The Limelight Club - not what I expected

[wowzz]

21 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

I hope this was before you met Mrs W!

No comment !

[Bin man]

The MDR food is fine for us and as we are faddy eaters is fine and don't even consider eating in the specialty restaurants .The menus may have changed a bit but managed to find something every night on Iona. So I guess it's each to their own 

[rumbalizw]

On 11/18/2021 at 12:00 PM, wowzz said:

Reading about the Limelight Club takes me back to the days of the Scampi and Chips in a basket circuit, in the likes of Baileys in Leicester in the mid 70s, watching the likes of the Drifters and Four Tops.

Anyone else remember those days?

The Circus Tavern in Purfleet, Essex back in the day . Three course meal and show 

[wowzz]

2 minutes ago, rumbalizw said:

The Circus Tavern in Purfleet, Essex back in the day . Three course meal and show 

Good to know that many of us remember those days. 

And no eating, or serving food when the "star turn" was on. 

[rumbalizw]

8 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Good to know that many of us remember those days. 

And no eating, or serving food when the "star turn" was on. 

Exactly that 

[safathome]

We had chicken and chips in a basket whilst watching Rose Royce in concert in the 70's at a night club in Bristol.

Back to limelight though, who ever it is,  We will enjoy " we are the one and only" la la la. next month (hopefully).

[AndyMichelle]

8 hours ago, rumbalizw said:

The Circus Tavern in Purfleet, Essex back in the day . Three course meal and show 

Ha ha, The Circus Tavern brings back big memories for me. 

Soup in a basket, suspect comedian, grab a granny disco til 2 then a punch up in the car park... 

Oh happy days 😂👊

Andy 

[Son of Anarchy]

Never actually went to the Circus Tavern, but used to drive past it a lot before they built the "new" A13 and used to see the ads in the local free papers.  As well as reading about the punch ups!

[indiana123]

1 hour ago, AndyMichelle said:

The Circus Tavern brings back big memories for me. 

 

 

And for me too.  We lived the other side of the river and thought the Tavern was the bees knees.

 

On one occasion something wasn't right (I can't remember what!), so I wrote to them and the four of us were invited for an all expenses paid evening.  We were VIPs for the night and as, in those days, we didn't go out and about so much as now, I was awestruck by it all and felt like royalty!😂

[Dermotsgirl]

Growing up in Essex, the Circus Tavern was only a few miles from where I lived, so  I went there a lot in the late 70’s. 
 

I remember that the same management set up a similar operation in Rochester at the Casino Rooms, and I remember seeing Hale & Pace there at some point in the late 80s / early 90s. But it wasn’t a patch on the Circus Tavern in its heyday! 

[Britboys]

My older siblings were regular visitors to the Circus Tavern!

[AndyMichelle]

1 minute ago, Britboys said:

My older siblings were regular visitors to the Circus Tavern!

You are making me feel old now... 😊

 

 

[zap99]

1 hour ago, Son of Anarchy said:

Never actually went to the Circus Tavern, but used to drive past it a lot before they built the "new" A13 and used to see the ads in the local free papers.  As well as reading about the punch ups!

They had some class acts. We saw Bobby Davro there. No punch ups and the wheels were still on the car.🤣

[Britboys]

3 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

You are making me feel old now... 😊

 

 

Sorry Andy, I was only mid-teens in the mid-seventies so just a bit young for the Circus Tavern in its heyday...

[AndyMichelle]

13 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Sorry Andy, I was only mid-teens in the mid-seventies so just a bit young for the Circus Tavern in its heyday...

Perhaps it wasn't its heyday when I used to go, I'm only 55...

We were still going in the 90s as a friend of ours played in the house band. 

Saw classic acts like Roger DeCoursey and Duncan Norvelle, a bit after their heyday... 

Andy 

[Adawn47]

21 hours ago, Bill Y said:

I agree,

 

While I have no problem with people paying to indulge themselves in the Spa, Gym classes and having Butlers, It's the thin edge of the wedge charging for entertainment that is not available elsewhere. If this wheeze is viewed as a good revenue centre then booking and paying for the theatre will no doubt follow.  People are already posting on here that the food in the MDR has been dumbed down and suggesting if you wish to enjoy what you experienced in the past then you need to dine in a specially restaurant.

Before they consider charging for the theatre, there needs to  be a big improvment in the quality of some the  performers.😉

Avril

[zap99]

22 hours ago, Bill Y said:

I agree,

 

While I have no problem with people paying to indulge themselves in the Spa, Gym classes and having Butlers, It's the thin edge of the wedge charging for entertainment that is not available elsewhere. If this wheeze is viewed as a good revenue centre then booking and paying for the theatre will no doubt follow.  People are already posting on here that the food in the MDR has been dumbed down and suggesting if you wish to enjoy what you experienced in the past then you need to dine in a specially restaurant.

There has always been a charge for the limelight club and MDR food has not been dumbed down. We have taken 3 P&O cruises this year. Every thing is fine, but a bit different. .......just for balance.🤔

[Jennizor]

I agree that the MDR has not been dumbed down. My only issue was the lack of choices at lunchtime, but we managed, even tried dishes we hadn’t had before and really enjoyed.  We love the Limelight Club. For us, it is another option and something different over the two week period. Have tried today to book Toyah Wilcox and Cheryl Baker for our upcoming Caribbean cruise but couldn’t complete for  some reason. Will try again tomorrow. 

[silkworms]

Hi Jen

 

You will enjoy Toyah W, she’s a little miss dynamite, can you believe 

she’s 63!!
 

We saw her a few weeks ago on Britannia and thoroughly enjoyed

the evening in the Limelight, I had Seabass which was lovely.

 

We are in Caribbean over Xmas but on Azura so will miss the

Limelight😂😂.

 

Terri

[Son of Anarchy]

Nice to hear that Toyah is still going strong.

[AndyMichelle]

1 minute ago, Son of Anarchy said:

Nice to hear that Toyah is still going strong.

Don't know how she does it... 

It's a Mystewwwy.. 😊

[Jennizor]

Didn’t manage to book for Toyah, but did get Cheryl Baker. Only the dates for first week were available so I will keep checking to see if Toyah is on again in the second.

[Astrajet]

22 hours ago, silkworms said:

You will enjoy Toyah W, she’s a little miss dynamite, can you believe 

she’s 63!!

Totally agree. We also saw Toyah on Britannia this summer.  She was in the Limelight Club on the first night of our cruise which happened to be on my birthday, so I was delighted that we were able to book a table. Thoroughly enjoyed the show & the meal. 

[Selbourne]

We’ve been to the Limelight Club on Britannia twice. The first time was Darren Day (my wife’s choice). He didn’t appeal to me at all and it was billed as ‘singing impersonations’ which sounded horrendous, but in fairness he was very good and we both enjoyed it very much.
 

The second time it was Claire Sweeney. Sadly, neither of us enjoyed her performance. She had started her career as a cruise ship singer and frankly she had reverted to type, so it was no better than the free entertainment that you see elsewhere on the ship. When she started singing “We’ll meet again” by Vera Lynn it’s all we could do not to walk out, as it did nothing to challenge our view that much of the entertainment on P&O is aimed at our parents generation (and we are in our 50’s)!

 

As for the food, from memory it was pretty good. Personally I would much prefer the act to be performing when I’m not eating but that might be because I’m a bloke. Apparently, we can’t multi-task 😂 

 

P.S. Would love to see Toya Wilcox. She was one of the pin ups on my bedroom wall as a youngster, along with Kim Wilde and Hazel O’Connor 😉 

Edited November 21, 2021 by Selbourne

[Britboys]

On 11/20/2021 at 11:41 AM, AndyMichelle said:

Perhaps it wasn't its heyday when I used to go, I'm only 55...

We were still going in the 90s as a friend of ours played in the house band. 

Saw classic acts like Roger DeCoursey and Duncan Norvelle, a bit after their heyday... 

Andy 

Ah, okay. I moved away from Kent in the mid-eighties...