Cunard ballrooms are they bigger than the one on Princess ships?

[gam888]

Have talked to some folks who feel that some Princess ships have a very large ballroom dance floor. We have just recently sailed with Cunard Queen Elizabeth and they have a large ballroom with a 8 piece orchestra with ballroom dancing every night. We have never sailed with Princess before, for the Cunard folks who have also sailed on Princess before, please share your thoughts how to compare the two. We enjoy dancing and have also enjoyed the complimentary dance classes Cunard offers on sea days. They go beyond the basic steps covered on a 45 minutes lesson. Does Princess offer free dance classes, and what are the dance venues on the Princess ships? Do they offer ballroom as well as temporary type of dancing? Also, we were told the ballroom in Queen Mary 2 is larger than the one in QE, how much larger is it? Thanks in advance.

[Bell Boy]

There is NO question about it , for ballroom dancing and the size of ballroom dance floors , only Cunard know how to do it ! Without doubt Cunard has the edge when it comes to ballroom dancing & dance floors (although Crystal is quite good too ;) )

 

I would be interested to see which Princess ships have a larger 'ballroom dance floor' than QM2 ?

 

Although Cunard did once claim that the dance floor on QM2 was the largest at sea, it's really not that much bigger than the dance floors on the small Queens.

 

Cunard Line has always been synonymous with 'ballroom dancing', I don't think I would give that accolade to Princess . :)

Edited October 27, 2014 by Bell Boy

[DWhit]

I have recently been told that Costa is another line that is good for dancing.

[Bell Boy]

You can't be serious ? the original post is about 'Ballroom dancing' and big bands at sea.

[DWhit]

You can't be serious ? the original post is about 'Ballroom dancing' and big bands at sea.

I was told by some very serious ballroom dancers, so yes, I guess I am serious. But I did find it rather surprising. I have never sailed with Costa.

[pris993]

No doubt Cunard is bitter than Princess. We are elite on Princess, the ballroom on Princess does not compare, wish it did.

[Underwatr]

Also, we were told the ballroom in Queen Mary 2 is larger than the one in QE, how much larger is it? Thanks in advance.

The ballroom is the full width of the ship, so ~135 feet, but I don't know the size of the dance floor. I agree that the dance floor is closer to the size of QE/QV than the difference in room size would suggest. Edited October 27, 2014 by Underwatr

[pmb1]

ask.cunard says:

 

What is the size of the dance floor?

 

Queen Mary 2's dance floor in the Queens Room is the largest dance floor at sea.

The Queens Room dance floor is approximately 117 sq ft (length 13m X width 9m)

 

"sq ft" is an obvious typo. It's 117 square meters or about 1260 square feet, 42.6 feet by 29.5 feet of dancing space.

[Underwatr]

I found somewhere that QV/QE's dance floor is about 23.4ft x 42.2ft, just under 1000 square feet. Should be verifiable somewhere on ask.cunard.com.

[PunkiC]

The dance floor on the Queen Victoria feels larger than the dance floor on the Queen Mary because it is two stories high and has a balcony which overlooks the floor. Very elegant.

 

The dance floors on Princess are much smaller and oddly shaped, making it somewhat more difficult for dancing, but still lots of fun if they have a decent band.

 

It seems like most people on Cunard ships actually understand line of dance, whereas on Princess a lot of people have no clue. Another thing that drives me crazy on Princess ships is the number of line dance groups that will get out on the floor together, making ballroom dancing virtually impossible. I have never seen that in the ballroom on a Cunard ship and suspect that the line dancers go instead to The Yacht Club or some other venue.

 

We personally have never seen decent dance instruction on a Cunard ship, but then we have only sailed Cunard twice. Both times the dance classes were taught by the professional dancers on board and, while they were beautiful dancers, they were lousy teachers who tried to incorporate way too much competition style and a great deal of arm flailing into basic dance lessons. Total fail.

 

On Princess the dance lessons are usually given by an assistant cruise director, or sometimes a member of the dance ensemble. They are quite basic classes, but do get people to the point where they can actually go out and dance at night.

 

There was one time when a professional dancer on Princess decided to teach the dance lessons and he was fabulous and had real talent as a teacher as well as a dancer.

 

We enjoyed watching the sequence dancing on the Queen Elizabeth, but, being Americans, we didn't know the steps. I have since bought a book and we plan to practice some of the more common sequence dances, following You Tube videos before our Queen Victoria trip next month.

 

I suggested to our cruise director on our Baltic cruise this summer that they teach sequence dance moves on the ship. That would be wonderful for us Americans who have no opportunities to learn here in the states

[fantasy51]

We personally have never seen decent dance instruction on a Cunard ship, but then we have only sailed Cunard twice. Both times the dance classes were taught by the professional dancers on board and, while they were beautiful dancers, they were lousy teachers who tried to incorporate way too much competition style and a great deal of arm flailing into basic dance lessons. Total fail.

 

I have been fortunate to sail on the QV quite a few times when Dan and Olena were the professional dancers. People have often commented that they are the best dance teachers at sea. They keep the instruction basic and amusing. They don't try to teach you proper arm movements or how high to get your knees, as I have seen with one couple. (I believe they are currently on the QE.)

[PunkiC]

I have been fortunate to sail on the QV quite a few times when Dan and Olena were the professional dancers. People have often commented that they are the best dance teachers at sea. They keep the instruction basic and amusing. They don't try to teach you proper arm movements or how high to get your knees, as I have seen with one couple. (I believe they are currently on the QE.)

 

It makes me happy to hear that there are some very good teachers on some Cunard ships. It would be lovely if Dan and Olena were assigned to the Queen Elizabeth when we sail next month. We love taking dance lessons but the couple who were teaching on our last Cunard cruise just weren't any good as teachers. I talked to many people who tried one of their classes and then decided never to go back.

[Slow Foxtrot]

One good thing that Cunard could learn from P & O (Oriana & Aurora) is that the resident dance teachers on these ships usually are in charge of the dance floor during the regular intervals when the dance bands take their breaks.

They will then play strict-tempo recorded music, clearly announce the relevant dance and often dance with the passengers. In other words they ensure that the dancing runs smoothly. Cunard usually lack a proper MC, and consequently we often find that some dancers are doing different dances to the same music which causes much confusion of the floor. Can't speak for Princess but we are very regular dancers on Cunard and P & O and both have their plus points.

 

Nice to read that Punkie is taking the trouble to learn some Sequence Dancing. There's a great deal to learn and most keen ballroom and latin dancers find it a pleasant break from the discipline of proper ballroom dancing. As she says, it's very popular in the UK (and Australia) but almost unknown in the USA. Maybe it will spread there eventually.

[Dancer Bob]

I will be on Ruby Princess next month and will be checking on the dance floors. I've seen so many arguments I now carry a tape measure with me.

Size is a tricky topic. For ballroom/standard/smooth, I'll argue that it's usable LOD that counts. In terms of size, Costa Luminosa/Deliziosa are if anything larger than QE/QV- they're all Vista class- but have pillars which Cunard, to its credit, eliminated. None of these floors are exactly rectangular. Crystal Serenity also has decent floors, but bad music at an outrageous price.

I've seen some excellent Sequence dancing on Cunard, but it seems to have a kind of discipline of its own.

I believe I'm already on record as agreeing with Foxy and fantasy51.

[PunkiC]

Nice to read that Punki is taking the trouble to learn some Sequence Dancing. There's a great deal to learn and most keen ballroom and latin dancers find it a pleasant break from the discipline of proper ballroom dancing. As she says, it's very popular in the UK (and Australia) but almost unknown in the USA. Maybe it will spread there eventually.

 

Which sequence dances should we learn first?

[Colin_Cameron]

Which sequence dances should we learn first?

 

Only suggestions: Square Tango, Rumba One, Mayfair Quickstep, Sally-Ann Cha-Cha, maybe the Catherine Waltz.

 

There are obviously loads of others but these are some of the most widely known. Watch out for that Mayfair Quickstep though, you'll find it danced at two different speeds. Having danced it for years at a standard quickstep tempo, I'll never forget the first time I found it being danced to some sort of Irish "Riverdance" type of tune. Whew! Wasn't expecting that!

 

Regards, Colin.

[Bell Boy]

Yes love them all Colin....any female travelling on Queen Victoria Nov 9th and looking for a Sequence dance partner ? I'll be in the Ball Room ;)

[coppice]

The Square Tango and the Cathrine Waltz are the easiest to learn , the Rumba and the Sally Ann are more complicated. The tango Sereda isn`t too bad to learn as it it is mainly done in groups of 1&2 step groups.

Good Luck.

Coppice

[gam888]

Thank you everyone for replying my post. We did enjoy the ballroom dancing lessons on the QE. They were taught by the professional dance couple Eugene and Darya. They were great performers, and are very friendly and approachable. Their lessons consisted of two parts, one part for beginners with basic steps for about half an hour, then they went on to 2 more fancier steps for intermediates for about 15 minutes. Very usable steps and good instructions. We did watch the Sequence dancers one evening, in Canada, we were not introduced to that as all so it was fun to watch. There were a lot of good dancers on our cruise that week. We were also introduced to a type of dance called New Vogue La Bomba, it's a type of Tango popular in Australia and New Zealand which we have never seen here in Canada. I searched it up on Youtube but found very little information on it. Wish we could learn that in Canada. There was this couple from on our cruise who did a fabulous job dancing it. If anyone has heard about that dance and have found a good link on Youtube, please let me know.

 

So I guess the general consensus is Cunard still has the biggest ballroom dance floor at sea, except Crystal?! But I don't think we have the budget to sail on Crystal any time soon! We were on Costa once a few years ago and can't remember how large the dance floor was, it was before we got interested in ballroom dancing.

 

Thanks again everyone for your replies!

[PunkiC]

Thank you all for your input. We will start with the Square Tango.

 

We will try watching You Tube videos and work with the book and see how it goes. I sure wish there were somewhere we could take classes.

[Slow Foxtrot]

Punki,

The Sequence Dances mentioned in the previous posts are all okay for beginners but you may find the Sally-Anne Cha Cha a little tricky at first.

A popular dance at almost every UK dancing venue is the Saunter Together.

When danced smoothly it can look quite nice. 4/4 time, around 28 b.p.m.

Worth a look on Youtube.

[Scrapnana]

I had never heard of sequence dancing before my QE cruise. I often stopped for 15-20 minutes before dinner to watch. The last dance was usually the Mayfair Quickstep.

[koonard]

Hi,

l

Yes the QM2 does have a lovely large floor BUT the staff will insist on placing large armchairs on the edges of the floor and so take up a lot of room which should be for dancing and not sitting. The Cunard dance instructors lack a sort of easy approach to teaching ... they are mainly Eastern Europeans and take thing very seriously. Well ... we are never going to reach their heights and we are on holiday and we just want to have fun ... ease up and relax and let us enjoy without all the head angles / arm levels / and serious stuff !

 

The various Balls are a challenge when you try to negotiate around the floor. You will only be able to do very basic steps and lines, just remember the line of dance and don't bump into anyone ... if you do .. always apologise and be polite even if it wasn't your fault.

 

Have fun.

 

Maddie

[Slow Foxtrot]

Hi, Yes the QM2 does have a lovely large floor BUT the staff will insist on placing large armchairs on the edges of the floor and so take up a lot of room which should be for dancing and not sitting.....Maddie

 

This is the scourge of dance venues. Heaven knows, despite what many people think, ships' dance-floors are all barely adequate for the amount of couples who wish to dance. Hence, every inch of floor is needed. That's where a good MC comes in. The idiots who place extra chairs (and sometimes tables) on the dance floor should be keel-hauled! And even that's too good for them.

Edited October 28, 2014 by Slow Foxtrot

[fantasy51]

Hi,

don't bump into anyone ... if you do .. always apologise and be polite even if it wasn't your fault.

 

I had to laugh at this, Maddie. I've danced with a couple of Dance Hosts who are fast and are good at seeing spaces into which to dance. All goes well until someone else suddenly stops or changes direction. That person generally glares at the Dance Host with no understanding that he is breaking ballroom etiquette. We always apologise.