Aurora, dancing update anyone?

[yesididit]

Hi all, just wondered if anyone recently off Aurora and could tell me about the availability of ballroom dancing? Is it scheduled every night? In Carmens I believe. Is it possible to miss it depending on which sitting at dinner?

I have just spoken to P&O about this and they don't know 😕 all they could tell me was on sea days, there are dance classes,on all their ships. Find it strange that if dance instructor aboard, there isn't a schedule dance or two perhaps there is,hopefully.

No need to mention Britannia or Cunard thanks, been on them and all good. Just fancy a change.

Thank you

[P-L-B]

2 hours ago, yesididit said:

Hi all, just wondered if anyone recently off Aurora and could tell me about the availability of ballroom dancing? Is it scheduled every night? In Carmens I believe. Is it possible to miss it depending on which sitting at dinner?

I have just spoken to P&O about this and they don't know 😕 all they could tell me was on sea days, there are dance classes,on all their ships. Find it strange that if dance instructor aboard, there isn't a schedule dance or two perhaps there is,hopefully.

No need to mention Britannia or Cunard thanks, been on them and all good. Just fancy a change.

Thank you

On sea days there are usually Dance Lessons in the morning (around 10.00am) and afternoon (around 1.15pm). There are no Dance Lessons on port days.

There is usually an early evening short Dance Session in Masquerades (around 7.45 -8.30pm) but the main and better Dance Session is later (around 10.00 till late) in Carmens.

In my opinion Carmens on Aurora is one of the better dance floors in the fleet.

[dgs1956]

1 hour ago, P-L-B said:

 

In my opinion Carmens on Aurora is one of the better dance floors in the fleet.

How does it compare with Britannia Crystal Room?

[P-L-B]

27 minutes ago, dgs1956 said:

How does it compare with Britannia Crystal Room?

There is no denying that Britannia’s Crystal room decor is very nice but for Dancing IMO the floor is no bigger or better than Aurora.

The Crystal Room is more rectangular in shape and Carmen’s is more circular.

For dancing we prefer Aurora’s dance floor for its shape and size but Britannia’s Crystal room is also very good and both are miles better than the Atrium that some of the other ships in the fleet use.

[jeanlyon]

I just wish they didn't do 90% flaming sequence dancing.  My husband and I are both reasonable ballroom dancers, but just don't bother because it's nearly always sequence

[dgs1956]

8 minutes ago, P-L-B said:

There is no denying that Britannia’s Crystal room decor is very nice but for Dancing IMO the floor is no bigger or better than Aurora.

The Crystal Room is more rectangular in shape and Carmen’s is more circular.

For dancing we prefer Aurora’s dance floor for its shape and size but Britannia’s Crystal room is also very good and both are miles better than the Atrium that some of the other ships in the fleet use.

We've never been on Aurora obviously. I agree about dancing in the Atriums on Ventura and Azura but I have found them to be pretty sociable. We enjoyed the Oceana but its not great as a dance floor. 

[dgs1956]

3 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

I just wish they didn't do 90% flaming sequence dancing.  My husband and I are both reasonable ballroom dancers, but just don't bother because it's nearly always sequence

You say this all the time Jean. Its either 50:50 Ballroom and Sequence or one Latin, one Ballroom and one Sequence and its the same at all dinner dances we go to. We DON'T like Sequence either but we learned it rather than just sitting watching. We dance every Saturday at our dance school and they do very little Sequence, thankfully.

Give it a go!

[Ranchi]

We were on Aurora 2nd Aug. We felt that the dancing was squeezed by other entertainment. Several times the dancing was in Masquerade which isn’t really very good. It was occasionally in Carmen’s sometimes with a live band. Recorded music is ok but it lacks atmosphere. It’s certainly better than dancing in the Atrium as on Azura but not much. 

We were on Britannia in April and found that much better. Oriana had much better scheduling and Harlequins was much better than Masquerade. All too often on Aurora the dancing was scheduled for the same time as first sitting dinner. 

Edited September 6, 2019 by Ranchi

[P-L-B]

8 minutes ago, Ranchi said:

We were on Aurora 2nd Aug. We felt that the dancing was squeezed by other entertainment. Several times the dancing was in Masquerade which isn’t really very good. It was occasionally in Carmen’s sometimes with a live band. Recorded music is ok but it lacks atmosphere. It’s certainly better than dancing in the Atrium as on Azura but not much. 

We were on Britannia in April and found that much better. Oriana had much better scheduling and Harlequins was much better than Masquerade. All too often on Aurora the dancing was scheduled for the same time as first sitting dinner. 

That's unfortunate, we have been on board Aurora several times and in December last year the main dancing as per our previous cruises was in Carmens and it started around 10.00pm every night.

 

Although Carmens was very often used for other entertainment it always finished around 10.00pm to enable the dancing to start and it carried on until around midnight.

 

As said earlier they usually use Masquerades for early evening dancing but that only lasts for around 1 hour and usually starts around 7.30pm

[P-L-B]

1 hour ago, jeanlyon said:

I just wish they didn't do 90% flaming sequence dancing.  My husband and I are both reasonable ballroom dancers, but just don't bother because it's nearly always sequence

I understand your dislike for Sequence Dancing Jean but for us Dancing is all about the enjoyment and the social side that comes with the dance clubs and venues that we attend.

Most of the dance venues that we attend are 50/50 Ballroom/Latin, Sequence which is fine by us as we enjoy both.

Regarding dancing on the ships we have found that on occasions that sequence dancing can be more popular than Latin and Ballroom.

For example we have witnessed the floor virtually empty for Ballroom/Latin only to fill for sequence.

Edited September 6, 2019 by P-L-B

[Ranchi]

I must admit that what you describe PLB is the sort of thing that we have experienced before on Aurora. I think (hope!) we may just have been unlucky this time. 

[AndyMichelle]

5 hours ago, Ranchi said:

I must admit that what you describe PLB is the sort of thing that we have experienced before on Aurora. I think (hope!) we may just have been unlucky this time. 

We noticed the same on Aurora in June, very little time allocated in Carmens for dancing, I think it was only on black tie nights with the live band.

Scheduling for everything was all over the place, venues were overly packed or very empty due to poor timings.

Andy

 

[dgs1956]

10 hours ago, P-L-B said:

I understand your dislike for Sequence Dancing Jean but for us Dancing is all about the enjoyment and the social side that comes with the dance clubs and venues that we attend.

Most of the dance venues that we attend are 50/50 Ballroom/Latin, Sequence which is fine by us as we enjoy both.

Regarding dancing on the ships we have found that on occasions that sequence dancing can be more popular than Latin and Ballroom.

For example we have witnessed the floor virtually empty for Ballroom/Latin only to fill for sequence.

The big plus's for Sequence is that they are easy to learn, you can get a lot of people on the floor and it avoids the problem of lack of dance floor etiquette and dancers that don't understand the line of dance. I won't bother with the negatives as Jean knows them already. 😄

[Denarius]

21 hours ago, dgs1956 said:

We've never been on Aurora obviously. I agree about dancing in the Atriums on Ventura and Azura but I have found them to be pretty sociable. We enjoyed the Oceana but its not great as a dance floor. 

I am not a dancer, but appreciate that many passengers are.

Oceana has a large circular dance floor on the prom deck, in the section between Le Club and the Yacht and Compass. It is shown as such on the ships plan, but has never been used for dancing during any time I have sailed on her. It hosts instead (or it used to?) a piano which was played in the evenings before dancing was introduced in the atrium, but no longer is. I wonder why this has never been used for its original purpose?

Edited September 7, 2019 by Denarius

[tring]

We are thinking of booking a cruise on Aurora, which we have never travelled on previously.  I do realise this thread is about ballroom (or similar from my perspective) dancing.  Is there anywhere on Aurora that allows for more modern casual dancing, either to live music or just a disco?  We have sometimes found on ships that this is only possible late at night, after perhaps 11.30pm, which is far too late, especially if there is a port the next day.

 

We normally travel on (and prefer) smaller ships, so for us Aurora is a big ship and we were hoping we may at least have some enjoyable time on a dance floor.  Can I ask what the entertainment is like on Aurora regards this.

Edited September 29, 2019 by tring

[AndyMichelle]

6 minutes ago, tring said:

We are thinking of booking a cruise on Aurora, which we have never travelled on previously.  I do realise this thread is about ballroom (or similar from my perspective) dancing.  Is there anywhere on Aurora that allows for more modern casual dancing, either to live music or just a disco?  We have sometimes found on ships that this is only possible late at night, after perhaps 11.30pm, which is far too late, especially if there is a port the next day.

 

We normally travel on (and prefer) smaller ships, so for us Aurora is a big ship and we were hoping we may at least have some enjoyable time on a dance floor.  Can I ask what the entertainment is like on Aurora regards this.

The house band is always playing somewhere, if not Carmen's then Masquerade and usually a disco a bit later. 

Like you, we are not dancers but like to have a boogie and have always managed this on Aurora. 

It's a fantastic ship in its own way, I'm sure you will have a great time. 

Andy 

[tring]

27 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

The house band is always playing somewhere, if not Carmen's then Masquerade and usually a disco a bit later. 

Like you, we are not dancers but like to have a boogie and have always managed this on Aurora. 

It's a fantastic ship in its own way, I'm sure you will have a great time. 

Andy 

 

Thanks for the reassurance on that.  We rarely go to the shows or partake in other entertainment (except for the quiz sometimes), but we are thinking of a longer cruise, so will be glad of something like that from time to time.  Helps to make us forget that we 70 in a few months if we can get someone to play anything by The Stones (or similar) and let us hit the dance floor 🙂

[happy v]

18 hours ago, tring said:

 

Thanks for the reassurance on that.  We rarely go to the shows or partake in other entertainment (except for the quiz sometimes), but we are thinking of a longer cruise, so will be glad of something like that from time to time.  Helps to make us forget that we 70 in a few months if we can get someone to play anything by The Stones (or similar) and let us hit the dance floor 🙂

I'm glad you've mentioned the Stones. We have been cruising for a few years now and for a while I've been expecting the music to update to our era rather than 'war' music. Surely it's time to ditch Vera Lynn for some rock.

[tring]

2 hours ago, happy v said:

I'm glad you've mentioned the Stones. We have been cruising for a few years now and for a while I've been expecting the music to update to our era rather than 'war' music. Surely it's time to ditch Vera Lynn for some rock.

 

Must admit we have done more Fred in recent years as we like smaller ships and smaller ports.  That sort of music easier to come by with him and they are better at accepting requests as well in our experience.  We were on Arcadia in August and the 60-70's night was more of an 80's and late 70's night.  It was held outdoors at the back of the ship as well, which in The Baltic was pretty nippy, so we left early.  There does not seem to be a good venue for that sort of thing on Arcadia - must admit we did not take to the ship.

[1160451]

Was on Oceana two weeks. Superb formal dancing in Atrium every night.

As for discussion about sequence v Ballroom. On a small cruise ship dance floor we always prefer Sequence as at least everybody is dancing in the same line of dance.

 Was a little surprised that not many passengers took the opportunity to dance the less formal type of dancing. Plenty of opportunity but not many took the opportunity.