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And here's the 2024 Jazz Cruise schedule which has been officially posted on TJC website: http://thejazzcruise.sched.com What a packed schedule! Even though there is a 5pm dinner break I see very few evenings where I'll actually have time to go to the MDR for a full dinner. I'd rather eat at the buffet and get a good seat for some of the small venues shows that start in the 6pm hour. Also, you didn't hear it here, but: https://thesmoothjazzcruise1.sched.com/ https://thesmoothjazzcruise2.sched.com/ and finally, just the first day so far, but: https://bottiatsea.sched.com

The SJC apps are on the app Store, but don't waste your time downloading them -- it just lists the first day (spoiler: there's the welcome concert) and a few "test events." Which of course makes sense since no one told me to go looking for it!

Today's TJC "Get Ready" newsletter mentioned that there will be a schedule app that will be updated during the cruise. Now you didn't hear it from me, but maybe, just maybe, such an app is already available for download if you search for it and it has an early version of the schedule already on it. While the schedule will certainly change, one thing is for certain: there will be a lot of tough choices on TJC '24. (I did search for the sister Botti at Sea and Smooth Jazz apps but couldn't find them.)

The Soul Train 2025 lineup is out. There is a lot of overlap with the '25 UDC -- perhaps StarVista gets a talent fee discount when it offers artists two cruises at once. I'm going to try for Soul Train but if I can't score a cabin UDC might be a good backup.

StarVista has posted the schedules for the Soul Train Cruise (as well as their Country Music and Sandy Beaches cruises). BoyzIIMen are coming on Soul Train in port for an interview and then two shows, then getting off the ship before it sails. Country Music got their 2025 lineup last Tuesday so I would not be surprised to see Soul Train's 2025 lineup on the website tomorrow morning.

@SignorEggroll You can be assured that no headlining performance will happen on port days. I say "days" because the ship is in Aruba until 11pm, so the usual main stage times of 5:30 pm and 8 pm will still be in effect. (When a music cruise is in port that late it's often so that one of the artists can leave the ship after their performance.) Even lounge/poolside performances will be very limited as the artists also enjoy exploring the ports and no one wants to play to a mostly empty venue. There's a possibility that there might be a late afternoon interview. If you're booking through Celebrity you can cancel an excursion and get a refund 48 hours in advance, so there's not much risk in booking something now and then waiting for the schedule to come out.

Looks fun, HB. Did you ever dare to find out what Wang Chung's Wang was? The Jazz Cruise '24 artist-hosted events are almost entirely hosted by side people or mid-tier headliners. We haven't been told what the fees will be, and there's no way to reserve tickets before we board. One is a martini class hosted by a drummer my boss is good friends with. He's a very funny and personable guy and can probably make a mean martini but I'm not sure I'd pay a very high price for his class, especially since I don't drink. I once attended a wine tasting on the Malt Shop Memories Cruise so I could meet an artist: 1950s recording artist Lloyd Price, who has since passed away. When they asked what he thought of the wine he said he had not had a drop of alcohol since 1958. This artist was known for his business acumen so clearly he was happy to hang out and take whatever his fee for the event was! (He was extremely friendly at that event and the other numerous times I ended up encountering him on the ship.)

I see they have one of my spouse's favorite groups, Technotronic, although who exactly is in Technotronic these days seems far from clear. Original lead Ya Kid K has come back and left again and YouTube videos from the past decade seemingly alternate between her and a new lead. John Cafferty is from Rhode Island so he often plays around the Boston area where I live -- not really my thing but my friends who see him always enjoy his shows. I remember HB's posts about going to it. I don't think I'll be considering the 2024 edition, but if I'm ever tempted I'll go back and read those posts before I pull the trigger.

Also nice to see Bill Charlap, who was spectacular on the '23 TJC, back on the lineup for '25.

Don McLean has a bit of a reputation in the business -- I have no idea if that's fair or not. I look forward to hearing from you how he interacts with the passengers on the Rock & Romance Cruise!

As far as music goes, one genre that is underrepresented is bluegrass. While I realize it is a niche genre, so is jazz, and there are the four Jazz Cruises charters plus the Capital Jazz Super Cruise plus one or two other artist-led jazz cruises. Meanwhile there is enough demand for dozens and dozens of land-based bluegrass festivals all around the country. I go to one in upstate NY that has something like 10,000 attendees. Sixthman tried it about a decade ago. There is at least one partial charter which books bands that are good but not very famous, and both Cayamo and JamCruise will book the occasional bluegrass band, but it seems like something that with some big names could fill a ship.

Ha! There was previously chatter that UDC might become the Ultimate Dance Cruse. Regardless of the name, it makes sense that both the branding and programming will extend into 80s and 90s dance music (as it already started to last time with Expose and C&C Music Factory). I love disco more than those later genres, but there just aren't enough actively performing original disco recording artists to keep programming UDC without heavy repeats, and so far not enough disco fans to sell out the ship.

I just realized that the majority of the fall 2024/winter 2025 Sixthman music cruises will be on the Gem, not the Pearl. According to threads on this board, the two ships are nearly identical. I believe that when the Pearl became a "music boat" some obstructions were from the lido deck to help with seeing the stage when they have shows out there.

Tomorrow the inaugural Rock the Bells hip-hop cruise sails back to Miami. It sold out before the lineup was even announced, so not surprisingly a second edition has been announced -- and it'll actually be the exact same dates, November 13-17, just one year later. This year had lots of 80s and 90s hip-hop acts, but a lot of that may have been because it was the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, and those old school artists could do both live sets and panels. Ironically one vintage act who was never on the lineup was LL Cool J, who had the song the cruise is named after. A Rock the Bells resort weekend was recently announced for next spring and then very quickly cancelled. It had a much more contemporary lineup, and I wouldn't be surprised if next year's RTB cruise was also a bit more oriented toward current hip-hop.

Today was TJC webinar. As usual most of it was devoted to the small details that would be mostly helpful to first time cruisers, but I did glean a few tidbits: -- The pool party show will feature an organ jazz set, which should be great. (Unlike most music cruises where the pool is a main stage all week, TJC has one or two outside shows.) -- TJC 2025's ports will be Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Lazaroff quipped that he would reveal the lineup "if I trusted all of you -- but I don't." Smart guy. --No music between 5 pm and 6 pm so people can have dinner. Lazaroff said he was stunned at how many people ate dinner in the buffet last year, so the programming will allow those who want a full MDR or specialty meal to eat one. -- Since TJC is almost entirely a general admission cruise without "early/late" headline events, it was stated that if you're in a venue and you want to stay for the next show you can do so, but you have to actual remain in the venue and can only save one seat -- no putting a towel over a whole row. I'm not sure how widespread this actually was, but it was stated that there will be more ushers this year to facilitate the flow in between sets. --The odd timing of the St. Thomas port (1 pm to 8pm) will impact the schedule a bit, with lots of programming in the morning, and things started back up later in the afternoon. I wouldn't be surprised if many of the passengers, myself included, find the programming more enticing than anything in the port, and I certainly won't be planning any excursions until I see the schedule (which as mentioned before won't be released until 7-10 days before the sailing).

I was excited to read in Jazz Notes that TJC '24 will have a clarinet set with Anat Cohen, Ken Peplowski and Paquita D'Rivera -- and the name of the set implies lots of Brazilian melodies will be played. That will be a must-attend for me. The waitlist stuff was a bit confusing, since the intro said there was no point in joining a waitlist, but later in the email it indicated you could join TJC and Botti at Sea's waitlists, which would make sense since those cruises took much longer to sell out. (And, given the average age of TJC passengers, one images the cancellation rate is a bit higher as well.) Not that any of this matters to me since I have my cabin and I don't know anyone trying to get onto any of the sailings.

Since Sophie B Hawkins is on the 90s Cruise I'll say the obvious line: Damn, I wish I were on that cruise!

The Norwegian Pearl is now out with Sixthman's Salty Dog Cruise, a long running charter helmed by the Celtic/punk band Flogging Molly. Yesterday it rained so all the pool deck shows got moved to indoor venues. Today they were in Costa Maya and cruisers got this message: "The weather is so much better but I have one very small change for you, we have some shore excursions that have been delayed getting back and it’s no salty left behind here so we’re getting Broilers started at 5:30 on the Pool Deck." The original "all aboard" was 4:30 pm -- I'm not sure what time this band was slated to originally play. It is a reminder that the ships will wait for those who take an official ship excursion, but not those who get delayed while exploring an island on their own. The Mayan ruin tours that leave from Costa Maya tend to be long treks so I imagine the risk is much higher than if you are just taking a short cab ride to a local beach as I typically do at port stops. The Malt Shop Memories Cruise used to have artist-led excursions. I have especially fond memories of going scuba diving with Little Anthony. On the 2018 excursion Felix Cavaliere of the Rascals "led" a trip on a scenic train ride in St. Kitts the afternoon before his first show, which also happened to be the debut of his new backing band, which he planned to rehearse at sound check. It wasn't much of an artist-led excursion because the train had many cars, so most of us weren't anywhere near Felix. And then the scenic train broke down! One could see Felix's manager outside the stuck train frantically making phone calls and chain smoking. Eventually they found some buses and we all got back a few hours after we were supposed to. People who had the early show probably missed the first part. They also gave us some sort of sound check party with free drinks later in the cruise. I've never heard of StarVista having an artist-led excursion ever since. Clearly there were no hard feelings with Felix as he's continued to frequently appear on StarVista events, including the 2024 Flower Power and Malt Shop cruises.

There was a lengthy Reddit thread about the Headbangers Boat incident. While it's always hard to separate Internet myth from fact, it does seem like the passenger had some mental struggles which contributed to the very sad situation. Various friends are off the Malt Shop Cruise, which seems to have been incident free aside from a few minor conflicts over people dancing and blocking the views of those seated at the pool shows. One friend is on The Big Easy Cruise and is having a blast. She says everyone seemed to get into the one show by cruise co-headliner Tedeschi Trucks inside the theater. Perhaps it helped that not only was another band counter programmed on the pool deck, but there were free drinks offered during that competing pool set! I saw some online videos of Irma Thomas, a New Orleans legend who would seemingly be a big draw, and there appeared to a number of empty seats in the theater for her set, so StarVista seems to have made the right decision in not having any kind of assigned theater shows like they do on most of their cruises. If you follow the Sixthman.net/Today update announcements for their ongoing cruises, you might have seen that the Headbanger's Boat had to switch the date it landed in Nassau, probably due to weather. Since the whole band roster was on for the whole boat they just swapped the port day schedule for the sea day schedule. The fix wouldn't be as easy on a StarVista cruise when nearly half the bands get on or off at a port. The Sixthman EDM cruise that just finished had to miss a day at one of the private cruise ship islands because of weather. The DJs (there were no live bands on this cruise) slated to play on the islands just got moved to the pool. There were also repeated requests on that cruise from the head Sixthman cruise director for passengers to stop vaping indoors.

Thanks for checking, HB. I can stop hitting refresh on TJC home page every hour, haha! Looking at my emails last year's TJC announcement came on December 7, so it looks like they're on a similar timeline now. I can spot 16 "headliners" (although the term is a bit fuzzy given the unique format of TJC) on 2024 who were not on the 2023 cruise, so it makes sense that the programming takes a bit longer than the Smooth Jazz Cruise which, if I'm not mistaken, seems to feature more of the same names from year to year with a few extra headliners (often from the world of R&B) rotating in and out.

@JazzCruiser1, you likely are getting lots and lots of emails from Jazz Cruises now. The Weekender on Saturday specifically mentioned that the schedules are not going to be released until about a week before the cruise. So, lots of waiting for those of us who like to plan our days before we get on the ship, but it'll be worth it! I'm also not planning any excursions until I know what the schedule is. Generally the official ship ones don't sell out in advance, and if they do you can almost always arrange something similar (and often better and/or cheaper) on your own. Or you can just walk around the port or find a taxi to a nearby beach etc. Labadee is a private island so you can just get off the ship and enjoy it without planning anything in advance. Typically there is very little live music while we're in port, in part because the artists are either using that time to rehearse or they want to enjoy the ports with their families and bandmates. Last year Samara Joy's band (without Samara) played a piano trio set by the pool, and there were a few mid-morning lectures and films, but nothing beyond that. One odd twist to our itinerary is that we're in St Thomas from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. It's hard to imagine there will be no music programming until 8 p.m. that night, so I would definitely wait until the schedule comes out before planning some five hour activity in that port. I'll probably just be enjoying the fact that my phone will be working for the time we're in the USVI. Since this is your first time I'd suggest joining in the webinar -- or just watching the recording of it on YouTube after it happens. The one piece of advice I wish someone had given me before my first cruise was to carry off my luggage when we disembark instead of putting it outside my cabin the night before. Unless you have mobility issues or are bringing many suitcases it's just a waste of time to wait until your "luggage group" is called and then have to go fish it out of the large stacks of luggage by the customs area.

I've been on several Sixthman music cruises on the Pearl and always dread when an act I want to see gets slated for the Atrium (rather than the theater, Lido deck, Spinnaker or Magnum's which are all used as venues). When a solo acoustic act is on you can't hear them over the chatter. When a five or six piece band is on you usually can't see half the group because the staircase turns many seats into obstructed view spots. They do put chairs around the upper ring which helps. I never realized this area was used for anything other than guest services on non-charter cruises.

Alonzo is always on The Jazz Cruise and he's hilarious. He also tailors each performance for the specific cruise that he's on. I imagine there will be some (gentle) Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald jokes -- although it'd be hard to beat this classic SCTV skit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JLbhEUE_5U Speaking of The Pearl, I noticed that an Afrobeats (contemporary Nigerian music) cruise being put on by Sixthman was quietly cancelled a few weeks back. This was NOT the cruise that ended up yielding Mcdonald/LaBelle -- I was hoping that it might go to "Cannonball" status (where Sixthman offers greatly reduced prices for cruisers already booked on another SM cruise). I actually just saw the act that would have been the headliner at a local pretty recently, and it wasn't very crowded, which might explain why the cruise isn't happening. There are currently no Cannonball offerings.

The Big Easy Cruise will sail again, but in early 2025, as part of four cruises StarVista is doing back to back (Country Music Cruise, Soul Train, and Sandy Beaches being the others) -- the dates were announced on social media a few weeks ago and pre-registration is listed on the StarVista reservation site. But the fact that it is more than a year out likely explains why there isn't yet any lineup to announce. The most interesting thing about the schedule is that there are no "early/late" shows -- even for Tedesci/Trucks, a major band that recently played Madison Square Garden and that is just coming on the ship to do one unplugged show. Unless the sales are so bad that only half the ship was reserved, one images a few people will find it challenging to get into that show.

On both Flower Power and Malt Shop Peter Asher has done matinee theater shows. That's a good slot for him, since they are very much based around his stories as much as his music, even though it isn't quite an evening "headline" show. It's an excellent presentation. WAR seems to always play the pool on other StarVista. So do the Cowsills. I agree that none of the remaining acts are likely to carry their own full-length theater show, but then you have nine mid-tier (in terms of popularity, not quality) original recording artists, many of them from the yacht rock era. That's a lot to have to plug into the lounges and pool along with all of the tribute artists. So perhaps two or three of them will do a package theater show?