Regent Jazz Cruise

[MKMC]

Has anyone been on the Regent Jazz Cruise? Who were the musicians? How were performances scheduled? Did you enoy it?

Kathleen

[mrlevin]

Has anyone been on the Regent Jazz Cruise? Who were the musicians? How were performances scheduled? Did you enoy it?

Kathleen

 

We were on a jazz cruise on Regent in Med in 2008. I don't remember musician names. You can probably do a search on seamail here and other boards from late May 2008 to find out more.

 

Most of the shows were in Horizon lounge and were excellent. There are a number of us here that were on that cruise so you should get more memories from them.

[cruiseej]

Has anyone been on the Regent Jazz Cruise? Who were the musicians? How were performances scheduled? Did you enoy it?

 

I'm not sure what cruise you're referring to as "the Regent Jazz Cruise". There are some jazz groups which organize trips on Regent ships from time-to-time.

 

We stumbled on one -- Jazzdagen Tours (jazzdagen.com) -- on a Regent cruise about five years ago. We knew nothing about it prior to boarding the ship, but it turned into a highlight we won't ever forget. On our last trip on the Paul Gauguin, while it was still a Regent ship, we lucked into sharing the cruise with a group onboard for a Jazzdagen cruise. On most ships, the performances would have been in a lounge closed to the public, but since the PG has just two lounges, they couldn't make them private. Our fondest cruising memories are coming up on deck after a day of sightseeing, sitting outside the aft lounge, listening to a variety of styles of jazz -- from swing and Big Band to Dixieland -- and watching the sun set over the Pacific. I know relatively little about jazz music, but THAT was a slice of heaven! Then we'd run off to dinner, and return for after-dinner drink out on deck in the South Pacific breeze while the bands played on into the night. That's likely to be one of those "can't go home again" memories we'll never repeat -- but anytime I need to go to a "happy place" in my mind, I'm on the aft deck of the Paul Gauguin, sipping a drink with my wife, watching the sunset, and listening to live jazz music!

 

I see that Jazzdagen has a trip coming up on the Regent Navigator January 16-26, 2012, so I don't know if that might be what you were referring to. There are likely to be one or two performances per day (before and/or after dinner) throughout the entire cruise, so it's quite an intensive jazz experience. There are apparently a number of other similar jazz travel agencies or groups which do group bookings and/or whole ship charters; I don't know if any of the others use Regent.

 

If you're instead referring to some Regent cruise which list a "focus on Jazz", I would expect it to be much, much less of a performance-intensive offering -- perhaps a couple performances and a guest lecturer. (That's just a guess based on comments about past Regent "focus on" cruises.)

 

You asked about performers. That obviously varies considerably from trip to trip. This particular company was created by a jazz musician, Pieter Meijers, and his travel agent wife, Alida. They use a rotating cast of jazz bands, performers and soloists. You can find more info on their web site if you're interested in specific performers and trips. On the trip we stumbled into, while we enjoyed Pieter's quartet, we were totally taken by a group called the Titan Hot Seven, several of whose CDs we subsequently purchased and play when we want to be transported back tot he South Pacific!

 

-- Eric

[mrlevin]

If you're instead referring to some Regent cruise which list a "focus on Jazz", I would expect it to be much, much less of a performance-intensive offering -- perhaps a couple performances and a guest lecturer. (That's just a guess based on comments about past Regent "focus on" cruises.)

-- Eric

 

I beg to differ. I found info from one of my posts on another site:

 

Spotlight on Jazz

 

Classic jazz fills the ship during this sailing on Seven Seas Voyager.

 

Five of the world's leading jazz musicians take to the stage on Seven Seas Voyager in a series of performances that celebrate the intimate music of a sophisticated jazz club when we feature a Spotlight on Jazz. John "Bucky" Pizzarelli is one of the greatest jazz guitarists of all time; together with clarinetist Ken Peplowski (an artistic descendant of Benny Goodman), bassist Nicki Parrott, drummer Chuck Redd and pianist Johnny Varro, we have a quintet perfectly constructed to take us on an excursion through the history of jazz. The Spotlight is on classic jazz on this swinging sailing aboard Seven Seas Voyager!

 

We had music every day even though it was a port intensive cruise. Horizon Lounge is a perfect venue for intimate music events.