The Ray Coussins Tribute Thread

[NJRonbo]

 

(That's me on the far right end next to Ray)

 

Perhaps it was fate that brought my friends and I to the Crooners Lounge at the beginning of our cruise week. All of us, fans of Frank Sinatra, were intrigued that a piano player who worked with the singer was performing on the ship.

 

From the first evening we sat and watched Mr. Coussins play his music, we became fans.

 

I don't think anyone that has had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Coussins perform can dispute the fact that he has a God given talent that is truly remarkable. Never had I sat and been mesmerized by piano music than that performed by this gentleman.

 

....And "Gentleman" is the key word here, folks. We had the pleasure of hanging out with Mr. Coussins in Sanctuary for a few days and he couldn't have been nicer. We sat and listened to his stories of hanging out with greats such as Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. (and of course) Frank Sinatra. Ray has a personality that is warm and engaging. He is very approachable and by the end of the trip we had felt that we made a friend.

 

We are going to book our next cruise squarely around Mr. Coussins' onboard schedule.

 

I urge anyone who is sailing Crown Princess to check out his lounge show. And don't miss his performance with a band, inside the Princess Theater, on the final day of the cruise. The performance he gives is always rewarded with a standing ovation.

[Carolyn R]

Oh my, when you said tribute I thought he had died!

[shoreham01]

So did I.

[NJRonbo]

Oooh, sorry folks. If I could change the title I would. The last thing I want to do is mislead people.

 

No, Ray is alive and well.

[grandmaa]

I thought the same..that he had passed. We enjoyed his music on the Golden Princess, May of 2010. A great musical talent!

[Alison48]

I heard Ray Coussins is on the Island Princess for a few weeks this month. Sure wish I were on that cruise!

[Thrak]

Saw him multiple times on Coral Princess on a 17 day cruise. Like others, I thought from the thread title that he must have died.

[TLCOhio]

Saw him multiple times on Coral Princess on a 17 day cruise. Like others, I thought from the thread title that he must have died.

 

Appreciate this great question on Ray Coussins. We were very fortunate to be on the late February-early March Island Princess sailing from Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco. Lots more on that Panama Canal "adventure" is detailed with many photos on my live/blog connected below.

 

We were so fortunate to super enjoy the Princess Theater program that Ray did. WOW!! It was such a great show!! He completed this program with a great video clip where Frank Sinatra sang that trademark "My Way" and Ray finish it with his excellent keyboard work. Wonderful segment!!

 

BUT, almost as great was an earlier part of his evening program where he shared about his personal meeting with Ira Gershwin at his Beverly Hills mansion arranged by Sinatra. This included Ray playing "Rhapsody in Blue" for this famous brother of George Gershwin. So excellent!! Plus, Ray also shared about going to the top music school in London and rubbing shoulders with Elton John, etc. Fascinating stories, memories and connections. Nice music, songs, etc.

 

Later in the cruise, I did drop by and enjoyed part of his playing and audience interaction in the Crooners Bar. Also very nice, but the top highlight was his full, very good stage performance and that sharing on the big stage of the Princess Theater. Great experiences. Very fun and enlightening!!

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Panama Canal? Just completed Feb. 28-Mar. 15, 2017, Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco adventure through the Panama Canal with our first stops in Colombia, Central America and Mexico, plus added time in the great Golden Gate City. Lots of fun pictures!! See more at:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2465580

[rkelly]

Don't Miss Ray Coussins. I would book a Princess Cruise just knowing he was performing however it's hard to find out his schedule. Anyone know how?

[rkelly]

Anyone know how to get Ray Coussins cruise schedule?

[fishywood]

2 hours ago, rkelly said:

Anyone know how to get Ray Coussins cruise schedule?

 

Just go to his personal website

 

http://www.coussins.org/Ray/index.html

 

...where you will find the following message:

 

To the many wonderful people that I met on Princess Cruise Lines over the past few years, I have some news. 

After many years of working for them Princess Cruises have sadly not booked me for any of their present scheduled cruises. 
I loved working with them of course and hopefully they will find a place for me one day on one of their great cruise liners. I miss my many cruising friends with whom I had a fantastic time entertaining them with my piano and my songs. 

I hope that we will meet again somewhere over the rainbow.

 

 

Other than this post-2017 note  no other website content seems to have been updated since around 2013, so whether he is working elsewhere remains a mystery.

 

 

[pandora518]

1 hour ago, fishywood said:

 

Just go to his personal website

 

http://www.coussins.org/Ray/index.html

 

...where you will find the following message:

 

To the many wonderful people that I met on Princess Cruise Lines over the past few years, I have some news. 

After many years of working for them Princess Cruises have sadly not booked me for any of their present scheduled cruises. 
I loved working with them of course and hopefully they will find a place for me one day on one of their great cruise liners. I miss my many cruising friends with whom I had a fantastic time entertaining them with my piano and my songs. 

I hope that we will meet again somewhere over the rainbow.

 

 

Other than this post-2017 note  no other website content seems to have been updated since around 2013, so whether he is working elsewhere remains a mystery.

 

I will miss him greatly.

 

 

[Centsless_Cruiser]

1 hour ago, pandora518 said:

 

Ray is theoretically on the Emerald Princess Hawaii cruises right now and rumored to be leaving on 18 Jan when my DW and I get on.  This is the second time we missed him by 1 day.

 

[Colo Cruiser]

Yes I agree.

[Memtn901]

Friends sent a patter pic from the Royal 3/30/2019 7 day  LA - Mexico showing he was on! I hope he stays until Thanksgiving! 

[Astro Flyer]

3 hours ago, Memtn901 said:

Friends sent a patter pic from the Royal 3/30/2019 7 day  LA - Mexico showing he was on! I hope he stays until Thanksgiving! 

We enjoyed his tribute performance to Ol’ Blue Eyes many years ago during a Princess cruise and hopefully he’ll still be performing on the Royal Princess when we sail in a couple of weeks.

[rkelly]

I couldn't agree more. We hadt he fortunate pleasure of meeting Ray I believe on the LA-Hawaii-LA cruise last year. We became friends and keep in touch. He is going to do his last cruise before taking a break on 9/17/2019 on the Royal Princess doing a Round Trip from LA to Alaska. The Royal will leave LA on 9/17/19.He then will get off on 9/29/19 for a much needed rest but he tells me he will be back.

 

In my opinion he is one of the best entertainers on any ship at sea.

 

If at all possible get on the 9/17 cruise out of LA on the Royal to Alaska

 

Spread the word about this legend. 

 

Richard Kelly

 

 

[Lucky TGO]

Thanks for sharing.

Tony

[Memtn901]

On 8/12/2019 at 4:57 PM, rkelly said:

I couldn't agree more. We hadt he fortunate pleasure of meeting Ray I believe on the LA-Hawaii-LA cruise last year. We became friends and keep in touch. He is going to do his last cruise before taking a break on 9/17/2019 on the Royal Princess doing a Round Trip from LA to Alaska. The Royal will leave LA on 9/17/19.He then will get off on 9/29/19 for a much needed rest but he tells me he will be back.

 

In my opinion he is one of the best entertainers on any ship at sea.

 

If at all possible get on the 9/17 cruise out of LA on the Royal to Alaska

 

Spread the word about this legend. 

 

Richard Kelly

 

 

@rkelly  any word of Ray's schedule? I'm still hoping he's on the Royal for the 11/23 LA 7 day Mexican Rivera cruise! Anyone else know any facts? 

[rkelly21]

Ray will be on the Caribbean Princess starting 11/30/2019. Just saw him and he is just as great as ever. Worth the trip!

[Doc who loves to travel]

For those who don’t know, Ray passed away in March 2023. We put together a playlist of our times with him and there will be more to come! 
 

Ray Coussins
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLo4nl-sebkFkqmMzozSk3foKVbgn4S4Ld

[NJRonbo]

On 5/7/2023 at 9:21 AM, Doc who loves to travel said:

For those who don’t know, Ray passed away in March 2023. We put together a playlist of our times with him and there will be more to come! 
 

Ray Coussins
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLo4nl-sebkFkqmMzozSk3foKVbgn4S4Ld

I just happened to think of Ray this morning and did a search online, expecting the worst after reading reports about his health over the past two years.

This was the one place in my search that confirmed my biggest fear.

I am very sorry to learn that Ray passed.  I was always amazed at his talent and had fond memories of hanging out with him every day in Princess' Sanctuary where he would tell us stories about his times with Sinatra.

Thank you for providing this update. 

[laurabacon]

On 6/20/2023 at 1:44 AM, NJRonbo said:

I just happened to think of Ray this morning and did a search online, expecting the worst after reading reports about his health over the past two years.

This was the one place in my search that confirmed my biggest fear.

I am very sorry to learn that Ray passed.  I was always amazed at his talent and had fond memories of hanging out with him every day in Princess' Sanctuary where he would tell us stories about his times with Sinatra.

Thank you for providing this update.