For those who love/care about Entertainment - and cruise alot - Playlist opinions??

[sharecruises]

Hi...as the title says - for those who love/care about Entertainment

 

experienced cruisers who have seen good shows - on Carnival, on other lines

what did YOU think about Playlist? Two people in my group had been on Breeze in Oct, hated Playlist shows then and didn't want to see them again

 

 

I recall when they would move ships just so that people could experience new shows, new cruise director, new "fun". ....I found nothing fun about

The Brits

 

I thought it was an insult actually, I also found the gimmick of back screen mulitple images to make it look like more dancers a joke after the first time

Frankly the image dancers looked better than the real ones on our stage I must say LOL. Seeing it each time really was a bore too

 

I found Divas and Latin Nights mildly entertaining, hated Brits and would not be interested in seeing any of them again yawn yawn yawn

 

what did YOU think about Playlist?

if you cruise "a lot" or frequently - how did you feel the 2nd time, the 3rd time?? How many times can we see the same subpar shows is my thought?

 

 

(ie, please no straw man arguements like "we never cared about the shows", "I don't like the theater", "just give me booze and no cooking and I am happy")....please...can we have people who like shows and care about them here??

 

also I am trying to ask this of people who cruise frequently, or fairly often, people who are least "gold" or platinum....cause yeah if this is your first or second cruise it is a "all good" I guess...or if you have not cruised in 10 years you are gonna be happy just to cruise whatever

 

Now to be fair - I try not to chime in on threads where I have no interest...like "sports shows on big screen" (I have no interest).....or

"new rules on Camp Carnival" (I have no kids and no interest) whatever

 

so....this is for those who love the shows...what do YOU think??

[2Shoes2Go]

We were only lightly entertained by the new shows. Have seen most of them now. We have no plans to return to any of them. What a change from just a couple of years ago! Loved the older shows and saw them multiple times.

[golfadj]

Hi...as the title says - for those who love/care about Entertainment

 

experienced cruisers who have seen good shows - on Carnival, on other lines

what did YOU think about Playlist? Two people in my group had been on Breeze in Oct, hated Playlist shows then and didn't want to see them again

 

 

I recall when they would move ships just so that people could experience new shows, new cruise director, new "fun". ....I found nothing fun about

The Brits

 

I thought it was an insult actually, I also found the gimmick of back screen mulitple images to make it look like more dancers a joke after the first time

Frankly the image dancers looked better than the real ones on our stage I must say LOL. Seeing it each time really was a bore too

 

I found Divas and Latin Nights mildly entertaining, hated Brits and would not be interested in seeing any of them again yawn yawn yawn

 

what did YOU think about Playlist?

if you cruise "a lot" or frequently - how did you feel the 2nd time, the 3rd time?? How many times can we see the same subpar shows is my thought?

 

 

(ie, please no straw man arguements like "we never cared about the shows", "I don't like the theater", "just give me booze and no cooking and I am happy")....please...can we have people who like shows and care about them here??

 

also I am trying to ask this of people who cruise frequently, or fairly often, people who are least "gold" or platinum....cause yeah if this is your first or second cruise it is a "all good" I guess...or if you have not cruised in 10 years you are gonna be happy just to cruise whatever

 

Now to be fair - I try not to chime in on threads where I have no interest...like "sports shows on big screen" (I have no interest).....or

"new rules on Camp Carnival" (I have no kids and no interest) whatever

 

so....this is for those who love the shows...what do YOU think??

 

We will see this for the first time ourselves in Feb on the Glory. A number of friends have seen this forthemselves and universaly panned it.

[SkyMaster]

I've seen the "Playlist Productions" on both the "Breeze", and the "Ecstasy". They're O.K., (except "Divas", which I walked out on, perhaps because I'm not at all familiar with that music.). I VERY much prefer the older shows, and have sailed "Paradise" 5 times this year, because they still have the old shows, with 8 female dancers, 6 male dancers, and 2 production singers. Also, they actually have 7 musicians in the show band! Bottom line,,,playlist is O.K., but give me the old shows anytime!

 

"SKY"

[sharecruises]

I have not seen many (or any?) people who really loved Playlist....

 

I personally have seen my favorite "The Big Easy" on different ship, different casts, and enjoyed it each time

 

I have seen the "couch" a lot on Imagination and others and found it fun each time if a bit corny

 

But...I just can't imagine looking forward to these shows - or Hasbro - over and over.

 

I know there will be apologists and those who say "Just give me the casino/booze/food/deck chair to relax/my balcony to puff cigarettes" or whatever...but for those of us who enjoy the shows - this frankly bites a big one IMHO

 

I loved the shows on MSC - also on NCL...I enjoyed the ice show etc on Royal and I still want to try Allure and/or Oasis....I hear Epic has good entertainment

 

Frankly MSC has some of the best nightly shows around - 28 people on stage for full show - European Cirque type acts. At the French show they had one of the gals and 4 guys do a French Adagio style dance that left the "duo" dance on Carnival in the dust, the Carnival dancers looked like a local theater troop to me. MSC had an Abba tribute and Michael Jackson tribute....NCL Pearl had "Oh What a Night" Frankie Valli tribute

These are all casino/vegas/atlantic city acts that fly in

 

My group felt the "showcase" (passenger talent show) was better than the so called "pro" shows. We also were lucky to have a guy who plays guitar and sings to perform free between duo breaks - I am not into "country" but this guy was a pro and he was great, sang a lot of Johnny Cash and Amazing Grace

 

Another guy in Karoke/talent show had a beautiful voice (also you could tell he was a pro)...better than the show singers LOL

A passenger sang like Adele and brought the house down

 

Pretty sad when the best entertainment is the passengers

Maybe they can just hold America's Got Talent audtions on Carnival and that would be more entertaining than the dreck they are currently offering IMHO

[hetrickr]

Our first exposure to the new show format was about a year ago when we sailed on the Carnival Breeze. Because we booked it as a last minute trip, we really only looked at the age, class and itinerary of the ship, not the type of entertainment. So, it was a really big shock when we realized that something had drastically changed regarding the evening show format. The first big disappointment was the lack of an orchestra. Then came the utter disbelief that the lead singers, decent dancers, backdrops and stage props were all gone. They were replaced by stark stage props (mostly stairs or platforms), big video screens with gaudy graphics, terrible vocals and dancing that was out of sync with the graphics and each other! It was so bad that it was really the first letter of complaint I ever took the time to write and send both via email and post cruise survey. Of course, there was no response, but I really didn't expect one.

 

Well, we just returned from a trip on the Conquest (first on this ship) and it's sad to say that we did not attend any of the late night shows. The exception to this was the Hasbro Game Show. We had several younger first time cruisers with us on this trip and they found it entertaining and loved the interactive nature of the show. In addition, my son used the second night of the game show to surprise his girlfriend with a marriage proposal (she said yes) during the game.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited December 23, 2013 by hetrickr

[RoePost]

Sorry if this is a dumb question..but...can someone tell me what a Playlist production is? Recently sailed the Dream and did not encounter this type of entertainment....what is it???

[shonuf]

We were on the Imagination in Oct. and they had just put 3 new Playlist shows on. We hated the two we saw and didn't attend the other. The two we saw were "Divas" and "Epic Rock". Younger people might have liked them but not our cuppa tea.

[shonuf]

As I posted to another thread about Playlist productions, we were not impressed by "Divas" or "Epic Rock". Way too loud, even for the hearing challenged and really no redeeming qualities. Didn't go to the Hasbro show. Big fan of musical theater and most kinds of musical productions, 6 Carnival cruises in last 15 months, also Platinum, so been there, seen that.

[RoePost]

Why are they caled playlist ???

[hihosilvers]

Playlist shows were a downgrade, plain and simple - and the quality reflects that.

[golfadj]

Most people who have seen them have thought they were a major stepdown from what Carnival has done in the past.

[Bandman]

Horrible. Enough said.

[golfadj]

Hopefully plans are going on to replace it with something much better.

[ragen]

Old Shows:

 

Good: Live Band, More Set Changes, Longer, and Some of them we're great, "Country, and Rock through the Decades, based ones.

 

Bad: Only two Live singers, 1 male, 1 female, the rest of the dancers just lip-sync,.....(on RCI at least most of the cast sings live instead of just two.)

also Bad some of the shows such as some "Space" themed dream like mess near the end of Ecstasy cruise was just a disorganized confusing show.

 

New Shows:

 

Good: Music More Current, More Live Vocals, Awesome Sound and Light & Special Effects.

 

Bad: No Live Band, No Real Set Changes, Not very repeatable after viewing it once.

 

I can see both sides here, The Old and new both have their straighths and weakness'.

 

What I'd like to see is, More toward the trend of either changing them up every year or two, or better yet more toward the trend of Actual Broadway musicals like the big ships, on all ships.

[GottaLuvCruising]

Playlist shows were a downgrade, plain and simple - and the quality reflects that.

 

Absolutely!

 

We have cruised 35 times on 6 different lines. When we started cruising, entertainment was a major factor in our choices. We've learned to enjoy so many other aspects of cruising that it isn't as big a deal as initially, but still important.

 

Our Breeze cruise in April was our first Playlist experience. What a disappointment! We sat through one production, chose seats in the back of the balcony just in case the 2nd was equally horrible. It was and we walked out. We didn't even both going to the 3rd.

 

Why would Carnival choose to eliminate the show band (used to be a real orchestra) and use CG sets / graphics? JH claims Playlist actually costs more...go figure???

 

We booked the Glory in June long before we knew how pathetic the entertainment was and we didn't bother to go to the Playlist shows. We made the best of the smaller venue options, but really missed the shows.

 

We booked Paradise in November specifically because it still has production shows and we really enjoyed them.

 

We are booked on Liberty January 2015, but would cancel it if that was an option. No more Carnival for us until they bring the product back up to a standard we'll enjoy.

[GottaLuvCruising]

Playlist is the company that produces them. The sets and part of the performance is computer generated on a terribly bright screen in the back. These "shows" have far fewer dancers and no live music as compared to the traditional cruise line shows. Very disappointing IMHO.

[2 cruzen]

Playlist is the company that produces them. The sets and part of the performance is computer generated on a terribly bright screen in the back. These "shows" have far fewer dancers and no live music as compared to the traditional cruise line shows. Very disappointing IMHO.

 

Agree...I do not like them and glad the Liberty still has the "old" production shows.

[sharecruises]

The best show IMHO was The Big Easy which had 4 lead singers - 2 male, 2 female each time I saw it

 

Losing the orchestra was not good BUT the shows themselves still had costume changes, set backgrounds, different moods and feels

 

example : the world show on Liberty had really different songs and themes for each country

 

the shows had real highlights - like when the female singer is lifted into the air on Big Easy - or the "aerial" ballet duo on "Nightclub Express"

 

Since I have cruised some ships multiple times (sailing from Florida) I have seen the same shows - the 80's show on Valor, Big Easy, etc multiple times but that was cool, I still enjoyed them

 

My real question here is - who would want to sit through the Brits more than once? Once was much more than enough for me

 

as for the idea that they all sing?? Mostly 4 of them sang, and not all that well really, the guys on Conquest were better than the girls but none of them were outstanding. The dancing was pretty bad too - they also looked quite mismatched ..not sure how the guys were able to lift the women without straining themselves LOL

One girl was really a bad dancer, more at ease with hip hop and horrible at the Latin show

 

Who would want to see these more than once? twice? If they spread to all ships then what? Imagine 3 cruises a year and seeing that prance dance they did for the Brits - what a joke

[PortSideCruzan]

Hi Roe :)

 

For additional info and Carnival ship's that have

Playlist Productions, take a peek at the below link.

 

http://www.carnival.com/onboard/cruise-entertainment/playlist-productions.aspx

 

:)

 

[2 cruzen]

Attended "Divas" on the Breeze and thought it was horrible. Only watched a little of the Hasbro show..would be fun if you had a family member on stage. Our very first cruise was on Celebrity and the night shows were outstanding. Some of the older shows could get long. The Welcome show is hokey but fun. I like the comedian, juggling shows actually the best. I'm hoping the Liberty has some good entertainment. We will be having the new menus, so if those disappoint and entertainment dogsnt do the job, we may be looking at a different line next time. Options are good.

Ps, I am Gold on Carnival.

Edited December 23, 2013 by 2 cruzen

[TheTravelista]

They are terrible. Laughably terrible. I cringed throughout Motor City, had to walk out of the Brits and literally laughed throughout Divas. I saw all three on my last cruise because I thought that they had to get better but each one was worse than the last.

 

Carnival has some good shows. Dancing In The Streets and Ticket To Ride being amongst my favorites. Whoever came up with Playlist Productions deserves to be fired. The cheapness of the shows make them bad enough but the awful singers/dancers just make them unacceptable.

[sharecruises]

The Brits really drove me nuts <grin>

 

As a Baby Boomer I found it actually offensive - the costume "designer" should be fired - or did they just buy these cheap looking costumes from an online discount costume store???

 

The clothes were so cheap - the gals were dressed like 1960's airline hostesses, very cheap go go girl costumes like this

 

 

Not really "London" or "Mod" but at least from the 1960's -

 

the guys were dressed like California Hippies from the 1970's

(maybe late 60's) with horrible cheap wigs, fringed vests and flowered bell bottoms....years after the so called "British Invasion" of the 60's

 

 

 

 

 

the songs were bubble gum and badly sung at that

 

 

The lights were a psychedelic swirl, relentless and actually hurt to watch

Even more grating were the comic book characters on the large screen

and the ongoing "tricks" that repeat in each show (the singers step behind the screen and imitate the characters on screen, pretend to pull each other "from" the screen etc)....(the background becomes a montage of other more talented dancers to look like there are 50 people on stage yawn)

 

the Brits was the worst show I have ever seen on any ship and that includes party cruises on old ferries to Freeport that have long gone out of business LOL (ie, Sea Escape, Discovery).

 

For the younger set who may not understand my dismay, just imagine a show of current music that paired Rhianna current styled outfits with guys in old Kris Kross outfits LOL

 

Girls - 1960's go go look (not really British IMHO) and guys California Hippie late 60's and early 70's - ugh ugh ugh

[golfadj]

Pretty sad.

 

JH says they cost more than what they replaced and this is what they got????

[Cruising Rules]

Pretty sad.

 

JH says they cost more than what they replaced and this is what they got????

 

JH may have been fibbing. (trying to be nice here) I assume there were some start up costs here for projection equipment etc., but after that you have saved the cost of a 5-6 piece live band and 4-6 dancers on every sailing. You have no reason to trust me but I assure you this was all done to reduce cost. PERIOD!