The Voice

[Scubadoc]

 We loved participating in The Voice a year ago on the crown. We will be back on the crown in January and hope to do it again. Anyone done the Voice recently? It looks like they have moved it to the last afternoon instead of the night. Is that correct?

 

Also does anybody know if they update the list of songs for karaoke and the voice? The only disappointing thing last year was that I don't think there was one song less than 10 years old available to sing in karaoke or the voice.

 

 

 

 

[geoherb]

They had it on the Crown on our transatlantic cruise this fall. They did not have it on my Caribbean Princess cruise last week (a 10-day partial Panama Canal cruise). Instead they had a talent show the last afternoon.

[missaretha]

1 hour ago, Scubadoc said:

 We loved participating in The Voice a year ago on the crown. We will be back on the crown in January and hope to do it again. Anyone done the Voice recently? It looks like they have moved it to the last afternoon instead of the night. Is that correct?

 

Also does anybody know if they update the list of songs for karaoke and the voice? The only disappointing thing last year was that I don't think there was one song less than 10 years old available to sing in karaoke or the voice.

 

 

I had Alex, the Cruise Director on The Sky, explain The Voice of The Ocean to me this past year while he was still on The Caribbean Princess, back in May. Then Martyn Moss, Director of Entertainment, confirmed and added to that last week while we were on The Regal.

 

In between those two cruises, I got into the finals in October on the Island Princess (partial Panama Canal). Martyn was basically confirming some things for me as questions had arisen with Alex, and while I was doing The Voice of the Ocean in October.

 

The Voice of The Ocean is a bona fide franchise piece of The Voice and Princess pays a TON of money to have it onboard the ships.  This will answer your question about the music. The finalists are chosen at audition nights (they typically do one audition night on The Regal) but they use their Karaoke collection so you can pick whatever you think you sing best. But you don't get to do the entire song at those audition nights. They cut it off at 2 minutes.

 

If you get into the finals, you get a list to choose from. That is a list given to them by The Voice. They can only do those because those are the ones they have the copyrights to allow. The judge/team head chairs are actual chairs made by The Voice. The music and lyrics are the copyrights from The Voice. The staging is from The Voice. Basically, every detail is from The Voice.

 

So, there are songs that are newer for Karaoke Power Hour, etc. But the songs available for performing in the finals of The Voice of The ocean is limited. Yes, the list is the same on every ship. I have the entire list of songs they have for the finals. I also have copies of the two songs I chose, one fast, one slow and those have the lyrics but they are cut down for time.

 

On all 6 cruises we have done this year, all final shows were done in the afternoon the day before disembarkation. The Princess Theatre is still packed to the walls. Standing room only.

 

Voting at audition nights and in the finals are totally different. Audition nights are voting slips and for the finals they have voting devices.

 

Before The Voice of The Ocean there was something like Princess Pop Star. Basically it was a karaoke contest and finals were toward the end of the week.

 

More questions? Let me know. I got the scoop on the whole, entire thing. I also have issues with it because it's still a popularity contest, and whoever has the most people onboard is most likely to win regardless of ability. My husband watched that in action during the finals in October. People know how to get around the one voting device per group rule. If you have one person onboard with you, they get one device. If you have 10 or 20, they are supposed to get one device. People dodge this rule every single time.

 

The way I see it is, if you like the idea of working with the band and you like going through staging and blocking and you enjoy performing for a packed theatre, that should by why you do it. You can easily be the best of the 6 by leaps and bounds, and still get cut or lose outright, and you'll watch that mediocre singer walk off with that trophy. That trophy is also the same as The Voice. The trophy you see on TV is the same trophy. It's also really heavy. It's not junk.

 

[Scubadoc]

How do they decide which cruises they do it on?  We would be very disappointed if they didn’t have it on the Crown Jan 16

[Bazandgiz]

The Voice was run on our recent Golden Princess trip to Fiji, the final was in the theatre on the last night.

[missaretha]

On 12/21/2019 at 7:59 PM, Scubadoc said:

How do they decide which cruises they do it on?  We would be very disappointed if they didn’t have it on the Crown Jan 16

 

They are supposed to be done on all cruises. I think the question is, what are the circumstances that would cause them not to do it?

 

It may have something to do with audition nights, the number of people who participate, and whether they can get 6 to 8 singers who have some shred of talent to warrant having that event take place on board. For them to put all of that together takes a lot of time and a lot of money in addition to the franchise fees they have to pay to have it. The band gets paid extra for the rehearsals and the dress rehearsal. The backup singers also get paid extra for that.

 

I'll drop an email to a few people I know who put it together to find out what the circumstances would have to be in order for a show to NOT take place on a specific cruise. I'll come back here as soon as I hear back.

[Ferndale Girl]

We were on the Crown in October and they had it in the afternoon.

[Scubadoc]

Thank u missAretha!

[skynight]

They have Voice when the schedule is such that it can be fit in. The 150 or so live performance songs are licensed. I was told these are the only charts the orchestra can use. The selection sessions are with karaoke tracks. Princess does not have a great selection, but they did add additional tracks a few years back. 

[twnkltoz]

For those of you who have done it, how many auditioned? Was the competition stiff? Were there any who were more classical or musical theatre in style? 

[skynight]

9 hours ago, twnkltoz said:

For those of you who have done it, how many auditioned? Was the competition stiff? Were there any who were more classical or musical theatre in style? 

How many depends on the cruise. I have seen lots and I have seen so few that they can just about get the 7 or 8 required to put on the show.

The audition is a song that you select from the ship's karaoke library. If selected the performance is from a list of about 150 songs, approximately half keyed for females and half males. These are the licensed songs for which the orchestra has charts. They are basically all pop/rock songs from standards to current day. I do see one musical theater song, Way We Were (A maj), on the performance song list. Don't see any others, but there are ballads. All performance songs are shortened versions, around 90 seconds. Have been on stage 4 times. My take away don't think of it as a competition. Think of it as putting on a show. What happens, happens. You never really know what will impress fellow passengers. It's not always the most accomplished performer that walks away with the trophy.

[brightfeather]

9 hours ago, skynight said:

How many depends on the cruise. I have seen lots and I have seen so few that they can just about get the 7 or 8 required to put on the show.

The audition is a song that you select from the ship's karaoke library. If selected the performance is from a list of about 150 songs, approximately half keyed for females and half males. These are the licensed songs for which the orchestra has charts. They are basically all pop/rock songs from standards to current day. I do see one musical theater song, Way We Were (A maj), on the performance song list. Don't see any others, but there are ballads. All performance songs are shortened versions, around 90 seconds. Have been on stage 4 times. My take away don't think of it as a competition. Think of it as putting on a show. What happens, happens. You never really know what will impress fellow passengers. It's not always the most accomplished performer that walks away with the trophy.

I'd sure love a list of those 150 songs if you'd be so kind?  We'll be on the Royal Princess in April and might be so inclined to participate.  I'm no Mariah Carey or Adele, but I did sing with an 8-part acapela in high school many years ago, church choirs, solos, concern choir, state competitions, etc., oh and karaoke, of course.  I have no grand delusions about winning, but it might be fun to participate.  Thank you in advance.

[skynight]

9 minutes ago, brightfeather said:

I'd sure love a list of those 150 songs if you'd be so kind?  We'll be on the Royal Princess in April and might be so inclined to participate.  I'm no Mariah Carey or Adele, but I did sing with an 8-part acapela in high school many years ago, church choirs, solos, concern choir, state competitions, etc., oh and karaoke, of course.  I have no grand delusions about winning, but it might be fun to participate.  Thank you in advance.

Sorry don't have a digital list.

[skynight]

54 minutes ago, brightfeather said:

I'd sure love a list of those 150 songs if you'd be so kind?  We'll be on the Royal Princess in April and might be so inclined to participate.  I'm no Mariah Carey or Adele, but I did sing with an 8-part acapela in high school many years ago, church choirs, solos, concern choir, state competitions, etc., oh and karaoke, of course.  I have no grand delusions about winning, but it might be fun to participate.  Thank you in advance.

Found a few

Voice Songs.doc

Edited January 7, 2020 by skynight

[twnkltoz]

Well, I tried out but didn't make it. I'll share my experience (Grand Princess, Dec 27 15-day San Fran to HI).

 

There were two nights of auditions. the first night, there were 14 of us. At least half were very good. One was an absolute stand-out, and we all knew she would win (she did). The second night, there were 7. The competition was not as strong, and there wasn't a clear stand-out. There was also an even bigger crowd. This all made for pretty unfair voting, because the people on the second night automatically got more votes. They put six people in the final.

 

On the night of the final, the theatre was packed and I know they did a simulcast in Explorers. It was really cool to see the real graphics, hear the real sound bites, and see the real chairs. They did perform with the band and had two back-up singers, which were from the production cast and who also worked with the singers during rehearsals. They did the whole bit with the turning chairs, but what I thought was silly was the "coaches" picked their teams, but didn't coach the people at all. They just decided who would go up for voting, people voted (I don't know how the voters got picked--we got there very early and didn't get a device), and then the winner was declared. They did not sing a second song or anything. 

 

I thought the whole thing could easily be improved with some simple changes, but I suppose they have reasons for the way they do it. I did find it super fun to participate in the audition. I sang "Somewhere" from West Side Story, and Explorers was packed so it was nice for me to sing to an audience of that size and I felt good about my performance.