the theme parties, there are between 5 and 6 hours of dancing daily on these.

My experience on Oosterdam was totally different. The music, which was provided by HAL and the musicians had to play, was dull, dreary, dismal. I think the musicians were just as bored with it as we were (I was with a dance group, I refused to go unless we took our own music for the breaks. Good decision, and I saw the band playing the air-guitar to our music a couple of times.) Not to mention- I was just about the only passenger awake after 11 PM.

But what made it completely unacceptable- the ship put nonskid, sticky gunk on the floor! It was like walking on adhesive tape- you could hear your shoes pulling loose. Your ankles and knees were at great risk.

The only music I really know much about is dance music, but I thought one of the characteristics of jazz, is a complete lack of strict tempo?

Haven't been on the QM2 recently, but I hear they have improved a little.

Yes, the large forward dance floor was dangerously sticky the first night, but someone must have complained because the next night it had been cleaned and was safe for double + spins. Because there were three guest bands on board (in addition to the ship ensembles), the quality of the music was superb. Most of the dancing to these bands was jive, West Coast swing, or Balboa, with a sprinkling of waltz and nightclub two-step. During breaks we would get our ballroom fix in the lounges with the ship's trio, but I agree that the their music was not particularly inspired.

As a ballroom dancer with "serious training" for over 20 years (although I certainly don't feel serious when dancing) and nearly that number of cruises on many lines, I can attest to the excellence of Crystal and the dance floor on the QM2 (whose dance band was mediocre, but not lacking strict tempo when I was aboard-rather the playing was colorless and too low in volume; also, the sambas were played far too fast.) However, my husband and I and our dancing friends have had a wonderful time on certain other, more moderately priced, ships, whose floors were adequate to the number of dancers and whose musicians were superb. The Caribbean Princess was probably the best. The Tahitian Princess of 2008, now renamed, had excellent musicians who played in an inspiring manner. And we just danced up a storm on a jazz cruise on the Oosterdam last month. The only ship that was a total disappointment, because the ballroom dance floor was a postage stamp with room for two couples, was Celebrity's Horizon.

Crystal's Food and Wine cruise had by far the best prepared and most varied selection of food. We had a two-for-one deal through the Panama Canal so it was fairly reasonable and is worth trying at least once if you seek the unusual. Our waiter brought special requests not on the menu, like caviar.

Second choice varies by ship rather than line. RCCL's Dawn Princess had an incredible set of chefs five years ago or so. The rest of RCCL, Princess, and Celebrity did not seem widely disparate in quality, but my personal preference was RCCL (except the pizza and calzone were better on Princess). I was not impressed by HAL or Norwegian - too bland and limited portions.