Best piano bar experience (Paradise 5/25/03)

[alleghator]

I’ve been reading posts about piano bar entertainment and I keep thinking back to the BEST piano bar experience we’ve ever had. The sailing was the week of May 25, 2003 on the Paradise. 

 

The regular piano entertainer was sick so she had taken a leave for a week or two. The atrium piano player, Mark Guttenplan, was filling in. He just got such a kick out of interacting with everyone in the bar and there were about eight or ten of us that showed up every night of the cruise. He’d pass the mic around and accompany anyone who wanted to sing. Some people had regular songs every night — he’d start playing “New York, New York” or “Piano Man” and hold out the microphone as soon as he saw my husband walk in. Another woman sang such a beautiful rendition of “Danny Boy” that there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. 

 

It was such a fun and personal atmosphere. Even the bar servers were having a great time and singing along. Our favorite piano bar server came up to us in one of the ports and told us where the best beach was and said we could follow her. All of us who became friends at the piano bar would greet each other all over the ship. It was really awesome. 

 

The piano player gave us his email address and we corresponded for awhile, but we lost touch years ago. But I’ll never forget how unique and fun that experience was. 

Edited June 3, 2019 by alleghator
Correction