Jazz on 4 clubs on Oasis class being eliminated.

[ddled]

Just off the Allure and was told by Cory the cruise director that Royal is taking out all the jazz clubs on Oasis class and replacing them with smoke free casinos. Time frame is April to be done. It is not on the website deck plans as a change but there you go anyway. It is I am sure based on numbers from Wonder, and the business of Royal is to make money, and the 80-100 of us that were in the jazz club cannot compete with all the gamblers this will be attracting..All that being said-I still don't like it. It was the only semi decent dance floor, the atmosphere was great, and there is no way to count if anyone goes on a cruise for a jazz club. I am sure the gamblers will love it, but there was only 1 jazz club and there is already a casino there with 1/2 non smoking..They say that at least for now, the jazz band will stay and play in the Promenade-a totally inappropriate venue for jazz, Dazzles, Schooner and outside in Central Park. I hope that the jazz band does not go the way of the country trio that was on Allure the 1st month and then taken away.  Whoever in Miami does assign the bands must have a different mind. Why put a country band on a ship with several thousand Texans on it?  I know-don't bother flaming me-not all Texans like country, but some of us do. The only country band on Oasis class right now supposedly is on Wonder. Icon will start with a jazz club-at least for the beginning. I will write what other wise  was an incredibly good week on Allure  later, but wanted to put this out on its own. Cruise directors apparently do not have. any power getting bands they want-or so Cory told us. He says he asks for one each week in his report. No response from onshore. Top down for sure.

[George C]

That would be extremely annoying. We would spend a lot of time there each night , but it was rarely crowded.

[ddled]

They are gone-just a matter of time in the next few months. Every thing is numbers and I am sure that is the business way, but I also doubt that there is an amenity on board that has a majority of passengers doing it during the cruise. Some people never see any shows, some never get in a pool, or ride the zip line. Lots of things on board are done by a minority but what do I know?

[Ret MP]

Well, it's a win win for us.  We aren't big fans of Jazz and we love Casinos.  Sucks for Jazz fans though.  

[Spurschick]

Whilst I agree 1/2 the casino is non smoking doesn’t stop people walking through with cigarettes claiming they didn’t know they were in the non smoking side and the smell of the smoke drifting over to the non smoking side. 
 

Celebrity, some MSC ships are smoke free. NCL Prima had smoking section in its own enclosed room.

 

I would spend more time in the casino if I could get away from the smoke.

Edited January 30, 2023 by Spurschick

[ace2542]

So the music hall is being ripped out and there will be no club or live band spaces onboard the ship at all? Interesting.....

[ace2542]

6 hours ago, George C said:

That would be extremely annoying. We would spend a lot of time there each night , but it was rarely crowded.

Crowded is the problem. You can't even get a drink on a RCL Ship. On Indy we really struggled yet spent a lot of money on the drinks

[shof515]

looks like royal is following Norwegian foot steps of cutting back on entertainment..yay

[gumshoe958]

24 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

So the music hall is being ripped out and there will be no club or live band spaces onboard the ship at all? Interesting.....

No, the jazz club and music hall/Dazzles are totally separate. 

[gumshoe958]

12 minutes ago, shof515 said:

looks like royal is following Norwegian foot steps of cutting back on entertainment..yay

Entirely likely. We’ve already seen cost cutting this year in the MDR and housekeeping. Why would entertainment be immune?

 

I imagine every department’s been given a target to cut costs and/or increase revenue. Like most businesses their costs have risen sharply and they’re still recovering from an 18 month enforced shutdown. Like it or hate it, this is the new normal.

[cruisegirl1]

We will miss the live entertainment and atmosphere in Jazz on 4. We spent time there  many nights.  The lounge was lovely, and the entertainment was fantastic.   In addition to the Jazz singer and musicians, often some of the production/broadway  entertainers  would perform there as well. 
 

I hope we don’t see a reduction  in more live entertainment. 
 

m
 

 

[nelblu]

6 hours ago, ddled said:

Just off the Allure and was told by Cory the cruise director that Royal is taking out all the jazz clubs on Oasis class and replacing them with smoke free casinos. Time frame is April to be done. It is not on the website deck plans as a change but there you go anyway. It is I am sure based on numbers from Wonder, and the business of Royal is to make money, and the 80-100 of us that were in the jazz club cannot compete with all the gamblers this will be attracting..All that being said-I still don't like it. It was the only semi decent dance floor, the atmosphere was great, and there is no way to count if anyone goes on a cruise for a jazz club. I am sure the gamblers will love it, but there was only 1 jazz club and there is already a casino there with 1/2 non smoking..They say that at least for now, the jazz band will stay and play in the Promenade-a totally inappropriate venue for jazz, Dazzles, Schooner and outside in Central Park. I hope that the jazz band does not go the way of the country trio that was on Allure the 1st month and then taken away.  Whoever in Miami does assign the bands must have a different mind. Why put a country band on a ship with several thousand Texans on it?  I know-don't bother flaming me-not all Texans like country, but some of us do. The only country band on Oasis class right now supposedly is on Wonder. Icon will start with a jazz club-at least for the beginning. I will write what other wise  was an incredibly good week on Allure  later, but wanted to put this out on its own. Cruise directors apparently do not have. any power getting bands they want-or so Cory told us. He says he asks for one each week in his report. No response from onshore. Top down for sure.

Wasn't this venue used as a lounge for the Pinnies.

[ddled]

I think live entertainment is in danger period. on Allure there are 31 live musicians. Some bean counter is trying to figure out a way to reduce that I bet.  They were all tremendous last week-great talent. The informal jam sessions in the jazz club were mind blowing. The idea of a ship that big is that you put up with things like the long lines at the elevators as a trade off for more variety over smaller ships. The last night was a country dance. Canned music because they had no group for it. Future? Hope not but the new normal is upon us. Allure sailed 100% cap last week in January with fewer families than most out of Galveston .. I know the companies are trying to make up for last 2 years but I would think filling the ships would be an indication that things were on the right track and to leave it alone? 

[gumshoe958]

I guess they figure they can still fill a ship without a jazz club. And if it’s being replaced with a casino extension I have little doubt they’re right, if the number of people on here who use the casino is anything to go by.

 

I hope they don’t go down the Carnival route and use a prerecorded track for production shows. Those orchestras can’t be cheap.

[cruisegirl1]

1 minute ago, nelblu said:

Wasn't this venue used as a lounge for the Pinnies.

Just for three or four hours per evening or more line late afternoon early evening, well prior to the entertainment lineup    it was not every cruise, but only those cruises when there  were high numbers of Pinnacles  on board and Pinnacles were not permitted to use the suite lounge. 

 

It was sometimes used (During the day) as a dedicated  meeting place for other groups on board

m

 

[joeyancho]

Well that is bad news.  We love the jazz club.  

[Engineroom Snipe]

48 minutes ago, ddled said:

 Allure sailed 100% cap last week in January with fewer families than most out of Galveston .. I know the companies are trying to make up for last 2 years but I would think filling the ships would be an indication that things were on the right track and to leave it alone? 

 

The 100%+ occupancy IS the problem for passengers who feel that either service, food, accommodations, bars, etc., etc. are reduced or eliminated.

 

The exact opposite will happen. RCI will chip away at expenses and raise the prices until occupancy drops. This might show as delayed future bookings, a reduced number of passengers using Next Cruise onboard (which would be an immediate real-time indicator), or less traffic to their main website looking at cruises.

 

I have three bookings this year at half of what RCI is advertising currently. For the prices that I paid for these bookings, I can hold my noise and look the other way at the cutbacks. I will enjoy the cruises.

 

The proof will be my cruise this April. If I do not think the future prices are worth the current level of service and amenities, I will wait. I will do that with every cruise this year.

 

I have already stated in multiple posts elsewhere, RCI will not flinch about losing me. The only flinch will be if they start lowering prices to fill cabins. They are in survival mode. I would like them to succeed in staying afloat. RCI is not forcing me to cruise. They might be forcing me to make decisions about how my vacation dollars are spent for the next few years. The pendulum always swings from extreme positions.

 

[welshrich]

1 hour ago, shof515 said:

looks like royal is following Norwegian foot steps of cutting back on entertainment..yay

This is a shame, but just the latest and won't be the last.  I remember when they would have live music in the Viking Crown late and night, used to be great to go up there and listen while having a drink and it always seemed popular, now it's just disco music.

[ace2542]

1 hour ago, ddled said:

I think live entertainment is in danger period. on Allure there are 31 live musicians. Some bean counter is trying to figure out a way to reduce that I bet.  They were all tremendous last week-great talent. The informal jam sessions in the jazz club were mind blowing. The idea of a ship that big is that you put up with things like the long lines at the elevators as a trade off for more variety over smaller ships. The last night was a country dance. Canned music because they had no group for it. Future? Hope not but the new normal is upon us. Allure sailed 100% cap last week in January with fewer families than most out of Galveston .. I know the companies are trying to make up for last 2 years but I would think filling the ships would be an indication that things were on the right track and to leave it alone? 

These live entertainers in some cases can be the only game in town. I bet their aren't nearly half as many as there where 5 years ago?

[Ret MP]

Are they just doing away with the physical location DEDICATED to Jazz and moving the band/music to another location?  It seems they are.  So, the only thing lost is the DEDICATED physical location.  On the plus side, the myriad of people that hate the smoke filled/smelling casino now have their own space to call their own.  For me, that's a big plus.  As stated earlier, I'm not a big fan of Jazz, but love a casino (well, my wife loves casinos, happy wife, happy life), neither of us smoke, and I have no aversion to smoke filled locations.  So, if we are traversing the area, see the non-smoking casino and feel the need, we stop in the non-smoking casino.  For once, I agree without quarrel with this decision by the mothership, if factual.  It's a win for the non-smokers and for non-smokers that like a smoke free casino and the Jazz fans still have their Jazz band, just not in a DEDICATED location.

[alfaeric]

Sucks, but it isn't the first time a small group of people lost something over more people that made more money.  We love the club, too.  But one thing I noticed is that the music was more the same among all of the groups than small club jazz.  Still, it will be  missed by a handful.

 

I would not extrapolate this to the end of all live music, though.  The live shows are far to popular for that to happen.  And the small shows they do around the ship is just them having something to do besides the big shows.  Whereas the jazz club band only played there.

[George C]

2 minutes ago, alfaeric said:

Sucks, but it isn't the first time a small group of people lost something over more people that made more money.  We love the club, too.  But one thing I noticed is that the music was more the same among all of the groups than small club jazz.  Still, it will be  missed by a handful.

 

I would not extrapolate this to the end of all live music, though.  The live shows are far to popular for that to happen.  And the small shows they do around the ship is just them having something to do besides the big shows.  Whereas the jazz club band only played there.

Rccl will lose customers if they do any severe drop to live music . Entertainment is the reason we cruise rccl.

[cruisegirl1]

Just now, George C said:

Rccl will lose customers if they do any severe drop to live music . Entertainment is the reason we cruise rccl.

Royal Caribbean is going after a new cruiser. Not someone has been cruising them for years. They’re going under after a younger ,  family oriented demographic. Those folks don’t know what they missed so they don’t miss it. 
 

m

[ecslady]

Not happy about this either, as I love live music.  But, if they are doing this, they should make the Jazz on 4 the smoking casino and make the main casino smoke free.  I can't even stand walking through the casino at times because of all the drifting smoke. Just my 2 cents, not that it means anything to RC.

[smokeybandit]

So they aren't removing any live music, just removing an underutilized venue and expanding a heavily used venue (casino) into it.