Reflection - Party Band "Vibes" what is Celebrity thinking!!

[bandp407]

Greetings & Happy Holidays! My husband & I were on the Dec 13-Dec 21 sailing of the Reflection. It was our second time on the ship and unfortunately our music experience on board was very disappointing. We were on the Easter cruise last March and D'Revelations was the party band. They played often and throughout the week in various locations on the ship. They were AMAZING and engaged their audience and filled the dance floor wherever they played. Vibes was another story - they were loud and not at all interested in who they were playing for. The only time the dance floor was FULL was when Big Mike and the Reflection Orchestra played. They were super, but unfortunately only played once the entire week. Many of the other passengers onboard shared our disappointment and many said it was the WORST Celebrity cruise they had been on as it related to type of music played and the lack of it. Many of us shared our opinion but to no avail. Is this the direction with Modern Luxury that Celebrity is going?? One of the officers said they brought Vibes onboard due to the number of kids coming onboard for the Christmas cruise. Not sure I buy this one. Our Easter cruise had 500 kids (vs 700 kids) for that sailing and the music was fantastic!! The lawn concerts also were cancelled for this sailing - not sure why, the weather seemed fine. We have an upcoming sailing on the Silhouette for early April and while onboard booked two future Celebrity sailings - one for the same week next Dec. So can anyone help shed some light - is this the direction Celebrity is going - cutting back on the amount of music on board and the type played?? Was it the week we picked -do they "cut back" the week before a holiday sailing? In the mist of trying to attract a younger audience they will loose many of their existing loyal passengers who enjoy listening to some nice music during the day by the pool and before & after dinner.

[Orator]

Looks to me like the music was one of the things that was reinvented on Celebrity. The wonderful Filipino bands have disappeared on the S Class ships. No live band on M Class and the shows have prerecord end sound tracks. Found music on both Silhouette and Connie lacking. Just my opinion, others may differ.

[wpgcycler]

What style of music do Vibes play?

[Host Jazzbeau]

There are complaints that Azamara has also cut back on live music, so this may be company-wide cost cutting.

[neverbeenhere]

Dang kids and their "rocks and rolls music".

[Host Anne]

Had a similar experience on the Nov. 30th Reflection sailing. Two separate DJs playing very loud music that no one was dancing to on the pool deck for deck parties. Our party band wasn't Vibes. Don't recall their name - they were OK. But overall, there was cutbacks in live musicians and the piped-in music throughout the ship throughout the day (including rap) wasn't the modern luxury we are interested in.

[riclop]

Its seems all lines are doing the same thing, DJ's are the worst. What a shame.

[royalcruz]

The party band on Silhouette last week was very good, a British group called the Smart Casuals. The more recent songs they played were not offensive, or too techno. The only thing is that they seemed to play the same set of songs every day. Same goes for the acoustic trio...I don't think they played more than 10 different songs the whole week.

[hcat]

maybe someday Celeb will get it right w/ the music..

 

On our last cruise (Silhouette) we were greeted by a loud rap playing DJ and no sparkly, bubbly drink. Throughout the cruise the main music in the atrium was the awful DJ and a drum banging musician--I use the term loosely. They ran the canned techno tape constantly thoughout the ship..really bad stuff!

 

Only good music recently was the jazz group and the reggae duo called BIG VIB...obviously not the VIBES referred to in the title of this thread! Before BIG VIB on two prior cruises, they had a steel drum player--that was it!

 

Sorry to also report that the groups we heard recently on Oasis (Royal C) were awful---other than the reggae band and jazz combo. Seems that live music on ships is an area that is being sorely neglected.

[thebutlerdidit]

The party band on Silhouette last week was very good, a British group called the Smart Casuals. The more recent songs they played were not offensive, or too techno. The only thing is that they seemed to play the same set of songs every day. Same goes for the acoustic trio...I don't think they played more than 10 different songs the whole week.

We also really enjoyed the Smart Casuals! They played a nice variety, everything from Little RIchard's Tutti Frutti to Amy Winehouse's Rehab. I thought all of the musicians on the Silhouette were very good.

[wedding96]

I was on same cruise. I thought the bands were good to excellent. But I also hate loud music by the pool during the day. I guess it's hard to satisfy everyone's tastes.

[Orlandocruiser]

We were very disappointed in the music or lack thereof on our recent Silhouette TA. While the Smart Casuals were very good the 3 woman acoustic group and the 3 women "jazz" group were horrible. There was no acapella group on board and the wonderful string ensembles were also gone. We have always followed the classical string groups around to where they played, buying drinks in the venues where they were performing. We have always hung out in the Ensemble lounge to hear the great jazz groups they used to have but not this time. I guess they don't want the revenue stream our attendance at these places provided.:(

[batoryfirst]

Music on the Equinox TA from Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale was dreadful!

[yukongold]

I looked at a couple of performances of Vibe on You Tube. I thought they were quite good - very energetic and good dance music (for me). I guess it just depends on what kind of music one likes to listen/dance to.

[Orator]

We were very disappointed in the music or lack thereof on our recent Silhouette TA. While the Smart Casuals were very good the 3 woman acoustic group and the 3 women "jazz" group were horrible. There was no acapella group on board and the wonderful string ensembles were also gone. We have always followed the classical string groups around to where they played, buying drinks in the venues where they were performing. We have always hung out in the Ensemble lounge to hear the great jazz groups they used to have but not this time. I guess they don't want the revenue stream our attendance at these places provided.:(

 

On the same cruise and completely agree. My Guest Questionaire reflected the quality of the music.

[Turtles06]

Greetings & Happy Holidays! My husband & I were on the Dec 13-Dec 21 sailing of the Reflection. It was our second time on the ship and unfortunately our music experience on board was very disappointing. We were on the Easter cruise last March and D'Revelations was the party band. They played often and throughout the week in various locations on the ship. They were AMAZING and engaged their audience and filled the dance floor wherever they played.

 

D'Revelation was the party band on our Ecllpse TA a year and a half ago, and they were fantastic. Celebrity needs to keep musical talent like this on board; the trend away from it is a not a good one.

[We're The Groupnors]

We also really enjoyed the Smart Casuals! They played a nice variety, everything from Little RIchard's Tutti Frutti to Amy Winehouse's Rehab. I thought all of the musicians on the Silhouette were very good.

 

I agree. We very much enjoyed both the Smart Casuals and the Mondragale Trio.

[blueboro]

On Solstice in 2010 and Eclipse in 2012 we loved the party bands...I believe it was Sipra on Eclipse. They were Filipino and could play almost anything. The best entertainment on the ship. Sorry to hear the new ones are not getting good reviews.

[dkjretired]

We also really enjoyed the Smart Casuals! They played a nice variety, everything from Little RIchard's Tutti Frutti to Amy Winehouse's Rehab. I thought all of the musicians on the Silhouette were very good.

 

I agree but am not crazy about all the DJs, I think we had three on our cruise last week. They have eliminated the Acapella groups fleetwide.

[dkjretired]

We were very disappointed in the music or lack thereof on our recent Silhouette TA. While the Smart Casuals were very good the 3 woman acoustic group and the 3 women "jazz" group were horrible. There was no acapella group on board and the wonderful string ensembles were also gone. We have always followed the classical string groups around to where they played, buying drinks in the venues where they were performing. We have always hung out in the Ensemble lounge to hear the great jazz groups they used to have but not this time. I guess they don't want the revenue stream our attendance at these places provided.:(

 

One of the groups singing destroyed Joe DiMaggio in the old Simon and Garfunkle song.

[dkjretired]

On the same cruise and completely agree. My Guest Questionaire reflected the quality of the music.

 

Orator:

 

A little off topic but you mentioned on my live thread that the disembarkation process was horrible. We did self disembarkation and were on I-95 at 8:05A.M. Don't know what happened after us but we were one of the first off the ship.

[Orator]

Orator:

 

A little off topic but you mentioned on my live thread that the disembarkation process was horrible. We did self disembarkation and were on I-95 at 8:05A.M. Don't know what happened after us but we were one of the first off the ship.

 

Took me more than an hour to get through the process on the SILhouette TA. They kept us on the ship for quite some time which resulted in very long lines. The terminal was very hot and some appeared to be suffering. Timing is everything. I once was one of the first off a TA and learned that just after I disembarked the pocess was stopped for almost 2 hours. Have a good New Year.

Edited December 27, 2013 by Orator

[dkjretired]

Took me more than an hour to get through the process on the SILhouette TA. They kept us on the ship for quite some time which resulted in very long lines. The terminal was very hot and some appeared to be suffering. Timing is everything. I once was one of the first off a TA and learned that just after I disembarked the pocess was stopped for almost 2 hours. Have a good New Year.

 

It seems like the tale of two cities, we were told that they would delay our check in and boarding also. We checked in at 11 and waited about 45 minutes or so to actually board. Really wasn't bad. Have a Happy New Year and enjoy your next cruise.

[phoenix_dream]

Regarding the music, it seems to me it really varies ship to ship and cruise to cruise. In more than 25 X cruises have had some really great music and some that is really lacking. We did an after Thanksgiving cruise a couple years ago from SJU and most of the music was Latin - never mind that more than half the passengers were not. It was good, but too much of one thing! Did not know acappella groups were a thing of the past -we had one on our September sailing. Thought the rest of the music on that cruise was very nice as well.

[shipgeeks]

Looks to me like the music was one of the things that was reinvented on Celebrity. The wonderful Filipino bands have disappeared on the S Class ships. No live band on M Class and the shows have prerecord end sound tracks. Found music on both Silhouette and Connie lacking. Just my opinion, others may differ.

It would be a shame if we no longer have the Filipino bands and singers to dance to. We loved Great Ideas and Cherryl on Equinox in 2012.

However, it has occurred to us that perhaps Celebrity has allowed Filipino staff to return home following the typhoon, and booked any bands they could get on short notice.