New to P & O, is there ballroom dancing every night on the Britannia?

[gam888]

Hi Folks, we have sailed on various cruise lines but have never sailed with P & O before. We are considering a 14 day cruise in February to the Caribbean. We enjoy ballroom dancing and have seen the Crystal Room on You Tube. Could you please tell us if there is ballroom dancing every night on the ship . We are from Canada and are not familiar with the Sequence Dance that the British folks enjoy, although we have seen it while we sailed on Cunard a few times. The ballroom dancing in the Crystal Room, is it mainly Sequence Dances or it's just a small part of it? We enjoy doing ballroom dancing to strict tempo Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Cha Cha and Rumba..etc. Apart from the ballroom dancing, is there another lounge that has a live band or a DJ that play other club music, such as Salsa, Bachata..etc? How could you compare the Britannia to Cunard? (We are familiar with Cunard).

Please share any other information regarding entertainment, food, demographic, age group etc so we know what to expect. Thank you in advance.

 

[dgs1956]

7 hours ago, gam888 said:

Hi Folks, we have sailed on various cruise lines but have never sailed with P & O before. We are considering a 14 day cruise in February to the Caribbean. We enjoy ballroom dancing and have seen the Crystal Room on You Tube. Could you please tell us if there is ballroom dancing every night on the ship . We are from Canada and are not familiar with the Sequence Dance that the British folks enjoy, although we have seen it while we sailed on Cunard a few times. The ballroom dancing in the Crystal Room, is it mainly Sequence Dances or it's just a small part of it? We enjoy doing ballroom dancing to strict tempo Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Cha Cha and Rumba..etc. Apart from the ballroom dancing, is there another lounge that has a live band or a DJ that play other club music, such as Salsa, Bachata..etc? How could you compare the Britannia to Cunard? (We are familiar with Cunard).

Please share any other information regarding entertainment, food, demographic, age group etc so we know what to expect. Thank you in advance.

 

Generally there is dancing every evening in the Crystal Room. The dancing is normally made up of 50% Ballroom and 50% Sequence. You will get differing views on this but that is pretty much the case. There is an occasional Salsa and we do dance Bachata but have never seen it done on a cruise. You can request anything though. Sequence is very easy to learn and although we certainly don't love it, we learned some dances rather than sitting and watching. I'm sure someone will show you if you ask them. I haven't been on Cunard but I understand the dancing is much the same but I would guess P&O is less formal. The Crystal Room sometimes has a live band but there is also another lounge where more modern music is played.

The Caribbean cruisers tend to be a little younger than the normal demographic on P&O, probably because of the destination and being a fly cruise. 

[Cathygh]

I can't remember if this happens on Britannia but certainly on some ships there are dancing lessons on sea days. The dance floor is smaller than you have on Cunard but is suitable for its needs. Hope that helps

[P-L-B]

We enjoy our dancing and it is one of the reasons we like cruising with P&O.

I agree with the excellent advice above and as the others have said there is usually dancing every evening and lessons on sea days.

This is typical throughout the current P&O fleet but sadly this format may disappear on Iona when she's launched next year.

[miniyorkie]

Hi agree with all the replies. May be worth noting that the dance instructors, who host the ballroom dancing, are usually more than happy to partner people to help and I am sure that the OP's would  then easily learn a few basic sequence dances in order to join in. Mayfair Quickstep is usually very popular  and enjoyable with newbies and the experienced sequence dancers assist during the dance.

[dgs1956]

1 hour ago, miniyorkie said:

Hi agree with all the replies. May be worth noting that the dance instructors, who host the ballroom dancing, are usually more than happy to partner people to help and I am sure that the OP's would  then easily learn a few basic sequence dances in order to join in. Mayfair Quickstep is usually very popular  and enjoyable with newbies and the experienced sequence dancers assist during the dance.

Definitely. I would add the Sally Ann ChaCha and Rumba One as well. Simple dances that are very easy to learn.

[P-L-B]

21 minutes ago, dgs1956 said:

Definitely. I would add the Sally Ann ChaCha and Rumba One as well. Simple dances that are very easy to learn.

Yes, agree with you all.

It's all about enjoying your dancing whatever your tastes.😀

Mayfair Quickstep to Dance above the rainbow or the Irish music as some say and Rumba One to occasionally a jive tempo usually go down well and are fun to do.

[gam888]

Thank you all for replying my post. I will be checking out these sequence dance instructions on Youtube!

[miniyorkie]

21 minutes ago, gam888 said:

Thank you all for replying my post. I will be checking out these sequence dance instructions on Youtube!

Ha ha - good luck. We have tried that for several dances. Perhaps more tricky than anticipated, but it will at least give you an idea as to what to expect. More enjoyable with others in formation on the dance floor than may appear online.

[P-L-B]

45 minutes ago, gam888 said:

Thank you all for replying my post. I will be checking out these sequence dance instructions on Youtube!

Take a look at the links below but remember it will be much more fun when danced with your fellow dancers and the choice of music helps.

 

Also, apart from sequence you will have plenty of opportunities to dance Ballroom and Latin.

 

Enjoy. 💃

 

 

 

[dgs1956]

3 hours ago, gam888 said:

Thank you all for replying my post. I will be checking out these sequence dance instructions on Youtube!

Sadly, we're on YouTube doing these Sequence Dances on board Azura. When our daughter saw them she said she thought we enjoyed dancing. We really did look miserable. LOL. I'd like to think we've progressed a bit since then.

[Dancer Bob]

(gam888): Thank you everyone for replying my post. I am searching up all these sequence dances that are mentioned on YouTube!

Is there someone who "regulates" how many dances are going to be sequence dances and how many are regular ballroom or Latin dances. When a new song starts, how do people know if they are supposed to do a sequence dance or a regular dance?

 

gam888 posted this reply on the Costa board. I'll add some comments from my Oriana experience.

I wouldn't call sequences easy to learn. You need to memorise long routines with figures at the bronze and silver level. I don't know of anywhere in Ontario that has sequence dancing you can practise. Figuring out foot positions, amount of turn and alignment from videos is very difficult.

I've heard a couple of comments “we're from the South of England, it's different in the North”. I don't know if they were specific to the dances shown in the videos.

I recall that Oriana handled scheduling differently from Cunard. Unfortunately, I found the sequence dancing on Oriana to be of much lower standard than Cunard.

 

Edited December 2, 2019 by Dancer Bob

[P-L-B]

6 hours ago, Dancer Bob said:

(gam888): Thank you everyone for replying my post. I am searching up all these sequence dances that are mentioned on YouTube!

Is there someone who "regulates" how many dances are going to be sequence dances and how many are regular ballroom or Latin dances. When a new song starts, how do people know if they are supposed to do a sequence dance or a regular dance?

 

gam888 posted this reply on the Costa board. I'll add some comments from my Oriana experience.

I wouldn't call sequences easy to learn. You need to memorise long routines with figures at the bronze and silver level. I don't know of anywhere in Ontario that has sequence dancing you can practise. Figuring out foot positions, amount of turn and alignment from videos is very difficult.

I've heard a couple of comments “we're from the South of England, it's different in the North”. I don't know if they were specific to the dances shown in the videos.

I recall that Oriana handled scheduling differently from Cunard. Unfortunately, I found the sequence dancing on Oriana to be of much lower standard than Cunard.

 

Generally it’s down to the on board dance teachers/dance hosts to determine what dances are danced.

 

Having said that they usually have no problem in taking requests from their fellow dancers.

 

The type of dance is announced by the dance teachers/dance hosts prior to taking to the floor.

 

There are exceptions but generally sequence dancing requires music arranged for sequence dancing as it’s danced for 16 bars of music then repeated.

 

Normally if dancing Sequence the dance teachers/dance hosts will announce the sequence dance and wait for the dancers to take their positions on the floor before starting the music.

 

Alternately, if dancing ballroom/Latin the dance teachers/dance hosts will announce the dance then start the music and the dancers will take to the floor at any time.

 

It’s true that certain sequence dances are more popular in different parts of the country but the dances shown in the videos and many others are popular all over.

 

The following is copied and pasted for reference.

 

What is the Difference between Ballroom dancing and Modern Sequence Dancing (MSD)?

In Ballroom and Latin American Dancing couples dance their own routine of steps in the order they wish – with the man leading.

In MSD all couples dance the same routine of steps – for 16 bars of music at which point the sequence (hence the name) is repeated until the end of the music.

Each sequence of steps or dance has its own name and there are (literally!) thousands of different sequence dances all using basic Ballroom, Latin American & Classical dance steps.

 

So MSD covers a wide range of dance rhythms?

All different rhythms and styles of dance are covered – Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Quick Step, Rumba, Jive, Samba, Cha Cha, Mambo, Saunter, Gavotte, Two Step, Glide, even Salsa, there are countless different sequence dances for all these dance styles.

 

 

If the dances are all performed in a set sequence doesn’t this make it rather repetitive and limited?

No – quite the reverse. Because there are so many different dances (and new dances emerge virtually every month) there is a tremendous variety of dances.

In Sequence dancing the dancers progress the sequence in an anti-clockwise manner around the floor. As everyone is doing the same sequence the requirement for floor craft (and the level of concentration required to avoid collisions!) is reduced. Dancers do not need to choreograph their own sequence and as everyone is doing the same set sequence it is relatively easy to follow.

Edited December 2, 2019 by P-L-B

[mcloaked]

Unless things have changed there are usually two ballroom/Latin dance classes each sea day - one mid-morning and one after lunch.  That is sometimes supplemented with a class in salsa, or merengue which isn't strictly ballroom or Latin but gives newcomers something relatively easy to learn since those dances are occasionally played during the evenings.  Those two dances need little technique skill to be able to do them, so it is easier to get going and mostly learning basic footwork, with some spicey arm entanglement to try to cope with without tying you and your partner into a tight knot.  There is usually an ever increasing number of requests for sequence dances - the 'modern' ones number over 4000 I believe but there is a set of around a dozen popular ones that are played across the UK in many village halls, and those are the same ones that are played repeatedly on ships such as Britannia - but interspersed with pure ballroom and Latin dances during the evening.  Occasionally the ballroom has been known to be taken over for a quiz for a few hours - which is a bit of a waste since a quiz can be perfectly well run in the pub, but you can't then reciprocate and run dancing in the pub!  (Unless someone wants to dance on a table top, which would no doubt get some wild applause!)

 

It seems that although ballroom dancing is still a key feature on Britannia and a few other P&O ships, the new ship Iona will have no ballroom dancing, and as I understand it no floor of a suitable size and shape to be able to do so. So unless the ship designers and entertainment director changes heart then Iona will not be offering nightly ballroom dancing when it launches. (Unless anyone hears new information to the contrary!)

Edited December 3, 2019 by mcloaked
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