Carnival entertainment goes even further downhill

[EZ4]

Where is it all headed? I have no idea, but I hope that QOTS is not the answer to the question.

 

I think the very fact that QOTS has a powder blue hull instead of the classic white, is a statement in the making. Among other things.

[jimbo5544]

I think the very fact that QOTS has a powder blue hull instead of the classic white, is a statement in the making. Among other things.

 

and here I thought it was my green with envy eyes that made it look so. (I know the color analogy does not fit....but it was the best I could do)

Edited September 10, 2014 by jimbo5544

[Pine Bluff]

The more I hear reports like this, the more I'm beginning to think that Carnival has started to figure out the new concept and how to deliver more entertaining shows. It could just be a learning curve thing and a large misstep by converting theatres to the new big screens before they had good shows.

 

Not sure about that. Radio City Music Hall tried to do that with their Christmas Shows. Too much screen stuff now, and it gets boring real quick. That too will catch up with them.

[golfadj]

The more I hear reports like this, the more I'm beginning to think that Carnival has started to figure out the new concept and how to deliver more entertaining shows. It could just be a learning curve thing and a large misstep by converting theatres to the new big screens before they had good shows.

 

Of the four the newest one Epic Rock was the best but really wish they would tone down the flashing lights. We walked out on the first one Divas and have no interest of giving it another try.

 

Our next cruise is on th Miracle which apparently is getting four new shows so we shall what we think of them.

[Ellaleah]

When and what? I will be on the Miracle so I am curious. I read that the Beatles review on there is really good. Will that be gone?

[golfadj]

When and what? I will be on the Miracle so I am curious. I read that the Beatles review on there is really good. Will that be gone?

 

We are on the Miracle in December and JH said on his fb page that it will have four new shows but didnt supply any details.

[andy.capitan]

When and what? I will be on the Miracle so I am curious. I read that the Beatles review on there is really good. Will that be gone?

 

On Miracle now and Ticket to Ride is still playing.

[Mary49]

We are on the Miracle in December and JH said on his fb page that it will have four new shows but didnt supply any details.

 

golfadj - on the Miracle you should see Music Unlimited, and the drummer Ike is the manager of all the "Music ..... etc." Bands that are on Carnival right now. He has told me that he started out with 16 bands and is now down to 9 bands for Carnival. Ike is very nice guy and easy to talk with. You will enjoy them. They still play in Frankie and Johnnies.... I have no idea how long they will have left working for Carnival....

Edited September 10, 2014 by Mary49

[Rowan555]

Anyone know the current shows on the Dream?

[golfadj]

golfadj - on the Miracle you should see Music Unlimited, and the drummer Ike is the manager of all the "Music ..... etc." Bands that are on Carnival right now. He has told me that he started out with 16 bands and is now down to 9 bands for Carnival. Ike is very nice guy and easy to talk with. You will enjoy them. They still play in Frankie and Johnnies.... I have no idea how long they will have left working for Carnival....

 

We have sailed with Music Unlimited and they are an outstanding band and Ike is an interesting guy.

 

We will be on her for 15 days and have fingers crossed they are still there. Will be great if they are in their own lounge and not in the hallway accross from noisy and smoky casino.

[Mary49]

We have sailed with Music Unlimited and they are an outstanding band and Ike is an interesting guy.

 

We will be on her for 15 days and have fingers crossed they are still there. Will be great if they are in their own lounge and not in the hallway accross from noisy and smoky casino.

 

I hope you get them again. I swear Ike own's the Miracle (lol). That's his home base......

[winddawn]

Just back from our 25th Carnival cruise first one on conquest.

 

Had an awesome roll call and made some good new friends we hope to cruise with again.

 

Got to rent our first villa at HMC (thanks Kenny and Debbi) and now understand why people want to dothis.

 

Thought food and service was good as usual but entertainment has gone even further downhill.

 

For the first time ever there were no flyons for our 7 day cruise. What we had was two evenings of Hasbro and Hasbro only in the main lounge.

 

Seriously? And one of these evenings no comedy club and no piano bar going on.

 

Didnt care for playlist the first time we saw it and think that 8 mediocre singers do not equal the quality of the old style production shows with two decent singers.

 

How can a company that put on Ticket to Ride and Dancing in the Street think they are putting out quality production when they put out this crap?

 

On a more positive note will say that Epic Rock was a good one the other three hopefully will never have to sit thru again.

 

Michael in the pb was very good (apparently he replaced a woman who suddenly left the ship). The four comedians put on some very good shows.

 

Did we get our money's worth? Yes we did. But we used to love the main lounge entertainment and now it is gone.

 

Perhaps they will tell us that attendance in the main lounge is dwindling so they will have the excuse to Sunshine it and make them half the size in the future.

 

Personally think the attendance is shrinking as guests realize what they are giving us is not worth attending.

I've been on 30 cruises and never been to a show, so as far as I'm concerned, the money saved on shows and show venues can be better spent elsewhere. Like on food quality and calypso bands. ;-)

 

Sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise. Maybe it's time to find a cruise brand that better suits your preferences.

[PAPERBKWRITER]

WE never missed a show back in the day but now we seem to skip a lot of them and go to the casino instead. Sadly I have to agree with you. We did a Celebrity cruise last year(15 days) and the shows were awesome and there were were better activities. Still, you can't beat Carnival for total value.

[crusinpsychRN]

I've been on 30 cruises and never been to a show, so as far as I'm concerned, the money saved on shows and show venues can be better spent elsewhere. Like on food quality and calypso bands. ;-)

 

Sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise. Maybe it's time to find a cruise brand that better suits your preferences.

 

I didn't read OP or others didn't enjoy their cruise. The point is the quality of the entertainment has gone down. Since you never went to a show you don't know what you missed, the shows used to be great!

 

As you point out, the food quality could use improvement and calypso bands, just a part of the entertainment, have disappeared.

[golfb4cruzing]

Someone has brainwashed many folks about value. That is constantly getting spit back out here. Value is in the eye of the beholder. Just because you may think it's an awesome value, other may find it a degraded product (and vice versa) and they value better options on another line. Time for a new word.

[Warm Breezes]

Someone has brainwashed many folks about value. That is constantly getting spit back out here. Value is in the eye of the beholder. Just because you may think it's an awesome value, other may find it a degraded product (and vice versa) and they value better options on another line. Time for a new word.

 

Not necessarily "better" options....just "other" options. "Better" is just as subjective as "value".

[golfadj]

I've been on 30 cruises and never been to a show, so as far as I'm concerned, the money saved on shows and show venues can be better spent elsewhere. Like on food quality and calypso bands. ;-)

 

Sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise. Maybe it's time to find a cruise brand that better suits your preferences.

 

Where did you get the idea we didnt enjoy our cruise? My point is it could have been better.

 

We had a great roll call and new friends we hope to sail with again.

[buddylover]

Mike Pack the CD had a Q and A and asked him about it. He said it was done as they have four playlist shows they are doing. Never had the flyon scheduled.

 

Apparently the budget doesnt allow for both.

 

Personally wish they would dump the playlist and just give us flyons.

 

Hey Stu, what is a "flyon"????

[DGP1111]

Just back from our 25th Carnival cruise first one on conquest.

 

Had an awesome roll call and made some good new friends we hope to cruise with again..

 

Glad to read you had an overall good time, Stu! :)

Thanks for sharing your personal feedback.

 

Didn't care for playlist the first time we saw it and think that 8 mediocre singers do not equal the quality of the old style production shows with two decent singers.

 

. . .

Personally think the attendance is shrinking as guests realize what they are giving us is not worth attending.

 

Some (and I'm not saying All) of those former Carnival performers whom I've kept in contact with would agree with you rather strongly.

 

For my upcoming CCL sailing (the first full one in quite a while) the closest I intend to get to the main theatre for evening shows will be by sitting on my balcony . . . since I have a forward cove. :)

 

.

[golfadj]

Hey Stu, what is a "flyon"????

 

A flyon is an entertainer that will come on the ship do his show and than leave.

 

Typically a juggler, singer, magician, etc.

[golfadj]

Glad to read you had an overall good time, Stu! :)

Thanks for sharing your personal feedback.

 

 

 

Some (and I'm not saying All) of those former Carnival performers whom I've kept in contact with would agree with you rather strongly.

 

For my upcoming CCL sailing (the first full one in quite a while) the closest I intend to get to the main theatre for evening shows will be by sitting on my balcony . . . since I have a forward cove. :)

 

.

 

Interesting that former Carnival performers would say the same thing. Thanks for sharing.

[PAPERBKWRITER]

Someone has brainwashed many folks about value. That is constantly getting spit back out here. Value is in the eye of the beholder. Just because you may think it's an awesome value, other may find it a degraded product (and vice versa) and they value better options on another line. Time for a new word.

 

Since you have stopped sailing Carnival and your cruise history only shows one other cruise line it would seem your opinion comes from limited experience. Just because you seem to be offended by the word value, that doesn't mean you're right.

[Maryqueenii]

I agree. We were in this cruise and I took my family for the first time. And although we had a good cruise when it came to night time entertainment when found ourselves bored. We don't dance or drink. So other than just sitting around after dinner or taking pictures or simply people watching, we didn't have much to so.

 

I was kind of disappointed as I've always had a great time at all times. This cruise nightly entertainment was not up to par. :/

[Rowan555]

I agree. We were in this cruise and I took my family for the first time. And although we had a good cruise when it came to night time entertainment when found ourselves bored. We don't dance or drink. So other than just sitting around after dinner or taking pictures or simply people watching, we didn't have much to so.

 

I was kind of disappointed as I've always had a great time at all times. This cruise nightly entertainment was not up to par. :/

 

 

On our last Carnival cruise, we did the following at night:

Comedians 5 of the 7 nights

Hypnotist

Close-up magic performance

Regular magic show

Karaoke

Played darts and shuffleboard in the Red Frog Pub (did this several nights, loved it)

Sat and watched the live music act on Promenade/Ocean Plaza

Hung out with new friends at the Alchemy Bar - several of whom we still talk to many months later. (Drinking not required, of course)

Late night ping pong and foosball on the sports deck

Enjoyed some time in the Serenity hot tub

 

I'm sure we did more - those are the things I remember off the top of my head. We didn't attend a single show in the main show lounge, so those would have been other things we could have done nearly every night.

 

I just fail to see how "not drinking or dancing" means there's nothing to do at night on a cruise. There are always *many things to do on a cruise at any given time - one's lack of desire to do any of those things is more of a personal issue than a problem with the entertainment options.

 

Years ago we felt there was a huge "gap" in pretty much anything going on between early seating dinner and the first evening show. These days there is so much more happening at any given time, and beyond that, there are other things you can do on your own that weren't available on the older ships. There was a time I began to feel a bit bored with cruising, but with the new ships and the new variety of things to do, my problem is usually picking just one thing to do at a time.

[love2traveljen]

I agree. We were in this cruise and I took my family for the first time. And although we had a good cruise when it came to night time entertainment when found ourselves bored. We don't dance or drink. So other than just sitting around after dinner or taking pictures or simply people watching, we didn't have much to so.

 

I was kind of disappointed as I've always had a great time at all times. This cruise nightly entertainment was not up to par. :/

 

 

Zoik

 

 

Jen

 

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