Bon Jovi Cruise - Can Someone Tell Me About Their Experience

[kerrin]

So I have been on 7 cruises in the past 7 years, all in the Caribbean with the JoCo Cruise (the last one just in March).

I am a big Bon Jovi fan, and as a UK resident, I was interested in the Mediterranean cruise coming up in August, but I know it won't be as good as the extremely high standard I have come to expect to on the JoCo Cruise.
It's not about the cruise company, although I do have worries about that too. I am used to the performers being on ship the whole cruise, you bump into them in the corridor, or at the buffet. I very much doubt that Jon is on boat the whole cruise. How much is he actually on the boat?

Was anyone on the Caribbean Bon Jovi cruise just over a week ago?
Can you tell me want they did right? And more importantly, what they did wrong?
I'm still very much on the fence on this, but currently on the side of not going, as I doubt it will be as good as I expect it would need to be for me not to feel let down.

Edited April 20, 2019 by kerrin

[PearlJade]

Hi there. I have been a longtime CC lurker but I registered to reply to you.

 

I was on the Caribbean Runaway to Paradise Jon Bon Jovi cruise earlier this month. I am an aficionado of Sixthman music cruises, the charter company that put this cruise on (same for the Mediterranean cruise in August.) This was my 10th Sixthman music cruise so I guess I am a "veteran" of their events. I have never heard of the Joco cruise though so I cannot compare that adequately to this. 

 

I booked Bon Jovi because we knew we would be getting a quality experience with Sixthman, because they have absolutely nailed the music cruise genre. That said, the Caribbean Bon Jovi cruise was somewhat different than the other Sixthman music cruises we've taken. Plus, Sixthman gives excellent discounts on subsequent music cruises if you already have one booked at full price so that was a factor too. 

 

With the vast majority of the Sixthman music cruises, all of the artists board and remain on board the entire time the cruise is at sea. This typically allows for a lot of fun events and impromptu performances across the entire trip. For example, I have done the KISS Kruises multiple times, and KISS is onboard and hosts all kinds of activities with guests, like game show trivia, cooking, air guitar contests. It's fun and really keeps the party going all day and night. The KISS Kruise is highly themed and the audience is completely energized from morning until well into the middle of the night. The music is nonstop on multiple stages til 2-3am. 

 

With Bon Jovi. it was a much more laid back cruise. Far more women than men, and the theme days and events were more women centric. The crowd was generally older than the other rock cruises we've taken with Sixthman. Another observation, the Sixthman music cruises I've been on have all been extremely casual. Concert T-shirts and shorts are the norm for everyone on the ship, day and night and anything dressier than that would be completely out of place. (I am not a fan of anything formal so this is another reason I choose music cruises.) 

 

With the Bon Jovi cruise, a lot of people brought dressier clothing to wear in the evening. You could definitely tell who the Sixthman regulars were vs. the first-time Bon Jovi cruisers for this reason.  

 

With the Caribbean cruise, Jon was not on the ship much. He boarded in Nassau on the second evening and was on stage about an hour later. His arrival to the ship was announced & people were hanging on the balcony rails to watch him board. The ship (Norwegian Jade) then left the dock and went 4-5 miles from Nassau, then dropped anchor. 

 

After his 1st night show, he stayed on board another hour or so for Gold Package photo opportunities, while the ship returned to Nassau. Then he disembarked and the ship left again to anchor offshore for the night. It was kind of odd as we hoped guests would also be allowed to disembark in Nassau twice. 

 

The second day, we returned to Nassau in the morning for port time and excursions. We came back from a beach excursion and Jon was right behind us boarding the ship. The routine was the same for this night: He was back to the stage, ship left Nassau, then sailed back to Nassau where we dropped him off again. We then had another day at sea, and that was the end of the cruise. 

 

I had a very nice time but did not feel the cruise was nearly as heavily themed as the other Sixthman cruises we have attended. There was very little night time entertainment. Usually the pool deck stage is rocking late into the night, with smaller stages around the ship, but the only late night (10pm - on) entertainment was the headphone dance party. 

 

Because there was less "supercharging" of the music entertainment schedule-wise, I actually found more time to unwind on this cruise versus many of the others. Most Sixthman cruises have such jam-packed schedules that you have to really schedule where you want to be and when, because there are so many good activities in the same time slots on different parts of the ship. Usually there is NO NCL house entertainment or shows of any kind going on during these music cruises, but with Bon Jovi, the ship's house magician had a show, and one day they played NCL Deal or No Deal. That made it seem almost more like a regular cruise with some extra music entertainment. 

 

You will definitely not see Jon walking around the ship on his own anywhere if that is what you are looking for. That's a big difference from this one and other Sixthman cruises, but from everything I read, that was Jon's prerequisite. Now, on the Kid Rock cruise, he has been out and about partying with guests for years. 

If you are interested in drinking Jon's Hampton Water wine, it flowed like a river throughout the entire cruise. I think there were free wine tasting every day, and they handed out larger than expected glasses of it during Jon's two shows. 

 

There were also pop-up shops for Jon's merch and general cruise merch on board. JBJ T-shirts were $45 USD and his Dagger blue jeans were around $200 a pair. There was a version of his Soul Kitchen restaurant on the ship that was an extra $20 to dine at. 

 

You can look at photos from the cruise at runawaytoparadisephotos dot com if you want to see those too. 

Edited May 1, 2019 by PearlJade

[kerrin]

Thanks, that is exactly the type of information I was looking for.

The SixthMan cruises you usually go on sound more like the JoCoCruise, with a jam packed scheduled, and the artists being on board and mingling with the guests.

I actually don't like the cruise part of themed cruises, the ship entertainment is usually lack lustre and not to my tastes.

It sounds like the Bon Jovi cruise is more towards a standard cruise.

 

Thanks very much for making the effort to register to post this. I really appreciate it.