Sheppie 2

My husband and I are semi pro ballroom and latin dancers. I think most people know the QM2 has a very large floor. For people who don't know, it is the largest floating ballroom and there are also male dance hosts for the single ladies. I suppose that is the norm for the Elizabeth and Victoria too. The CDs played on the QM2 before the band comes on later are mostly very good tempo tunes. The band is reasonable but their repertoire is very limited, so it is the same layout every evening. However, may be the band changes from time to time - I don't know. For us there are too many themed nights but they seem to be a popular thing for most people. For us they get in the way because the floor becomes far too crowded with people moving in the wrong direction and bumping into everyone. I have read just before typing these comments that the Oceania is good for dancing so we may try that ship some time.

On Oceana last December they had ballroom dancing to CDs in the Atrium almost every evening. It was not particularly well supported, usually only 3 or 4 couples. Some passengers felt that it spoiled the atmosphere in the Atrium, which used to be a quiet place for conversation with a cocktail pianist.

Dancing is VERY difficult to do in an Atrium, for more experienced dancers and also less experienced ones. I agree with you (Denarius) that an Atrium should be a quiet place for conversation, but for keen dancers when an Atrium is the only venue on offer, they become desperate. Your comment about the Oceana Atrium not being well supported and with usually only 3 or 4 couples, I would think would be because Atriums are always undersized for dancing and in our experience 3 or 4 couples would fill the area! Our thought from having TRIED to dance in an Atrium, and managed only to do so in a very frustrating way (if we were "lucky" that is) is that such an area is barely large enough for TWO couples, and only bearable for one. We have been in an Atrium where on formal nights the photographer and all his equipment and passengers waiting to be photographed have exacerbated the problem by encroaching onto the floor.

We went to the ballroom dancing lessons on Oceana which were held at Starlights. I did see some dancing in the evening in the Atrium but it didn't seem very well attended.

We sailed the Britannia in October 2015 and the venue in the Crystal Room is of reasonable size. If you are experienced dancers, as we are, you may have to tone down your routines at times. Of course on formal nights the numbers swell and this makes it difficult and frustrating. We did think there was too much sequence. The instructors seemed to favour sequence but when the band was on, it was just ballroom and latin.

We have "danced" on atrium venues, but forget it. They are just rights of way for other passengers.

The Queens have large floors and years ago we were reasonably happy with the dance floor on the Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas.

If you read one of my other reviews, you will find my thoughts on dancing on other ships.

Happy Dancing!

Regarding your queries, we have been cruising for a number of years now. We are very experienced Ballroom and Latin dancers and have seen both good and not so good dance venues. Talking of Costa ships, our first cruise was on the Costa Fortuna and the floor was very large. I remember it was mostly, if not all, ballroom and latin, and the band at the time were extremely good. Our second cruise was on the Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas where the dancing was good, and the instructors were also pretty good. We have danced on the Celebrity Equinox and most of the time dancing was in the atrium which is disgraceful - on formal nights some of the tiny area is taken up by the photographer and a constant array of couples waiting to be photographed. Very frustrating as here is a decent sized floor near the top of the ship (albeit round!) which was hardly ever used for dancing. The Norwegian Jade had a very small ROUND floor and a 3 piece mediocre "band" (the elderly female singer seemed to be a reincarnation of Marlene Dietrich) and the other (good sized) dance floor was used for dancing only once when it was a Big Band evening. We have been on the Queen Mary 2 which has a large ballroom in a very elegant setting, and sequence dancing had its "slot" earlier in the evening than the ballroom and latin, which gave people there choice (some people attended both sessions). The band wasn't terrific unfortunately but we used to dance to piped music (or CD's - not sure which it was) earlier in the evening and we had the floor almost entirely to ourselves as not many people "were around" at that time. Fairly recently we sailed on the MSC Orchestra and the floor although small wasn't bad, and the band wasn't the worst. We combined this cruise with an extra week on another Costa ship (Serena) and as with the Fortuna, the floor was very large and at first we thought Bingo! Ballroom and latin dancing again. But from the second night onwards, there wasn't much of that, but mostly nondescript Italian dances which people were almost dragged onto the floor to take part in - they certainly didn't look as though they were enjoying themselves.

As mentioned in an earlier post, we were on the P&O Britannia and the Crystal Room is adequately sized although not classed as large but it was spoiled a bit for us as the dance instructors seemed to be more in favour of sequence dancing Have heard that the P&O Ventura only has dancing in the atrium, but cannot really comment there as we have not sailed on that ship.

I hope you find this information helpful and that you find some dancing at sea to your liking!

We are very experienced ballroom and latin dancers and sailed the Britannia in October 2015. The floor (Crystal Room) is only just about adequate, size wise. It can become very crowded especially on formal nights. The dance band is not the best but not the worst either but their singer is atrocious. The pro couple didn't play good tempo music but concentrated on music for the sequence dancers. Hope this helps.