Wake show

[ktcishot]

It's been a few years since I've cruised princess. Do they still do the wake show where they tell you the day's highlights on your stateroom TV?

[Potstech]

Yes

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, ktcishot said:

It's been a few years since I've cruised princess. Do they still do the wake show where they tell you the day's highlights on your stateroom TV?

The question has been answered already but allow me to discuss this and other related topics.  I'll try not to be boring.

 

I've found The Wake Show is more than highlights, at least on the two Princess cruises I've done in the past year.  The CD hosts, but he/she often has some guests from various departments on the ship - casino, spa, entertainment, shops, etc.  It's partly a get-to-know-you session, but mostly it's advertising for items and services.  In addition, the show has explicit advertisements to sell the same things.  They ranged in length from 10 to 40 minutes.  Anything over 20 minutes pushes my patience, IMHO, but maybe I'm just in a hurry to get my English bacon and cranberry juice.

 

On Carnival, at least pre-pandemic, their morning show was different and the same.  The CD hosted and usually had a guest or two, with much the same purpose as the Wake Show's.  Much of the time was spent going through the major events of the day - often read from the day's newsletter.  It's a lot more exciting than I make it sound; the Carnival folks are experts at pumping out the FUN.  Anyway, sometimes it was held in the crew areas, but often it was held in the main theater and broadcast live to TVs in the stateroom and the screen on Lido.  They also, often, threw out some random trivia with trophies attached.  I won several of them this way and somewhere out there is video of me squeaking out a Simple Minds tune, badly.  The price I pay for ships on a stick!

[tetleytea]

Lately the Wake Show has done little more than tell us in 35 minutes what I could have found out by reading the Patter for 3 minutes.  I did, however, find out that I need to buy my cruise photos today, on Deck 7, and that the specialty restaurants are really cool, I need to make my reservations today.  And ooh, those Lotus spa treatments. 

[JF - retired RRT]

5 minutes ago, tetleytea said:

Lately the Wake Show has done little more than tell us in 35 minutes what I could have found out by reading the Patter for 3 minutes.  I did, however, find out that I need to buy my cruise photos today, on Deck 7, and that the specialty restaurants are really cool, I need to make my reservations today.  And ooh, those Lotus spa treatments. 

Agree. I watched almost all of one Wake Show and never bothered again.

[DCThunder]

48 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Agree. I watched almost all of one Wake Show and never bothered again.

I found the sweet spot, I think.  It's watch the first 5 minutes or so which is usually some banter (think the Today Show or Good Morning America) between the CD and one of his/her minions (shout out to Nikki on Enchanted!). Sometimes, they do an interview of a department head or an officer and these can be interesting.

 

Then turn the TV off and go to breakfast when they start pushing products/services or doing pre-recorded videos of upcoming shore excursions.

 

Anyway, while a lot on the Wake Show can be learned from other sources, you can get some entertainment from the show if you limit the amount you actually watch.

[mtnesterz]

45 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Agree. I watched almost all of one Wake Show and never bothered again.

In March, they announced they are looking to change the name of The Wake Show. Something without the clever double meaning. Yes that was communicated.

Same experience. I though it was because we had the worst CD ever, but I guess it is now policy. (He was the worst in other ways too.) I am convinced those with panache, initiative and drive found other careers during the pause.

[MissP22]

The best part of the newer ship video on demand system is being able to fast forward the Wake Show and watch the whole thing in 5 minutes.

Edited June 20, 2022 by MissP22

[time4u2go]

They could be playing the same shows every week and I doubt anyone would notice. 

[Daniel A]

If I had to give up one thing to help keep Princess solvent, I'd be very happy to give up the Wake Show and replace it with elevator music. 😆

 

That would be much less annoying for me.

Edited June 20, 2022 by Daniel A

[time4u2go]

Wake: A watch or vigil held beside the body of someone who has died, sometimes accompanied by ritual observances including eating and drinking.

[beg3yrs]

2 hours ago, time4u2go said:

They could be playing the same shows every week and I doubt anyone would notice. 

That happened to us on the Royal on her June 4 sailing. It was only the previous day being repeated though. Chose not to watch it again...

[Mike45LC]

I have NEVER watched even a minute of the Wake Show. 

 

On most of the cruises I've taken, the cabin steward had the TV running when I first got into the cabin.  I turned it off and never turned it on again.  (Disclaimer:  on one cruise, my wife discovered the reruns of The Love Boat, and watched those for several hours while I was out and about.)  

 

I had to ask my wife to turn the TV off on embarkation day on the last cruise, because it had one of those newfangled remotes that I could not figure out.  No simple "on-off" switch, but a laser pointer of some kind.  

 

[MissP22]

9 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

I had to ask my wife to turn the TV off on embarkation day on the last cruise, because it had one of those newfangled remotes that I could not figure out.  No simple "on-off" switch, but a laser pointer of some kind.  

I haven't seen those on Princess.

Must be something new. 

[leck57]

Watched the Wake Show once or twice in our early cruise days. On our recent cruise it was on but never watched it as it's a bore. I just wonder how many actually watch it and whether it is worth the effort.

[insidecabin]

In the old days when the CD and entertainment department were for entertaining and not a front for revenue generation.

 

One of the earliest to do this kind morning video show was on the NCL Jade around 2008 they called themselves the Jady bunch and were a hoot doing spoofs of the Brady Bunch

(It got pulled)

 

 

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, leck57 said:

Watched the Wake Show once or twice in our early cruise days. On our recent cruise it was on but never watched it as it's a bore. I just wonder how many actually watch it and whether it is worth the effort.

 

On a pure cost basis, they don't need many to watch to justify the effort.  The CD and their guests are already being paid, the Princess Theater (where it's recorded, at least on ships that have it) is already there.  The channel bandwith is already there.  It's just the camera crew (maybe) that adds extra costs to the production.

 

Back to Carnival, I know that a few years ago, they had a channel dedicated to someone reading the daily newsletter.  No embellishment (though sometimes the voice sounded cute 😉), no ads other than what was already written, and no visuals - just the facts.  Note that this was separate from the morning show I described in an earlier post.  I don't know if they still do this.