appleorchard1

Hi Bell Boy,

Thanks for the info. I'm aware that Queen Mary 2 boasts to havethe largest Ballroom at sea :ship:. I've booked M816 in April- May so I hope the dancing lives up to expectations. I'm reallylooking forward to it :D

Hi YESIDIDIT, I hope you enjoyed yourcruise on Balmoral. I have been on about 15 Fred cruises which cater for themore mature passenger. The reason I choose Fred is because of the availabilityof dancing. On Fred’s 4 ships there is always a dance couple i.e. a man andwoman plus usually 2 male dance hosts on short cruises of up to 14 days and 4male dance hosts on longer cruises. Standards vary!!! Ballroom, Latin and Sequence dancing is held in the Neptune Lounge every evening mainly before and between the shows but times vary depending on which of the 4 ships you are on. ReTring’s comments about germs, there are hand-gel dispensers freely available at the side of the dance floor. There is also more informal dancing in the CoralClub or Lido Bar with live entertainers until midnight then recorded music until the early hours of the morning. The atmosphere there varies according to how many passengers actually dance or just sit and watch. Like you, if I couldn't dance I wouldn’t go on a cruise. There are also plenty of daytime activities varying from Bridge, craft classes, art classes, dance lessons,choir, deck games, classical concerts, quizzes etc. and shows every evening; so something to suit all tastes. There are various board games available. As for pricing, there are various offers including no single supplement for some grades and often excellent last minute bargains.

I have been on 2 P&O cruises on Ventura and Azura. I thought they were too big and rather rowdy. We paid extra for the spa retreat which was lovely but it was located over the main swimming pool andJacuzzi which were always occupied by boisterous young people. There was constant loud raucous music blaring out around the pool and the pub at night had drop down TV screens showing football. There were dance lessons on sea days and dancing in the Atrium in the evening but you need a partner as there are no dance hosts. After about 11p.m. the ‘so-called’ nightclub was deserted.

I have also been on American ships but didn't find any dancing; there might have been but I didn't discover where. I'm shortly going on Cunard's QV and hopefully there will be plenty of dancing.