Is Karaoke Completely Gone From Celebrity?

[WesternBroncoCruiser]

The wife and I have been on 5 Celebrity cruises since Dec of last year and there was no Karaoke.   The wife the singer, I just sit at the bar and hang out. 

 

Anyway, we first thought it might be because of Covid protocols, but the last two cruises have had "Headline the Band".   I aske someone about it in jest and the activities staff person said - "oh don't say Karaoke, that is a bed word around here".  Not sure what he meant.   Maybe Celebrity is too cool now for lowly Karaoke?   

 

I don't really care, the wife likes to sing, and she'll sing with the band thing, but she complains about the lack of song choices.   LOL. 

[SusieV]

We're boarding Solstice on Friday and I hope there is karaoke!

[cruisestitch]

Headline the band is done with live musicians, but you should find that it’s the sort of thing you seek.  Not sure about how many songs are available, though.

[jelayne]

Personally we avoid karaoke, an occasional good singer but too often a few who couldn’t sing monopolized it.  
The bands on X seem to drown out the performers in tge theater so they should be able to drown out a bad singer at Headline the Band.

Edited September 14, 2022 by jelayne
Typo

[WesternBroncoCruiser]

Well after the last cruise, my wife is a very good singer, had a few issues mostly because the song list was not a broad as what is available at karaoke and she spoke with the sound tech three times because they had no vocals on the monitor so she said she was just guessing if she was hitting the right notes.  LOL  She did a great job, but she said "Good cause  couldn't hear my self at all!"  

 

Again the activities person told us that "Karaoke is now a bad word on Celebrity".  So maybe they are just moving in another direction. 

 

 

[PTC DAWG]

Haven’t seen it on Celebrity in a while…so be it..I went for the comedy myself. Folks think they can sing.

[K Cross]

I was on the Summit 8/31 to 9/11. They had Karaoke  two different nights n the rendezvous lounge.

[WesternBroncoCruiser]

Maybe it is just the solstice class ships and newer.  We were on Solstice class for 4 of our 5 cruises and I can't remember if they had it on the Constellation when we were in Greece, the wife was working,  emailing and making phone calls because of the time zone difference in the early evening on that cruise so she didn't do much night life on that cruise. 

[manmachine]

Karaoke can be physically painful.

[DCPIV]

I've always enjoyed karaoke, but it's gone away in a number of places and seems to be fading away in others.  I was talking to a bar manager (not on a ship) about that, and he told me a few things are behind that.

 

First, it's become far more difficult and expensive than it used to be.  Licensing fees have gone up dramatically, and it's become more complicated to get different songs licensed. At the same time, a few large outfits have put together apps or websites with "free" karaoke versions of just about any song out there, so the barrier to entry was getting close to zero.  Very few could make a business out of delivering a karaoke act.

 

Second, it became something of a showcase for folks to see how drunk and "spectacular" they could get, each trying to outdo the last one on both counts.

 

Third, the crowds were becoming too difficult to handle.  Folks who didn't feel they were getting the microphone time they wanted would get belligerent with each other and the ones organizing the karaoke.  "Singers" were getting out of hand with increasing episodes of cursing, shouting at audiences, climbing on chairs, flashing, and a number of other acts that would cause all sorts of liability for a venue.  "Audience" members were throwing things.  Microphones were getting damaged regularly because so many just had to do a "mic drop" (and microphones aren't made to be dropped).  Folks were losing their damned minds and causing real harm along the way.

 

Fourth, the folks who weren't losing their damned minds quit coming to karaoke nights because they didn't want to be around those who were.

 

All that said, I have seen it twice recently, but both were in small places (one in New Orleans, and the other in Norwich (UK).  Both were attended only by a healthy handful of regulars, so crowds weren't a problem, and everyone was having fun.  I sang at the NOLA one.

 

I'm glad to hear that it was recently on Summit.  Again, I'm a big karaoke fan whether I sing or not.  I just like seeing everyone get into it.

[ScottC4746]

18 hours ago, WesternBroncoCruiser said:

The wife and I have been on 5 Celebrity cruises since Dec of last year and there was no Karaoke.   The wife the singer, I just sit at the bar and hang out. 

 

Anyway, we first thought it might be because of Covid protocols, but the last two cruises have had "Headline the Band".   I aske someone about it in jest and the activities staff person said - "oh don't say Karaoke, that is a bed word around here".  Not sure what he meant.   Maybe Celebrity is too cool now for lowly Karaoke?   

 

I don't really care, the wife likes to sing, and she'll sing with the band thing, but she complains about the lack of song choices.   LOL. 

Was not on the Solstice in Alaska a few weeks ago, thank goodness.  However, they did in the Grand Foyer do an Abba Sing-a-Long which was a blast.  They followed this up with 70's night and started with YMCA which too was a blast.  Everyone overlooking from the railings on all four decks were participating including people in the glass elevators.

[JBare]

We've just finished an Iceland cruise on Silhouette and there was a karaoke night in the Sky Lounge, quite popular performed with the live band, good fun evening.

[LadyBerard]

17 hours ago, K Cross said:

I was on the Summit 8/31 to 9/11. They had Karaoke  two different nights n the rendezvous lounge.

That's good to know.  We will be cruising on the Summit Oct. 15th, and I enjoy going and watching others sing, even the bad ones, because lots of times, they are just truly having a ball!

[zitsky]

No more karaoke?  And here I was going to check it out. 

[mahdnc]

23 hours ago, WesternBroncoCruiser said:

The wife and I have been on 5 Celebrity cruises since Dec of last year and there was no Karaoke.   The wife the singer, I just sit at the bar and hang out. 

 

Anyway, we first thought it might be because of Covid protocols, but the last two cruises have had "Headline the Band".   I aske someone about it in jest and the activities staff person said - "oh don't say Karaoke, that is a bed word around here".  Not sure what he meant.   Maybe Celebrity is too cool now for lowly Karaoke?   

 

I don't really care, the wife likes to sing, and she'll sing with the band thing, but she complains about the lack of song choices.   LOL. 

 

We will be on Constellation next month and I will check it out.  But I still.....may not find.....what you're looking for.....

[Mike981]

I enjoy singing  karaoke, but in today's world I would be hesitant to sing in a mic that dozens have used. When I was on the radio and one of the announcers got sick, we all knew that it was just a matter of time before most of us were also going to be under the weather.

 

As someone that has sang a few times in public, it really matters on the karaoke host and the equipment. Last two trips with Celebrity, my wife and I just passed.

[Mark_K]

17 hours ago, JBare said:

We've just finished an Iceland cruise on Silhouette and there was a karaoke night in the Sky Lounge, quite popular performed with the live band, good fun evening.

If it was with a live band it wasn’t true Karaoke, and they wouldn’t need to pay licensing fees, which is the point of switching to live bands.