Differences to expect between "regular" and port-intensive transatlantic sailings?

[Aralim]

I've never sailed any kind of transatlantic cruise before, and I've been following the live blog from @Jim_Iain with a lot of interest, especially the daily newsletters he's been posting. I've noticed that things like the entertainers have been repeating every couple of days, with some swapping between matinee and regular evening showtimes. I've also noticed that the live musicians have been pretty much the same every day.

 

This makes absolute sense with a "regular" (loads of sea days) transatlantic sailing. I was wondering if it would be the same on a port-intensive transatlantic like the Iceland & Greenland trip I'll be taking next year on Summit. I would think that with so many ports, the ship can much more easily arrange to change out entertainers every couple of days and allow for a greater variety of acts over the course of the full two weeks; but at the same time, I can see where the ship would decide that with so many ports, people will be less interested in the evening productions every single night, and might still decide to keep a smaller set of acts to repeat a bunch of times.

 

Has anyone here sailed both types of transatlantic, or at least sailed a port-intensive one? Would appreciate knowing what to expect in terms of those differences or similarities, and any others to keep in mind (e.g., differences in menus since the ship can resupply more often, or differences in sea day activities). I'm partly thinking of my two girls, who will be 19 and 16 when we sail; the younger one will probably be looking to see whatever comedy shows are available, my older one (who is a vocal performance major and starting to get some ideas of career options) would probably end up seeing as many of the singing acts as possible. As for my wife and I, we're not huge fans of the Vegas-style Broadway show tunes performances, but the headliners I've seen so far on Jim's daily planners do look like things we'd enjoy. I'm really hoping that we'll end up with a good variety over the course of the two weeks, although I can also see where some nights I'll just want to relax and people watch before dinner in a place like Cellar Masters or the Martini Bar, or just sit in a place like Cafe Al Bacio after dinner and have some quiet time before an early night.

 

Should probably note that I've set us up with the late seating dinner, so we'd be seeing the earlier show time and then following dinner with whatever live performers are available after 10 PM. We normally eat a bit later at home, and with the time moving ahead an hour every couple of days I could see where trying to eat any earlier than 8:30 PM would start to feel like it's lunch time rather than dinner! 😅

 

Thanks!

[WestLakeGirl]

The live musicians stay on for months at a time.  

[jkgourmet]

Which transatlantic is "port intensive"??????  

[ischeer]

There is really not that much difference between your Summit cruise and other TAs.  not counting embarkation/disembarkation, the Summit cruises show 6 port calls and 7 non-port days, while most other TAs do 5 port calls and 8 non-port days

[Denny01]

The biggest difference is the Summit as seas are broken up between the port calls in Canada, Greenland and Iceland. Not the ‘normal’ 6 days to cross. 

 

As to entertainment, probably little difference. Although same music groups, they will play different music and different presentations. 

 

Many groups ((bands singers comedians magicians) get on on and off the ships during cruises, usually only the main players in the theater big shows remain. You may see a bit more changes obviously over a 6-day transit but not much. I don’t think it will be an issue. 

 

Interesting cruise.  

 

Den

 

 

[cruisestitch]

It won’t be easy to bring new entertainers on in Greenland, I imagine!

[Aralim]

3 hours ago, jkgourmet said:

Which transatlantic is "port intensive"??????  

 

2 hours ago, ischeer said:

There is really not that much difference between your Summit cruise and other TAs.  not counting embarkation/disembarkation, the Summit cruises show 6 port calls and 7 non-port days, while most other TAs do 5 port calls and 8 non-port days

 

Not sure how you’re counting it, but I see 8 port days (one of them really a cruising day to see the Prins Christian Sund fjord and glacier), and only 6 sea days. That seems pretty port intensive to me. 😁

 

EDIT: Meant to list the port days, and its actually 7 rather than 8. I was counting Dublin as a port day but it isn’t. And I also realized you were counting port stops rather than days. I prefer to count the days due to the overnight in Reykjavik.

• Halifax, NS (1 day)
• Sydney, NS (1 day)
• Qaqortoq, Greenland (1 day)
• Prins Christian Sund, Greenland (1 sailing day)
• Reykjavik, Iceland (2 days)
• Akureyri, Iceland (1 day)

Edited April 28, 2019 by Aralim