What to expect on a P&O Comedy Cruise

[Sparky74]

One of the five (are you kidding? FIVE?! That’s ridiculous!) cruises we have booked for this year is a 3 night Comedy Cruise out of Brisbane on the Pacific Explorer. It was in the latest flash sale and we decided to book it rather than finding land accommodation for the few days between our Transpacific on the Carnival Splendor and sailing to PNG on the Pacific Explorer. 
 

What should we except on a comedy cruise? I’m worried that being a three nighter it’s probably going to be a booze cruise (we aren’t drinkers) and I’m thinking that the comedy is likely to be of a ribald nature which is not to our taste. 
 

If necessary we can amuse ourselves in our cabin for three days especially seeing as the cheap price tempted us to spring for a balcony.  

[arxcards]

The only real difference between the cruises to nowhere and a comedy cruise is that they have a quality act on the ship late each night. For Explorer, that is likely to be in Black Circus or the theatre.

 

They partner with the Sit Down Comedy Club. Likely you will see Demo Simis (former P&O cruise director) on one of the nights, and someone like Bev Killick, Mick Meredith etc. They could have anyone, but they are usually adult and edgy.

 

On one of our most recent P&O cruises we were scheduled to have "Rusty and another Guy". The other guy couldn't make it, so we scored an impromptu reuniting of the Scared Weird Little Guys. 

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, Sparky74 said:

One of the five (are you kidding? FIVE?! That’s ridiculous!) cruises we have booked for this year is a 3 night Comedy Cruise out of Brisbane on the Pacific Explorer. It was in the latest flash sale and we decided to book it rather than finding land accommodation for the few days between our Transpacific on the Carnival Splendor and sailing to PNG on the Pacific Explorer. 
 

What should we except on a comedy cruise? I’m worried that being a three nighter it’s probably going to be a booze cruise (we aren’t drinkers) and I’m thinking that the comedy is likely to be of a ribald nature which is not to our taste. 
 

If necessary we can amuse ourselves in our cabin for three days especially seeing as the cheap price tempted us to spring for a balcony.  

If you don't like what is called 'adult comedy' I suggest you don't go to the late night shows. Comedy on P&O can be more 'adult' than on (for instance) Princess, and you can expect the late night shows to be even more so. We don't usually go to shows billed as adult comedy, but we went on one occasion when Demo Simis was on. We went because we knew him quite well from when he was on the Fairstar. We were in the second row and didn't feel we could leave, but we wished we could. The show wasn't late at night and it wasn't crude, but we found it to be objectionable.

 

I am sure there will be enough other activities to make a great cruise.

Edited May 7, 2022 by Aus Traveller

[bazzaw]

A lot of what I would call "juvenile toilet humour" - where the comedy simply involves the frequent use of the F*** word as we young juvenile males did behind the toilet block at school. This will be received with great bursts of laughter by much of the audience. 

[rkmw]

We went on one p&o comedy cruise and they had a kids comedy on about 8pm and they dropped the F word a few times so not really a kids comedy

[arxcards]

22 hours ago, Sparky74 said:

One of the five (are you kidding? FIVE?! That’s ridiculous!) cruises we have booked for this year is a 3 night Comedy Cruise out of Brisbane on the Pacific Explorer. It was in the latest flash sale and we decided to book it rather than finding land accommodation for the few days between our Transpacific on the Carnival Splendor and sailing to PNG on the Pacific Explorer. 
 

What should we except on a comedy cruise? I’m worried that being a three nighter it’s probably going to be a booze cruise (we aren’t drinkers) and I’m thinking that the comedy is likely to be of a ribald nature which is not to our taste. 
 

If necessary we can amuse ourselves in our cabin for three days especially seeing as the cheap price tempted us to spring for a balcony.  

As to whether they are a booze cruise, that depends on the time of year. Uni holidays are a bit boozier than other times, and also a reason why P&O don't sell drink packages for cruises less than 7 days.

 

If you are old enough, you will remember Ugly Dave Gray. We thought it was great to see him billed on our cruise, but not so thrilled when we had already heard most of the gags on Blankety Blanks 30 years earlier. His was an excellent comedian, with perfect timing, but not funny when you already know the punchline. We declined the opportunity on a couple of later cruises. I would much rather watch current comedy, and it isn't all blue - Scared weird little guys are an example. Sit near the exit if you are worried, but not much point doing a comedy cruise if you don't want to check-out the acts.

[Suzbluz]

I did a comedy cruise with my sister so she could see if she liked cruising. There was a few bucks night type groups but I didn’t find it interfered with our enjoyment of the cruise. I didn’t go to the comedy shows because I don’t enjoy stand-up and we enjoyed exploring the ship while I quietly converted her to our world!!

[MicCanberra]

Great times too be had, but yes

*some will treat it like booze cruise,

*there can be lines to get into some of the acts

*sometimes  you will need to line up for tickets and then line up for good seats.

 

We have had some great cruises with some wonderful acts, think a comedy festival (Melbourne or Edinburgh) at sea.

[Mikey22]

We have done a couple of Comedy Cruises that were ok, nothing too shocking the way the world is nowadays.

The thing that stuck with me was the guy and his partner with two young daughters that were around four to six years old.

The comedian spotted them in the upper seats and suggested the show was not suited to young kids but the parents yelled out they we’re ok with it 😕

To the comedians credit he tamed down the language until they left.

It was a sad sign of the times.

[arxcards]

On 5/7/2022 at 3:13 PM, arxcards said:

The only real difference between the cruises to nowhere and a comedy cruise is that they have a quality act on the ship late each night. For Explorer, that is likely to be in Black Circus or the theatre.

 

They partner with the Sit Down Comedy Club. Likely you will see Demo Simis (former P&O cruise director) on one of the nights, and someone like Bev Killick, Mick Meredith etc. They could have anyone, but they are usually adult and edgy.

 

On one of our most recent P&O cruises we were scheduled to have "Rusty and another Guy". The other guy couldn't make it, so we scored an impromptu reuniting of the Scared Weird Little Guys. 

Sad to say that after 30 years covering a few different roles up to CD then as a featured comedian, it would seem that P&O no longer requires the services of Demo Simis. Quite a few staff that you would consider to be "the face of P&O" are no longer aboard.

[cruiser3775]

If it's anything like the "comedy" on Carnival Splendor, you are not going to enjoy it.  The stand up comedians did a daytime show, where they complained that they had to keep it clean or lose their job. Then they proceeded to give a racist, sexist performance, which was apparently OK as long as the language was clean and everyone was insulted equally.  I didn't attend an "adult" evening show.

I'd just avoid the live entertainment. See a movie, listen to some live music, dine at leisure - the restaurants will be quieter when the shows are on.  Or just enjoy sitting on your balcony.

Edited September 13, 2023 by cruiser3775

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, cruiser3775 said:

If it's anything like the "comedy" on Carnival Splendor, you are not going to enjoy it.  The stand up comedians did a daytime show, where they complained that they had to keep it clean or lose their job. Then they proceeded to give a racist, sexist performance, which was apparently OK as long as the language was clean and everyone was insulted equally.  I didn't attend an "adult" evening show.

I'd just avoid the live entertainment. See a movie, listen to some live music, dine at leisure - the restaurants will be quieter when the shows are on.  Or just enjoy sitting on your balcony.

Some do. Others are just genuinely funny. You just don't know what you will get until you have boarded though.

[MicCanberra]

Comedians can be a funny lot.

[mr walker]

14 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Comedians can be a funny lot.

There's a few comedians on here, many of them are funnier than some of the 'professional' comedians. Well, they give me a laugh, smile or maybe a groan, more often than the 'funny' ones on TV or ships 🙂 

[gbenjo]

Comedy cruises……..This is a serious subject….it’s no laughing matter.

Edited September 15, 2023 by gbenjo

[gbenjo]

7 hours ago, mr walker said:

There's a few comedians on here, many of them are funnier than some of the 'professional' comedians. Well, they give me a laugh, smile or maybe a groan, more often than the 'funny' ones on TV or ships 🙂 

And then there is MicCanberra who only thinks he is a comedian    Well, he is not as funny as me anyway. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[MicCanberra]

Well as some w ould say, I am about as funny aa fart in an elevator., 

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

Well as some w ould say, I am about as funny aa fart in an elevator., 

Oh well, that could be the problem. When an average comedian farts on Coral Princess, it seems they make the ship smell funny. 🐖💨

[MicCanberra]

8 hours ago, arxcards said:

Oh well, that could be the problem. When an average comedian farts on Coral Princess, it seems they make the ship smell funny. 🐖💨

And that just leads to another topic.