danceman

I am definitely out of touch, never heard of Baby Ballroom. I obviously don't spend enough time watch tv (too busy looking for cruises :halo: ). Just had another thought - perhaps Stoke on Trent doesn't get the broadcast :').

Baby Ballroom is a reality documentary about Ballroom dancing and is on channel 5 Star...will be repeated on channel 5 in the new year....there is a Christmas Day special this year....and we start filming series 2 as soon as we get back off this cruise. It is the most successful documentary ever made on ballroom dancing and is set to expand and has been sold to overseas networks too. We are holding dance classes and group excursions if any one wants to join in...and if your from Stoke...then we will definitely get on because thats where im from too...so our sense of humour is sure to be in tune!

We are running excursions in each port of call for our group of 40...you are welcome to join us on any of them if you wish....we have a bespoke package of great tours that are considerably cheaper than the cruise lines. Message me on wjbullock@hotmail.com if you want me to send you info.

Is this an official P&O thing then as there has been nothing about it as far as we know --- and what has it got to do with excursions? Sorry, am not being negative as I am sure it is fab but don't 'get it' and am confused.

No its not an official P & O thing...we are a private group and will be holding dance classes for our group while on board. We are also doing our own bespoke package of excursions in each port. Passengers are welcome to join us on any of them if they wish.... great tours that are considerably cheaper than the cruise lines and have more content. Message me on wjbullock@hotmail.com if you want me to send you info. They dont have the P&O gaurantees.... but we use official tour operators in each port and get our money back if we dont dock. We dont plan on missing the ship either and that has never happened in the 24 years we have been doing this...with a group of 40 plus we obviously take great care to make the sure tours are good and offer somehthing unique.

Could Warren tell us if he will be dancing with Dolores on this occasion?

Oh god....cant get rid of my skeletons can i?.....no she's not with me...it will have to be the wife instead!

Am I missing something? Which sailing? Which stars? For me the stars of the show were the children - especially their interviews!! Pure gold! :D

Its on the Ventura cruise departing 15th August 2017. On the cruise will be Warren and Jane who own Zig Zag where the show was filmed and teach the pupils, plus several of the dancers from the show and some of the children.

The stars of Channel 5's Baby Ballroom TV series are running a series of ballroom dancing classes on this sailing should anyone be interested in joining in with them. They also have brilliant excursions organised in each port of call which are specially packaged to include some really unusual sights and activities and include a lot of extras. Please email us on wjbullock@hotmail.com if you are interested in joining our classes or coming on our excursions or for our itinerary.

There will be 5 of us from 'Baby Ballroom' sailing on this voyage so feel free to come and see us and chat about the show and the next series or join in with us on our activities.

Just got back from 11 night med cruise on Noordam. On the 25th August we got to bed at 1.30am after putting our luggage out for the last collection at 1.00am

On the last night of the cruise, at 3.10am the fire alarm sounded while we were fast asleep in our cabin. We didnt actually realise it was the fire alarm as we were disorientated and sleepy initially but then the officer of the watch came over the speaker in our cabin to say that a fire had been located on deck 3 aft and that fire crews were being dispatched and to remain calm. We have been on over 100 cruises and have never had this happen before so we felt it must be serious to have made the announcement in the middle of the night.

We were on deck 6 aft....so the fire was below us!....i went out onto our balcony to see if i could see any signs of a fire....there were several other people out on their balconies also looking around...couldnt see any fire...we were still sailing at normal speed...it was a dark night with the sea rushing past below.

15 minutes later the captain came on over the speaker to say there was indeed a fire in the incinerator room which had not yet spread to the passenger areas....that we are to remain calm and await further updates.

My stomach turned over and i felt rather sick at this announcement and i had visions of us getting into the lifeboats. I opened our cabin door and there were several other people also looking down the corridor and some were walking/running wearing life jackets!

Two of our children were in a cabin with an aunt at the other end of the ship (she had them dressed and in their life jackets by this time...they were frightened)

We remained in our cabins although others went to the life boats.

After approx another 30/40 minutes the captain came back on to say that the fire had been put out and that fire crews would stay in the vicinity for a while to make sure it was safe, and that we could now go back to bed!

Needless to say....none of us got any sleep after this.

It was a frightening experience and spoilt the end of our cruise. There was no announcement next morning or apology.

We spent our next day in Rome as we had booked a hotel so we could do some sightseeing before flying home but we were so tired and exhausted this day was spoilt.

In relation to some other cruise horror stories and the costa concordia sinking this is nothing of course....but all the same it was still very frightening and upsetting to us all.

Should i make a complaint or just thank our lucky stars it wasnt worse?

Has anyone experienced Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas? What are the chance of us finding any ballroom dancing? My husband and I are taking ballroom dance lessons. We've only been taking them for a year and a half, but we enjoy it and we are hoping we might find ballroom dancing on the Oasis.

Oasis doesnt really have anywhere suitable for ballroom im afraid. i took a group on and we had to use night club for classes but it was difficult....i dont remember any ballroom music being played anywhere. apart from this....it was a great ship.

Has anyone experienced Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas? What are the chance of us finding any ballroom dancing? My husband and I are taking ballroom dance lessons. We've only been taking them for a year and a half, but we enjoy it and we are hoping we might find ballroom dancing on the Oasis.

Oasis doesnt really have anywhere suitable for ballroom im afraid. i took a group on and we had to use night club for classes but it was difficult....i dont remember any ballroom music being played anywhere. apart from this....it was a great ship.

ok...thought id contribute....

in brief, im a former world and european professional ballroom finalist and british champion and own the uk's largest ballroom and latin chain of dance studios and i also own cruiseanddance.co.uk which is a company specializing in dancing holidays on cruise ships....ive also worked on many ships as a guest entertainer so i know a lot about dancing on cruise ships.

in my view....cunard is overall the best for dancing as the floors are rectangular and the largest. the ballroom also has the best feel for dancing as the room and decor all suits. the band is very hit and miss with its tempos and ive found that on all of the cunard ships- this is because they are playing mainly american tempos which are not the same as the rest of the world dance to....everyone else dances international style and the tempos are different. so although i get complaints about the tempos not being right on 50% of what they play, my groups still feel its overall worth it as they still get some good dancing on a good floor. ive found the service ok on cunard.

Costa does not have dance floors that are 'as big or even bigger' - this simply isnt true although they do have some that are very decent...but round! They tend to play a mix of music....latin, a bit of ballroom, jazz, and a whole lot of weird stuff....like german leg slapping hoe downs! But they have a good atmosphere and are lively but do tend to be full of Italians....many of whom can be too noisy and pushy for other nationalities.

Crystal i love....plenty of dancing and IS suitable for serious dancers but round floors again but of a decent size....just expensive compared to the mainstream....then again...you get what you pay for!

Ive found the dance floors too small on Celebrity for ballroom.

Norwegian Epic has a nice floor...have been on for a ship visit but cant see how it would work as its situated in the middle of the restaurant....do you dance between courses ...a quick jive and then wolf down the beef wellington?....will be needing anti acid tablets and sick bags on the tables! or do you come in and dance during the other sitting...and provide the entertainment for the diners (im thinking about tables of kids and possible rowdy familes s******ing as you samba past their Turkey breast!) Not sure about that....maybe someone can enlighten me as to how it works?...but the floor looks good.

Another option ive found that works well is the Radiance class of ships on Royal Caribbean - they have an oval floor and quite a bit of general dancing at night...again, its not perfect but not bad at all.

I havnt found Princess to be that good for dancing as the floors arnt really big enough but P&O have 2 ships that are good for dancing.....Oriana and Aurora both have nice dance floors...Oriana has a rectangular floor and Aurora has a round floor (but its a good size) and both cater very well to ballroom and latin. Im about to take a group on Azura....looks ok on the webcam and the measurements seem to indicated it will work.....but im only taking about 60 on this one which is a manageable amount (i split the group up for dance classes into smaller sections) ....ill see how it goes!

One of the main problems though is size of floor....its ok for a low level social dancer to just shuffle around on a smaller floor but if its a more serious ballroom dancer they want a bigger space so i think it depends on the level of the person who makes the comment as to whether its a good ship for dancing or not.

hope this helps and gives an unbiased view of it all.

ahh yes, Dasha and Dima were on when i was on....... what can i say?....they were urm.....colourful and a nice looking young couple.....id say they were about Novice to Intermediate standard on the competitive circuit which translates as not that great im afraid.....even so, i enjoyed me time on the ship a lot.

Hi all,

just returned from the Gemini from my first and prob last cruise on this ship as its now about to be sold. Verdict?......overall, really enjoyed the cruise but some weird aspects to it!

Negatives:....the worlds smallest and most poorly stocked gym...a ball, a bike, a treadmill and some weird machine for your inner thighs!...they also duel use the room for foot massages and indian head massage!

The entertainment was very amateurish and generally poor. There was not one night when the male cruise staff did not dress up as women!!....seemed to be transvestites everywhere!!....they even came around the restaurant in the evening wearing fishnets and high heels and a two piece outfit with bare midriff...lovely while tucking into beef wellington!

No trays at the buffett and i would have liked food to have been served for more hours....couldnt get anything when you got back off tour on some days.

Good points: we didnt have to wait in line for anything...there were only 300 passengers onboard!...less than half full!

Service was impeccable....the staff seemed genuinly happy in their jobs and were just lovely!

Massages on the ship were cheap.

Food was good.

Karaoke....i was the only one in it!...so i sounded pretty good!

Loved the itinerary and tour were fairly good.

The female staff seem to wear very short tight pencil skirts...no problem in that but when i had a massage i was shown into a room with 3 mattresses on the florr. I was shown to one of them and the curtain were drawn around me meaning the other two mattresses were available for other passenges who wanted a massage....i felt this wasnt as private as i might have liked but hey! As i lay on my back, the masseuse sat on my bottom and massaged my back with one knee either side of me.....it was then i started to think about that tight pencil skirt and how it must have to be hitched up around her hips!!....all was fine until she asked me to turn over !!!!!

Anyway, half way through, and then i heard the door open. I heard a couple be shown to the next mattress and the curtains drawn around them and told that their massesses would be with them sortly for their couple's massage. The hilarious thing was....the Austrailian couple didnt realise i was behind the curtain getting my own massage. I started to hear kissing, rustling sounds, and then 'ok big boy, how about i massage it for you' !!!! A whole array of dirty talk then followed (my masseuse didnt utter a word...not sure if she understood it) but then my masseuse started the back slapping with load clapping sounds! Deafing silence came from the behind the curtain as the couple realised they had been overheard followed by stifling s******s. (theirs aswell as mine!) As my massage finished i called out bye big boy to be answered by more s******s! I chuckled over it for hours.

Overall, the ship had a lovely atmosphere and it just felt homely and comfy and i would recommend it even though ive been on much bigger and grander but this little ship does have something unique about it that is hard to put into words. A shame to see this ship go.