Dancing at Sea

[Quo Vadis?]

After having attended a number of different lessons on board many cruises I think I finally have the basics down. What I would like to know is if one ship or cruise line gives more opportunities and provides a choice of dance floors for nightly dancing? Now that I can get my brain to move the correct foot most of the time, I actually look forward to this activity more than any other onboard. Are lessons still a part of most cruises or are they only found on longer sailings?

[napunani]

Just sailed on the VOLENDAM (2/21-3/3/06). The only "dance lessons" I saw in the daily bulletin were country line dance lessons. There are various places to dance on the ship, but I did not see any notices that a certain lounge or dance floor was for only certain dancing that evening.

[grandsix]

Most of the time the type dance lessons will depend on the ship. Many times there are not enough men who show up for lessons thus there is line dancing.

[bepsf]

MSC has dance lessons every day on the open decks and several venues for dancing in the evenings.

 

The place to dance on HAL is the Ocean Bar before late dinner...

[jhannah]

And it's a real challenge if there's a good bit of "motion 'o the ocean." I have great respect for the ship's showroom company who make it through their routines without breaking something!

[Quo Vadis?]

And it's a real challenge if there's a good bit of "motion 'o the ocean."

 

It's much easier when holding on to someone. It also gives an excuse for misteps.

[kryos]

If you take a voyage of ten days or longer, HAL will have "gentleman hosts" available to dance with each night. They often will teach their partners new dance steps and will be available in all the dance venues ... Ocean Bar, Crow's Nest ... anywhere that dancing is gonna take place.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[NHBob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by damcruiser

After having attended a number of different lessons on board many cruises I think I finally have the basics down. What I would like to know is if one ship or cruise line gives more opportunities and provides a choice of dance floors for nightly dancing? Now that I can get my brain to move the correct foot most of the time, I actually look forward to this activity more than any other onboard. Are lessons still a part of most cruises or are they only found on longer sailings?

 

 

Came across this post while searching boards for opinions on dance floor space on HAL Vista Class ships. I’m booked on Noordam’s September big band cruise. Dance space looks very limited on deck plans and friends with Vista experience confirm this. Will welcome any info from dancers with Vista experience.

 

In response to poster’s questions, most of my cruising has been on HAL, Cunard and Crystal. The biggest dedicated dance floors are the Queen’s Rooms on QE2 and QM2. I know that they also offer dance classes but have not experienced them since I only got interested in dancing a couple of years ago. I’m booked on QE2 next spring and will post a review after that. You’ll probably never see me on QM2 again, as I really don’t like being one of 2700 passengers.

 

Have had several excellent big band cruises on HAL, but with the exception of Prinsendam, their ships have minimal dance floors. On my last big band cruise on Maasdam the Gentlemen Hosts held classes on sea days. The did a reasonable job but they are not professional instructors.

 

Best by far in my opinion is Crystal. They have a professional dance team on every cruise, and they have classes on all sea days. They are very good, and it’s even better if you are willing to pay for some private lessons. Cost is about the same as lessons in a good studio ashore.

 

If I appear biased toward Crystal it’s because I am. After my two already-booked

Noordam and QE2 cruises I intend to pretty much limit my 3 or four cruises a year to

Crystal.