Dance floors and music

[njpln]

We’ve not yet cruised on Costa, but we’ve heard that their ships have a nice dance floors and good old fashioned couple dancing music. Is that still true or is it only on some of the ships?

 

Appreciate any information on which ships still have great dance floors and music, (something other than a discotheque…)

 

thanks in advance.

[Dancer Bob]

Only on some ships. Definitely not on Firenze and Venezia, but they are being transferred to Carnival. Toscana, insufficient data. I'm booked on Diadema next year, dance floors probably as good as you'll find anywhere. Older ships are almost as good. Deliziosa is also pretty good, and a smaller ship.

Costa used to have a very broad range of music catering to many tastes. With the low passenger counts recently, there have been cutbacks to music. They tried this a few years ago, it only lasted a couple weeks becuse so many passengers were unhappy. It remains to be seen if the corporate suits in Genoa will try this again.

 

[Janet&Carl]

from what I have seen of cruise ships the dance floors are very small - I have seen pictures of Cunard but never been on one - they seem to have decent dance floors

 

[Dancer Bob]

Di1. Diadema, main lounge. Taken from deck above (it's double-height). The dot is 10 feet across.

2. Diadema, rear lounge.

3. Deliziosa, main lounge

4. Deliziosa, Excite lounge.

Luminosa is sister to Deliziosa and moving to Australia, but will be transferred to Carnival.

I have been on all the Cunard ships. The floors are not bigger.

No cruise ship that I know of has floors that are nearly as big as dance studios in Florida

 

 

 

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by Dancer Bob

[Wansbrough]

On 8/6/2022 at 11:12 PM, Dancer Bob said:

Only on some ships. Definitely not on Firenze and Venezia, but they are being transferred to Carnival. Toscana, insufficient data. I'm booked on Diadema next year, dance floors probably as good as you'll find anywhere. Older ships are almost as good. Deliziosa is also pretty good, and a smaller ship.

Costa used to have a very broad range of music catering to many tastes. With the low passenger counts recently, there have been cutbacks to music. They tried this a few years ago, it only lasted a couple weeks becuse so many passengers were unhappy. It remains to be seen if the corporate suits in Genoa will try this again.

 

Although Firenze doesn't have the Grand Ballroom like most of the other ships, it does have Lounge Viareggio which on our last cruise did accommodate ballroom style dancing. 

 

[Dancer Bob]

This floor is about the same size as the main lounge on the "Serena" class.

BUT, the OP asked about floors and couple dancing music.

The floor is unsatisfactory-very sticky throughout the entire cruise. The staff member teaching Argentine Tango tried to do Ochos wearing running shoes (trainers). I was helping her with that class (not that I like AT), because I knew she would have difficulty, I had to carry her weight so she could place her feet. I could barely make enough turn even wearing proper shoes.

The (DJ) music for the so-called ballroom dance sessions, which were short and badly- scheduled, was mediocre at best. None of the musicians in other venues wanted to be quoted, but it was clear they had been given strict instructions not to play couple dance music.

As you can see from the photos, the chairs are packed tightly together. Unless you're in the front row, it's a major effort to get on the floor. Not a welcoming environment.

Not at all up to Costa's previous standards.

I did a review of Firenze, in the interest of bevity I won't repeat it here.

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by Dancer Bob

[Wansbrough]

Here a couple of wider angle photos of Deliziosa.

 

 

 

[Wansbrough]

and Costa Fortuna...........

 

[Wansbrough]

Costa Pacifica....

 

[Dancer Bob]

The pillars in the middle of the floor are an annoyance, but not really difficult to avoid. Diadema does not have the pillars, although the floor is rather narrow. Otherwise, the floors are better than on Cunard. They do get quite crowded at busy times.

 

IF Costa maintains its previous standards, there are in the main lounge, two groups alternating, continuous music 6PM to 1AM. There are several (7 I think, on the larger ships) places which provide alternatives, but not continuously. The rear lounge on the larger ships (Excite bar on Deliziosa) is the equivalent of the main lounge on most ships. Expect to hear music common in Europe like mazurka and Paso Doble (which is a social dance in Europe), as well as the usuals. The groups are usually very good about playing requests when it's not busy.

[njpln]

Thanks so much for your replies.   We have cruised Cunard several times and their dance floors are fantastic, but the selection of music has always been a bit stodgy. We just came back from Queen Elizabeth, and we are delighted to see that they are updating the music program to more modern music, although still playing ballroom tempos in the Queens room.  
 

Dancer Bob, you get a shout-out for the pix.  Thank you.

[Dancer Bob]

Thanks. Credit also to Wansbrough. Although he seems to looking for exactly the opposite in a ship than I am, he does take some good photos.